Wifi configuration

First connection

Using your web browser

First thing to do is to let Wiflip know about your network in order to connect to it.

Turn on the pinball. Then, from a computer, look for a wifi network with a name like WiFlip_XYZT and connect to it. The wifi password for this network is shootagain.

Once the connection is established, open your browser (such like Firefox) and in the url field, enter the following fixed address: http://192.168.4.22.

alternately, you can try to connect to http://WIFLIP_XYZT.local where XYZT are the characters you read from your device's Acess Point name

You will reach a page asking for your home gateway credentials, namely name and password. Encryption method used inside WiFlip is wpa2.

Enter these data, validate, and wait for a success message such as on the figure below. Of course, the wifi access point with this name and passsword must be active when you are in this process of defining your AP.

If it does not work, the message indicates a failure. This might be that you entered a wrong password or that the network is temporarily unreachable, or off range.

Repeat the operation until it works (success message).

The success page will display the local IP that is given to the WiFlip device. Please, note the indicated value. Something like 192.168.1.18

Once it is done, don't forget to reconnect your PC to your usual home gateway. You won't need to connect to the WiFlip_XYZT access point any more, unless your DHCP server reattached another IP address to the WiFlip device.

Sometimes, the DHCP server changes the device address it had given previously (after a gateway reboot, for example, or after that many new devices are declared on your local network, or simply after that a timeout has elapsed.

You usually realise that the address has changed, as the connection is suddenly impossible to make. In such a situation, you will need to go to the WiFlip_XYZT again and check the indicated IP given by the DHCP server.

Things become simpler if your local network makes use of the mDNS protocol. This widely used protocol makes possible to use strings for urls instead of cryptic 192.168... You will be able to address urls by name on your local network.

WiFlip becomes directly accessible by name, ff mDNS is installed on your network:
wiflip_xyzt.local (replace xyzt with your own values)
This string is case insensitive. You just need to type this in the host field, instead of the numeric host name, and click connect. You might have to wait for 1mn on the very first connection. In general, the connection is made instantly.

Open the wiflip application from your PC or MAC and type wiflip_xyzt.local (replacing xyzt with your own values) or the IP address you noted (from the success config. message) into the HOST field of the connection sub window.

Click on connect. The connection led turns yellow, and becomes green once the connection is established.

It does not matter whether you click the connect button first, then power on the pinball, or the opposite. Both are OK.

If you turn the pinball off, then on again, the connection will be lost. The application should retry establishing a new connection. That can last for a minute or so until the communication is reestablished. The application might not notice it. The backglass replication typically freezes in such a situation. After a minute, if the app is still frozen, you will have to click disconnect, then connect again to recover the connection.

You can connect up to 4 computers simultaneously to the same wiflip device. Not very useful, but feasible

The best way for determining if you have mDNS or not is to try using wiflip_xyzt.local for the url and see if it works. If it does not, get back to the numerical values. mDNS usually comes with services such as Bonjour

Using application dialog "wifi config..."

The wifi config can also be made from the WiFlip appli. Connect your computer's wifi to the wiflip device Access point (WIFLIP_XYZT). Then, from Tools->Wifi config, start the wifi config dialog box:

It is very similar to the above web page. Enter your network credentials and click "Set".

You should get a success message indicating from which local url you can start the communication

Reconnect the computer's wifi on your network and you can start the wiflip communication

Changing port number

If necessary, you can change the port number of the connection (default 23). There is usually no reason to change it. Don't modify the port number unless you are obliged to. It happens that port 23 be disabled by administrators, to improve their network security.

If you change the port number, you will have to restart the device to take the modification into account.

Sticking on the WiFlip acess point

If you are in an area where no wifi is available, the pinball will still be reachable. Configuration is also doable (though it's not recommended). You can connect your computer on the wiflip device AP directly. The connection from the application is established by entering either 192.168.4.22 or wiflip_xyzt.local in the host field.