This is a project that started as something small but has grown over time. I wanted a simple script that would snap a picture and upload it to a ftp site once a day. With that script I could keep an eye on my yard when I was traveling. As time went on, I wanted easier access so I replaced the ftp site with DropBox. Then I wanted more images so once a day went to once and hour. As so on… So today I still have a script but it does a few extra things. I created he gsnap script to snap a picture once a minute and store it locally or upload to DropBox. Also, there is a script that will convert the ..read more

For an upcoming project I needed to upload files to Dropbox from the command line. There is a tool that supports transfers to & from Dropbox but the setup requires a few coordinated steps. This quick how-to is what you need to get started. dropbox-uploader.sh is a BASH script (found here) that lets you interact with Dropbox from the command line. It uses an application api and therefore you do not need to supply a username / password when using the script. There is a config file that is needed and the first time you run the script, a wizard will walk you through the creation process. To s ..read more

It is well known that the on-board Raspberry Pi audio out is terrible. So I wanted to find a solution that didn’t cost more than the Pi itself. I collected some different options and evaluated them for sound quality and ease of use. If you are an audiophile you can stop reading here. The goal wasn’t to find the best, most accurate audio output board. I was looking for something cheap, easy and great. I tested 8 different options and here are my findings. How I tested All of my tests were done using two different headphones. The first set is an over the ear JVC headphone that is no longer avail ..read more

These are the Raspberry Pi accessory items I have on my workbench. I have collected these items as I worked on different projects and ideas over the last few years. This is not my “wish list of Raspi toys” but my true collection of useful items – I have used every item on this list or something very similar. Lets me know – What do you have on your bench? Wireless mini-keyboards 21SDL 19S I find these keyboards indispensable. I use them for setting up my Pis and for occasional use. Both are self contained including the keyboard and touchpad mouse. The 21SDL model has a rechargeable battery ..read more

In this post I went over the basic steps for getting the touchscreen running. Here are some additional hints and tips for getting the touch screen running. There is a display_rotate option documented for use in config.txt. That didn’t work for me. Only adding the rotate= option worked. The values for rotate= are 0, 90, 180 and 270. . You will need to reboot after making the change. In the console mode, if the default font is too large, you can select the smaller font by adding a fbcon=font:VGA8x8 at the end of the cmdline.txt file I found it was easiest to setup the system using SSH. That re ..read more

When I found a touchscreen the same size as the Raspberry Pi I thought it was a great find. Having the screen the same size as the board was perfect for touch keypads and other man/machine interfaces. I knew it would be a challenge to get it fully functional but it was nearly impossible. Lucky for you the hard work is done and I have documented my steps here. Update: I published some hints in this post. Check that out too. I ordered my screen directly from China from AliExpress. I ordered this exact board. I took about 4 weeks to arrive. Even though there wasn’t much packaging material, the bo ..read more

For most cases the recommended web server for the Raspberry Pi is lighttpd. But when I entered the command sudo apt-get install php to add php to the Pi, I was surprised to find apache2 was a dependency of php7. I didn’t need apache2. I wasn’t sure if it would interact with lighttpd and I didn’t need all the code that came with it. I partly understand the reasoning but it didn’t solve my problems. I did some Google searches and found a few out-dated how-tos so I collected the current steps here. To start, make sure your system is fully updated with the standard: sudo apt-get update sudo apt-ge ..read more

Even though Linux GUIs have been around forever, much of the administration and configuration is easier in a command line interface (CLI). The default CLI (shell) for most versions of Linux is a powerful tool called bash. To configure bash you need to create and/or edit the .bashrc file in your home directory. This file is read everytime you start a new bash window. I have collected some of the best parts from .bashrc files and listed them below. My complete .bashrc file is listed at the end. Listing files The most commonly used command on my system is ls. Here are the ls aliases I use. # Add ..read more

More of my projects have been using Node.js and Node-RED lately and I have found that Raspbian has an old version of Node installed. Plus, you cannot use the normal apt-get to get the updated version. Check out Stack Overflow for the reasons. I found there are two different ways to get the latest. If you need to install Node.js and do not need Node-RED The basic Rasbian instructions are found here. I used the Debian instructions but it required an extra step. To become root I used the following command and then the update ran without issue: sudo su curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x ..read more

I have been using the DietPi distribution on my Raspberry Pis for a about a year now and it has become my go-to for doing quick projects. It is a lightweight distro that is based on Debian. It automates many of the more complicated tasks required with setting up and updating a Linux SBC and it includes an impressive list of ‘standard applications.’ There are two items that are the most convenient for my lab. First, DietPi is not just a Raspberry Pi distro. It supports about 30 different single board computers and virtual machines. That is important for me because I am trying new boards as they ..read more