Here's a DIY guide with potential solutions to help you set up a Lightning paywall captive portal for your Patagonian lake adventures:

Hardware:

• Starlink Dish & Ethernet Adapter: You've got this covered!
• Solar Panel, Sine Inverter, Lithium Battery: Ensure these have enough capacity to continuously power your router and a device running the captive portal software.
• Router: A basic Wi-Fi router for broadcasting your access point.
• Device to Host Captive Portal: This could be an old laptop, a Raspberry Pi, or a dedicated small form-factor computer.

Software:

Here are several potential options for your paywall system:

• btc-hotspot (https://medium.com/@a.raspitzu/decentralizing-the-hotspot-market-introducing-btc-hotspot-9ccfd6156083): A self-contained solution providing captive portal and Lightning Network features.
• Lightning Wi-Fi FAS (https://github.com/bhavman2/fas-frontend): A popular solution specifically designed for Wi-Fi paywalls powered by the Lightning Network.
• Custom Solution: If you're comfortable with programming, you can create a captive portal system using Python/Flask or Node.js. You'll need to integrate a Lightning Network library like LND to handle payments.

Lightning Node:

• Before users can pay, you'll need a way to receive payments. For maximum uptime, consider a hosted node service like Voltage or LNBits. These often have easy interfaces to generate invoices. A self-hosted option on your captive portal device is possible, but more complex for intermittent connectivity.

Onboarding New Users:

This is your biggest challenge for adoption. Here's how to overcome it:

• Education: Simple instructions at your lake spot on how to download a Lightning wallet (consider BlueWallet, Muun, or Phoenix as beginner-friendly options).
• Lightning Faucet: Consider setting up a small faucet dispensing enough SATs (fractions of a Bitcoin) to pay for initial connectivity.
• QR Codes: Provide easy-to-scan QR codes to download wallets and your node's invoice for faster connections.

DIY Guide (General Outline):

1. Power Setup:
   • Connect your solar panels, inverter, and battery to create a consistent power source.
2. Network Setup
   • Connect your Starlink dish to the router with the Ethernet adapter.
   • Connect your captive portal device (laptop, Raspberry Pi) to the router.
3. Captive Portal Installation:
   • Choose a captive portal solution and install it on your device. Configure the desired time duration users get access for after a successful Lightning payment.
4. Lightning Integration:
   • Set up a Lightning node or integrate your external node with the captive portal to generate invoices and receive payments.
5. Onboarding:
   • Create clear instructions and provide QR codes for wallet downloads and faucets, as needed.

Additional Considerations:

• Weatherproofing: Protect your system's components from the elements.
• Connectivity Range: Choose your setup location and router based on desired coverage area.
• Security: Take basic precautions for passwords and device access to protect your Lightning node and payments.