If you’ve explored the myriad of applications available for your smartphone, you might have stumbled upon an impressive array of tinkering apps. However, when it comes to enhancing your experience with the Raspberry Pi, few can rival the capabilities of RaspController. This application is a treasure trove of tools designed to elevate your project-building endeavors with the beloved single-board computer (SBC). For those intrigued by its potential, here’s a concise guide to getting RaspController up and running on your setup.
What’s RaspController?
And why should you check it out?
True to its name, RaspController serves as a robust application that allows users to monitor, access, and control their Raspberry Pi over a network. Once paired with your compact yet powerful board, the app grants you access to files, enables resource consumption monitoring, and provides insights into the outputs from connected sensors and cameras. Furthermore, if your Raspberry Pi is equipped with the necessary packages, you can even send wake-on-LAN packets to activate it remotely.
For those who frequently connect additional devices to the GPIO pins of their Raspberry Pi, RaspController offers handy pinouts and wiring diagrams. As an added bonus, the app allows you to execute shell commands directly on the SBC, making it an ideal companion for headless Raspberry Pi setups.
How to set up RaspController?
It’s quite easy, actually
Setting up RaspController is straightforward, provided you have the IP address of your Raspberry Pi. Follow these steps to get started:
- Click on the Raspberry (Start) button, hover over the Preferences tab, and select Raspberry Pi Configuration.
- Navigate to the Interfaces tab, enable the toggle next to SSH, and click OK.
- On your smartphone, head to the official Google Play or App Store to download and install RaspController.
- Tap the + icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
- Assign a Name to the new connection, enter its IP address, and input the Username and Password for your Raspberry Pi.
- Scroll down and select Connection Test.
- Press OK and then tap the Save button.
- Return to the RaspConfig home screen and select your newly added Raspberry Pi connection.
- Finally, hit the Connect button to explore the array of tools available within the app.
Making the most of RaspController
With RaspController successfully set up, you can now control your Raspberry Pi directly from your smartphone. Many users find the File Manager and SSH Shell particularly useful for DIY projects, while the Custom commands feature is invaluable for executing frequently run scripts on the Raspberry Pi.
If you encounter a sensor that isn’t supported by RaspController, you can add custom code to enable functionality within the User Widgets tab. However, it’s worth noting that RaspController does not include VNC functionality, which means you’ll need to download RealVNC or a similar application to access the Raspberry Pi GUI remotely.
