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Raspberry Pi Setup Guide

This guide provides detailed instructions for setting up Ethopy on a Raspberry Pi device.

Initial Setup

  1. Get the latest Raspberry Pi OS (Raspbian)

  2. Configure Raspberry Pi settings using raspi-config: 

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    sudo raspi-config

  3. Enable SSH
  4. Disable screen blanking

  5. Enable Desktop auto-login

  6. (Optional) Change hostname for easier identification: 

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    sudo sed -r -i s/raspberrypi/<<HOSTNAME>>/g /etc/hostname /etc/hosts

  7. (Optional) Change default username: 

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    sudo useradd -s /bin/bash -d /home/<<USERNAME>>/ -m -G sudo <<USERNAME>>
sudo passwd <<USERNAME>>
mkhomedir_helper <<USERNAME>>
sudo userdel -r -f pi

System Dependencies

  1. Install required system libraries: 

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    sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
    python-dev \
    libatlas-base-dev \
    build-essential \
    libavformat-dev \
    libavcodec-dev \
    libswscale-dev \
    libsquish-dev \
    libeigen3-dev \
    libopenal-dev \
    libfreetype6-dev \
    zlib1g-dev \
    libx11-dev \
    libjpeg-dev \
    libvorbis-dev \
    libogg-dev \
    libassimp-dev \
    libode-dev \
    libssl-dev \
    libgles2 \
    libgles1 \
    libegl1

  2. Install Python packages: 

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    sudo pip3 install 'numpy>=1.19.1' pygame==1.9.6 cython pybind11 scipy datajoint omxplayer-wrapper imageio imageio-ffmpeg

Hardware-Specific Setup

7" Raspberry Pi Touchscreen

Install multitouch driver: 

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git clone http://github.com/ef-lab/python-multitouch ~/github/python-multitouch
cd ~/github/python-multitouch/library
sudo python3 setup.py install

3D Graphics Support

Install Panda3D for Raspberry Pi: 

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wget ftp://eflab.org/shared/panda3d1.11_1.11.0_armhf.deb
sudo dpkg -i panda3d1.11_1.11.0_armhf.deb

GPIO Support

Enable pigpio service: 

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wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joan2937/pigpio/master/util/pigpiod.service
sudo cp pigpiod.service /etc/systemd/system
sudo systemctl enable pigpiod.service
sudo systemctl start pigpiod.service

X Display Configuration

For running graphical applications via SSH: 

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echo 'export DISPLAY=:0' >> ~/.profile
echo 'xhost + > /dev/null' >> ~/.profile

Remote Control Setup (Optional)

If you want to use Salt for remote control: 

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sudo apt install salt-minion -y
echo 'master: <<YOUR_SALT-MASTER_IP>>' | sudo tee -a /etc/salt/minion
echo 'id: <<HOSTNAME>>' | sudo tee -a /etc/salt/minion
echo 'master_finger: <<MASTER-FINGER>>' | sudo tee -a /etc/salt/minion
sudo service salt-minion restart

Ethopy Installation

  1. Install Ethopy: 

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    pip install "ethopy[obj]"  # Includes 3D object support

  2. Create configuration file at ~/.ethopy/local_conf.json: 

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    {
    "dj_local_conf": {
        "database.host": "YOUR DATABASE",
        "database.user": "USERNAME",
        "database.password": "PASSWORD",
        "database.port": "PORT",
        "database.reconnect": true,
        "database.enable_python_native_blobs": true
    },
    "source_path": "LOCAL_RECORDINGS_DIRECTORY",
    "target_path": "TARGET_RECORDINGS_DIRECTORY"
}

  3. Initialize database schemas: 

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    ethopy-setup-schema

Running Experiments

You can run experiments in two modes:

  1. Service Mode (controlled by database): 

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    ethopy

  2. Direct Mode (specific task): 

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    ethopy --task-idx 1

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

  1. Display Issues
  2. Ensure DISPLAY is set correctly in ~/.profile
  3. Check X server is running

  4. Verify permissions with xhost +

  5. GPIO Access

  6. Verify pigpiod service is running: systemctl status pigpiod

  7. Check user permissions for GPIO access

  8. Database Connection

  9. Test connection: ethopy-db-connection
  10. Check network connectivity to database server
  11. Verify credentials in local_conf.json