Raspberry Pi powered Buzzer System

[owentroe]

I would like to set up a raspberry pi like a router and have devices connect to it, similar to a wireless router. However, I don't want/need connection to the internet, just a way to interface between custom devices.

To be more specific: I am working on a wireless buzzer system for knowledge-based competitions. I would like the base station to act similar to a wireless router and connect to each of the remotes. I currently have a working setup with atmega328p's and AM transmitters and receivers, but I have found the range and transmission failure rates to be a bit of an annoyance. Also the antenna protruding from the remotes is slightly inconvenient. So, I would like to rebuild the system using wifi as the method of communication. I intend to keep the remotes using the atmegas (or something similarly low powered and cheap) and have the base station raspberry pi powered.

The issue is I don't know where to begin with setting up the raspberry pi in the way I have described. If I could have some guidance in where to begin and some helpful resources, it would be greatly appreciated.

Things I am stuck on:

1. Setting up the raspberry pi as a router w/o intention for internet access

2. Communication with connected devices

[Goraxium]

1. Setting up the raspberry pi as a router w/o intention for internet access

https://learn.adafruit.com/setting-up-a ... ess-point/
This is one of the simplest pages I've found on the topic. I haven't played around with setting up a server in a while though, but it works fine. I'd suggest skipping over the NAT part, since you have no use for it (or just about everything from that part onwards aside from testing the connection).

2. Communication with connected devices

This one's a bit harder to run through. The simplest method would be to set up a server on the pi that lets clients connect, and then just waits for them to send through a small message to act as the buzzer signal. All the server would have to do then, is show who got in first, and then clear it after a specified amount of time, or when it's told to through a manual control. If you've done any networking programming in the past, it should be a piece of cake. If not, it may be a bit more tedious.