Pi Zero W
I have a PI 2 Model B (without the wireless features) and wanted to play with a camera so it made sense to invest $10 in a Pi Zero W. I can't imagine using a webcam that's wired up (I have no wired network in this rental house.)
Since it's the first Pi Zero for me I got the cute C4Labs Zebra Zero+ protoboard setup from Adafruit at the same time.
If it all works out and I will get another Pi Zero to use with the camera without the protoboard.
First boot
- Plug in a cable to the Windows machine and see if it recognizes the Pi Zero as a smoke test.
- Download Raspian ZIP image from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspian
- Download Etcher from https://www.balena.io/etcher/
- Run Etcher to copy image to 32GB card (32GB is overkill but it's the first one I grabbed.)
- While waiting, dig up the HDMI cable and USB keyboard.
- Discover there are many connectors in the world and they used an HDMI I don't have.
- Order a Type A (std HDMI) to Type C (Mini) cable. Note the BeagleBoneBlack uses Type D (Micro).
- Wait a few days. (Still waiting... :-) 11/26/18 cable arrived and works)
- OR use headless mode https://learn.adafruit.com/raspberry-pi-zero-creation/text-file-editing
- Configure the WiFI by editing wpa_supplicant.conf (see next section)
- Transfer card to Pi
- Connect HDMI monitor and USB keyboard if you go that route.
- Power on via a cellphone charger and a generic micro USB cable, everyone has those!
- Log in as "pi" with password "raspberry"
- Change the password!
Headless mode
- Enable WiFI so card comes up on network.
- Enable ssh so I can log in.
Put the SD card in the Mac. Create these files.
cd /Volumes/boot touch ssh vi wpa_supplicant.conf
wpa_supplicant.conf should contain
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev update_config=1 country=US network={ ssid="YOURSSID" psk="YOURPASSWORD" scan_ssid=1 }
The wpa_supplicant.conf file gets moved on boot so don't freak if it "disappears".
Remember to update the dnsmasq settings on Bellman to issue it a proper IP address.
ssh pi@zebra pi@zebra's password: Linux raspberrypi 4.14.79+ #1159 Sun Nov 4 17:28:08 GMT 2018 armv6l The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software; the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright. Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law. SSH is enabled and the default password for the 'pi' user has not been changed. This is a security risk - please login as the 'pi' user and type 'passwd' to set a new password. pi@raspberrypi:~$
and there was much rejoicing... seconds later, I realized that I cannot show it off because there are no LEDs to blink, no beeper, just this cold dead looking thing... anticlimax hits.
Serial console: I did not add enable_uart=1 to config.txt because I don't need it right now.
Set up a new Zero
sudo -s apt-get update apt-get upgrade rpi-update reboot
= Fix the keyboard
Change the "gb" to "us" by doing this edit.
sudo vi /etc/default/keyboard
Bluetooth set up
Look up this article: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-setup-bluetooth-on-a-raspberry-pi-3/ and read the Terminal section. Works like a champ. I paired with an Apple keyboard.
sudo bluetoothctl agent on default agent scan on
Watch for the keyboard to show up, then enter
pair XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
If the keyboard is in pairing mode, then you will be prompted to enter the secret code on the keyboard. Enter the numbers and then hit Enter. The keyboard should pair. Not sure if you have to do the next step,
connect XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
but anyway then the keyboard should start working.
Camera notes
Enable camera and reboot:
raspi-config reboot
Test camera: raspistill -o foo.jpg
Getting OpenCV
After 20 hours compiling opencv, Pi ran out of memory. I had to bump up swap space from 100MB to 1024.
Cribbed from https://www.pyimagesearch.com/2016/04/18/install-guide-raspberry-pi-3-raspbian-jessie-opencv-3/
All this just to allow building from source...
sudo apt -y install git cmake pkg-config sudo apt -y install libjpeg-dev libtiff5-dev libpng-dev sudo apt -y install libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libswscale-dev libv4l-dev sudo apt -y install libxvidcore-dev libx264-dev sudo apt -y install libgtk2.0-dev sudo apt -y install libatlas-base-dev gfortran sudo apt -y install python2.7-dev python3-dev sudo apt -y install python3-setuptools
This part is for either source build or pip install
sudo apt -y install libhdf5-dev libhdf5-serial-dev libwebp-dev sudo apt -y install libqtwebkit4 libqt4-test sudo apt -y install python-pip
On Zebra and Bellman,
pip install virtualenv virtualenvwrapper
vs Murre (Windows 10 Debian in WSL)
sudo apt install virtualenvwrapper
Add these lines to ~/.profile
export WORKON_HOME=$HOME/.virtualenvs source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh
- on windows
source /usr/share/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.sh
Then source them.
source .profile mkvirtualenv cv -p python3 pip install numpy
This leaves you in the cv venv, on subsequent logins
workon cv
In one line, install the entire OpenCV package and skip 20 hours of compilation.
pip install opencv-contrib-python-headless
This fails, because there is a library missing.
ImportError: libImath-2_2.so.12: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Build commands
Get the source
cd ~/src/ wget -O opencv.zip https://github.com/opencv/opencv/archive/4.0.0.zip unzip opencv.zip wget -O opencv-contrib.zip https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib/archive/4.0.0.zip unzip opencv-contrib.zip
Set up the makefile
cd opencv-4.0.0 mkdir build cd build cmake -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE \ -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local \ -D INSTALL_PYTHON_EXAMPLES=OFF \ -D OPENCV_EXTRA_MODULES_PATH=~/src/opencv_contrib-4.0.0/modules \ -D BUILD_EXAMPLES=ON ..
Do the actual build, it will take about 21 hours on a Pi Zero. Do more than just drink coffee. :-)
make sudo make install sudo ldconfig cd /usr/local/python sudo python3 setup.py install
While I was waiting for the build on the Pi, I installed OpenCV from source on Bellman and plugged in a spare webcam. :-)
- Zebra: 1290 minutes (21 hours), with 'make' (just one CPU)
- Bellman: 48 minutes with 'make -j 8'
- Murre: 5 minutes with 'make -j 20' (10 hyperthreaded cores) more than 250 times as fast as a Pi Zero. :-)
Zebra is at 14% and for testing on Murre I had time to eat Thanksgiving dinner, then download and install the build toolchain, download sources, and do the build on Murre. I could hear the fans speed up on Murre, the first time ever.
or Cross compile BUILD on a REAL computer
Have not tried this yet though I probably have time...
Now for the app software
https://github.com/HackerShackOfficial/Smart-Security-Camera
MotionEyeOS https://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2017/04/raspberry-pi-zero-w-cctv-camera-with-motioneyeos/
MotionEye on Raspian https://www.techcoil.com/blog/how-i-setup-a-raspberry-pi-zero-w-cctv-camera-with-motioneye-and-raspbian-stretch-lite/
Built into a dummy camera case: https://www.instructables.com/id/Zero-Security-Camera/ Pi Zero (not wireless) + USB - LAN adapter
Cool 3D-printed case: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2544275