Lab Management Asset Organizer, or LMAO for short, is an inventory management system for the EOSL labs. It runs on a Raspberry Pi with an accompanying server running wherever space is available. The system is developed by 2022 STEM@GTRI interns George Parks and Mallika Kulkarni.
To configure the Raspberry Pi, you'll need to perform a few steps. LMAO supports an infinte number of Pis connected to the primary server, so feel free to set up several to increase the reach of the system. This software is designed to run on the Lite version of Raspbian
- Setup SSH
Make sure there is SSH access to the Raspberry Pi for debugging and maintenence purposes. It is exceedingly inconvenient to force-restart with the display locked down by the LMAO interface.
- Install linux packages
You'll also need the following packages installed
sudo apt install python3-pyqt5 xorg openbox lightdm git feh python3-pip- Install PIP packages
You'll need to install the following packages:
pyserial==3.5
requests==2.28.0- Configure Autostart
Add the following line to $HOME/.config/openbox/autostart, and make sure this file is executable (chmod +x)
$HOME/app/run.sh &Make sure your Pi is configured to automatically login to the user account you created via GUI. You can do this by running sudo raspi-config and changing the Auto Login option to Desktop Autologin under System Options.
❗ If you're running into problems, you can see the logs by replacing the contents of
$HOME/.config/openbox/autostartwith the following:$HOME/app/run.sh >$HOME/lmao_log 2>&1 &You can then run the window manager with
startxand read the errors usingcat ~/lmao_log
- Download code bundle
Clone the git repository into the $HOME/app directory.
git clone https://github.com/geoge23/lmao.git $HOME/app- Configure the app
Create a new file called evars.sh in the $HOME/app directory. Export any relevant environment variables you need to run the app. For instance:
export RFID_SERIAL_PORT=/dev/serial/by-id/usb-RFIDeas_USB_Serial-if00
export SCANNER_SERIAL_PORT=/dev/serial/by-id/usb-SuperLead_2208_CF221B1B0171-if00
export URL=http://10.0.0.5:5000
export KEY=(API KEY)More environment variables can be seen in the example.env file
- Reboot your Pi
Everything should be configured, just reboot the Pi and the service should begin working automatically. The process may take up to two minutes to initialize, during which there may be no display output.
ℹ Any exit code other than SIGTERM will cause the process to be restarted. If you need to kill the LMAO process, open an SSH session and run
pkill python. This will terminate the process and return you to Openbox, where you can right click to get a menu of options. If you want to return to LMAO, just spawn a terminal and run~/app/run.sh.
ℹ To improve the user experience for those using the Pi, run the script at
vanity/graphics-setup.shto set up the desktop environment UI. This adds launch screen splashes and configures desktop backgrounds. Make sure you're in the$HOME/appdirectory before running this script.
These instructions are intended for a Windows server.
- Install Python
Download Python from the Microsoft Store or the website. Make sure that Python is added to PATH. Then, install the following packages.
Flask==2.1.2
peewee==3.14.10
psycopg2==2.9.3
requests==2.28.0
flask-admin==1.6.0
wtf-peewee==3.0.4
waitress=2.1.2- Install Postgres
Download and install PostgreSQL from the website. Go through the wizard and make note of the user you create, since you will need this later to authenticate the server with the database
- Download code bundle
Clone the git repository onto your system
git clone https://github.com/geoge23/lmao.git- Configure environment variables
Open the run.bat file located in ./server using a text editor. Change the POSTGRES_USER and POSTGRES_PASSWORD variables to match the user and password you created in the previous step. Make note of the absolute path to this directory, as you will need it next.
- Configure the task for Windows Scheduler
Open the lmao-server-task.xml file located in ./server using a text editor. Locate the <Actions> section and set the relevant tags based on the absolute path from the last step. The section should look something like this.
<Actions Context="Author">
<Exec>
<Command>C:\Users\[YOUR USER]\Documents\inventory\server\env_run.bat</Command>
<WorkingDirectory>C:\Users\[YOUR USER]\Documents\inventory\server</WorkingDirectory>
</Exec>
</Actions>- Add the task
Press WIN + R to open the Run dialog. Type taskschd.msc into the box and press ENTER. This will open the Scheduler. In the top left, press Action > Import Task. Select the lmao-server-task.xml file you just created. Press OK. Authenticate using an admin account in the dialog that appears. The task should now be added to the Scheduler.
- Start the server
Find lmao-server in the list of scheduled jobs in the Scheduler. Right-click on the job and select Run. This starts the server at :80.
- Get your API key
When the server starts for the first time, an API key will be written to ./server/key. This is the key you will need to use to authenticate with the server for the first time. When you navigate to the admin panel for the first time, you will see a login window. Paste your API key into the api_key box and click Login.
❗ The API key will only generate if there are no already existing keys in the database. Feel free to delete the
keyfile when you're done with it. If you've lost access to your keys, you will need to manually access the database and add an entry to the api_keys table.
ℹ If you want to change the port that the server listens on (or add more arguments to the WSGI server command), edit the
run.batfile in./server.
The LMAO Admin panel is always accessable at /admin
To connect clients to the API, they must first create an API key. This is done by going to the admin panel and clicking on the API Keys tab. Press create, and an API key will be generated. Then press Save to activate it. The key will be displayed in the API Key field. For security purposes, one key should be used for one client, and these keys should not be shared with anyone else. Keys can be revoked by deleting them in the admin panel.
While it is possible to add users from this panel if you know their unique GT badge ID, it is recommended to add this data via the onboarding screen when scanning an unknown ID badge from a Pi terminal.
ℹ The GTID referenced in the database differs from Georgia Tech's actual GTIDs, since the tapcards do not hold GTIDs. They have UUIDs, which are used to authenticate with the system. Do not use the GTID in the database, but instead use the UUID from the card.
To add items, navigate to the admin panel and click on the Items tab. Fill out the relevant fields and click Add Item. The item will be added to the database. If you want to use an already existing image for your item, you can include an image ID from the Images tab in the Image ID field.
ℹ Images will be automatically resized to 400x400 pixels on upload. Please use JPG or PNG files for best results
The Checkouts tab is used to view all checkouts. These are automatically sorted by date, with the most recent checkouts appearing first. If necessary, you can edit checkout information by pressing the Edit icon next to each entry. This allows you to change the date of the checkout, or the item that was checked out. Items not yet returned will have the Return Date field blank in the UI. Sorting by Return Date will show all items that have not been returned.
❗ The Item and User ID fields in the
Editwindow will only show an ID. To associate with an item or user, start typing its barcode or name and a relevant ID will appear.
- Any user can check out an item. Furthermore, any user can return an item, regardless of who checked it out.
- Users will automatically be logged out of the Pi after 3 minutes of inactivity.
- If the UI becomes stuck on the Tap ID screen, it likely means that the Pi client cannot connect to the server. Ensure that the server URL is correct and that the server is accessible from the Pi client.