Pyssel

Updated 2025-06-23 ! I have got some questions installing, just,  Signal K (SK) so will do a summary with links. Signal K is the hub to receive data, from different devices in different data formats, and send it on to different equipment, or databases, in different formats. Most common for standard marine equipment are the old NMEA 0183 and the newer NMEA 2000 protocol which is also handled.  Besides the SK "hub" function developers  have  created  plugins  for different purposes. This is due to that  SK is open-source ! Sharing is caring ! In this post you can check the devices I'm using connected to the SK server and also my setup.

Updated 2025-06-02 ! This will soon be a deprecated installation method !! The best way to start with Home Assistant (HA), and Raspberry Pi(RPi), is off course to use the ”Raspberry Pi imager” and in the menu select " Other specific-purpose OS => Home Assistant and home automation => Home Assistant ". This will install the HA operating system. It works very well and here are the install instructions .  On the other hand if you want to add HA to a RPi which you already have up and running, without Docker, you need to install something which is called " Home Assistant Core ". Please check the " Remarks " below before you start. New version for Python 3.13 ! Below info is not updated but just change from 3.12 to 3.13 

Updated 2024-12-13 ! When starting up a new project with Raspberry Pi I like to start up fresh and with a minimal OS.  Therefore i always use Raspberry Pi OS(ROS) Lite and then adding what I need .  Doing it right You don't have to use an external display, keybord and mouse, just a " ssh "  client. Flash to a SSD ? Check this post .

Updated 2024-11-06 ! Node-Red (NR) is  Flow-based programming for the Internet of Things This post isn't made as a complete install guide, there are several, just some links to the best information I have found. The best thing is that even if you don't are a skilled programmer, but like logic flows, you can make really advanced things. It's pre-installed on some Raspberry Pi(RPi) distributions. Running  Node-Red with  multiple instances  ?

Fresh air at home is very important ! For more than 15 years ago, at a major renovation of our house, we installed an HRV or in Swedish  FTX system . Since then there have been nice updates for FTX equipment so when one of the fans was a little noicy and when the motor for the rotor died it was time to do an upgrade instead of repairing the old one. So we purchased an  CASA R7 Genius (R7). For me its important to get as much data as possible, to optimize energy consumption in our house, so despite that the the R7 have a nice app we also added a SEM interface to get the data, via MODBUS , that is available.

Updated 2024-07-01 ! I like the Raspberry Pi(RPi), with Raspberry Pi OS Lite (no Desktop is included), headless operation, and then adding the software You need. Until now I haven't had a use case where I needed a Desktop but now was time.  Why don't use the Raspberry Pi OS with Desktop ?? In that package there is a lot of software I don't need and I really want to optimize the RPi. I think that the less software You install the happier RPi will be... 😉

Updated 2024-06-30 ! OpenPlotter(OP), a Boat Navigation application, is really a nice and simple installation of OpenPlotter (OP) OpenCPN (OC) SignalK (SK)  and other supporting applications for Your boat. An overall information about the OP package is found  here   and you can watch the OP v4 progress  here .

Updated 2024-06-06 ! After having tested several methods creating a bootable USB SSD, or other USB drive, for Raspberry Pi(RPi) 3 4 and 5, I finished with this simple method Create the setup you want on a ordinary SD card(Or use existing) Make a bootable backup/clone of the SD card saving it to the USB SSD Remove the SD card and boot from the USB SSD Having a RPi 4, 5 ? Use this post on how to write the OS direct to the SSD.  

Updated 2024-06-05 ! Yes, it's really true ! Thats the maximum time it takes to write the Raspberry Pi(RPi) OS to a bootable USB SSD and maybe read this post ? If you have a RPi 4, 5 and a USB SSD or  other USB drive , that works as a boot media, just use  the RPi imager which can write the image direct to  the USB  storage. Having an older RPi ? Use this post instead. If you already have a SD card with working applications and you want to "transfer",  copy/clone,  them to a bootable SSD use this post .

Im using NodeRed together with  Speedtest by Ookla  but just the other day it wasn't showing the right data so it was time for "Bredbandskollen", the command line version. Bredbandskollen has always been a reliable source when testing internet speed.  I'm using their WEB-site and the iPhone app and it have always worked very well. This post will show how to plot data in a graph according to the picture.

Updated 2024-03-01 ! OpenPlotter(OP), a Boat Navigation application, is really a nice and simple installation of OpenPlotter (OP) OpenCPN (OC) SignalK (SK)  and other supporting applications for Your boat. An overall information about the OP package is found here . Install guide for the new stable OP, version 4, is found here .

Updated 2024-02-20 ! A very nice way to fix a backup is to make a copy, bootable, of the actual SD card You are using on the Raspberry Pi(RPi). This will be done even when the RPi is up and running ! This application can also be used to make a bootable SSD or USB drive !! You clone from the command line so You don't need the standard GUI, Pixel, and the " SD card copier "  function. It is also possible to set up a a scheduled job, cronjob explained later, which for example makes a clone every night at 1 o'clock.

Updated 2024-01-07 ! OK with Bookworm & PHP 8.2 ! As a part of one of my project,  the ultimate Weather site ? Weather34 , I needed a WEB-host with PHP. I started up with a fresh Raspberry OS Lite SD Card  with Samba installed . Log on, with ssh/terminal to the RaspberryPi(RPi),  in this case hostname "pws01",  and update the OS with sudo apt update sudo apt full-upgrade -y sudo apt clean go on and install the Apache server with sudo apt install apache2

Updated 2023-11-08 for Bookworm ! The purpose of a watchdog timer(WD) is very well described here but a more practical answer is; If your Raspberry Pi(RPi) "freezes", or hangs, it will automagically reboot within a very short time. This is made with a combination of hardware and software which is all ready available, on the RPi, and just have to be enabled. After some hours Googling and testing these are my findings !

Updated 2023-10-17 ! To make a headless, without monitor, keyboard and mouse, install of Raspberry Pi OS on a Raspberry Pi(RPi) with built in WiFi and no LAN cable connection, please follow the instructions below. For example the RPi Zero and Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ don't have any LAN cable port so the setup is quite usable. To make an active WiFi connection at first boot You have to use the "Advanced options" in Raspberry Pi Imager or create, old way, a configuration file called " wpa_supplicant.conf ".

Updated 2023-10-13 ! There is a "new kid in the block" called NetworkManager (NM),  configuration of network interfaces,  which in OS "Bookworm", Debian 12, is replacing  the former used  dhcpcd . NM isn't really new since the first public release was made 2004. In this post I will write down some NM hints for an easy start since I didn't find any myself.

Updated 2023-10-12 ! In a former post I shared some thoughts about how to start using NetworkManager (NM), on a Raspberry, and here I will continue with additional examples that can help with network setup. NMTUI is NetworkManager text UI which can handle the most common tasks in a easy way. An access point or hotspot will be configured. " sudo nmcli connection edit xxxx " is a command that guides you throw a change of parameters.

Updated 2023-10-02 ! The latest models of Rasberry Pi, (RPi), comes with built in Bluetooth, (BT), so how to receive data from Your Bluetooth devices ? A Bluetooth Beacon, could be a   RuuvuTag ,   is a device that You don't have to pair with, You just scan and receive the data that they are transmitting. Start with checking that Your BT interface is working,  in a terminal window ,  typing hciconfig  

Updated 2023-07-12 ! There are some Node-Red nodes, (NRN), that are dependent on the old Noble package which don't work on Node > v8.  One nice and simple NRN is the  node-red-contrib-noble  which have the same problem. I picked up the freshest source, dependent on  @abandonware/noble , forked it and added install instructions. It works with Node <= v18. 

Uppdated 2023-10-28 ! I have been running a Raspberry Pi 2(RPi) for several years with Buster and the applications; Homebridge(HB) Razberry , Z-way interface CUPS , printer software Node-RED (NR) When I started with the RPi it was Jessie, then Stretch and Buster. Every time I upgraded the SD card to the latest OS and it just worked. It should been said that I always waited a year or so and  I'm using the RPi headless without any GUI. Now it was time to go from Buster to Bullseye !