[JKnight]

Eventually one of us should write a small web interface for this OpenSprinkler Pi, to make it easy to configure. We could have a couple configuration pages:
– a basic scheduler (if you want offline scheduling)
– pick your Raspberry Pi version
– an easy form to set up google calendar (paste in your Calender ID, name your zones)
– a manual override section where you can turn on/off any single zone from a phone/tablet for troubleshooting, winterizing, or checking things in the spring.

it should be easy to do… but it’ll be a while until I can get to it.

[JKnight]

not sure why HDMI isn’t working for you, you might check the config file

SSH is meant to login from another computer. My Sprinkler Pi is in the basement, and I don’t want to drag a screen and keyboard down there. Since it’s on the network, I can login from any other computer using an SSH client (terminal on a mac, putty on windows, if you’re using Linux you don’t need help). I can edit the python files and do whatever other configuration I need, but from the comfort of my couch / laptop.

[JKnight]

good idea Ray, getting over the setup hurdle will likely pull more people into our group.
For instance, I write PLC code and dabble in some other programming at work, but I haven’t had much linux experience. I was already playing with the Pi when I discovered your project (putting in sprinklers this weekend). I’m hoping I’ll be able to contribute to the python side of this project, but I’m ashamed to admit I had to learn to use github last night.

[JKnight]

I think OpenSprinklerPi deserves it’s own little Setup tutorial. There are a number of us that have written some python, but are still uncomfortable with linux.

Here’s a start:

This is by no means an authoritative, but if you don’t know what to do, follow this.
We’ll assume you’ve:
– bought a Raspberry Pi and hooked it up to your OpenSprinklerPi board
– followed the SD Card Setup Instructions: http://elinux.org/RPi_Easy_SD_Card_Setup, I favor the “Easy Way”
– put the SD card in your pi, attach a screen and keyboard, go through the initial setup screen: http://elinux.org/RPi_Beginners
– enabled SSH or however you plan to connect to your Pi remotely
– set up internet access (wifi or LAN)

Now that you have a basic running Raspberry Pi, we can set up Open Sprinkler Pi
1. the Open Sprinkler demo code written by Ray’s Hobby is part of a git-hub repository. To download it access the files, we’re going to install Git on our RaspberryPi. Type:

sudo apt-get install git-core

sudo – lets you use advanced privileged and override security measures
apt-get – a tool that lets you install stuff on linux (you’ll use it a lot)
install – tell apt-get what to do
git-core – what we’re installing

type [Y] to accept the install

2. let’s make place to put the stuff we’re about to download

mkdir git

then,

cd git

3. now let’s get the Ray’s code from git-hub:

git clone https://github.com/rayshobby/opensprinkler.git

When this completes, you’ll have a folder called

opensprinkler

with all the files from git organized within

— its getting late and I’m a rookie too… someone please continue by opening a README.txt, and following the instructions for each of the 3 demos
I think if we demystify the little bit of linux needed to to get the OSPI going, we can have more people writing Python to exploit it’s capabilities. Please feel free to explain an easier way to do any of the above.

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