CHAPTER 1

Introduction to the Raspberry Pi

Accessories for the Raspberry Pi

In order to install the programs in this book the minimum requirements are:

1) Raspberry Pi any model, although the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B is recommended.

2) A 5V 2.4A Switching Power Supply with Micro USB cable.

3) If using other than the Raspberry 3 Model B, a Wi-Fi USB fob would be needed to access a Wi-Fi system.

4) Case for the Raspberry Pi.

The above items can be purchased from any of the following websites; www.adafruit.com www.amazon.com www. element14.com www.thepihut.com.

5) USB Keyboard and Mouse or a wireless USB Keyboard and Mouse.

6) HDMI TV for a Monitor.

There would also be some specific accessories for those programs that connect with Computer Aided Transceiver (CAT) radios.

1) SignalLink USB audio interface www.tigertronics.com

2) If your CAT radio connector is RS-232, a USB to 9 pin serial converter would be required. www.amazon.com

3) Interface cable for a Computer Assisted Transceiver (CAT). Check with any amateur radio supply house for you transceiver's matching cable.

A short development history

In 1971 Intel produced the first general purpose programmable microprocessor chip, the 4004. It was one of four chips developed for a printing calculator. It delivered the processing power of the first computer built in 1946 which filled an entire room. This chip was followed by the 8008 and then the 8080. The latter was used in the Altair which became the first successfully marketed computer kit and set standards used for several years.

During the beginning of this personal computer 'revolution' the machines required more computer knowledge to operate than most people possessed. In the late 70s computer stores began to open but only customers with some computer background could successfully use them, as few well working programs were available. Just to put a program into the computer required using switches on the front panel is specific order. However these early computers attracted many young people who went on to college computer courses.

Over time the personal computer became an expensive household appliance. Parents were reluctant to allow their children to use the family computers because of the cost of the machines and the possibility of the children erasing the family data.

In 2006 Dr. Eben Upton and associates of the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory noted the declining numbers and skills of students applying for computer science courses. It was decided to develop an affordable computer that young people could use to become familiar with computer concepts.

In 2011 the Raspberry Pi Model B was born and sold over two million units within two years. Since then there has been continuing improvements in various models of the Raspberry Pi. The machines are not only computers but they are also microcontrollers with pins that can externally sense and control devices.

Some of the uses, of these computers, are general purpose computing, learning to program, a project platform, prototyping products, creating a media center, control of robots, home automation and security systems.

The emphasis of this book is to provide guidance in setting up and operating a Raspberry Pi providing various amateur radio programs.

Program installation sections

Each program installation section will consist of the following parts:

Overview - a description of the program to be installed.

Hardware: any additional hardware required.

Installation: Steps to install the software. In most cases there are two methods to do so. Each method will be explained in the program Installation sections.

Desktop Entry File: The Desktop Entry file configures how an application appears in the desktop menu. Those programs that do not include a Desktop Entry file will require one be created.

Configuration: How to initially configure the program.

Operation: Operating the program.

Task Bar Information

From time to time there will be references to the "Task Bar" located at the top of the screen.

The first icon in the taskbar is the Menu selection icon. The second is the Internet browser. The third is the file browser. The fourth is the Command Line Interface Terminal. The fifth is the Mathematica program. The sixth is the Wolfram program.

See http://www.i-programmer.info/news/91-hardware/ 7620-mathematica-10-now-on-raspberry-pi.html for more information about Mathematica and Wolfram.

The next icon is the blue tooth control icon.

See https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-setup-blue tooth-on-a-raspberry-pi-3/ for more information.

The next icon indicates Wi-Fi is attached. If the Wi-Fi is not connected, that icon will look like this:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The following icons are the speaker volume control, the CPU memory in use percentage, the time and the last is the eject drive icon.

CHAPTER 2

Setup

New Out Of Box Software (NOOBS) is a program used to easily install the operating system on the Raspberry Pi Secure Digital (SD) card.

The Raspberry Pi operating system, Raspbian, and data storage are kept on a Micro SD card. Thus you can set up various SD cards each booting a Raspberry Pi in different configurations. For example, by changing the SD Card in the Pi, the Pi could be a SETI1 cruncher, robot, drone control system, media system, home security system, camera controller, GPS, earthquake detector, RFID Reader, Weather station, Radon detector, etc.2

The speed of micro SD cards range up to class 10 which is the fastest. The class is indicated by a number in a circle. For the Raspberry Pi it is recommended that the minimum useful class is 4. The class 10 card will also operate for a longer period of time. However, in time the card will "wear out." It is highly recommended, as with any computer data, that one backs up the SD card. See "Backing up the SD Card."

If your Raspberry Pi came with a pre-installed NOOBS SD card, skip to 'Wi-Fi setup.'

Download NOOBS from https://www.raspberrypi.org/ downloads/

Click on the NOOBS icon

Under the NOOBS icon select [Download Zip] Unzip the Downloaded NOOBS system folder.

Follow the INSTRUCTIONS-README.txt file found in the unzipped NOOBS folder.

On the bottom of the desktop is the language selection window. Select the language for your country. For example, in the US select English (US). The corresponding US keyboard should be displayed.

Click on the Raspbian check box and click on the install icon. Click [yes] on the Confirm window. When the [OS(es) Installed] window appears, click on OK.

Wi-Fi setup

In order to download the programs in this book, you must be connected to the Internet. Therefore, you have two options. You can connect to your internet router with a Ethernet cable or attach to your Wi-fi router. This section explains how to connect to a Wi-fi router.

Connection requires a Wi-Fi USB fob if you using a Raspberry Pi other than the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. Configure the connection by clicking on the icon displaying two vertical lines on the right side of the task bar. Available Wi-Fi spots will be displayed. Click on the desired Wi-Fi spot connection enter the Wi-Fi network password and the connection should be made.

After connecting to the Wi-Fi and in order to update to the latest version of the Raspbian operating system, open a terminal session by clicking on the terminal icon on the task bar at the top of the desktop.

If not recently done update information about new and updated Linux packages that are available on the Internet:

$ sudo apt-get update

If a new version of a package installed on your machine is available the package will be upgraded with the following command. No installed packages are ever removed by this command.

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Press the [Enter] key in response to the 'Do You Want to Continue [Y/n]' prompt.

In order to update the Raspberry Pi firmware:

$ sudo apt-get install rpi-update

SD Card Configuration

In order to configure the SD card, click on the task bar raspberry icon. Then select [Preferences] and [Raspberry Configuration] [System].

Password: It is highly recommended that you change the Password. The default password for the Raspberry Pi is raspberry. If you have not changed it, enter that into the Current password box then enter you new password in the two other boxes and click on the [OK] button. If the [Ok] button is grayed out, the two entries of the password you wish to use, do not match.

Hostname: You can also change the host-name to identify the Raspberry Pi on network listings. I have changed the Host-name to Hamshack.

This way one can easily determine which computers are being seen on the network. In the above network list, Epson WF-3640 Series is the network printer, HAMSHACK is the system we are setting up, JAMES PC is a Windows laptop, JAMES UBUNTU is a Linux desktop and K9EOH is another Raspberry Pi.

Boot: You can choose for the Pi to boot to a Graphical User Interface (Desktop) or Command Line Interface (CLI).

The Graphical User Interface uses windows, icons and menus which can be manipulated by a mouse.

All interaction with the Raspberry Pi using CLI is accomplished by text input from the keyboard that is converted to the appropriate operating functions.

Auto login: if checked the system will boot directly into the Boot configuration selected above. If it is not checked, the password will be required to continue booting.

Network at Boot: If "Wait for network" is checked the system will pause during boot up to wait for a network connection to be made.

Splash Screen: If enabled a splash screen "Welcome to PIXEL" will be displayed during boot.

Resolution: Resolution for the monitor can be set.

Underscan: If the screen does not 'fit' the monitor, change to Enable or Disable to correct the problem.

Then select the [Interfaces] tab.

Camera: If a Raspberry Pi camera is installed click on the Enable button

SSH: With Secure Shell (SSH) enabled, a cryptographic network protocol for operating securely over an unsecured network is used with certain programs. This would be needed to allow remote operation of the Raspberry Pi. See "Headless Operating".

VNC: Virtual Network Computing is a method to securely operate a computer over the network by displaying the desktop of the remote system and allowing changes to be made by mouse and keyboard by the local machine.

SPI: Serial Peripheral Interface is a synchronous serial communication interface specification for short distance communication. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Serial_Peripheral_Interface_Bus

I2C: Inter IC allows easy communication between components on the same circuit board or linked to components via cable. See https://www.i2c-bus.org/i2c-bus/

Serial: A Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) port for a serial console. See http://www.raspberry- projec ts.com /pi/programmingin- c /uar t-serial-por t / using-the-uart

1-Wire: provides low-speed data, power and signaling with a single conductor and ground. See https://www. maximintegrated.com/en/products/digital/one-wire.html

Remote GPIO: Server which allows remote network computers to access the state of General Purpose Input Output (GPIO) pins. See an example of use at http://www.instructables.com/ id/Remote-control-Raspberry-PI-GPIO-pins-over-the-int/

Select the [Performance] tab.

Overclock: Previous models of Raspberry Pi had the ability to increase the speed of the CPU clock. However the increase in speed could result in instability of the system and even make the SD card unbootable. The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B does not allow over clocking.

GPU Memory: The amount of memory used by the Graphics Processing Unit is subtracted from the Central Processing Unit (CPU). By increasing the GPU memory, graphics can run faster.

Select the [Localisation] tab.

Set Local: Set the language, Country and Character Set for your location.

Set Timezone: Set your time zone.

Set Keyboard: Set the type of keyboard you are using.

Set Wi-Fi Country: Countries have different operating frequencies allotted to Wi-Fi usage. Set the country in which you are operating.

When finished, click on [OK].

In the [Reboot needed] window click on the [Yes] button. The system will reboot and all selections will be saved.

NOTE: If, when the system reboots after the configuration section and you are unable to see the raspberry menu icon, click on the Terminal icon and enter:

$ sudo raspi-config

You will see the Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool.

Down arrow to selection "Advanced Options" and press the [Enter} key.

Then tab to the "Overscan" selection and press [Enter].

Tab to and press [Enter] twice.

Tab to and press [Enter].

In the Terminal window type:

$ sudo reboot –h now

The system will reboot and one should be able to see the complete task bar, including the raspberry icon, at the top of the screen.

END OF NOTE

After rebooting, you should observe a desktop or command-line interface as selected in the Raspberry Pi Configuration System tab SD Card Configuration section above.

Backing up the SD card

After you have put applications on your card, don't forget to back it up. See the website http://raspi.tv/2012/back-up-your-raspberry-pi-sd-card for instructions for Windows and Linux.

Turning the Raspberry Pi on and off

Because the Raspberry Pi has no on/off switch, select [Menu] [Shutdown] and click on [OK] on the End Session window.

If you intend to make any changes to the raspberry hardware after shutting down unplug the power connector.

To restart the machine after shutting it down, unplug the power connector and plug it back in.

CHAPTER 3

Initial Software

Samba Installation

Overview: You can share files and folders with other computers on your local network by installing Samba. For more information about samba, go to https://www.samba. org/.

Hardware: No additional hardware is required.

Installation by command line:

Open a terminal session by clicking on the terminal icon on the task bar at the top of the screen.

If not recently done update information about new and updated Linux packages that are available:

$ sudo apt-get update

If a new version of a package installed on your machine is available the package will be upgraded with the following command. No installed packages are ever removed by this command.

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Then in order to install the program:

$ sudo apt-get install samba samba-common-bin

Press the [Enter] key in response to the 'Do You Want to Continue [Y/n]' prompt.

Configuration:

When the program has been loaded:

$ sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Scroll down to Global Settings and ensure workgroup = [Your Network Workgroup Name] and remove the # from the line [# wins support = no].

Scroll down to the end and add the following, as shown below, to create a directory that others on the network can access.

To save the changes type "[Ctrl]X", "Y", [Enter]

Test the smb.conf file

$ sudo testparm /etc/samba/smb.conf

To restart Samba Enter:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/smbd restart

Printer Setup3

Overview:

The program CUPS connects printers to the computer.

Hardware:

A printer to be attached

Installation by command line:

Open a terminal session by clicking on the terminal icon on the task bar at the top of the screen.

If not recently done update information about new and updated Linux packages that are available:

$ sudo apt-get update

If a new version of a package installed on your machine is available the package will be upgraded with the following command. No installed packages are ever removed by this command.

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Then in order to install the program:

$ sudo apt-get install cups

Press enter in response to the 'Do You Want to Continue [Y/n]' prompt.

Installation by Add/Remove Software menu selection:

Click on the Raspberry Icon on the task bar. Click on preferences on the drop down list. Select Add/Remove Software.

Enter cups in the search box and press enter.

Click on the cups menus for "Common UNIX Printing System ™ - PPD/driver support, web interface".

Click on the Apply button.

Enter the pi password.

When the download is complete you have completed the setup.

After completion of either method of download:

Add the Pi user ID to the user group that has access to the printers and printer queue:

Open a terminal session by clicking on the terminal icon in the task bar and enter:

$ sudo usermod –a –G lpadmin pi

After completing the above commands restart cups:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/cups restart

Adding Printers

To add a printer open a browser on the Raspberry Pi with a URL of "localhost:631".