Reef-pi setup notes

Notes on getting the reef-pi software setup initially.

The Reef-pi project.

Basic setup of raspbian

Using Buster lite pre-installed SD card.

Enable SSH

Create a file called ssh in the boot partition. No content required.

Enable WiFi

Create a file in the boot partition of the SD card called wpa_supplicant.conf with the following content:

country=US
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
    scan_ssid=1
    ssid="wifi_network"
    psk="wifi_password"
}

This info will automatically be copied to /etc/spa_supplicant on boot.

Find the pi on the network

Insert the SD card into the PI, and plug it in. Wait a few moments, and then look for the device on the network with arp -n -a (or looking at list of clients in access point interface). The Pi will have a MAC address beginning with b8:27 or b8:28 (probably?). It should also have a client identifier of raspberrypi. It may be accessible via ssh pi@raspberrypi, otherwise use ssh pi@<ip address>. The default password is raspberry. That password should be immediately changed with the passwd command.

Update software

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

Set the correct timezone

(instead of below method, can be done from raspi-config)

• Use timedatectl list-timezones to show all options, and find the desired option. Copy it exactly. (use 'q' to exit the list)
• Use sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York, except change 'America/New_York' to the desired timezone code.

Further configuration

Run the raspi-config command to configure the device further as desired (run as root with sudo).

Set Static IP address (optional)

This doesn't appear to be possible via raspi-config. Follow normal debian procedures.

Reef Pi required raspbian settings

Reef-pi guide on AdaFruit: https://learn.adafruit.com/reef-pi-installation-and-configuration/raspberry-pi-configuration

Enable network time

sudo systemctl start systemd-timesyncd
sudo systemctl enable systemd-timesyncd

Enable hardware timers

Edit /boot/config.txt, add the following line:

dtoverlay=pwm-2chan

(requires a reboot)

Enable I2C and 1-wire

(This can instead be done from the raspi-config 'Interfacing Options' selection) run sudo raspi-config

select Interfacing Options

select I2C, and select Yes

Re-navigate to interfacing options, select 1-wire, and select Yes

Enable UART

Add the following line to the end of /boot/config.txt:

enable_uart=1

Disable SPI

Will allow using the SPI pins as additional GPIO. Can be done from the raspi-config utility

run sudo raspi-config

select Interfacing Options

select SPI, and then select No.

Install Reef-pi

• Go to https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/releases, copy link to latest relevant release (i.e.- https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/releases/download/4.0/reef-pi-4.0-pi0.deb). Be sure to get the correct .deb for the specific pi.
• From pi, download with wget: wget https://github.com/reef-pi/reef-pi/releases/download/4.0/reef-pi-4.0-pi0.deb
• Install with dpkg: sudo dpkg -i reef-pi-4.0-pi0.deb Package name will be different for different releases.
• Ensure service is running with systemctl status reef-pi. If it's not, start it with sudo systemctl start reef-pi

Should now be able to reach reef-pi via http on port 80.

The default username and password are both 'reef-pi'.