MothPi
Installation
System packages
Required packages:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get -y upgrade && sudo apt autoremove sudo apt install -y python3-setuptools python3-dev python3-pip libsystemd-dev python3-gphoto2 python3-gpiozero wiringpi python3-systemd gphoto2 python3-yaml sudo pip3 install -r requirements.txt
Correct time stamps
Preserve timing information as well as possible:
- Transport the camera with a battery, as it has an internal clock with limited power capacity; and check the correcttime in the camera when setting up; pictures then will have the correct timestamp.
- If the Raspberry Pi will be without internet connection, install
fake-hwclockor optionally install a hardware clock. - If it will have internet connection: Make sure that the systemd service
systemd-timesyncd.serviceis enabled and started time zone is set correctly:
systemctl enable --now systemd-timesyncd.service timedatectl set-ntp true timedatectl set-timezone "Europe/Berlin" # or any other timezone
Mothpi service
Also, the Mothpi program will run as user, so make sure that automatic start-up of user instances is activated:
loginctl enable-linger pi
Mothpi installation
The main Mothpi programm can be downloaded from this git repository.
git clone https://github.com/lumaku/mothpi ~/mothpi
If you use a development version and need an access token, set up an access token in Settings->Access Tokens, then use it to access this Mothpi repository.
MOTHPI_TOKEN=<token>git clone https://gitlab-ci-token:${MOTHPI_TOKEN}@gitlab.lrz.de/visammod/mothpi ~/mothpi
The included script automates the updating process as well as other tasks.
Camera setup
- Switch the camera "ON".
- Make sure that PC connection over USB is activated. This can be verified by connecting it with USB cable to the Raspberry Pi. Then, the camera displays a "waiting for connection" message.
- To reduce power usage, switch off the display setting "Sucher" in the menu for "Display/Sucher" on Page 3 of the Gear
page. (Sony Alpha 6000)
- Don't forget to activate the flash by pressing the flash button.
Run Mothpi
Start with mothpi.sh that provides a boilerplate for mothpi, including functions for:
- automatic updates,
- systemd services,
- reverse ssh tunnel to the main server and
- a pictures uploader.
Initialize with:
./mothpi.sh init
this will copy and enable systemd services and set up systemd service variables.
The core program that takes pictures is in mothpi/mothpy.py.
Mothpi App
The web app included in mothpi/app.py provides a web interface to check its status and change the configuration. It can be accessed on Port 8000. The IP address of the device is displayed on the e-Paper display, if available.
Example configuration page:
Mothpi default configuration
The mothpi configuration file will be saved in $HOME/.mothpi. Pictures are saved in /home/pi/pics/ and will be moved over to the server in regular intervals.
Periodic restarts are disabled by default, but can be activated over the configuration file.
lumaku
