reef-pi :: An opensource reef tank controller based on Raspberry Pi.

bishoptf · Jan 12, 2022

robsworld78 said:
That script does eliminate the need to make any config changes to the Pi, it can be used on any install not just my controller. During the install it'll ask if you have controller, that's just to copy over a database setup for it.

This is what it does.

Asks for time zone (it provides a clickable link to find)

Updates the Pi operating system

Installs I2C tools (this adds i2cdetect feature)

Asks what Raspberry Pi your are using so it can install the correct reef-pi (currently installing 4.3)

Asks if Robo-Tank is being used (if so it copies over a database with drivers / connectors etc added)

Overwrites /boot/config.txt file on Pi (this setups 1-wire, I2C, etc)

Deletes the download and install script

Confirms install complete and provides link with your local IP to access reef-pi webpage

After user presses Enter key when install is finished it will expand the file system on Pi and reboot

These are the 3 commands to run the script, first downloads, 2nd unzips and 3rd runs the script.

sudo wget -c https://www.robo-tank.ca/reef-pi_install_files.zip

sudo unzip reef-pi_install_files.zip

sudo bash reef-pi_install_files/install_reefpi.sh

Yup I'm a linux guy, I just didn't make it back here to update my original posting. Looks like it covers everything that needs to be covered, I would probably add in an option to update the password or even maybe add an additional user or I could go on, but its a really good start and makes for an easy setup. I would also prefer to see the output of some of the commands as to see it updating etc, but understand not everyone cares about that. I may kick it around and see if I can add anything to it like maybe the timezone lookup etc.

I was looking at a slightly different tack in that you have an image already prepared, all the end user has to do is update the wpa_supplicant file with the wireless info for the wireless units and reboot and then be able to access the webpage. Lots of ways of doing things, one of the things I am working on in another forum is to have a sample reef-pi kit that I can loan out that has a small setup with a temp probe, kasa outlet, ato float etc. The the user can configure and play around with it and see if its something they want to pursue, if they do I have been steering them to your product or leviathon etc. Once the user is done playing they ship it back to me and I send it on it's way to someone else, still working out the kinks but I thought the loaner setup may get users more comfortable with how it works and thereby bring more users into using reef-pi.

Thanks for all the work you have put into it, really shows.

Ranjib · Jan 12, 2022

Tom Bishop said:
Funny I also saw that last night, I am about to pull the trigger on an order for some viparspectra boards and noticed it. I am also thinking of having some of his goby hat boards made but cannot find the latest gerber files.

If anyone can point me to where they may be would be appreciated, looking on githiub there are three versions but none of them match the latest version that I have from him.

here is @Michael Lane 's goby hat repo: https://github.com/Ranthalion/reef-piHat

robsworld78 · Jan 12, 2022

Tom Bishop said:
Yup I'm a linux guy, I just didn't make it back here to update my original posting. Looks like it covers everything that needs to be covered, I would probably add in an option to update the password or even maybe add an additional user or I could go on, but its a really good start and makes for an easy setup. I would also prefer to see the output of some of the commands as to see it updating etc, but understand not everyone cares about that. I may kick it around and see if I can add anything to it like maybe the timezone lookup etc.

I was looking at a slightly different tack in that you have an image already prepared, all the end user has to do is update the wpa_supplicant file with the wireless info for the wireless units and reboot and then be able to access the webpage. Lots of ways of doing things, one of the things I am working on in another forum is to have a sample reef-pi kit that I can loan out that has a small setup with a temp probe, kasa outlet, ato float etc. The the user can configure and play around with it and see if its something they want to pursue, if they do I have been steering them to your product or leviathon etc. Once the user is done playing they ship it back to me and I send it on it's way to someone else, still working out the kinks but I thought the loaner setup may get users more comfortable with how it works and thereby bring more users into using reef-pi.

Thanks for all the work you have put into it, really shows.

Well then you can see how poorly written it is.

I've never used linux until reef-pi, it can get overwhelming quick with the commands but slowly getting better. Having an auto timezone lookup would be cool, if a wrong country code is entered in script it won't work so not error proof. I choose to hide the output (my latest discovery) and use custom text so it's not rolling out of control and nobody misses any questions/instructions, it also looks much cleaner. As reef-pi doesn't use any missing packages nothing can really go wrong but I hear you it would be nice to have confirmation.

I tried making an SD image but that didn't go so well as I couldn't keep the file small. Now that I've been using this for some time I do like it, people seem to have little trouble and it allows me to configure things for different versions of controller easier.

That's a cool loaner system you have going and thanks for telling people about me. Once and a while I have someone asking if they can try and return if they don't like, you're system sounds like a good work around that. A lot of the interest I see are from people who never heard of reef-pi so I've always thought it would be nice to setup a Pi, somehow assigning my domain or subdomain to a page where people can log into a live controller and explore reef-pi but that's a little over my head still as it would require resetting reef-pi database etc and worried about the security as it'll be on my local network, I guess I could setup a 2nd router/network for it though.

Ranjib · Jan 12, 2022

robsworld78 said:
Well then you can see how poorly written it is. I've never used linux until reef-pi, it can get overwhelming quick with the commands but slowly getting better. Having an auto timezone lookup would be cool, if a wrong country code is entered in script it won't work so not error proof. I choose to hide the output (my latest discovery) and use custom text so it's not rolling out of control and nobody misses any questions/instructions, it also looks much cleaner. As reef-pi doesn't use any missing packages nothing can really go wrong but I hear you it would be nice to have confirmation.

I tried making an SD image but that didn't go so well as I couldn't keep the file small. Now that I've been using this for some time I do like it, people seem to have little trouble and it allows me to configure things for different versions of controller easier.

That's a cool loaner system you have going and thanks for telling people about me. Once and a while I have someone asking if they can try and return if they don't like, you're system sounds like a good work around that. A lot of the interest I see are from people who never heard of reef-pi so I've always thought it would be nice to setup a Pi, somehow assigning my domain or subdomain to a page where people can log into a live controller and explore reef-pi but that's a little over my head still as it would require resetting reef-pi database etc and worried about the security as it'll be on my local network, I guess I could setup a 2nd router/network for it though.

i like that idea. I'll see if i can do something about it.

robsworld78 · Jan 12, 2022

Ranjib said:
i like that idea. I'll see if i can do something about it.

I think that would be the icing on the cake.

bishoptf · Jan 12, 2022

Ranjib said:
here is @Michael Lane 's goby hat repo: https://github.com/Ranthalion/reef-piHat

robsworld78 said:
Well then you can see how poorly written it is. I've never used linux until reef-pi, it can get overwhelming quick with the commands but slowly getting better. Having an auto timezone lookup would be cool, if a wrong country code is entered in script it won't work so not error proof. I choose to hide the output (my latest discovery) and use custom text so it's not rolling out of control and nobody misses any questions/instructions, it also looks much cleaner. As reef-pi doesn't use any missing packages nothing can really go wrong but I hear you it would be nice to have confirmation.

I tried making an SD image but that didn't go so well as I couldn't keep the file small. Now that I've been using this for some time I do like it, people seem to have little trouble and it allows me to configure things for different versions of controller easier.

That's a cool loaner system you have going and thanks for telling people about me. Once and a while I have someone asking if they can try and return if they don't like, you're system sounds like a good work around that. A lot of the interest I see are from people who never heard of reef-pi so I've always thought it would be nice to setup a Pi, somehow assigning my domain or subdomain to a page where people can log into a live controller and explore reef-pi but that's a little over my head still as it would require resetting reef-pi database etc and worried about the security as it'll be on my local network, I guess I could setup a 2nd router/network for it though.

I have an 8G image up now, they are easy to make but I did not have a 4g sd card to make a smaller image, hard to make one after the fact but will see what I can come up with today. The only thing that would need to be adjusted once they install it would be the timezone and expanding the filesystem both of them could be accomplished via raspi-config but thats what I am trying to avoid, so something to think about. I live in the cli world but it makes it more complicated for the average user, I can make images but need to figure out the flow for the last few bits.

In regards to the loaner system, I've kept it simple, one of @Michael Lane hat in a sandwich tupperware container with a pi 0 and temp, ato float and a kasa outlet. Pretty low overhead and low cost, gives them a chance to configure a few things and see how things work, I think its a good enough to see if it's something they like or not and if they do I just send them to the more polished versions.

bishoptf · Jan 12, 2022

Ranjib said:
here is @Michael Lane 's goby hat repo: https://github.com/Ranthalion/reef-piHat

Yeah I've been all over his sight, I have a later version of his goby its called out on Tindie - https://www.tindie.com/products/ranthalion/ml-reef-pi-hat-goby/#specs but I cannot find the gerber files for that version, he has 3 versions listed but none of them are the one shown here or the one that I have. Maybe he was going to host them up but so far I cannot find them. I was actually going to have some PCB's made of these also, like 5 of them to have on hand for spares and that loaner setup I was talking about but need to find the gerbers.

BlakeFL · Jan 12, 2022

Tom Bishop said:
Yeah I've been all over his sight, I have a later version of his goby its called out on Tindie - https://www.tindie.com/products/ranthalion/ml-reef-pi-hat-goby/#specs but I cannot find the gerber files for that version, he has 3 versions listed but none of them are the one shown here or the one that I have. Maybe he was going to host them up but so far I cannot find them. I was actually going to have some PCB's made of these also, like 5 of them to have on hand for spares and that loaner setup I was talking about but need to find the gerbers.

You could try contacting him here on Reef2Reef. I was in the same situation as you, looking to buy one of his Goby hats. I contacted him and he said he had none in stock but would be making more in a few months.

bishoptf · Jan 12, 2022

BlakeFL said:
You could try contacting him here on Reef2Reef. I was in the same situation as you, looking to buy one of his Goby hats. I contacted him and he said he had none in stock but would be making more in a few months.

I've tried to reach out to him but haven't been able to contact him yet, I am going to try to make some units and if I am successful I will post if and when I have some on hand.

bishoptf · Jan 12, 2022

@robsworld78 I have some updates for your load script, let me know how to get you an updated file so you can kick the tires, basically I have it calling tzdata interactively which then the user just scrolls and selects the timezone vs having to look it up etc, if interested let me know, real simple change.

robsworld78 · Jan 12, 2022

Tom Bishop said:
@robsworld78 I have some updates for your load script, let me know how to get you an updated file so you can kick the tires, basically I have it calling tzdata interactively which then the user just scrolls and selects the timezone vs having to look it up etc, if interested let me know, real simple change.

That sounds awesome, definitely interested, thank-you!

I'll send you a PM.

theatrus · Jan 13, 2022

On the ViaSpectra adapter, JLCPCB had some internal issues, so their 3 day assembly has turned into about 7 days, but things are moving now:

bishoptf · Jan 13, 2022

theatrus said:
On the ViaSpectra adapter, JLCPCB had some internal issues, so their 3 day assembly has turned into about 7 days, but things are moving now:

Thats way faster than pcbway, they are saying due to the upcoming holidays it will be February until I will see the boards. Will post here when I have more information and will send you one to do a comparison of the work, will be interesting to see how they differ or which ones actually work, lol.

theatrus · Jan 13, 2022

Chinese New Year is coming up, and availability around this period can get very rocky (usually, from past experience when I did actual volume product in China a decade+ ago, nearly half the staff turns over for factories).

bishoptf · Jan 13, 2022

theatrus said:
Chinese New Year is coming up, and availability around this period can get very rocky (usually, from past experience when I did actual volume product in China a decade+ ago, nearly half the staff turns over for factories).

Yeah they had banners up on the ordering page about it so at least they gave plenty of notice but if they do turn yours around in that short of a time period and cheaper to boot that will be pretty slick. Let us know how it continues to proceed, I want to have some of his goby boards made but unable to find his latest gerbers, but waiting to see how these come out to see which one does a better job before doing those.

theatrus · Jan 13, 2022

Tom Bishop said:
Yeah they had banners up on the ordering page about it so at least they gave plenty of notice but if they do turn yours around in that short of a time period and cheaper to boot that will be pretty slick. Let us know how it continues to proceed, I want to have some of his goby boards made but unable to find his latest gerbers, but waiting to see how these come out to see which one does a better job before doing those.

The trick with JLCPCB is to stay within their parts catalog: https://jlcpcb.com/parts/

They've slowly lifted restrictions (e.g. can do hand soldering now for connectors) but a huge pain in assembly services is ordering parts and then prepping them for the pick and place machines. JLC basically has a stock catalog of parts on reels already on feeders (the basic parts), and a library of parts they're willing to load into feeders if need be (at a fee per part). Since they already are under the same umbrella as a distribution company (LCSC) they simplified some of the purchasing step, that is if its stock. PCBWay is happy to order anything, make more than 30 parts, etc, where as JLC is more "only this, no exceptions"

bishoptf · Jan 13, 2022

theatrus said:
The trick with JLCPCB is to stay within their parts catalog: https://jlcpcb.com/parts/

They've slowly lifted restrictions (e.g. can do hand soldering now for connectors) but a huge pain in assembly services is ordering parts and then prepping them for the pick and place machines. JLC basically has a stock catalog of parts on reels already on feeders (the basic parts), and a library of parts they're willing to load into feeders if need be (at a fee per part). Since they already are under the same umbrella as a distribution company (LCSC) they simplified some of the purchasing step, that is if its stock. PCBWay is happy to order anything, make more than 30 parts, etc, where as JLC is more "only this, no exceptions"

Thats really good to know, thanks for sharing the information. I am new to this world and trying to learn what I can and this helps for sure.