Ubo Mini: GUI Control for Raspberry Pi - 2U (Open Source)

tag: build showcase

# Why

This GUI design allows you to control your Pi without keyboard/monitor or via terminal.

The design works with Pi 4 and 5 (slow on 3). I am working on the enclosure design and will soon publish them for anyone to download and print. The electrical files will be also published open source.

If there is enough demand, I can considering building a small batch and sending them out.

# Capability

Since software is [fully open source,](https://github.com/ubopod/ubo_app), it is fully customizable. The following include functions included in the current implementation. Always welcome pull requests.

The GUI let's you do:

## Monitor & Control

### System resources
- Mem, CPU, Disk, CPU temperature, etc
- Application status

### Remote Access
- Enable/Disable SSH
- Raspberry Pi Connect
- VSCode Tunnel

### Egress & VPN
- Twingate, Pangolin, and more (via compose)

### Network
- Get interface IP addresses
- Show Hostname
- soon: up/down interface

### Apps
- Install docker compose with Web UI

### User management
- Add/delete user account
- Reset password for user account

### Notifications
- Customizable notifications
- Language agnostic gRPC API

# Design

This is a re-design of an existing GUI I have implemented in its sister project [Ubo Pod](getubo.com) (desktop/tabletop form factor).

I recorded a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ob_HDO66_8) of the re-design process and a [blog post](https://www.getubo.com/post/gui-for-raspberry-pi-inside-mini-racks) that goes more into the high-level parts. I am planning to record videos for the KiCAD part and subsequent steps soon.

# Can you use it now?

Yes, in emulated form.

You can run the GUI inside the browser. It is served on port `4321` after the software boots up. You can [install it on Raspberry Pi OS](https://github.com/ubopod/ubo_app?tab=readme-ov-file#-installation) or grab the full image that has the software pre-installed on the [release](https://github.com/ubopod/ubo_app/releases) section.

You can also run it on your MacOS or Linux development environment for development:

If you run into any issues to get it running, feel free to open an issue on the repo and I look into it immediately.

When you install the software it creates a new user space called `ubo` and install the software in that user space.