Beta6 - Buster RaspberryPi Images

Purpose

Setting up a Raspberry Pi server will enable you to continue brewing with your equipment once the Picobrew corporate servers stop functioning. It will enable you to fully operate and control your Pico C/S/Pro or Pico Z/Zymatic.

If you already have a configured and working RaspberryPi there is no need to update to beta6, doing so will reformat your SD card and loose all files. So if you do choose to update back up all related files you want to retain from the Samba/Network Share before doing so.

The server when connected to WiFi should be self-updating when new server source code is released/merged by the maintaining contributors. This accounts for 90-95% of the entire server itself (outside of OS patches, firmware, and various system level settings).

Install Procedure

1. Choose which release variant is appropriate for your setup. If you do not know choose stable release variant (ps_server_stable_beta6.zip).

2. Download ps_server_<variant>_beta6.zip (see link below) and unzip to your desktop/laptop computer. Save the unzipped image 2021-01-24-picobrew-pico-<variant>.img to your computer.


3. Insert a Micro SD card into a card reader and the reader into your computer.


4. Write the extracted 2021-01-24-picobrew-pico-<variant>.img file to the SD card using the following guide: Guide for writing the image.

   Note: the guide will by default lead you to install a generic Raspberry Pi image, so make sure to write the customized 2021-01-24-picobrew-pico-<variant>.img file to your SD instead. (Use the .img file, not the .zip file.)

5. Eject/remove your SD card from the computer. If you want to configure a WIFI connection now, proceed with step 6. Otherwise WiFi can be configured after the first boot sequence on the Pi's webserver, http://<ip-address/hostname>/setup, so you can skip forward to step 6.


6. (optional) To configure WIFI access, re-insert the SD card into your computer. This must be done now, not after booting up the Pi!

   

Locate the file wpa_supplicant.conf in the root directory of the SD card, and modify it as follows with your WIFI network information. Be sure to use quotes around both WIFI name and password. (Use a simple text editor like Notepad, not something with lots of formatting like Word.)





   Then eject/remove the SD from your computer.


7. Insert the SD into your Pi, power it on, and wait approximately 2 minutes.


8. Move over to your Picobrew machine, and open the network settings. You should see PICOBREW as one of the WIFI options, and select it. The password is PICOBREW. You will get a message saying you are Connected!

 (This network name and password is customizable from within the web UI of the server.)

   😊 Congratulations, you are now free of the mothership! 😊


9. You control the Pi server using one of the following methods to access the web interface:

• Connect from a device on the network configured in Step 5, by entering http://raspberrypi/ into your browser. (If this doesn’t work, try the IP address of the Pi assigned by your router.)

• Or, connect a mobile device to the PICOBREW Access Point (using the device’s network settings), then enter http://picobrew.com or http://192.168.72.1/ into your browser.

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Note: this image is still in beta testing!

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Updates Included

• Fix initial WiFi configuration from offline mode (editing wpa_supplicant.conf prior to boot is optional)
• Created multiple release variants as described below:
  • stable - ps_server_stable_beta6.zip: uses a known and agreed stable wireless driver (recommended image)
  • latest - ps_server_latest_beta6.zip: uses an unknown, but most recently released wireless driver (required for RaspberryPi Pi400 compatibility)
  • latest (hdmi) - ps_server_latest_hdmi_beta6.zip: built on top of the earlier latest variant, but includes a GUI (LXDE / X Server) to provide a first release of a graphical user interface / desktop experience.
• Various code changes for a better out of box experience.
  • better supportability features
  • recipe management features
  • session management features
  • recipe image and notes modifications
  • embedded support documentation (PDFs, youtube video links, etc)

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Additional Setup Materials

True Potential of Picobrew = ChiefWigms Server + RaspberryPi - This source is helpful for more visual learners and includes screenshots and pictures of various steps mentioned above.

Installation Instructions - A rich-text formatted version of these release configuration instructions.

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Release Asset Fingerprints

stable

MD5 (ps_server_stable_beta6.zip) = c55171be4c909c1516716d7c23a784c3
MD5 (2021-01-25-picobrew-pico-stable.img) = 2ba7e5012b3905b7f50c3b7c3a51bad7

latest

MD5 (ps_server_latest_beta6.zip) = 6057cf196383af8e7ea92a5ebe4f62f4
MD5 (2021-01-24-picobrew-pico-latest.img) = 7324fcea59743f557d096a825f265ad6

latest (hdmi)

MD5 (ps_server_latest_hdmi_beta6.zip) = 76491ab986861875a02b27a70de2b57a
MD5 (2021-01-25-picobrew-pico-latest-hdmi.img) = b62db7226888d88f82a6d2bfce6c6c0a

Buster Lite Image Targeting Raspberry Pis

Your Pi needs to connect to a 2.4 GHz WiFi band from your router!

1. Download and unzip image (MD5 of ps_server_beta5.zip = a02298d100fdd09fdc4a6ed0de3794f6; MD5 of 2020-11-14-picobrew-pico-lite.img = f83450f0b782ef5acd069f8d28abf597)
2. Write Image (use the extracted 2020-11-14-picobrew-pico-lite.img, not the ps_server_beta5.zip file!) Guide for writing the image.
3. Eject/Plug back SD card to computer
4. (optional) Modify wpa_supplicant.conf with your network information (use quotes around BOTH ssid & psk !)
   
5. Insert SD into PI & Power on
6. Wait 2 minutes (that's right - no more long waits!)
7. Wait for a hotspot "PICOBREW" - the password is "PICOBREW".
8. Test out the server and pico brew on :)
   a) from the network configured in Step 4 (eg. http://raspberrypi/)
   b) from the "PICOBREW" Access Point from Step 7 (eg. http://picobrew.com)

This image is still in beta!

Updates include:

1. Updates to how the Picobrew access point is setup/configured

Buster Lite Image Targeting Raspberry Pis

Your Pi needs to connect to a 2.4 GHz WiFi band from your router!

1. Download and unzip image (MD5 of ps_server_beta4.zip = 6a575598aface1decfad333000448e92; MD5 of 2020-09-27-picobrew-pico-lite.img = 90db2042074566c65547f6b1cf36e1c7)
2. Write Image (use the extracted 2020-09-27-picobrew-pico-lite.img, not the ps_server_beta4.zip file!) Guide for writing the image.
3. Eject/Plug back SD card to computer
4. Modify wpa_supplicant.conf with your network information (use quotes around BOTH ssid & psk !)
   
5. Insert SD into PI & Power on
6. Wait 2 minutes (that's right - no more long waits!)
7. Wait for a hotspot "PICOBREW" - the password is "PICOBREW".
8. Test out the server :)

This image is still in beta! Updates include:

1. Include git repo with install
2. Revert WiFi firmware to an older version for stability
3. Push latest startup script (rc.local)
4. Migrate image builds to pi-gen.. look out for a GUI version soon

Buster Lite Image Targeting Raspberry Pis

Your Pi needs to connect to a 2.4 GHz WiFi band from your router!

1. Download and unzip image (MD5 of .zip = d99ec5d50a87614a40dd9028b603294e; MD5 of .img 357b994238ded1e47616249cc1e8eb27)
2. Write Image Guide for writing the image.
3. Eject/Plug back SD card to computer
4. Modify wpa_supplicant.conf with your network information (use quotes around BOTH ssid & psk !)
   
5. Insert SD into PI & Power on
6. Wait 15-20 minutes or longer (it will go through and install/update).
7. Wait for a hotspot "PICOBREW" - the password is "PICOBREW".
8. Test out the server :)

This image is still in beta! Updates include:

1. Added offline packages (debs & whl)
2. Updated br0 interface to use dnsmasq for DHCP
3. nginx setup fixes
4. updates to rc.local
5. Network config updates (eth0 updates, nsswitch.conf updates)

Buster Lite Image Targeting Raspberry Pis

Guide for writing the image.

Your Pi needs to connect to a 2.4 GHz WiFi band from your router!

1. Download and unzip image (MD5 of .img = 7913d5606681fdb2d7fcb3b9e1bc1e1b)
2. Write Image
3. Eject/Plug back SD card to computer
4. Modify wpa_supplicant.conf with your network information (use quotes around BOTH ssid & psk !)
   
5. Insert SD into PI & Power on
6. Wait 15-20 minutes or longer (it will go through and install/update).
7. Wait for a hotspot "PICOBREW" - the password is "PICOBREW".
8. Test out the server :)

This image is still in beta! Updates include:

1. Added offline packages (debs & whl)
2. Updated br0 interface to use dnsmasq for DHCP
3. nginx setup fixes
4. updates to rc.local

Buster Lite Image Targeting Raspberry Pis

Guide for writing the image

1. Download and unzip image (MD5 of .img = 9d5269b080c8babfe7e2516a8d774c07)
2. Write Image
3. Eject/Plug back SD card to computer
4. Modify wpa_supplicant.conf with your network information (use quotes around BOTH ssid & psk !)
   
5. Insert SD into PI & Power on
6. Wait 15-20 minutes or longer (it will go through and install/update).
7. Wait for a hotspot "PICOBREW" - the password is "PICOBREW".
8. Test out the server :)