TJBot Bootstrap

Perform the following operations to prepare your Raspberry Pi for becoming a TJBot.

Automated Setup using the Bootstrap script

This is the preferred method for setting up your Raspberry Pi for TJBot.

1. Boot your Raspberry Pi and make sure it is connected to the network. There is an icon in the menu bar at the top of the screen for connecting to a wifi network.

2. Open the Terminal (black square icon with the ">_" at the top of the screen).

3. Run the following command.

$ curl -sL http://ibm.biz/tjbot-bootstrap | sudo sh -

Note that this script requires root access and must be run with sudo.

Manual Setup

Use this method only if you have difficulties with the Bootstrap script, if you would like more control over the specific actions performed in setting up your Raspberry Pi, or if you are running an older version of Raspian (pre-Jessie).

1. Boot your Raspberry Pi and make sure it is connected to the network. There is an icon in the menu bar at the top of the screen for connecting to a wifi network.

2. Open the Terminal (black square icon with the ">_" at the top of the screen).

3. Optional. Set the hostname of your Raspberry Pi. The hostname is used to find your Raspberry Pi on the network.

$ hostname <enter your hostname here>

The default hostname is raspberrypi.

4. Optional. Disable ipv6. In some networking environments, disabling ipv6 may help your Pi get on the network.

$ echo " ipv6.disable=1" | sudo tee -a /boot/cmdline.txt

It is safe to skip this step. We only recommend doing this step if necessary.

5. Optional. Enable Quad9 DNS. In some networking environments, using Quad9's nameservers may speed up DNS queries and provide extra security and privacy..

$ echo "nameserver 9.9.9.9" | sudo tee -a /etc/resolv.conf
$ echo "nameserver 149.112.112.112" | sudo tee -a /etc/resolv.conf

It is safe to skip this step. We only recommend doing this step if necessary.

6. Optional. Set the locale to US English (en-US). You can use raspi-config to set the locale of your Raspberry Pi, but if you would like to force it to US English, you can run these commands.

$ export LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"
$ echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" | sudo tee -a /etc/locale.gen
$ sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8

It is safe to skip this step. We only recommend doing this step if necessary.

7. Update your Raspberry Pi's operating system software.

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade

You’ll need to do apt-get update first because that updates the repository cache. Otherwise, apt-get dist-upgrade won't do anything because it doesn't know there is a distribution upgrade.

During the upgrade, if you are asked about replacing the lightdm.conf file with the package maintainers version, say "Y".

8. Install Node.js.

We recommend using Node.js v15.x or later.

$ curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_15.x | sudo -E bash -
$ sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Note: TJBot may not function with earlier version of Node.js due to its use of ES6 modules.

9. Install additional software packages (Jessie only).

$ sudo apt-get install -y alsa-base alsa-utils libasound2-dev git pigpio

10. Optional. Remove outdated software packages.

$ sudo apt-get -y autoremove

This step removes old, outdated software from your Raspberry Pi and will free up some storage space. It is safe to skip this step.

11. Optional. Enable the Raspberry Pi camera.

If your Raspberry Pi has a camera, you can enable it by running the raspi-config command and navigating through the menus.

$ sudo raspi-config
<choose option 5: Interfacing Options>
<choose option P1: Camera>
<select Yes and press Enter>
<select OK and press Enter>
<press tab to navigate to the Select button>
<press the right arrow key to navigate to the Exit button>
<press Enter>

If your Raspberry Pi doesn't have a camera, it is safe to skip this step.

12. Clone the TJBot project from Git.

The default location for the tjbot project is on your Desktop so it is easy to access. You may clone it to any directory you like.

$ cd ~/Desktop
$ git clone https://github.com/ibmtjbot/tjbot.git

13. Optional. Disable the audio kernel modules.

In order for the LED to work, we need to disable certain kernel modules to avoid a conflict with the built-in audio jack. If you have plugged in a speaker via HDMI, USB, or Bluetooth, this is a safe operation and you will be able to play sound and use the LED at the same time. If you plan to use the built-in audio jack, we recommend NOT disabling the sound kernel modules.

If you are interested in playing audio over USB, we recommend purchasing a USB sound card).

$ sudo cp ~/Desktop/tjbot/bootstrap/tjbot-blacklist-snd.conf /etc/modprobe.d/

This command assumes you have cloned the tjbot git repository to your Desktop. If you have cloned it to a different directory, be sure to update the path in the above command.

If you would like to re-enable the kernel modules for built-in audio, you can do so with the following command.

$ sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/tjbot-blacklist-snd.conf

Note: you will need to reboot for these changes to take effect.

14. Reboot your Raspberry Pi.

Congratulations, your Raspberry Pi is now set up for TJBot! You'll just need to reboot to have all these changes take effect. After your Pi restarts, try running your first recipe!

Notice about Watson credentials

Before running any recipes, you will need to obtain credentials for the Watson services used by those recipes. You can obtain these credentials as follows:

1. Sign up for a free IBM Cloud account at https://cloud.ibm.com if you do not have one already.
2. Log in to IBM Cloud and create an instance of the Watson services you plan to use. The Watson services are listed on the IBM Cloud dashboard, under "Catalog". The Watson services used by TJBot are Assistant, Language Translator, Speech to Text, Text to Speech, Tone Analyzer, and Visual Recognition.
3. For each service, click the "Create" button on the bottom right of the page to create an instance of the service.
4. Click the "Download" link in the "Credentials" section of the page.
5. Save the ibm-credentials.env file(s) in the folder of the recipe you wish to use.

💡 Note: If you have credentials files from multiple services, combine their contents into a single file.

Running your first recipe

TJBot comes with a few recipes, each of which has a README file with instructions for running them. Also take a look at the different featured recipes created by the #tjbot community!

Running hardware tests

Hardware tests are provided to help you ensure your TJBot's hardware is functioning correctly.