Connecting the Raspberry Pi to Your Network
Understanding when the Raspberry Pi's hotspot is visible
The Raspberry Pi will attempt to open a hotspot after a given number of consecutive minutes where it has no internet. Before opening the hotspot the Pi attempts to auto reconnect to a known network. If this fails only then will the hotspot be opened.
In general one can expect 10 - 30 consecutive minutes of the Pi having no internet connection (calculated starting from when the Icarus service is started on the Pi) before the Pi will attempt to open up its hotspot network.
The SSID (name) of the hotspot is the hostname of the Pi from which it originated from. Connect with the following credentials:
SSID=<hostname> password <hostname>alski!.
Accessing the Wifi Connection Page
To connect, go to <hostname>.local:8000/connect
Two different pages may appear:
If the Pi has internet connection then a "Box is connected" message appears and informs the user which SSID the Pi is connected to.
If the Pi has no internet connection then a form page appears allowing the ability to select from all the nearby wifi networks (near the PI). Wifi networks also have their channel information next to them to differentiate between networks that would otherwise appear to be the exact same (same SSID). There is a button present that allows for the ability to rescan for nearby networks.
Connecting the Pi
Select the name (SSID) of your wifi network from the dropdown menu. The SSIDs displayed contain information about the specific channel of the underlining BSSID (unique identifier) in the following format: SSID/CHANNEL. Enter the network password in both fields, then press connect.
Understanding the response after using the connect button
If the wifi login page receives no response from the Pi, a success message is displayed after 20 seconds.
If an error occurs when connecting to the network then you will immediately be informed of the failure.
Generally no news is good news as it means the Pi is connecting to the network and has thus severed the connection with the wifi login page.
If you want to verify the Pi is connected even after receiving the success message you can connect to the same network the Pi is on and visit the wifi login page. If the Pi is connected to the internet you will be greated with the "Box is connected" message.
Why is the Pi giving a success message even though it isn't connected to the internet?
There is a difference between being connected to a network and being connected to the internet. Make sure you provide the Pi with credentials to a network that can reach the internet.
The success message is implemented using a timeout. It will always display after 20 seconds of the wifi login page not receiving a response. For this reason sending a request with no network connection or losing network connection to the Pi for reasons other than the Pi connecting to the network you specified will cause a success message to appear. In situations where you are unsure always attempt to revist the wifi login page and look for the "Box is connected" message. This message will always be accurate as it is sent from the Pi and not displayed through the use of a timeout. This is the reason why there is usually a delay when visiting the wifi login page; the Pi must run some commands internally to determine if it is connected to the internet. Note that internally the 10 - 30 minute rule that determines when the hotspot is opened changes if the user accesses the wifi login page. Accessing the wifi login page will result in the interval "doubling" to 20 - 60 minutes. This is done to prevent the auto connect functionality from interfering with usage of the wifi login page.