App-less Line-us plotter setup

I have bought a Line-us plotter a while ago and had some trouble setting it up. After trying different methods, the only one that worked was using the official app on a Macbook that I had to borrow. I just had to set it up again and, not having access to a Macbook, I wanted to see whether there is an easier approach.

The Line-us API is very well-documented, and it turns out you don't need the app at all. Skipping it is both possible and even easy once you know how. This method can be used on macOS as well, and probably on other operating systems with only slight modifications. All you need is:

Setup instructions

  1. Connect the micro USB cable to power on the plotter.
  2. Put the Line-us into setup mode by long-pressing the button on its upside.
  3. Connect your device to the "Line-us setup" wifi network that should have appeared as a result of the previous step.
  4. Open a terminal and establish a TCP connection via telnet 192.168.4.1 1337. A quick aside: What you're seeing at this point is really cool. You're looking at a networked G-Code REPL allowing you to send arbitrary movement commands and make a small robot arm move accordingly. You should try it out with some different commands from the document I linked above, it's very fun.
  5. Type M587 S"your ssid" P"your password" and submit the command using your enter key, but place the actual values for your network between the quotes. The quotes are not required, but they allow you to enter values containing whitespace.
  6. The Line-us will now try to connect to the network.

If the submitted credentials are correct, you will be disconnected from Line-us' wifi network and the button will turn blue and blink red every 5 seconds, which shows that it is waiting for connections.