rctv-raspi

Hardware counterpart to RCTV software -- repo here.

Setup Documentation

The Raspberry Pi running locally to render RC TV has some configuration files which need to be inserted and tested to turn the TV into a proper display

SSH Into the Raspberry PI

# Connect to the Recurse WIFI 

# SSH password is the same as the Recurse WIFI password
ssh rctv@rctv.local

Custom RCTV Systemd Service

Goals

• On startup, launch /usr/bin/chromium-browser in --kiosk mode
• Ensure that the Raspberry Pi never puts the display to sleep
• Relaunch the service if it was aborted
• Only launch the service once the GUI is ready

Installing

1. Ensure that $DISPLAY is set even when connecting over SSH echo "export DISPLAY=:0.0 >> ~/.bashrc
2. Create a new systemd service at /lib/systemd/system/rctv.service
3. Copy the file below
4. Reload the systemctl daemon using sudo systemctl daemon-reload
5. Enable our rctv.service to be run on boot using sudo systemctl enable rctv.service
6. Reboot the Raspberry Pi using sudo reboot
7. Testing Locally Without Rebooting

• sudo systemctl start rctv.service
• sudo systemctl stop rctv.service
• sudo systemctl restart rctv.service
• journalctl -u rctv -b --no-pager to show the rctv.service logs since the last boot -b and now use a pager to view the output --no-pager

Debugging

1. Use systemd-analyze verify rctv.service to see any issues with the service file
2. To see logs from systemd immediately after boot, view the file sudo tail -f /var/log/boot.log and search for rctv.service
3. If systemd-analyze shows a cyclic dependency (e.g. multi-user.target requires graphical.target which requires multi-user.target), this may be solved by removing symlinks to rctv.service in /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants or /etc/systemd/system/graphical.target.wants
4. Lots of googling

# rctv.service

[Unit]
Description=RC TV Startup
Wants=graphical.target
After=graphical.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Environment=DISPLAY=:0.0
Environment=XAUTHORITY=/home/rctv/.Xauthority
ExecStartPre=/home/rctv/rctv-kiosk/kiosk.sh
ExecStart=/usr/bin/chromium-browser --no-sandbox --noerrdialogs --disable-infobars --kiosk https://rctv.recurse.com
Restart=on-abort
User=rctv
Group=rctv

[Install]
WantedBy=graphical.target

Mouse Hiding

Goals

• We don't want a mouse pointer floating around the screen at all times
• We can use unclutter command line tool to hide the mouse adter 0.5s of inactivity
• Again we can use systemd to define a service which only starts unclutter when the GUI is ready

Installing

2. Create a new systemd service at /lib/systemd/system/hidemouse.service
3. Copy the file below
4. Reload the systemctl daemon using sudo systemctl daemon-reload
5. Enable our hidemouse.service to be run on boot using sudo systemctl enable hidemouse.service
6. Reboot the Raspberry Pi using sudo reboot
7. Testing Locally Without Rebooting

• sudo systemctl start hidemouse.service
• sudo systemctl stop hidemouse.service
• sudo systemctl restart hidemouse.service
• journalctl -u hidemouse -b --no-pager to show the hidemouse.service logs since the last boot -b and now use a pager to view the output --no-pager

# hidemouse.service

[Unit]
Description=RC TV Hide Mouse
Wants=graphical.target
After=graphical.target

[Service]
Type=simple
Environment=DISPLAY=:0.0
Environment=XAUTHORITY=/home/rctv/.Xauthority
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bash -c "/usr/bin/unclutter -idle 0.5 -root > /home/rctv/rctv-kiosk/hidemouse.log 2>&1"
Restart=on-abort
User=rctv
Group=rctv

[Install]
WantedBy=graphical.target

Debugging

• See above :)