Octoprint Hotspot for Classroom application

Hey guys,

I've searched in the internet about a solution, but I didn't find a satisfied one, therefore I opened this new topic.

Main Hardware:
I use Printhat from Wreck labs and Octoprint to build a Ultimaker Clone.

My problem:
With my original Ultimaker I have the possibility to print offline via SD Card. I loved this feature because sometimes I carried my printer away in place where I didn't have internet or for example in a classroom, where for 3D exercise more students want to print different things at the printer but don't have access to a global wlan connection.
Now I want to have this solution with my actual setup.
Is there a way to install a Hotspot on my octoprinter so for example (like a hotspot with the smartphone) every student in a classroom can connect with the PC or smartphone to the printer and send prints to Octoprint or check if the actual print is running well?
Without having a router installed or the need of additional hardware?

Kind regards
3D_Rockstar

Hi :slight_smile:

Yes it should be no problem to create a AP with your pi.
This guide looks pretty good to me

If you get stuck at some point let me know and I'll try the guide myself.

Hi PrintedWeezl,

my first question is, how can I install Octoprint and Raspbian at the same SD Card? Should I first install Octoprint and after that the Raspbian Add-on or vice versa?

Greetz
3D_Rockstar

Either way works. It depends on what you prefer :slight_smile:
You could use the octopi image and install the other stuff just like you would do it with a raspbian image or you could flash the raspbian imagen, install octoprint yourself and then also the other stuff.

I guess the octopi image saves you some time :slight_smile:

If you want to install octoprint yourself on a raspbian image - here is a guide on how to do so

I'm going to guess that the standard Pi 3B isn't going to perform well to multiple OctoPrint sessions from "every" student in your classroom.

In profiling my own setup, each new browser session consumes about 100% of one of the cores for as much as 60 seconds. Some people have suggested that their print job's quality suffers when they bring up a second browser like this.

I don't think I would recommend opening this up to all the students. Instead, I would put my own workstation on the overhead projector or similar and invite students to then have a single session like this on that workstation, taking turns.

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Hey Guys thanks you for your answers.
The performance is a good point that I haven't thought about before.
Because "Printhat" use Klipper and I don't know if I loose performance if I install klipper and Octoprint on a Raspbian system only to enable a Hotspot function of the printer.
Do you have a recommendation for a better solution / setup?
I would like to have as minimum additional hardware as possible.
I like the solution with the workstation on the classroom and to share the desktop.
Would this be possible with klipper, octoprint and Raspbian?

As long as you don't use the pi as desktop I would say yes.
Hotspot for one client + one opened webinterface + Klipper + Octoprint should be achievable imo.
But I don't have any Klipper experience and don't know how much cpu power it needs.
Just test it :slight_smile:

Ok, I think that would be the only way to find it out. Maybe someone has tested it before and can give me some feedback. Do you think that there is a difference in which way I would install the software (klipper then Raspbian, then octopi) or Raspbian first then the other sw?

OctoPi is a full OS, based on Raspbian. Klipper recommends installing on that.
You should be fine grabbing OctoPi 0.17.0, then installing Klipper on that, then setting up your AP after that on there.

OctoPi is Raspbian with OctoPrint preinstalled/configured, without uneccessary things like a desktop interface. Pretty much any guide for Raspbian will work on OctoPi, with the above one you can skip installing as OctoPi is already there.

You will need to either connect the Pi to wifi or a monitor to configure the AP first though, so bear that in mind. Hope that makes sense

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If you needed the students to be able to control the interface from their own desk then the solution I would provide is a kiosk workstation which runs some sort of remote-control software and this is the one which connects to the OctoPrint interface. Each student then in turn might run the client side of the remote software to connect to the kiosk workstation. In this way, there's only a single OctoPrint browser instance running.

Otherwise, remove the remote-control software from the scenario and have each student visit the kiosk desk.

Hey guys thanks so much for the replys.
I will try to install the software and try the kiosk Szenario. I hope it works well. Otherwise I know where to find experts :wink: