EtherView

Last updated jan 30, 2022.

Welcome to the EtherView project!

This is a project to transform a RaspberryPi into a portable network diagnostic machine.

The goal of this project is to make a custom Linux distro to enable basic network diagnostic using a RaspberryPi with a touchscreen. I do not know how long I will maintain this project or how many bugs I will fix. I just want it to run.

The upcoming Linux distro will be based on RaspberryPi OS Lite and will launch a custom python application which will enable connectivity tests without the use of a keyboard.

Hardware

The hardware will be a RaspberryPi 3 or 4, with the official touchscreen. A case will also be used to improve ruggedness, but is optional. The main goal would be to run the Pi and screen on a battery, be it a USB power bank or an integrated lithium battery and charger.

Currently done

• Obtain status of network interface(up/down)
• Obtain basic network information (IPv4 address, netmask, default gateway) on a DHCP enabled network.
• Ping a host using IPv4 address.
• Check DNS connectivity
• Test link speed of network interface and internet speed
• Reload DHCP configuration
• Basic GUI which shows connectivity
• App can be forced to fullscreen
• Pop-ups alert the user if something is wrong
• Working progress bar for long requests
• Clock
• Basic settings menu (for interface, number of ping and host to check DNS)

To be done

• Enable the user to set a static IP address
• Create a numpad for the ping interface
• Create a disk image of a minimal RaspberryPi OS-based distro which runs the python app in a kiosk mode (only app at boot)

Nice to have (maybe will be done, but are not the current focus)

• Make settings persistent between reboots
• More interactivity (screens)
• More beautification (icons, images, fonts)
• Enable the pi to see the public IP address
• Enable the user to connect to wlan
• Log data using PyShark
• See visible hosts on network
• Reference charts (maybe you network engineers can tell me which references you would like to have)
• Network performance graphs (speed, latency...)

Can you do that? (nice ideas that may require extensive modifications of the OS or may not be possible)

• SSH shell (will need either a virtual or physical keyboard)
• Log network traffic
• View VLANS
• View and connect to domains
• View control packets
• Check cable length
• Check cable wiring (maybe using a USB ethernet dongle or the GPIO pins)
• Serial port
• Remote wifi connection to a cellphone to enable wireless control.
• TeamViewer integration?

Known limitations

• Since the interface on the Raspberry is only gigabit, it may not be possible to test faster networks. It will work but the speed most likely will show 1 Gb/s (but hey, it's a 180$ network analyser, what did you expect).
• Since it is using terminal commands and lookup of specific files (a bit hacky), it will most likely break one day when a update is performed to RaspberryPi OS. But most likely not next week.
• There WILL be some security flaws. It is not intended to be a highly secure device, only a small tool for network enthusiasts. Use it at your own risk.
• May not work on future Pi models.

Dependencies

• socket
• netifaces
• struct
• subprocess
• speedtest-cli
• tkinter
• time
• threading

Screenshots

If you want to support the project or have any questions, feel free to send me an email at [email protected]