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I'm setting up a Pi4 to land on a blank page and have streaming services like Netflix as large icons and they run in kiosk mode. So I've hidden the bar across the top. What I would like to do is to have an icon on the desktop that links to wifi and bluetooth or both in one. I like the simplicity of the Wifi/BT setup from the bar at the top, but I'm hiding the bar and want it as a large app icon or link. What is the best way of either linking to the gui that pops up when you set up wifi or using a completely different one instead? Any help is appreciated.

styleruk
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1 Answers1

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For Wi-Fi you can use wpa_cli tools (or with only wpa_supplicant and dhclient tools you can connect to Wi-Fi AP and get an IP address). The bluetoothctl tool can be used for Bluetooth connection.

One solution is :

You can create Desktop shorcut with .desktop file.

You can create your own connection scripts and use it in the .desktop file.

Another option is : (Edit 03/05/2022)

Install blueman package :

sudo apt-get install blueman

Create desktop shortcut for bluetooth app:

nano /home/pi/Desktop/bluetooth.desktop

File content :

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.1
Name=bluetooth
Comment=bluetooth
Icon=preferences-system-bluetooth
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=blueman

Install nm-tray package:

sudo apt-get install nm-tray

Create desktop shortcut for wifi/ethernet app:

nano /home/pi/Desktop/network.desktop

File content :

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.1
Name=network
Comment=network
Icon=network-wireless-connected-100
Type=Application
Terminal=true
Exec=nmtui

I think it would be better to disable the following lxpanel plugins from lxpanel menu or remove them entirely: lxplug-bluetooth and lxplug-network, for example:

sudo apt-get remove --purge lxplug-bluetooth... lxplug-network...

  • You can also change Icon= if you remove plugins:

Icon=preferences-system-bluetooth (use default lxplug-bluetooth plugin icon) → Icon=blueman

Icon=network-wireless-connected-100 (use default lxplug-network plugin icon) → Icon=network-wired (use default nm-tray ethernet icon)

Note: nmtui is a console GUI app.

Ephemeral
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  • I'm working on that, (currently fried my pi, so awaiting new one). When I looked at those commands, they are terminal commands, I wanted to give an easier GUI interface to connect to. But I will try this first to see what it looks like. – styleruk Mar 02 '22 at 15:06
  • @styleruk, You can see my edited answer for more appropriate answer. – Ephemeral Mar 04 '22 at 23:09
  • @styleruk, Another answer update at 03/05/2022, use nm-tray instead of wicd. – Ephemeral Mar 05 '22 at 21:40
  • Thank you for the suggestions here. I have made both desktop entries and the bluetooth one gives an error 'invalid desktop entry file; '/home/pi/Desktop/bluetooth.desktop' – styleruk Mar 08 '22 at 11:33
  • the wifi desktop file gives error 'Failed to execute child process "xterm" (No such file or directory) – styleruk Mar 08 '22 at 11:34
  • @styleruk, What is your OS ? (My test is on Debian bullseye) – Ephemeral Mar 08 '22 at 22:34
  • I'm on Debian buster at the moment. – styleruk Mar 09 '22 at 16:33
  • I found using network manager confused the Pi, I'm guessing I did not disable the plugins correctly and this lead to wifi not working. So I have stuck to using just the panel options that come with raspbian and hiding a reduced sized menu ribbon at the top corner. This looks fairly neat for the prototype level I'm working at. – styleruk Apr 22 '22 at 10:40