KeePiLive

Code to keep a Raspberry Pi running forever when using balena.io and the SleepyPi2

Set-Up

Make a balena.io account
Buy a SleepyPi2
Follow the guide to set-up your Pi
- If you havent worked with balena, i recommend following the whole tutorial to better understand the whole process of developement
- To use the code of this repo instead run the following code instead of the code in the tutorial, when reaching the chapter Deploy Code
  - git clone https://github.com/zagatta-sonah/KeePiLive.git
  - cd KeePiLive
  - git remote add balena <USERNAME>@git.balena-cloud.com:<USERNAME>/<APPNAME>.git
- When creating a application in balena, make sure for it to have the following settings:
  - Use a production images
  - Device Configuration:
    - Enable: RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_enable_uart
    - RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_dtoverlay = pi3-miniuart-bt
    - RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_dtparam = "i2c_arm=on","spi=on","audio=on"
- Flash the firmware (see "Flash SleepyPi2 Firmware" below)
Now write your own container to run your own code and never worry about the pi beeing and staying online again

Algorithm

Flash SleepyPi2 Firmware

SSH into the "sleepypi" container (via balena cli or web interface) and run /platformio/flash.sh

The result should end with:

============================= [SUCCESS] Took 10.91 seconds =============================

Read logs from the SleepyPi2

run pio device monitor -p /dev/ttyAMA0
the logs should appear in the following order, separated by ;, e.g. 3.0.0;0;00;07;00
- Version String = 3.0.0
- Value of Pi Pins = 0 (low voltage)
- Missed switches = 00 (no missed switches)
- Seconds since last switch = 07
- Minutes since reset (in case Pi was offline and needs to be restarted) = 0

So when everything is good, logs should look like this:

3.0.0;1;00;00;00
3.0.0;1;00;01;00
3.0.0;1;00;02;00
3.0.0;1;00;03;00
3.0.0;1;00;04;00
3.0.0;1;00;05;00
3.0.0;1;00;06;00
3.0.0;1;00;07;00
3.0.0;1;00;08;00
3.0.0;1;00;09;00
3.0.0;1;00;10;00
3.0.0;1;00;11;00
3.0.0;1;00;12;00
3.0.0;1;00;13;00
3.0.0;1;00;14;00
3.0.0;1;00;15;00
3.0.0;1;00;16;00
3.0.0;1;00;17;00
3.0.0;1;00;18;00
3.0.0;1;00;19;00
3.0.0;1;00;20;00
3.0.0;1;00;21;00
3.0.0;1;00;22;00
3.0.0;1;00;23;00
3.0.0;1;00;24;00
3.0.0;1;00;25;00
3.0.0;1;00;26;00
3.0.0;1;00;27;00
3.0.0;1;00;28;00
3.0.0;0;00;00;00
3.0.0;0;00;01;00
3.0.0;0;00;02;00
3.0.0;0;00;03;00
3.0.0;0;00;04;00
3.0.0;0;00;05;00
3.0.0;0;00;06;00
3.0.0;0;00;07;00
3.0.0;0;00;08;00
3.0.0;0;00;09;00
3.0.0;0;00;10;00
3.0.0;0;00;11;00
3.0.0;0;00;12;00
3.0.0;0;00;13;00
3.0.0;0;00;14;00
3.0.0;0;00;15;00
3.0.0;0;00;16;00
3.0.0;0;00;17;00
3.0.0;0;00;18;00
3.0.0;0;00;19;00
3.0.0;0;00;20;00
3.0.0;0;00;21;00
3.0.0;0;00;22;00
3.0.0;0;00;23;00
3.0.0;0;00;24;00
3.0.0;0;00;25;00
3.0.0;0;00;26;00
3.0.0;0;00;27;00
3.0.0;0;00;28;00
3.0.0;0;00;29;00

Explanations to different files in this Repo

docker-compose.yml

Make sure NOT to put preformance limitations on the SleepyPi container

The Container needs to access the GPIO Pins (to pulse the reset line) and the UART bus (to flash the sleepypi fw). If all of these settings are actually necessary is not yet determined.

labels:
  io.resin.features.kernel-modules: '1'
devices:
  - "/dev/i2c-1:/dev/i2c-1"
cap_add:
  - SYS_RAWIO

Dockerfile.template

PlatformIO needs Python 2.7 to run, thats why we need python2.7, pip2 and then can install the PlatformIO CLI core via pip. Dockerfile basically consists of:

Python 2.7
Install pip for Python 2.7
Install PlatformIO CLI Core
Install framework for sleepypi microcontroller
Copy pio roject
install Wiring Pi for Pulsing GPIOs
activate i2c
RPi.GPIO

/test/sw/start.sh

This Script is

switching the Handshake On/Off every 30 sec.
Logging the
- time difference since last switch
- the serial logs from the SleepyPi to the same logfile "log.txt". We only need the switching of the deadmanswitch for the FW Integration.

/platformio/* -> PlatformIO Project

platformio.ini

PlatformIO Project definiton file.
Contains:

Dependencies for the SleepyPi FW (Git links)
Board Specification -> points to custom specification /boards/sleepypi_custom.json
Specification of extra script to run before compiling and flashing
- custom-avrdude.py to the avrdude to the avrdude-pi.sh script

/boards/sleepypi_custom.json

Custom microcontroller board specification for the SleepyPi2.

custom-avrdude.py

Changes the Environtment Variable "UPLOADER" to the the path of the avrdude-pi.sh script.

avrdude-pi.sh

Pulses the Reset-Line to activate flashing process for the SleepyPi microcontroller
Calls the real avrdude with the original arguments

flash.sh

Script for flashing the Firmware.

Flips the power-control bit on the SleepyPi -> SleepyPi can't cut power off anymore
Starts compiling and flashing process of the SleepyPi FW
Flips the power-control bit again ->
- SleepyPi will can cut the power off again from Pi

/src/main.cpp

Arduino code in c++ format (not Arduino code .ino) -> The actual SleepyPi FW we're flashing

zagatta / KeePiLive