Tut_installation

This tutorial is written for VOP v0.15 and beyond.

Prerequisites

Since a while back, the install process has been greatly simplified, though it requires a few things to be done before getting the VOP onto the Raspberry Pi:

• I have only tested this software on PiOS Lite. So get it installed first.
• You need SSH access to the Pi that will run the VOP. Through network cable or wifi.
• Before proceeding. Connect your HDMI monitor to your Pi through HDMI1. You will probably need a microHDMI to HDMI adapter or cable.
• This software is written with the Pi Camera HQ in mind. Connect it with the ribbon cable.
• Point the camera to the HDMI-monitor.

If you need help with any steps. I can only say what works for me in my own setup. And I barely know that.

Predeployment script.

If you have a look at the contents of the repo, you will find a script in the root called predeploy_vop.sh. This is the script I use to set up my prototype rig before I put the USB SSD into the Pi and power it on. I provide it here as a convenience, but if you have the knowhow how to do things better, you probably should do this bit yourself.

Oh, and the predeployment script has only been tested with my USB SSD. I do not know if it will work for your SD card or something else.

The script does run through a few steps. And once it has checked a few things with you, the user, it will go ahead and flash the USB SSD that you have pointed it towards.

CAUTION!

It is VERY important to note, that if you point this script at the wrong drive and tell it multiple times to run... YOU WILL LOOSE DATA PERMANENTLY.

My own procedure is to

1. Run lsblk once to see what the drives I have are known as.
2. Pull out the USB SSD.
3. Run lsblk again to see if the one I think it should be disappeared.
4. Re-insert the USB SSD.
5. Run lsblk a third time to see that the drive showed up where I think it would.

Only after that would I dare to run the predeploy script with the drive name I deduced.

Running the predeploy script.

To run the predeploy_vop.sh script. Do the following:

1. cd into the folder where the script lives.
2. trigger the script wiit ./predeploy_vop.sh /dev/sdX where X is the letter you deduced from the procedure above.
3. Answer your preferences.
4. enter in the path for the drive two more times to make sure you are certain.
5. wait until it's done.

When done. SSH into the Pi and run the deploy_vop.sh as detailed below:

Installation/deployment

Once the above things are done. You should be able to go through with the installation.

1. Install git.

sudo apt install git -y

While you can move things manually over from a local PC to the Pi. Things just work more easy with git installed.

2. Move to home

cd ~

2. clone the repo.

git clone https://codeberg.org/jmalmsten-com/VOP.git

This will set up a folder in ~/VOP where all the VOPs software will live

3. Move into the VOP folder

cd VOP

In here you'll see all the files and folders that make up the VOP. For installation. We want the deploy script.

4. Make the deploy script executable and run it.

chmod +x deploy_vop.sh
./deploy_vop.sh

The deployment script will now go ahead and install all the dependencies needed for the VOP, it will set up the venv and configure the vop to autostart when the Pi is rebooted and set up permissions. Depending on the storage speed, this will take a while and it will prompt you for sudo password and end with a question to force full RGB values to the HDMI monitor, pick yes or no to that, then the script will ask you to reboot the Pi so the service can start up.

5. After successfully running the deployment script and rebooting. You should now see an idle screensaver on the HDMI monitor's display. And it should also show the IP-address and port number for the Web GUI.

6. Open the web GUI by entering the ip-address and port number into a web browser running on the same local network as the pi. You should now be ready to go on and use the VOP.

7. Your first task should probably be to line up and focus the camera and lens. There's a utility for this in the Calibration page. Once all this is done. Have fun, and start smearing some art assets!

Updating

To quickly update the VOP's codebase to the latest available. There's two scripts in the git root.

Update to latest Main

To update the codebase to the latest iteration of the Main branch, where I put versions I think shouldn't break things:

Move to the root and do:

# Make script executable
chmod +x pull_and_run_vop_main.sh
# Run the script
./pull_and_run_vop_main.sh

That will stop the service if it's running, fetch and pull the latest code from the main branch. Start up the VOP service again, and start the journalctl so you can follow along in the logs what is happening. As the code is under a megabyte in size, this process is very quick on most networks.

Update to the latest Nightly

If you are feeling very adventurous, you can peak into what I am working on at this very moment. Since I use the Nightly branch to move code from my local desktop and laptop to the pi. The Nightly has the very latest features (and crippling bugs) before I have a chance to clean everything up and merge with the main branch. Do not use the code in the Nightly branch on any job you value. Because it can, and will, break often, frequently and without warning. And if you complain I will only point out that I warned you here.

That warning out of the way. You do very similarly as with the main branch:

# Make script executable
chmod +x pull_and_run_vop_nightly.sh
# Run the script
./pull_and_run_vop_nightly.sh