NOOBS - Just a bit of feedback

[bensimmo]

I don't know where on github* to put this as there is no link at the bottom of the noobs download page.
Ignoring any wishlist etc. this is usability in what we have.

With my son (who i let lead, workthrough and find until I had to step in), we downloaded noobs lite and put it on an SD card for his new Pi ZeroW kit

Booted and we tried to attach to the WiFi, now it wouldn't work.
We think it is the password, BUT we cannot see what we are typing.
Wi-Fi Password
Could we have a tick box (or funny eye thing that's now in use) to show what we type. We're not all secretive in our own house or even when in our school environment.
- This will enable us to see what we type, we don't know if it's a simple error or because our keyboard does not match the one in use.
It's a cheap keyboard so keys could be anywhere (# is in a different place and so is ~ in yet another place as well as many other symbols) but who knows where they should be or if it is being typed. Given the increased use of symbols, it a usability problem so we are looking around for a standard UK keyboard now. How do other countries cope ?

So now I've got the card in a PC and trying to remember the wpa_.... thing that was mentioned.
No where on https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/noobs/ or the linked software setup guide can we find anything about this so we looked in the obvious place... the Instructions-Readme
So
INSTRUCTIONS-README.txt
Perhaps add a link to the NOOBS install website, not just the forum, so they can self help first.
Add details of wpa_supplicant as it may actually be something people would like to do before they even boot to it.
Maybe some other useful instructions could go in there too ?

ok so I still don't know where I am suppose to put it from a quick search or what is in a wpa_supplicant, I did eventually find
https://github.com/raspberrypi/noobs/bl ... /README.md (perhaps add a link to that as it's more useful than the official site)
but it still doesn't give me an outline of the wpa_supplicant file.

So just some things we came across in our troubles..
..me off to find out what the file looks like, because I cannot transfer something I don't have.. maybe a dummy blank one as a template in noobs ?


*I can move issues there now I've found it if needed?

[ShiftPlusOne]

Thanks, that's all good and useful feedback. I'll bookmark it for later and see how much of it I can do something about.

[kusti8]

The wpa supplicant file is used for configuring the network and a copy can be added using a normal windows computer if you are not able to configure it graphically. If you have a screen and keyboard and mouse, which most beginners will, you can set the network at the top right like any other OS. Manually setting the wpa supplicant file is more of an advanced topic when you're running without a GUI or without a screen aka headless.

[bensimmo]

The wpa supplicant file is used for configuring the network and a copy can be added using a normal windows computer if you are not able to configure it graphically. If you have a screen and keyboard and mouse, which most beginners will, you can set the network at the top right like any other OS. Manually setting the wpa supplicant file is more of an advanced topic when you're running without a GUI or without a screen aka headless.

I think you have miss read, this is NOOBS and setting up through that, Raspian/pixel is just a WiFi connection away when in noobs lite, that's if you can get one.

But
-You can't get your password if your keyboard doesn't match and you cannot see what you are typing to know that is the problem

-An aid to making the help files and the main readme install file more useful, but since you've just copied the files over for noobs, you may want to create the WiFi file there and then (just fill in the template).