Run Raspberry Pi on Smart Phone

Step 1: Getting Raspberry pi IP Address:

To begin with the project, one will need to know the IP address of Raspberry Pi. In order to do so connect your Raspberry Pi with the LCD and, type "ifconfig" or "hostname-I" in the terminal window.

Note: Only for this particular section any external display is used like LCD, else for whole of the project smartphone (Android Phone) will be used.

Step 2: Connecting Pi with Phone (Setting up SSH client):

SSH (Secure Socket Shell) is a protocol to access Raspberry Pi with any device. For this project Serverauditor is used that can be downloaded from the Android play store for free. It’s also available for iOS devices.

Make sure that both phone and Raspberry Pi are in the same network in entire project.

Steps to install Serverauditor on Phone:

Step 2.1: When you first start the application click on the Plus Button present on the bottom left of the screen, and then choose the New Host.

Step 2.2: Enter the following Details

• Alias: Any name is acceptable

• Username: pi

• Hostname: Your Raspberry Pi IP address (From Step 1)

• Password: raspberry

The other fields can be left blanks, then tap the check mark on the top right. After that, click one Connect when asked “If you really want to connect your device”.

Note: Username and Password are those of Raspberry Pi. If one has changed it from default, one need to enter the current username and password.

You now have Raspberry Pi console line on your screen.

Step 3: Install & Set up VNC Server on Raspberry Pi

As now you have SSH, you can do this either on Raspberry Pi console i.e. on your tablet/smartphone. For sure you can do this by connecting your Raspberry Pi with a PC monitor and opening a console line. Enter the following commands in order.

Step 3.1: Install TightVNC package

sudo apt-get install tightvncserver  

Step 3.2: Run TightVNC Server

tightvncserver 

You will be asked to enter a password and an optional view-only password.

Step 3.3: Create a script file to start the VNC server. Open text editor by typing following command:

nano      

Put the following script in it:

#!/bin/sh                                                                            
vncserver :1 -geometry 1920x1080 -depth 24 -dpi 96

“Ctrl+O” to save the file. The extension should be “.sh”. I named it “vnc.sh”. Then, “Ctrl+X” to exit the editor.

Then make the file executable.

sudo chmod +x vnc.sh 

With this file, you can start VNC server from your tablet/smartphone by sending a command via SSH:

 ./vnc.sh dsfs

Step 4: Install & set up VNC viewer on your tablet/smartphone

Download and install Real VNC from android store for free.

Setting up Real VNC:

• Enter Raspberry Pi IP address followed by “:1” which means display number 1.

• Also one needs to enter the VNC server password that was created in Step 3.2.

Final Output: