RPiUSB is Raspberry Pi Zero W based a USB drive synchronized with an FTP Server account.

Ideal for old CNC machines and other industrial devices or all those that can only retrieve data from memory connected via USB and do not support Ethernet or Internet like old TV, audio or video player.

Installing operating system images

To writing an image to the SD card, use Imager

In Imager configure advanced options like WiFi, ssh, user and password before installation.

Installing RPiUSB

Run the following command will download and run the installation script automatically,

curl -sS https://raw.githubusercontent.com/darton/RPiUSB/master/install.sh | bash

or clone repo from github and install from local drive

git clone https://github.com/darton/rpiusb.git

cd rpiusb

bash install.sh

Edit the rpiusb.conf config file located at /home/pi/scripts/RPiUSB/rpiusb.conf

nano /home/pi/scripts/RPiUSB/rpiusb.conf

#FTP server credentials
FTP_SERVER="ftp.example.com"
FTP_USER="ftpuser"
FTP_PASSWD="ftpuserpassword"
FTP_DIR="/private"

How to force synchronization of files with the FTP server.

To make RPiUSB download files from the FTP server create a empty file OK in the /privater folder of the FTP server. Within a minute, RPiUSB will begin mirroring the remote /private directory from the FTP server to the local disk. Then it will change the file name OK to DONE-rpi-ip-address.

If you want to remotely turn off the Raspberry Pi, upload two files named POWEROFF and next OK to the /private directory on the FTP server."

If you want to turn RPiUSB back on, unplug and reconnect it to the USB port of the device or attach a momentary switch to the GPIO3 and GROUND pins. This switch can be used to turn the Raspberry Pi on and off.

To upload files to RPiUSB directly, connect it to a computer's port with Linux, MacOS, or Windows. After uploading the files, add two empty files named OK and POWEROFF. RPiUSB will automatically unmount from the system, and the Raspberry Pi system will shut down shortly thereafter. A better method would be to unmount the RPiUSB disk from the computer's system and then press the poweroff button on the Raspberry Pi Zero W.

This project has been used in production for several years in a large factory to deliver batch files to a CNC machine.