Prevent SSID name change?

rpmteacher · November 15, 2018, 5:14pm

I have wonderful students BUT some of them will get too creative with the ability to change the SSID for each robot.

Can I change the name and then prevent others from changing it again?

Thanks,

Rod

cleoqc · November 15, 2018, 5:21pm

Right now there is no method to stop the kids from changing the SSID. It wouldn’t be too too hard for me to put in a password when changing the SSID, but it wouldn’t be entirely secure either (the webserver doesn’t run HTTPS, so a student could eavesdrop on the communication if they have the knowledge).

What would be acceptable from your point of view?
Cleo

rpmteacher · November 15, 2018, 5:28pm

I thought the same - a clever student could still change the SSID but it would reduce the issue. Then again, I’m new to the group and wouldn’t want to drive change unless it has affected other users.

I just wanted to make sure that I hadn’t missed something obvious.

Thanks again for your quick response.

Rod

cleoqc · November 16, 2018, 2:36pm

We’ve been toying with the idea of implementing a Teacher Mode but we have yet to define what we want in that mode.
I’m open to all ideas you may have about this.
So far we have:

the possibility of deleting student code from the SD card
locking a language in place (so you could force your student to use Spanish for example)
and now protecting SSID changes

There’s no time set for this feature as of now though.

Cleo

rpmteacher · November 28, 2018, 4:57pm

I think that blocking an SSID change is critical.

You also bring up the interesting idea of deleting/modifying code on SD card. I wonder how other people manage this in a group setting? I have fifteen robots that will be shared by 60+ students. It’s inevitable that this sharing will lead to conflict and people messing with each other’s code. Any tools to streamline access will be helpful.

Thanks for reaching out.

cleoqc · November 28, 2018, 5:09pm

You are encouraged to save all programs onto a USB drive. That way the kids can take the drive out and keep their own code. It’s best to avoid saving any program on the SD card.

rpmteacher · November 28, 2018, 5:11pm

I like that idea. I thought that I had to buy additional software to save to flash drive.

Is it possible to save to flash drive when it is already mounted on robot or do I save to flash drive from computer and then plug it into robot?

Thanks.

cleoqc · November 28, 2018, 5:13pm

If the kids are working in Bloxter on the robot itself, then it will save on the flash drive that’s inserted in the robot.
If the kids are using bloxter.com, then they can download the file and save it on a flash drive. Once they transfer the flash drive to the robot, their code will be available to them.

None of this requires you to buy anything extra unless you want a flash drive per kid. There should have been one flash drive in your kit already.

rpmteacher · December 5, 2018, 5:44pm

Sorry for the slow reply on this one. We did not receive flash drives with our order but I have some donated drives to work with. Any chance I could get a credit for the flash drives and buy something more interesting from Dexter? Like a camera or GPS? Thanks.

cleoqc · December 6, 2018, 6:25pm

@rpmteacher
My apologies. I was under the impression that a USB drive was included in all kits. I was mistaken.
The Advanced Kit contains an Ethernet cable instead of a USB drive, as it is addressed mostly to people who intend to user Raspbian for Robots. It’s the same hardware in both kits otherwise.
It seems you bought Advanced Kits and that is why you didn’t get USB drives.

I hope this clears things up.
Cleo

rpmteacher · December 12, 2018, 5:31pm

That’s ok and makes sense. We are good with flash drives.