Learning resources for Raspberry Pi, sample projects, helpful references

Headless Setup

1. Fresh install of Raspbian Lite on your MicroSD card, which should create 2 new partitions (rootfs and boot)
2. Open the boot partition, and created an empty file simply named "ssh" (no extension)
3. Created new file wpa_supplicant.conf in boot partition with the contents:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=CA

network={
	ssid="SSID"
	psk="PASSWORD"
	key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

Replace the SSID with your WiFi name, and PASSWORD with the password
4. Set static IPs
Open the "rootfs" partition as root. Edit /etc/dhcpcd.conf (append to end of file)

Make sure the indentations are done with tabs?

interface eth0
    static ip_address=192.168.0.200/24
    static routers=192.168.0.1
    static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1

interface wlan0
    static ip_address=192.168.0.200/24
    static routers=192.168.0.1
    static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1

5. Start up, ssh: ssh pi@192.168.0.200

If that doesn't work, try ssh pi@raspberrypi.local (the default hostname)

6. Run passwd, change the default password
7. Change hostname using sudo raspi-config, enable Camera and 1-Wire interfaces if you want to use them later, then reboot
8. SSH back in, and run sudo apt-get update -y && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Like in Step 5, if you can't connect to the right ip, try ssh pi@<newhostname>.local (the new hostname)

Enable Automatic Updates

sudo apt-get install unattended-upgrades  
dpkg-reconfigure -plow unattended-upgrades  

Favourite Applications

Pi-Hole

Run Raspberry Pi as a local DNS server to block ads across entire local network
Pi-Hole home

Installation

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

My Blocklists

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/StevenBlack/hosts/master/hosts https://mirror1.malwaredomains.com/files/justdomains http://sysctl.org/cameleon/hosts https://zeustracker.abuse.ch/blocklist.php?download=domainblocklist https://s3.amazonaws.com/lists.disconnect.me/simple_tracking.txt https://s3.amazonaws.com/lists.disconnect.me/simple_ad.txt https://hosts-file.net/ad_servers.txt https://gist.githubusercontent.com/anudeepND/adac7982307fec6ee23605e281a57f1a/raw/5b8582b906a9497624c3f3187a49ebc23a9cf2fb/Test.txt

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PiVPN

Local VPN server to connect to local internet from anywhere
PiVPN home

Installation

curl -L https://install.pivpn.io | bash

Use the Wireguard implementation, is't much faster!

Having issues?

If you're having trouble accessing local devices over vpn, try running pivpn debug It might automatically fix those issues, especially if the issue is due to incorrect masquerading (I don't actually know what that is!)

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Raspberry Pi Setup

Enable SSH

SSH is what you will use to log in to your raspberry pi remotely and control it through your CLI. (command-line interface)

Open raspberry pi settings and enable ssh on port 22, if your raspberry pi is connected to a monitor.
Alternatively, you can run this:

sudo raspi-config  

Select Interfacing Options (5)
Select SSH and set it to enabled.

Set Device Name (Hostname)

This is very helpful when you have more than 1 raspberry pi on the same network and you need to be able to distinguish between them.

sudo raspi-config  

Select Network Settings (2)
Set hostname to something unique, like raspi-uniquename

Set Static IP Address

Setting a static ip address means you always know how to connect to your raspberry pi from another computer.

sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

Append this to the end of the file:

interface eth0
    static ip_address=192.168.0.100/24
    static routers=192.168.0.1
    static domain_name_servers=192.168.0.1

This will set your raspberry pi to the IP address 192.168.0.100 on interface eth0.
What this means is if your raspberry pi connects over an ethernet (wired) connection, it will set its own address to 192.168.0.100. To set a wireless IP address, change eth0 to wlan0.
You can stack an eth0 config and a wlan0 config on top of each other in the config file.

Split Memory

If you run the Raspberry Pi without a monitor connected you can safely reduce the amount of ram used by the GPU. By default, the Pi has assigned 64MB RAM to the GPU.

sudo raspi-config  

Select Advanced Options (7)
Change 64 to 16

Speed up boot

With many Linux installations, starting the OS and applications can be delayed during random number generation. haveged speeds that up.

sudo apt-get install haveged -y 

Crontab basics

# m h  dom mon dow   command  
* * * * * /home/pi/code/webcam/snap.sh >> /home/pi/code/webcam/snap.log 2>&1  

This command above calls the snap.sh script every minute and outputs the execution details to snap.log

Camera basics

Local setup

Cameras are easy to set up, drivers aren't even usually required to set things up.
sudo apt-get install fswebcam
fswebcam image.jpg <- take a snapshot
fswebcam -r 1280x720 --no-banner image.jpg <- take a snapshot with more pixels and no banner

Script to take a snapshot (don't forget chmod +x):

#!/bin/bash

DATE=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H%M")

fswebcam -r 1280x720 --no-banner /home/pi/code/webcam/images/$DATE.jpg

Stitch images together:
mencoder mf://*.jpg -mf fps=24:type=jpg -ovc x264 -x264encopts bitrate=1200:threads=2 -o outputfile.mkv

Here's a guide that shows how to use the motion application to quickly set up a raspi webcam server:
https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-webcam-server/

This can easily be integrated into homekit!

Summary here:

Webcam Server

sudo apt-get install libjpeg-dev gettext libmicrohttpd-dev libavformat-dev libavcodec-dev libavutil-dev libswscale-dev libavdevice-dev libwebp-dev mysql-common libmariadbclient18 libpq5

sudo wget https://github.com/Motion-Project/motion/releases/download/release-4.2.1/pi_stretch_motion_4.2.1-1_armhf.deb
sudo dpkg -i pi_stretch_motion_4.2.1-1_armhf.deb

sudo nano /etc/motion/motion.conf daemon on stream_localhost off

sudo nano /etc/default/motion start_motion_daemon=yes

sudo service motion start

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HomeBridge Setup

1. Node v4.3.2 or greater is required. Check by running: node --version. The plugins you use may require newer versions.
2. sudo apt-get install libavahi-compat-libdnssd-dev
3. sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm homebridge
4. Install plugins using: npm install -g <plugin-name>

A. Use this plugin for IP cameras: https://www.npmjs.com/package/homebridge-camera-ffmpeg
NOTE: Camera plugins require ffmpeg: sudo apt-get install libav-tools Do this: https://github.com/KhaosT/homebridge-camera-ffmpeg/wiki/Raspberry-PI
See this too for configs: https://github.com/KhaosT/homebridge-camera-ffmpeg/wiki/Tested-Configurations#configjson

B. Use this plugin for DS18B20 temp sensor: https://www.npmjs.com/package/homebridge-ds18b20
5. Create the config.json file.

Start for testing:
homebridge

Set up automatic start (systemctl)
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/homebridge.service and paste this:

[Unit]
Description=Node.js HomeKit Server
After=syslog.target network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=homebridge
EnvironmentFile=/etc/default/homebridge
ExecStart=/usr/bin/homebridge
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
KillMode=process

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Create a user to run service: sudo useradd --system homebridge
This copies your current user’s config. This assumes you have already added accessories etc.
sudo cp -r ~/.homebridge/persist /var/homebridge
sudo chmod -R 0777 /var/homebridge
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable homebridge
sudo systemctl start homebridge
Type sudo systemctl status homebridge to check the status of the service.
sudo systemctl start/stop/restart homebridge to start/stop/restart
Type sudo journalctl -fu homebridge to view the logs

TODO - Set up SSH keys