I was thinking about documentation when I realized I could integrate the instructions for using it, into the display itself. So to that end, I re-worked the hardware button operations.
With the initial release, each of the 4 hardware buttons was tied to a single command, with the exception of the 3rd button, which if pressed a second time, would initiate an update.
Now I have set the 4th button as a “Change Functions” button, that upon pressing will change the operations of the other 3 buttons, and at the same time, display a message on the screen for what each button does at the current function “level”. The change button currently has 3 levels it cycles through. The new button functions are as follows.
Primary Functions

1. Run MTR tests
2. Run iPerf 3 tests
3. Nothing
4. Change Button Functions

Secondary Functions

1. System Information
2. Standard Upgrade
3. Development Upgrade
4. Change Button Functions

Tertiary Functions

1. Shutdown Remote Test Server
2. Shutdown Local Unit
3. Nothing
4. Change Button Functions

With this change, I can tie more functions to the compatible Raspberry Pi hardware buttons. This should make it a much more useful mobile tool, especially when I start to add other types of tests it can run.

There are a few extra features, such as each instructional page viewed on the WaveShare display, now shows if the remote tester is Online or Offline. This same Online/Offline status is shown on the web portal as well.

The System Information page now shows the following for the ethernet and wifi adapter; Active/Inactive Status, DHCP or Static address setup and the current IP Address.

The about page now also displays the Primary Internet IP address along with the amount of free disk space in GB’s.

I also found and fixed a bug in the WaveShare display. If a button was pressed multiple times before the display finished its refresh, it would crash the display server. I fixed it by adding an “In Use” variable, and if “In Use”, any new commands will be dropped until no longer “In Use”.

I have already put the new update on the standard release channel.

So the new version is out, tested and ready to be used! I should probably work on documentation next but we’ll see what happens.

The new version is now in the Standard release channel. Check it out and start your testing!

I have fixed bugs, added validation checks and tested the testers. I think it’s ready to be released! However, it is 3 AM and I’m fairly tired, so I should probably look it over with rested eyes before actually releasing it.

That being said, it looks to be in good shape. There are proper error messages when the tests fail, the results should always look right on the E-Ink display due to splitting the output into a list instead of picking the exact character locations.

So … I think that’s that, the new release should be out tomorrow sometime.

Kootnet Network Testers are almost done! That’s the new name I decided on because it’s already in the GitHub name. On Raspbian, TCP/IP 4 can be configured on both the Ethernet and Wireless adapters, as well as the wireless connection settings, such as SSID & passkey. There’s some more testing to do and a few bugs to fix. For one, I was able to test over the wireless network (cool!) but it showed that the MTR readings were getting cut off if more then double digits on the WaveShare display (doh!). The Web interface had no such issues and ran great.

For testing, I set static IP’s on the ethernet adapters of 2 Raspberry Pi’s (a 3 and a 4) and connected the wireless to my network. I used the wireless connections to control the 2 units through the Web Portal after connecting both their ethernet ports to a single ethernet cable. The tests ran great and I have already seen some interesting deviations of speeds, depending on a few factors like what systems are being used, cable and route. It was kinda funny to test my wireless speeds from my office, as they were mostly in the single digits.

Things are on track for an end of the month release. Besides testing and bug fixes, I also have to add a few validation checks for user input around the network configurations. I have a bunch of other ideas, but they’ll have to wait until after the initial release.

Soon!

Things are going very well on the Ethernet Tester front. I might have to change the name because technically, the testers can test all kinds of networks, not just Ethernet, especially since it can install on Ubuntu, but I’ll think about that later.

So to start, I’ll list what works. For hardware, the WaveShare 2.7″ E-Ink (both versions) works well, same for the Installer Script. Some of the HTTP sections still need work, but most are operational.

• HTTP Portal
  • Working
    • MTR / iPerf 3 Tests (Run & View)
    • Primary Configuration
    • Hardware Configuration
    • Online Upgrades
    • Power Commands (Restart + Shutdown)
  • Not Working
    • Ethernet & Wireless Configurations

The Testers automatically save every test run into text files on the computer itself, under the test_results folder in the program’s install folder (/opt/kootnet-something-or-other directory). Each text file also has half an epoch timestamp at the end, so you can figure out which was the most recent run. I’ll later be adding a section in the HTTP portal to review past results in the near future.

Here’s a picture to illustrate some of the progress on the HTTP portal.

The Development version can now actually be installed and used with or without a display. You have to open up the configuration file manually to edit, but it’s all functional! It’s also awesome it works on Ubuntu, so you can install it on pretty much any hardware to take advantage of faster network adapters and such.

I need to work on the Flask app to allow configurations. Luckily a good portion is already done, so it won’t take to long to finish this up. After that it’s QA, refactoring and adding in documentation and such.

I have also tested this on a Pi 4, both with and without the 2.7″ E-Paper display. Both worked great!

Expect a release soon!

I have spent some decent time on the Ethernet Testers and have laid most of the foundation to get things working, including the base for supporting different (or no) displays.

The next step is setting up the configuration & testing pages in the flask app. Once that is in place, I should be able to start testing it with the original display and without any displays. If all goes well, I can start adding other display support and different configuration options.

On a side note, it was cool to get my first fork on GitHub, which was of my Ethernet testers. I should get a bit more attention to the project once I finish the updates, especially with the Raspberry Pi 4 having a 1GB ethernet port.

I expect to have a release out of the new version sometime this month.