So one of my Raspberry Pis died. I think the USB hub was faulty causing power spikes that eventually fried the SD cards and Pi circuitry. Luckily my workflow of working on the iPad meant the code was all still intact on Textastic. It did, however, make me implement a basic backup system. This goes … Continue reading Simple Dropbox BackUp on Raspberry Pi
Accessing Our Sensor Data: PHP + SQLite + SVG
So we have our sensor(s) dutifully logging their data to an SQLite database. Now we need to process and view this data. LASP First we need to set our Raspberry Pi up as a webserver. This typically requires: Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP - a LAMP framework. There is a handy guide: here (thanks Dave!). … Continue reading Accessing Our Sensor Data: PHP + SQLite + SVG
Databases for Sensor Data in Python
Here are some options to persistently store sensor data in a database using python. Anydbm For simple key-value pairs the anydbm module looks the best. It stores values as strings. Because of this you may need to use another module called pickle to convert non-string values into strings. For example: import anydbm, pickle from datetime … Continue reading Databases for Sensor Data in Python
Simple Energy Monitoring on Raspberry Pi
So. Reading an LCD screen was more difficult than I first assumed. My code is still good for reading my Thermostat values. However for energy monitoring and £20 I found a better solution. Looking on the net a particular model of energy monitor was recommended for easy monitoring: the Current Cost EnviR. This monitor has … Continue reading Simple Energy Monitoring on Raspberry Pi
Home Inputs & Outputs
If thinking about the home as a system I need to look at Input/Output (I/O) options. If using a biological model the inputs map to senses and the outputs to muscles and nervous system control. I do not have all these items but hear are some ideas. Inputs Energy Monitor e.g. Owl via CM 160 … Continue reading Home Inputs & Outputs
Programming a Raspberry Pi from the Sofa
I have set up quite a nifty little workflow for interfacing and programming the Raspberry Pi. SSH Access I have set up the Pi with a static IP address and configured SSH access. Setting up a static IP address is easy with an AirPort Extreme. Using AirPort Utility goto Advanced options>DHCP and NAT>Reservations. Set up … Continue reading Programming a Raspberry Pi from the Sofa
WeMo Motion / IFTTT Bugs
Just bought the WeMo Switch and Motion sensor. Setup was fine via app. Next step was connecting IFTTT. I did this via the "...More" button on the app. Click on "Connect to IFTTT" option. A pin is generated. It took me a couple of attempts to realise you can click on the button under the … Continue reading WeMo Motion / IFTTT Bugs
Face Tracking Robot Arm
Ha - awesome - I have made a face tracking robot arm. The 12 year-old me is so jealous.Here's how I did it (on Ubuntu 12.04 but should be portable to the Raspberry Pis):I installed SimpleCV: - http://simplecv.org/ .(I love this - makes it so simple to prototype.)I built this robot arm: - http://www.maplin.co.uk/robotic-arm-kit-with-usb-pc-interface-266257 .I installed pyusb: … Continue reading Face Tracking Robot Arm
Scanning to the Cloud: Fujitsu Scansnap S1500 + Raspberry Pi
Process Flow Get Input to Initiate Scan Scan Using Auto-Document Feed Post Processing Import to Evernote (via email) Install Scanning Driver & Utilities Typically, using: sudo apt-get install sane You may need to adjust permissions for the scanners. I found as a non-root user I could not see any scanners when using: scanadf -L or … Continue reading Scanning to the Cloud: Fujitsu Scansnap S1500 + Raspberry Pi
Digit Recognition for an LCD Screen
While I wait for a £1.75 USB LED light to solve my cupboard lumination problem I thought I would investigate digit recognition for an LCD screen.Turns out some clever people before me have considered the same problem from the point of view of allowing the blind to read displays.I found some good ideas in this … Continue reading Digit Recognition for an LCD Screen