How To Turn A Raspberry Pi Into A Wi-Fi Extender – SlashGear

Because wi-fi repeaters are inexpensive and relatively uncomplicated devices, we’ve based our instructions on creating an extender using a Raspberry Pi Zero W, the smallest traditional Pi with built-in wi-fi. With BalenaOS, the steps for the Pi Zero W are basically identical to any other Pi with wi-fi capabilities. In all cases, you’ll need a wi-fi dongle in addition to the on-board wi-fi; one will connect to your router’s SSID, and one will broadcast the extender SSID. You’ll also need a power supply for the Pi (micro-USB in the case of a Pi Zero) and either a USB drive or a MicroSD card. That’s it for hardware.

All of the software setup is Balena-related. BalenaOS and Balena Cloud comprise a Docker-based system for deploying fleets of IoT devices, but you don’t need to worry about any of that. Balena is free for your first 10 devices; you can think later about whether you want to use it for other purposes. Overall, the setup is painless, but not necessarily fast. Balena’s ecosystem will insulate you from entering (or mis-entering) 200 cryptic Linux command-line instructions, but it does require some setup of its own. Don’t worry, they’ve made it as straightforward as possible. First, you’ll get everything in order with Balena Cloud, then you’ll flash the USB drive or MicroSD card and set up your Raspberry Pi. Then set up the project and push it to your Pi, and you’re done.