Getting Started

We'll ship you a ready-to-use PenniDinh hub

Ordering is a bit informal for now; to get your PenniDinh hub, send me an email specifying what Micro SD Card size and Raspberry Pi you'd like. I'll install all the PenniDinh software onto the Raspberry Pi (or device you choose), create an invoice through paypal, and then request a payment for the parts and shipping costs. Once the reimbursement is received on my side, I'll ship everything to your address. I don't charge for the handling, software, the minimal cloud infrastructure, or for any of the other costs; as an early user, you won't have to pay anything, ever, and will continue to get the PenniDinh software updates, troubleshooting support, and cloud-based features for your lifetime*.

Micro SD Card

• 16GB - $5.79
• 32GB - $8.39
• 64GB - $11.99

Raspberry Pi Computer and Case (Raspberry Pi 3 B+ vs 4B)

• Raspberry Pi 3 B+, Power Supply, and Case - $56.99
• Raspberry Pi 4 B, Power Supply, and Case - $61.98

Ethernet Cable

• 5 feet - $1.15

Shipping

• USPS First Class (includes tracking number) anywhere in the US - $4.33

Once you get your hub in the mail, connect your PenniDinh Home Hub to your home internet router with the ethernet cable*. Plug the power cable into a nearby outlet. PenniDinh software will start up, pull the latest updates, detect its internal and external IP address, update your PenniDinh subdomain DNS entries, and after a couple minutes once the DNS updates propagate, you'll be able to connect to it.

Connecting to your PenniDinh Hub

Web Browser

The web browser is the recommended way to connect to your PenniDinh hub when you are at a computer. Go to https://shared.pennidinh.com enter your PenniDinh subdomain, and you'll be connected to your hub. From there you can upload and view files, setup your VPN, add or remove users, and view images and videos uploaded from your security cameras.

iOS and Android App

The mobile app is the recommended way to connect to your PenniDinh hub when away from a computer. See the links on homepage to download the app. Launch the app and follow the on-screen instructions to connect to your PenniDinh hub. You can upload files, setup your VPN, add or remove users, and view and delete images and videos uploaded from your security cameras.

• iOS approved by Apple for Beta
  • download here: https://testflight.apple.com/join/ASe23BVl
• Android
  • download here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gL281mJ2ZfKqDV4TFsNl1E4E_-ouD71L

Setting up your Virtual Private Network (VPN)

The VPN feature allows you to send your internet traffic, regardless of where you are in the world, through your home's router. This is helpful when traveling or using public WiFi preventing bad people from looking at and in some cases stealing your personal information. iOS and Android both have free apps which make connecting to your PenniDinh Hub's VPN way simpler than it may seem. Something to note here though is that for the VPN feature to work, you must be able to set up Port Forwarding on your home's router to send incoming traffic on port 9000 to your PenniDinh hub; this is so that your phone (or whatever device you have using the VPN) can directly connect to your PenniDinh Hub anywhere in the world.

Configuring your Security Cameras to upload photos and videos to your PenniDinh hub

PenniDinh hub receives photos and videos from your PenniDinh hub using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Your Security Camera will require 1) the destination IP address, 2) FTP username, 3) FTP password, and 4) upload directory path. For items 1, 2, and 3, there is an "FTP" section in the PenniDinh mobile app and "FTP Management" section in the web app where you can activate FTP, set your FTP password, and find your internal IP address. The FTP directory path would be "whatever-youd-like-to-call-your-camera". Nearly all Security Camera's which support FTP will have a mobile app for configuring the motion detection FTP uploads. Note, it's very important to buy a security camera which supports FTP uploads of photos and videos. Also note, some security cameras upload in odd formats which can't be viewed on most mobile devices such as the .264 video format; it's important to get a camera which uploads videos and photos in a format which can be viewed from your phone and computer. These Reolink WiFi cameras are what I use.

Deleting old Security Camera photo and video uploads

PenniDinh hub will delete the oldest security camera photo and videos to keep your PenniDinh hub from running out of space. To manually delete an unflattering photo or video, find the photo or video in the mobile app, press and hold on the thumbnail, and select delete. Files manually uploaded through PenniDinh's manual file upload feature, will not be deleted automatically. They can be manually deleted following the same process in the mobile app.

Accessing your PenniDinh hub from anywhere in the world without the PenniDinh shared proxy

It's possible to access your PenniDinh hub directly if you've setup port forwarding for ports 80 and 443 to your PenniDinh home hub. Once that's configured, just enter your PenniDinh subdomain into a web browser (i.e. https://lynnwood.pennidinh.com ). The mobile app will automatically prioritize connecting to your PenniDinh hub directly over going through https://shared.pennidinh.com .

(Advanced) Install PenniDinh software on your own linux-based OS

PenniDinh software can run on any linux-based OS (including Mac OS); for example, I ran a PenniDinh hub in a Singapore datacenter with AWS while traveling to Vietnam so that my wife could shop on Macy's while we were there (not sure why Macy's is blocked in Vietnam). All of the latest PenniDinh software has been compiled for both ARM and x86 architecture CPUs. However, PenniDinh software is optimized to run on Raspberry Pi and that's where we think you'll find the most value. For those of you nerds who want to setup PenniDinh yourself, email me for a guide to install docker, docker container, and PenniDinh software on your own linux-based device.