Pi In The Sky

Oct 2021: First RPI Hardware issue?! SmartiePi RPI4 board from June 2021 has lost ability to emit HDMI signal. Runs fine if I SSH into it, but cannot get HDMI output to save my life! Pi has been used headless for past 6 months or so. When reconnected to HDMI there is NO signal/output.

22 October: FIXED! It was the damn CASE! NO hdmi cable or adapter would work (and I tested a quite a few!). Finally removed the case and POOF! The cable clicked in a nano farther and it came right up! VERY bizarre, RPI 4B was mounted in that case the day it arrived, worked fine right out of the box! I can also see the case is no longer available on Amazon.

Others w/ similar issues

• Watching this chatter: https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/qc4jad/did_i_damage_my_raspberry_pi_4_hdmi_issues/

• Firmware could do this? https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/issues/1548. Have now worked with fresh SD/OS, updated/upgraded everything including eeprom. https://jamesachambers.com/raspberry-pi-4-bootloader-firmware-updating-recovery-guide/

Mini Project - A tangent while on my quest to build CamperPi that will provide low-power/offgrid entertainment. I also have a pile of questionable RPi power supplies that need to be weeded through - I keep plugging in bad ones! THEY NEED TO BE TOSSED!

Jan 2022 - Built a contraption to test cables and PSU's ... I had a mess on my hands!

• Stumbled upon ....

  • Article/Script to test power supplies AND CABLES:
    @ https://bia.is/2019/02/02/raspberry-pi-check-your-power-supply/

  • Some VERY GOOD background info:
    @ https://ownyourbits.com/2019/02/02/whats-wrong-with-the-raspberry-pi/

  • Another good article (and script):
    @ https://jamesachambers.com/measure-raspberry-pi-undervoltage-true-clock-speeds/

  • Official Power Supply Requirements:
    @ https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberry-pi.html#power-supply

  • Breakdown of vcgencmd output:
    @ https://harlemsquirrel.github.io/shell/2019/01/05/monitoring-raspberry-pi-power-and-thermal-issues.html

Built new TesterPi image

1. Raspberry Pi Imager: Download/burn Raspberry Pi OS Light

2. Configure, install & boot

   • Raspi-Config: Hostname, WiFi, password, localisation & turn on ssh

   • apt-get update, then apt-get full-upgrade

   • installs (editor and sysbench): apt-get install joe sysbench

   • sudo reboot

3. via ssh:

   • Created ps-check.sh using script @ https://bia.is/2019/02/02/raspberry-pi-check-your-power-supply/
     Sysbench 1.020: Slight mod to CPU syntax in script. Now looks like this:
     sysbench cpu --cpu-max-prime=10000000 --threads=4 run &

   • May as well bring in my tester2.sh over too ... script I used for Pi benchmarking

   • Also created picheck3.py python3 code using sample script from jamesachambers and the code from page on harlemsquirrel site. Stuck it on github to see how that works too @ https://github.com/tped/PiPower

Initial tests: Ghadzooks, this is interesting! I knew I had some crappy cables, but many surprises here ...

1. The Legrand Wall Outlets* I had installed in my work area are worse than I thought ... periodic undervoltage on RPI3B+ w/ known good cable

2. My USB Tester/Multimeter* sucks power (of course it does! :facepalm:) ... one step forward, two steps back!

3. Most of my USB-2 to Micro USB cables were pretty bad ... BUT worth saving for RPi 1B, 2 and RPi 0W

4. Canakit 3.5amp PS w/ PiSwitch* is probably my favorite for RPI 4 projects. Good price ($10) & solid

5. Argon ONE Raspberry Pi 4 USB Type C Cable Power Supply | 5ft 5.25V/3.5A*. Works great, little more $$ and no on/off switch

6. Smraza 5.1V 3A Power Supply for RPi 4 with ON/Off Switch & USB-C->MicroUSB adapter*. Doesn't look durable, but works fine w/ 90 degree plug to fit in a tight spot!

7. Throttling is not necessarily a problem: $h1t does happen! Example, our HomePi is rock solid, it runs and has done it's job for years ... a few reboots/year for updates and such. Over the course of months, vcgencmd reports that it has had at least one Under-Voltage, Arm Frequency Cap and has been Throttled ... the Pi is doing its job!

8. RPI 0W seems like it would run kodi videos using a hamster & wheel for power! Quite amazing ... everything seems to power it! Primary finding of this testing - CamperPi is now a RPi 0W and plays HD movies and Duke Nukem using a 5v 550mA power supply!

Find a specific package via apt-cache search <package>

List of ALL installed packages (pipe to grep or page thru) via dpkg -l

ssh-keygen -R <ip>

I will always need all the help I can get here ....

This month's fav tool @ https://regex101.com/

Python Regex @ https://www.w3schools.com/python/python_regex.asp

Regular Expression Analyzer @ http://xenon.stanford.edu/~xusch/regexp/

Regexp builder @ https://regexbuildertool.com/

Interesting Regexp Generator @ https://regex-generator.olafneumann.org

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Regular_Expressions/Cheatsheet

I often make Pi's for others - pre-configuring them for WiFi in someone else's home is a pain in the drain!

Gave Comitup a quick once over - there was a downloadable image @ https://davesteele.github.io/comitup/. It looks to be JUST what I need AND it WORKS!

Posted experiences with the downloadable image (RaspOS that boots up with Comitup) in Raspberry Pi OS Alternatives.

I am currently exploring installing/incorporating Comitup packages into my projects as opposed to starting with the image because I use a variety of OS underpinnings - Q4OS, DietPi, Manjaro ... it (comitup-1.15-1) seems to be in latest RaspOS which should allow me to apt-get install on everything except Manjaro. I don't see it in Manjaro or Arch AUR

1. Dietpi+Comitup:

   • Downloaded Dietpi ARMv6 32-bit. Uses the Raspbian package repository which provides comitup for install!

   • Booted on RPi4 to start with ... usual blow-by-blow

     • Auto updates itself & reboots - now at v8.3.1 - ~5min

     • Forced PW changes, disabled serial console

     • Dietpi config/software

       • Audio: Enabled, Sound card usb-dac (I'm going to mess with CutiePi enhancements)

       • Language/Regional: Locale en_US.UTF8, Timezone & us keyboard

       • Security: Set Hostname

       • Network/Adapters: Enable Wifi

       • Network/Other: Turned Off Boot wait for network (just to be safe)

       • Dietpi Software (season to taste: I installed stuff I want to live/play together): Shairport, Murmur, Raspotify, RPI.GPIO, python3, go, ALSA, GIT

     • Stuff I had to install by hand ... via ssh

       • My editor: good old joe - apt-get install joe

       • comitup from https://davesteele.github.io/comitup/ - apt-get install comitup
         // Whoops! WiFi was disabled by default in Dietpi, comitup choked during install - Make sure you add Network steps in dietpi-config above //

       • Whoops AGAIN! I forgot to RTFM @ https://github.com/davesteele/comitup/wiki/Installing-Comitup ... and I quote:

         • Allow NetworkManager to manage the wifi interfaces by removing references to them from /etc/network/interfaces.

         • Rename or delete /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf.

         • The systemd.resolved service should be disabled and masked to avoid contention for providing DNS service.

         • The line dns=dnsmasq should not be in /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf.

         • also changed default ssid in /etc/comitup/comitup.conf - now ap_name: <hostname>-<nnn>

       • I also added comitup to dietpi-services (right or wrong?)

       • comitup-cli is a useful command line tool here

   • Hey! It works!
     

2. Q4OS+Comitup

   • <next in queue ... I'd think it would work, raspos-based>

https://iotdesignpro.com/projects/how-to-build-ibm-watson-chatbot-using-raspberry-pi-and-tjbot

https://chatbotslife.com/i-run-a-machine-learning-program-on-a-raspberry-pi-and-heres-what-happened-a7f97aad6bb2

https://python-telegram-bot.org/

From Class:

https://www.aclweb.org/portal/

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