Raspberry Pi on Nico Maas

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 08:50:06 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 14 (University of Applied Sciences Trier, 26.09.2026)

RPi_PiAndMore14.pdf

Videorecording can be found here: tbd

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 13:51:30 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 13 (University of Applied Sciences Trier, 22.04.2023)

RPi_PiAndMore13.pdf

Videorecording can be found here

Taming the RAK5146 / SX1303

Sun, 08 May 2022 09:21:28 +0000

Its been a while - but good things come to those who wait :) .

Trying to work out a new system you’re unfamiliar with can be quite a challenge. In my case I got my first LoRaWAN concentrator along with some CubeCell HTCC-AB01 and tried to get them to work. It turned out - it was quite hit and miss. On the one hand, the firmware support for the RAK5146 with USB, GPS and LBT was not really ready yet - on the other hand, the CubeCell Arduino code has a fatal flaw with the preamble size so that those cannot join a LoRa network if used in EU868 MHz Band (the perfect fix by 1rabbit is linked as well!).

[PiAndRadio] Raspberry Pi GPS Time Server

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 10:15:00 +0000

Here is my presentation to the gpsTime Balena Project @ PiAndRadio 2021 (11.09.2021)

gpsTime_PiAndRadio2021.pdf

[PiAndRadio] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 07:15:00 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndRadio 2021 (11.09.2021)

RPi_PiAndRadio2021.pdf

[Talk] IoT Happy Hour #63: balena Ambassador Projects

Sat, 31 Jul 2021 08:10:38 +0000

I took part in balena’s IoT Happy Hour #63 on 30.07.2021 to talk with balenas Marc and David - as well as DynamicDevices Alex about Bees, gpsTime and space communications.

You can watch the talk here on balenas Youtube channel.

gpsTime

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 20:05:33 +0000

I think there is nothing more pleasing than having extremely precise measurements at your fingertips. Like time. While in the past it was quite problematic to measure time accurately (not talking about sundials, but… why not? ;)) - mankind has created one precise time source as the byproduct (read: “waste”) for usage in accurate navigation: GNSS and their different kinds like GPS, Glonass, Galileo, BaiDou and others.

Taping into this time source and providing it to your local computer network via NTP has been done by countless people and is an extreme rewarding task. Is it necessary? Maybe not. Is it really cool? Yes. And now it is even easier as you don’t need to configure it yourself, but can use the balenaHub and the preconfigured gpsTime project.

[Talk] IoT Happy Hour #56: balena in Space

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 16:00:19 +0000

I took part in balena’s IoT Happy Hour #56 on 11.06.2021 to talk about the past, present and upcoming apex missions.

You can watch the talk here on balenas Youtube channel.

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Webcam Build Guide

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 10:15:00 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Webcam Build Guide @ PiAndMore 12 1/4 (23.01.2021)

RPiWebcam_PiAndMore1214.pdf

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 08:45:00 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 12 1/4 (23.01.2021)

RPi_PiAndMore1214.pdf

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

NFS Benchmarking RPi 3B, RPi 3B+ & BPi

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 12:07:44 +0000

3-14, PiDay. Sadly the day Stephen Hawking passed away - and the day the new Raspberry Pi 3B Plus was unveiled.
Some days later, I got a small package:

With that small thing at hand, I was looking through the list of changes:

Broadcom BCM2837B0, Cortex-A53 (ARMv8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.4GHz
2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2, BLE
Gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0 (maximum throughput 300 Mbps)
Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) support (requires separate PoE HAT)

Ok, CPU bumped from 1.2 to 1.4 GHz, new WiFi with 802.11ac (and 5 GHz support), BLE 4.2, PoE “support” - and Gigabit over USB 2.0.
Well, not too bad.
One of the biggest downsides of the RPi - since its release - was the design choice to add Ethernet over USB 2.0 - while sharing the one and only USB 2.0 lane of the BCM with all the other USB sockets of the RPi. While this choice leads to lower production costs, it also limits the speed of Ethernet / USB especially in case where people tried to implement NAS or File sharing applications with an added USB Drive over Ethernet. To see how much the new design improved that old problem, I decided to Benchmark an “old” RPi 3B with the latest RPi 3B+ in the discipline of NFS.

[Talk] Allesnetz 11 Podcast: Docker Container für IoT mit Resin.io

Sat, 30 Sep 2017 08:00:53 +0000

For my German readers: I took part in Leonid Lezner’s Allesnetz Podcast 11 - about Resin.io and Docker - together with Resin.ios very own Jonas Hermsmeier - you can check out the podcast here.

[resinOS] Build resinOS from scratch

Wed, 28 Jun 2017 13:52:04 +0000

As the time of writing, resinOS is available for Download at Version 2.0.6+rev3.dev for Raspberry Pi 3. This build, however, is nearly 2 weeks old and in the meantime, something great happend: Docker has finally updated to Version 17.03.1 - upgraded from the old ~10 (ten-ish) version - which was not that cool (and without Swarm ;)). So, it is a good idea to get to know how to build your own resinOS in case you really want to live on the bleeding edge ;).

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Sat, 24 Jun 2017 07:50:44 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 10 (University Trier, 24.06.2017)

RPiEinführung_PiAndMore10.pdf (1,96 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[resinOS] Dockerize your own Flask GUI with resinOS

Tue, 16 May 2017 14:55:50 +0000

I have been working with Docker and resin.io as well as resinOS for quite some time now and I am actively using those services actively for different projects: The possibility to just throw away a container and build it anew in record breaking time is just awesome and also the fact that I can now just ship images to some device, deploy it there - and it will just work. As some of you know, I am working as volunteer in different NPOs, i.e. the RepairCafé Trier in which I repair Computers and Mobile phones for free, the PiAndMore / CMD e.V. on which I teach interessted guys and gals about Raspberry Pi and Linux (and even did two presentations on resin.io and resinOS, both linked on this blog - and as video :)) - and also one other NPO which is trying to give information about Japanese Culture. For those events I already created an Tickting System called JCTixx, which uses QR Codes to sell and check tickets for those named festivals. However, I created the Scanner Hardware in 2010, just starting my second year in an Apprenticeship as IT Systemselectronics guy, without anything as a Raspberry Pi available. However, being a bit creative, I just took some old Linux routers, threw the good old OpenWRT on those and soldered directly to the its testpoints / CPU to get the GPIO pins I needed ;). That worked very well - however, nowadays, TLS 1.2 and such eat away those small MIPS cores - and I could - with a lot of work - just get them working with said crypto in 2015. However, being 7 years old now, I need new Scanners - and more flexible way of delivery software as well. So resinOS it is! 🙂

[RaspPi] How To Compile OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi Kernel 3.10 for the RPi on Ubuntu 12.04

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:00:25 +0000

EDIT: This post is from 30.09.2013 and should be the “how to” to this post. However, I never released it for a now unknown reason. Because of the interest in this topic, I still will publish it today so that it can stand as some kind of documentation of what I did back then. However, I might not work anymore.

This is the latest Guide.

What are we doing here?
Building OpenWRT Trunk with the offical RPi 3.10 (next) Kernel.

Raspberry Pi and its Hardware Random Number Generator (RNG)

Wed, 15 Feb 2017 15:00:45 +0000

Due to a Stackoverflow Post I got to know the fact the BCM2708 / BCM2835 contains a Hardware Random Number Generator (RNG). Two blogposts described how to setup this little module, however, they were outdated, as the needed kernel module is directly baked into the latest 4.x kernel, which ends with the fact that /dev/hwrng already exists :).

The only thing left to do is the installation of the rng-tools, which is easy as pie:

[PiAndMore] resinOS Presentation

Sat, 14 Jan 2017 12:45:54 +0000

Here is my presentation to resinOS @ PiAndMore 9 1/2 (Hochschule Niederrhein / Krefeld, 14.01.2017)

resinOS_PiAndMore9_1_2.pdf (0,6 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[Raspberry Pi] Warning - Kernel 4.4.38 breaks boot on RPi 1 & 2

Wed, 28 Dec 2016 22:00:29 +0000

About 14 days ago, RPi Kernel Version 4.4.38 was published. However, something went very wrong somewhere: Raspbery Pi Models 1 and 2 do not boot anymore. As a quickfix I would recommend to download the 4.4.37 Kernel from the Github Repo (https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/) and replace the boot Partition on your RPi 1 or 2 SDCard with the /boot path from the 4.4.37 ZIP File - and it should boot again. If you’re RPi is still working - do not update your kernel until this problem is solved! Issue on Github.

Raspberry Pi Pixel - on your x86/x64

Fri, 23 Dec 2016 10:35:02 +0000

The guys over at the Raspberry Pi Foundation - in cooperation with the MagPi Team came up with a cool project: They ported the new “Pixel” desktop from Raspbian over to Debian, so you could use it on your normal x86/x64 machine. The DVD is included in the latest MagPi edition, however, you can also download the DVD from the Raspberry Pi Website, the link is in the article: https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/debian-pixel-mac-pc/

Raspberry Pi Remote Desktop

Fri, 16 Dec 2016 20:23:56 +0000

To use the RPi via Remote Desktop, different protocols and programs exist, i.e. VNC. Due to simplicity of use, however, I mostly chose XRDP, which works with the Microsoft Remote Desktop Tools. However, you must not install it via sudo apt-get install xrdp - as this will install it with realvnc and break xrdp (Package error which has not been fixed yet in the recent “Pixel” Release of Raspbian…).

Instead, use:

[Review] Western Digital WD Labs PiDrive 314GB

Thu, 16 Jun 2016 13:38:26 +0000

Today, I want to do my first review on this blog, concerning the Western Digital / WD Labs PiDrive 314GB. I received this nice little drive from the guys over at PiAndMore as a gift for my three presentations at the PiAndMore 9 (among other loot ;)). So, what is this PiDrive and what is so special about it? Well it is in fact a small 2.5 HDD with integrated Sata to USB 3.0 Controller (with the matching “two-piece” connector). It was specially designed by WD to work with the Raspberry Pi Series and gives the RPi 314 GB of space (hence the name PiDrive - however, there is an 1 TB Version available as well).

[PiAndMore] resin.io Presentation

Sun, 12 Jun 2016 15:11:46 +0000

Here is my presentation to resin.io @ PiAndMore 9 (Trier, 11.06.2016)

resinio_PiAndMore9.pdf (1,03 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] platformIO Presentation

Sat, 11 Jun 2016 15:00:52 +0000

Here is my presentation to platformIO @ PiAndMore 9 (Trier, 11.06.2016)

platformIO_PiAndMore9.pdf (830 KB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Einführung und Grundlagen Presentation

Sat, 04 Jun 2016 20:54:59 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Einführung und Grundlagen @ PiAndMore 9 (Trier, 11.06.2016)

RPiEinführungUndGrundlagen_PiAndMore9 (7 MB, PDF)

[Art] real-time operator

Mon, 08 Feb 2016 10:46:23 +0000

real-time operator was an project of Melanie Windl, an artist from the University of Mainz, Germany on which I helped as technical advisor and programmer. The idea of the project was to live-record sounds from the staircase of the Tokyo Wondersite and replay them using different filters on multiple ballons (using exciters). The project was realised using three Raspberry Pi, Modell B+, some USB Soundcards and PureData. You can find more about the project here: https://atelier-windl.com/portfolio/real-time-operator-2/

[Docker] OpenWRT Images for x86, x64, Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi 2

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 19:00:55 +0000

As some of you know, I am trying to learn to use Docker.
I love the simplicity of this tool and the fact that a lot of my Appliances could be built and mainted more efficiently with the use of it.
So I thought “Well, I should at least try to create some useful Images for the Docker Registry / Hub” - and so I came up with the Github Repo of https://github.com/x-drum/docker-openwrt which I could not help - but fork ;). So, x-drum showed an easy way to build x86 Images for 14.07 and 15.05 OpenWRT.
And I thought “well, lets extend that”. So now, we also got 12.09 OpenWRT x86, as well as trunk x86… and while I was doing some research, I slapped the x64 Versions for trunk and 15.05 on as well :).

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Einführung Presentation

Sat, 16 Jan 2016 12:30:27 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Einführung @ PiAndMore 8 (Trier, 16.01.2016)

RPiEinführung_PiAndMore8.pdf (4,42 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[RPi] The cheapest Raspberry Pi Cluster Ever Made v2

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 19:00:41 +0000

Ok, an little update on the PiZero Cluster Front:
Now, that OTG is compiled directly into the “next” kernel of RPi, we can use the OTG USB Virtual Ethernet directly - which makes it a lot easier. So I updated this :).

Preparing Minibian Jessie Image
I used some old Appliance Image I created from an Minibian Wheezy Image (https://minibianpi.wordpress.com/) earlier this year - for the 1.) section on the RPi Modell B pre 2.0 and RPi Modell A+. For the 2.) section, I used an special Appliance Image I made from an Minibian Jessie Image. However, I will document needed changes here, to get it running from any source. I recommend the Minibian Jessie Image as starting point, with this changes:

apt-get update
apt-get install -y raspi-config keyboard-configuration
raspi-config
# Default Configuration and Expand Filesystem using raspi-config
# Enter Finish and press Yes on Reboot the Device
apt-get install -y rpi-update sudo
apt-get -y dist-upgrade
reboot
rpi-update
reboot
# Create Default User pi
adduser pi
# Enter Password as wanted, i.e. raspberry
# Add user to default groups
usermod -a -G pi,adm,dialout,cdrom,audio,video,plugdev,games,users pi
# Add sbin Paths to pi
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin:usr/local/sbin"' >> /home/pi/.bashrc
# Add user to sudo
visudo
# Add under
# # User privilege specification
# root ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
pi ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
# Save and Exit
reboot
# Disable root login
sudo passwd -l root

or - and default RPi Jessie Image.

[RPi] The cheapest Raspberry Pi Cluster Ever Made

Sat, 26 Dec 2015 20:13:03 +0000

As soon as the Pi Zero came out, I started on thinking about Clusters again. I wanted to create an big - but at the same time, cheap cluster.
Yes, an Pi Zero is not nearly as fast, as an RPi 2. And yes, there are some problems with this idea - especially about the fact, that the Pi Zero is not as common as an - say - RPi Modell B v. 2.0 - but - as this is more about science and trying to just “do it” - I tried it anyway.

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Appliances

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 13:25:20 +0000

Here is the presentation to my Appliances Talk @ PiAndMore 7 (Trier, 20.07.2015)

RPiAppliances_PiAndMore7.pdf (0,6 MB, PDF)

[Art] Suomalainen Äänimaisema

Thu, 02 Apr 2015 09:39:09 +0000

Suomalainen Äänimaisema was an project of Melanie Windl, an artist from the University of Mainz, Germany on which I helped as technical advisor and programmer. The idea of the project was to field-record several sounds and music of Finland, load them onto some Raspberry Pis and let them play, as soon as a person came close enough to the object. The project was realised using three Raspberry Pi, Modell B+, some PIR sensors and USB Soundcards. You can find more about the project here: https://atelier-windl.com/portfolio/suomalainen-aanimaisema-2/

[RaspPi] Virtual Accesspoint on Xbian

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 13:08:08 +0000

Little How To to get an Virtual AP running on XBian.
I did NOT choose to install an DHCP Server on Xbian, as I just wanted to use the central one in my network.

1.) Install software

sudo apt-get update  
sudo apt-get install install hostapd hostap-utils iw bridge-utils

2.) Update hostapd

cd ~  
wget http://www.adafruit.com/downloads/adafruit_hostapd.zip  
unzip adafruit_hostapd.zip  
sudo mv /usr/sbin/hostapd /usr/sbin/hostapd.ORIG  
sudo mv hostapd /usr/sbin  
sudo chmod 755 /usr/sbin/hostapd

3.) Configure hostapd
sudo vi /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

[Linux] Delete old SSH Keys and recreate them

Sat, 14 Mar 2015 13:07:08 +0000

If you are downloading an Linux Image for i.e. Embedded Systems like Raspberry Pi, sometimes, the SSH Keys are still on the system and are not recreated.
To do that manually, just enter:

sudo rm /etc/ssh/ssh_host_*
sudo dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server
sudo service ssh restart

[RaspPi] Trouble with xfce4-panel on Kali Linux

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 13:35:15 +0000

Errors with xfce4-panel

I got an error that the xfce4-panel / Taskbar disappeared.
I solved it by right-clicking on the Desktop, choosing Applications, Settings, Panel.
After that it told me that it got no panel running, and if it should start one.
I answered yes and the panel would appear again.

After an reboot, I always got the question wheter it should start an panel.
As that was quite annoying, I looked for another solution to the problem.
I found the answer here: http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/probleme-mit-panel-und-kiosk-modus/
Just delete the xfce settings like that:

[RaspPi] Install Kali Linux on RPi with HDMIPi

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 13:05:14 +0000

1.) Download Kali for RPi
https://www.offensive-security.com/kali-linux-vmware-arm-image-download/

2.) Extract if with 7zip, format your SDCard with the Formatter from the SDCardAssociation and write the Image (kali-1.0.9-rpi.img) to your SD Card

2b.) If you plan on using Kali with your HDMIPi Screen, create an config.txt file with following content on the sdcard to have correct HDMI sizing:

hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080
hdmi_group=2 # HDMIPi for 1280 x 800
hdmi_drive=2 # for alternative modes get sound
hdmi_mode=28 # 1280 x 800 @ 60 Hz Specifcations

3.) Boot it

[RaspPi] Faintly glowing steady green LED on Raspberry Pi

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 13:05:31 +0000

[RaspPi] Faintly glowing steady green LED on Raspberry Pi

I got some serious issues with one of my Raspberry Pi, Modell B Rev. 2.0.
With an recent image, the Raspberry Pi refused to boot, but did only light up the red ACT LED as well as an really faintly glowing steady green PWR LED.
After my shop of trust sadly declined to help me with that issue, I tried to come up with every possible fix possible.

[RaspPi] Snappy Ubuntu Core on Raspberry Pi 2

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 12:55:09 +0000

Well, I finally got my Raspberry Pi 2 and just could not hold back and wanted to test Snappy Ubuntu Core and give a little introduction and how that thing works.

Ok, but short into: What is Snappy Ubuntu Core?
Well it is meant to be a secure operating system for embedded applications.
It is based on an transactional system-management and can even rollback upgrades of the system core.
There are three kinds of Snappy Ubuntu Core Components:
Snappy Ubuntu Core itself (Core), Frameworks and Apps.
Frameworks can access the Core in certain ways and thus need to be reviewed by the Ubuntu Team.
Apps are completly isolated from each other and have limited access to the system, therefore they don’t need special security profiles or reviews, which makes publishing easier.
Ok, and everything is controlled via the command “snappy”.

[RaspPi] HDMIPi Repair and VGA Upgrade

Fri, 27 Feb 2015 10:31:04 +0000

Sadly, some weeks ago, the Micro USB Port of my HDMIPi broke.
I wrote an letter to Alex Eames, which is quite known for HDMIPi, RasPi.TV and his lattest Kickstarter Project the RasPiO Duino.
Alex is an awesome guy and gave me his blessings to try to repair that problem myself.
With some flux, a fine solder tip and soem patience, you can get that repaired in no time.
After succeeding, I created some strain-relief by using two-component epoxy resin to glue it down a bit. Highly recommended!

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Einführung / Workshop Presentation

Mon, 26 Jan 2015 13:48:08 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Einführung @ PiAndMore 6 (Saarbrücken, 24.01.2015):

RPiEinführung_PiAndMore6.pdf (4 MB, PDF)

and to the Workshop:

RPiGrundlagenWorkshop_PiAndMore6.pdf (3 MB, PDF)

[PiAndMore] MQTT - Glue that keeps the IoT together

Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:30:11 +0000

Here is the presentation to my MQTT Talk @ PiAndMore 6 (Saarbrücken, 24.01.2015)

MQTT_PiAndMore6.pdf (0,9 MB, PDF)

[RaspiPi] RF24 Radio Link between 2 Raspberry Pis

Fri, 26 Dec 2014 16:30:14 +0000

Hi there,

awesome coder TMRh20 did write some cool librarys for the widely used RF24 radio modules.
These tiny things work with SPI and thanks to TMRh20s work, you can use them quite easily to connect two RPis.
You can find his/her Github on https://github.com/TMRh20, as well as a lot of good documentation on his/her blog http://tmrh20.blogspot.de/ and github.io http://tmrh20.github.io/

To make it short and connect to RPis, this is my reciepe, worked out with TMRh20 - Thanks a lot!

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Einführung / Workshop Presentation

Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:00:27 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Einführung @ PiAndMore 5 (Trier, 28.06.2014)

RPiEinführung_PiAndMore.pdf (3,4 MB, PDF)

and to the Workshop:

RPiWorkshop_PiAndMore.pdf (2,6 MB, PDF)

[PiAndMore] Where Is My Pi Presentation

Sat, 28 Jun 2014 07:30:38 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Where Is My Pi project @ PiAndMore 5 (Trier, 28.06.2014)

wmp_PiAndMore.pdf (0,7 MB, PDF)

The Github project can be found and forked here: https://github.com/nmaas87/whereismypi

[RaspPi] Raspberry Pi and the ili9341 Display

Sun, 27 Apr 2014 15:14:36 +0000

Raspberry Pi - Bad Apple on ili9341 Display

1.) Enable SPI

# remove or comment out the spi blacklist line  
sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf

2.) Install
a) FBTFT drivers as loadable modules

sudo REPO_URI=https://github.com/notro/rpi-firmware rpi-update  
sudo shutdown -r now

b) FBTFT drivers built into the kernel proper

sudo REPO_URI=https://github.com/notro/rpi-firmware BRANCH=builtin rpi-update  
sudo shutdown -r now

3.) Install the frame buffer driver (as root):

apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-fbdev

4.) Configure frame buffer driver:

sudo vi /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-fbdev.conf  
Section "Device"  
Identifier "myfb"  
Driver "fbdev"  
Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb1"  
EndSection

5.) add Autostart:
( the gpios= Pins need to be changed to YOUR specification and connection! )
sudo vi /etc/modules

[RaspPi] Really poor mans DS18B20 Temperature Sensor

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 16:53:18 +0000

As I had to quickly come up with two DS18B20 Sensors for the Raspberry Pi, I decided to built them “quick and dirty” without any breadboard. It is not the most beautiful nor the best way, but it works out quite well. With one exception: It seems like the sensor is too near to the Pi and picks up heat from it :/. Anyway, here are some photos:

That is how it would look like later.

[RaspPi] OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi 3.10.32+ #648 Kernel – as Image download

Tue, 11 Mar 2014 18:09:24 +0000

As a lot of people asked for the OpenWRT / Raspberry Pi Images, I decided to make a new version which replaces the old one from this post ([RaspPi] OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi 3.10.18+ #585 Kernel – as Image download.

That said, the rules haven’t changed:

It is the trunk version of OpenWRT, injected with the latest Raspberry Pi Kernel
opkg list does contain the current stable package list for the OpenWRT RPi port of the latest stable release and will work out of the box (opkg update, opkg install..) Most packages like apache should work out of the box – but kernel moduls could/will probably fail. I won’t build an package mirror and won’t build packages because of limitied time. Sorry!
Other than the normal behavior, the RPi does use DHCP to get its IP Adress. To connect for the first time, use nmap to find your RPi in your network. (Then connect via telnet, set an password with passwd and you’re good to use SSH finally!)
The main partition size has been changed from 48 MB to 64 MB – giving you additional space

You can just download and use the (7zip-ed) image here: rpi_openwrt_2.7z [ 6.1 MB ]

[RaspPi] OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi 3.10.18+ #585 Kernel - as Image download

Sun, 10 Nov 2013 17:49:53 +0000

THIS POST IS OUTDATED! A NEW IMAGE HAS BEEN POSTED! PLEASE USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION TO FIND THE LATEST VERSION!

As I found out that the old tutorials weren’t helpful and either the OpenWRT Trunk OR the Raspberry Pi Kernel broke the build process (you can still build it successfully, but you won’t be able to use the RPi after boot!) - I sat down and found an new way. This time I don’t let the kernel build by the OpenWRT enviroment, but insert an healthy and prebuilt one by the RPi Team ;)!

elektor Live 2013

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 07:15:18 +0000

You can find my slides from the elektor Live 2013, Raspberry Pi 101 Workshop here: elektor_RPi_2013_Maas.pdf [ 6,1 MB ]

The handout or “cheat-sheet” can be downloaded here: elektor_RPi_2013_Maas_Cheat_Sheet.pdf [ 0,4 MB ]

… and finally, you find the Sourcecode of the Sample Projects here: elektor_RPi_2013_Maas_Sourcecode.zip [ 0,03 MB ]

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

elektor Expert Meeting 2013

Fri, 11 Oct 2013 10:05:55 +0000

You can find my slides of the elektor Expert Meeting 2013 here: elektor_ER2013_Maas.pdf [1,2 MB]

Also, you can find my presentation to the sun//well (RPi, MSP430 and ATTiny85) project here as well as the video (PiAndMore 3 - sun//well Project) to that presentation.

Visit me @ elektor Live 2013

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 09:08:33 +0000

I just wanted to mention that I got an “Raspberry Pi Basics” Workshop at the elektor Live 2013 in Frankfurt, Hanau (12.10.2013). The first workshop is already fully booked and an second timeslot has been opened. So feel free to come over and let me introduce you to the 101 of the Raspberry Pi.

Link: https://www.elektor-live.com/

[RaspPi] Build Raspberry Pi Kernel 3.10 / NEXT for Debian Wheezy / Raspbian with eGalax Touchscreen Support on Ubuntu 12.04

Thu, 12 Sep 2013 19:26:33 +0000

This is about building the latest Kernel / 3.10 for RPi. Bleeding Edge.

Preperations

sudo apt-get install git libncurses5 libncurses5-dev qt4-dev-tools qt4-qmake pkg-config build-essential gcc-arm-linux-gnueabi bc  
# NEEDS BC!!!!

Clone Stuff

mkdir rpi_kernel_10  
cd rpi_kernel_10  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/tools.git  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux.git  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10/linux/.git  
git branch -a  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10/linux  
git checkout -t -b rpi-3.10.y remotes/origin/rpi-3.10.y  
git pull  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware.git  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10/firmware/.git  
git branch -a  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10/firmware  
git checkout -t -b next remotes/origin/next  
git pull  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10

Make Kernel

cd linux  
make mrproper  
mkdir ../kernel  
# Kernel Types  
# find . -name \*bcmrpi\*config -print  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_emergency_defconfig  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_defconfig  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_cutdown_defconfig  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- bcmrpi_defconfig  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- menuconfig #xconfig  
#Device Drivers->Input Device Support->TouchScreens->USB Touchscreen Driver (Build it into or as module, check if eGalax here!)  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- -k -j3  
cd ../  
cd tools/mkimage  
./imagetool-uncompressed.py ../../kernel/arch/arm/boot/Image  
cd ../../

Make Modules

cd kernel  
mkdir ../modules/  
make modules_install ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- INSTALL_MOD_PATH=../modules/

Install Kernel on existing RPi SD Card / Raspbian

# mount sdcard in your Ubuntu (I made an folder sdb1 for boot partiton and sdb2 for the root partition)  
cd ~  
mkdir sdb1 sdb2  
mount /dev/sdb1 sdb1  
mount /dev/sdb2 sdb2

# boot partition  
#replace /sdb1/boot/bootcode.bin with rpi_kernel_10/firmware/boot/bootcode.bin  
sudo rm ~/sdb1/bootcode.bin  
cp ~/rpi_kernel_10/firmware/boot/bootcode.bin ~/sdb1/  
#replace /sdb1/boot/kernel.img with the previously created kernel image  
sudo rm ~/sdb1/kernel.img  
cp ~/rpi_kernel_10/tools/mkimage/kernel.img ~/sdb1/  
#replace /sdb1/boot/start.elf with rpi_kernel_10/firmware/boot/start.elf  
sudo rm ~/sdb1/start.elf  
cp ~/rpi_kernel_10/firmware/boot/start.elf ~/sdb1/

# root partition  
#replace /sdb2/lib/firmware with <modules_builded_above_folder>/lib/firmware  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/lib/firmware/  
sudo cp -a ~/rpi_kernel_10/modules/lib/firmware/ ~/sdb2/lib/  
#replace /sdb2/lib/modules with <modules_builded_above_folder>/lib/modules  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/lib/modules/  
sudo cp -a ~/rpi_kernel_10/modules/lib/modules/ ~/sdb2/lib/  
#replace /sdb2/opt/vc with firmware-next/hardfp/opt/vc/  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/opt/vc  
sudo cp -a ~/rpi_kernel_10/firmware/hardfp/opt/vc/ ~/sdb2/opt/

# sync usb mount  
sync

# Unmount sdcard  
cd ~  
umount sdb1  
umount sdb2

Boot Pi and calibrate Touchscreen

This stuff happens on the Pi!

Preperations

sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libxext-dev libxi-dev x11proto-input-dev

Install Tool / xinput_calibrator

cd ~  
wget http://github.com/downloads/tias/xinput_calibrator/xinput_calibrator-0.7.5.tar.gz  
tar -xvzf xinput_calibrator-0.7.5.tar.gz  
cd xinput_calibrator-0.7.5  
./configure  
make  
sudo make install

Calibrate (in Xserver, so open Terminal while beeing in Graphical User Mode)

xinput_calibrator

It will give output like this:

[RaspPi] How To Compile OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi Kernel 3.6 for the RPi on Ubuntu 12.04

Wed, 04 Sep 2013 14:55:36 +0000

What are we doing here?

As far as I understand the problem, there are two worlds:
Raspberry Pi Foundation on the one hand, the OpenWRT Team on the other one.
OpenWRT does try to patch “Default Kernels” until they work out with the intended Plattform, which does work in most cases very well.
The problem is, RPi is an new target for the latest OpenWRT Release - and does work - but it does not get much love of the devs:
No trunk compiles or nightlys of the Image or the packages - i.e.
And - the “so patched Kernel” does not represent the state of the art of the RPi Kernel Development at all:
I got many errors of the “first days of Pi”, like the loved “SDcard error” which corrupted the whole filesystem and such.

[RaspPi] Build Raspberry Pi Kernel for Debian Wheezy / Raspbian with eGalax Touchscreen Support on Ubuntu 12.04

Mon, 02 Sep 2013 14:54:35 +0000

Preperations

sudo apt-get install git libncurses5 libncurses5-dev qt4-dev-tools qt4-qmake pkg-config build-essential gcc-arm-linux-gnueabi bc

Clone Stuff

mkdir rpi_kernel  
cd rpi_kernel  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/tools.git  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux.git  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware.git  
cd ~/rpi_kernel/firmware/.git  
git branch -a  
cd ~/rpi_kernel/firmware  
git checkout -t -b next remotes/origin/next  
git pull  
cd ~/rpi_kernel

Make Kernel

cd linux  
make mrproper  
mkdir ../kernel  
# Kernel Types  
# find . -name \*bcmrpi\*config -print  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_emergency_defconfig  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_defconfig  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_cutdown_defconfig  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- bcmrpi_defconfig  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- menuconfig #xconfig  
#Device Drivers->Input Device Support->TouchScreens->USB Touchscreen Driver (Build it into or as module, check if eGalax here!)  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- -k -j3  
cd ../  
cd tools/mkimage  
./imagetool-uncompressed.py ../../kernel/arch/arm/boot/Image  
cd ../../

Make Modules

cd kernel  
mkdir ../modules/  
make modules_install ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- INSTALL_MOD_PATH=../modules/

Install Kernel on existing RPi SD Card / Raspbian

# mount sdcard in your Ubuntu (I made an folder sdb1 for boot partiton and sdb2 for the root partition)  
cd ~  
mkdir sdb1 sdb2  
mount /dev/sdb1 sdb1  
mount /dev/sdb2 sdb2

# backup config  
cp ~/sdb1/config.txt ~/rpi_kernel/  
# boot partition  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb1/*  
# Copy all Files from boot  
cp -R ~/rpi_kernel/firmware/boot/* ~/sdb1/  
#replace /sdb1/boot/kernel.img with the previously created kernel image  
sudo rm ~/sdb1/kernel.img  
cp ~/rpi_kernel/tools/mkimage/kernel.img ~/sdb1/  
# restore config  
cp ~/rpi_kernel/config.txt ~/sdb1/

# root partition  
#replace /sdb2/lib/firmware with <modules_builded_above_folder>/lib/firmware  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/lib/firmware/  
sudo cp -R ~/rpi_kernel/modules/lib/firmware/ ~/sdb2/lib/  
#replace /sdb2/lib/modules with <modules_builded_above_folder>/lib/modules  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/lib/modules/  
sudo cp -R ~/rpi_kernel/modules/lib/modules/ ~/sdb2/lib/  
#replace /sdb2/opt/vc with firmware-next/hardfp/opt/vc/  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/opt/vc  
sudo cp -R ~/rpi_kernel/firmware/hardfp/opt/vc/ ~/sdb2/opt/

# sync usb mount  
sync

# Unmount sdcard  
cd ~  
umount sdb1  
umount sdb2

Boot Pi and calibrate Touchscreen

# This stuff happens on the Pi!

Preperations

sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libxext-dev libxi-dev x11proto-input-dev

Install Tool / xinput_calibrator

cd ~  
wget http://github.com/downloads/tias/xinput_calibrator/xinput_calibrator-0.7.5.tar.gz  
tar -xvzf xinput_calibrator-0.7.5.tar.gz  
cd xinput_calibrator-0.7.5  
./configure  
make  
sudo make install

Calibrate (in Xserver, so open Terminal while beeing in Graphical User Mode)

xinput_calibrator

It will give output like this:

[Talk] Raspberry Pi Presentation

Sat, 25 May 2013 13:21:54 +0000

My introduction to the Raspberry Pi at the https://www.saarcamp.org / Saarcamp 2013:

Download: RaspberryPi_Saarcamp.pdf (1,49 MB)

[PiAndMore] Videos online

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 07:18:31 +0000

All the presentations and videos are now online: https://sites.google.com/site/piandmore/downloads/zweites-treffen

[PiAndMore] JCTixx Scanner

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:16:46 +0000

Following my presentation on the JCTixx Scanner, shown at the PiAndMore 2, 17.01.2013 @ Hochschule Trier.

Download: JCTixx_PiAndMore.pdf [1 MB]

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[RaspPi] Supercomputing with RaspPi / MPI

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:48:53 +0000

Prof. Simon Cox has written an awesome tutorial about turning multiple RaspPis into an “Supercomputer Cluster”. He himself build an cluster of 64 RaspPis at the University of Southampton. I could not resist but rebuild his project - with the 3 “old” (256MB) Pis I got. It turned out to be an quite awesome and interessting experience, introducing myself to MPI (Message Passing Interface) for the first time. You should definitly take a look yourself.

OpenWRT

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 06:00:32 +0000

OpenWRT is one of my most “beloved” operating systems ever. I am using it since 2006, already. It is very small (>= 4 MB), light weight and therefore an excellent choice for embedded computing or very small appliances. I have used it on several occasions (“prototype”) in my blog, but never actually gave a heads up in terms of “What is it?” - So, let’s get rid of that:

OpenWRT is a debian linux derivate especially made for routers. OpenWRT does derive from the famous Linksys WRT series, which were based on Linux. One of the founders found out about that and got Linksys (by pointing out about the caveats of the used Linux GPL License) to the point of releasing the source code (except the wifi drivers). From the point on, OpenWRT was founded and the project began to write an own “router linux”. On the course of that adventure, several forks of OpenWRT were founded (i.e. FreeWRT) - but in the end, OpenWRT remained “THE” third hand firmware for your router. Nowadays OpenWRT does support a load of routers out of the box, with famous titles like the Linksys WRT Series or even hardware like the Seagate Dockstar (which was an sort of NAS Appliance for Seagate Hard drives).

Raspberry Pi Con "Pi and More"

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:17:32 +0000

At the 23. of August 2012, the University of Trier held the first Raspberry Pi Convention in Germany. It was a little, but awesome gig with about 30 IT Students and other interested people.

The main idea was to rise the awareness for the new microcomputer, called “Raspberry Pi” which combines an 700 MHz ARM Processor, 512 MB of RAM, Full HDMI Output, Audio, Ethernet and USB into an very small and affordable package (about 35 US Dollar). With this microcomputer, and its General Purpose Input and Outputs (GPIO), pupils can actually have a “hands-on” (in) physical computing. That means: Connecting software (i.e. Python, Perl, C programs) with the real world. For example: Controlling LEDs, driving motors or even react on buttons, attached to the GPIO port. Combining these possibilities into a small and affordable package started a big hype about this little computer, long before it was even available to the public.