Part 1. Configuring the Pi

Step 1: Check OS

To make sure that your Pi is ready to work with the Matrix Creator, check to see if it's running Raspbian. Enter the following in the Pi's command line:

cat /etc/os-release

You should see an output similar to the following:

PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie)"
NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="8"
VERSION="8 (jessie)"
ID=raspbian
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianForums"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianBugs"

All you need to check for is "Raspbian" on that first line. If it's something different, go download Raspbian and follow these instructions to install it.

Step 2: Install NodeJS

Before we do anything, we need to make sure that the Pi's software is up-to-date:

sudo apt-get update;
sudo apt-get upgrade;

Once the Pi is finished updating, you may need to restart it:

sudo reboot

To run any of the current Matrix examples you are going to need to install NodeJS on your Pi:

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_7.x | sudo -E bash -;
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs;

Make sure that the latest version of Node was installed with node -v. You should see "v7.x.x" returned.

You may also need to install build tools:

sudo apt-get install -y build-essential

Step 3: Install Matrix Software

To install the software we need to interface with the Matrix, enter the following lines into the terminal:

echo "deb http://packages.matrix.one/matrix-creator/ ./" | sudo tee --append /etc/apt/sources.list;
sudo apt-get update;
sudo apt-get upgrade;
sudo apt-get install -y libzmq3-dev xc3sprog malos-eye matrix-creator-malos matrix-creator-openocd wiringpi matrix-creator-init cmake g++ git --force-yes;

Once everything has finished installing, reboot the Pi:

sudo reboot

Now we're ready to read from some sensors!

<< Part 1: Setting Up the Matrix - Part 2: Sensor Time >>