01. System Code Installation - larry-athey/rpi-smart-still GitHub Wiki
YOU MUST BE USING A 100% RAW UNADULTERATED OS INSTALLATION BEYOND THE NETWORK SETUP!
This system isn't dependent upon any Linux distribution other than it must be Debian based. Meaning, it must use the apt package manager. Some distributions work better than others. Simple lite versions with no desktop generally don't cause you any problems. Desktop versions with the LXDE desktop are usually pretty safe and don't require much extra work. However, Ubuntu based desktop versions will usually cause you grief because the power management will suspend your device after a few minutes of inactivity. Not a good thing to happen in the middle of a distillation run.
Simply run the following command to clone the latest code to a temporary local copy on your Raspberry Pi or clone.
git clone https://github.com/larry-athey/rpi-smart-still
You will end up with a directory named rpi-smart-still in the current directory. Then execute the following commands to install the system.
cd rpi-smart-still/Undercarriage/
./install.sh
Or, if you are only needing to update an existing installation, just run this command instead.
./update.sh
If you are installing this on a clone such as a Banana Pi or Orange Pi, you should be running Armbian Bullseye. Armbian Bookworm will work, but may require troubleshooting on your part. Older units, such as the Banana Pi M2 Zero and early Orange Pi units will need the legacy parameter added to the install command. This is because the processors used in those older clones have been largely abandoned by the programming world, but I brewed up a few tricks to make this system still work with those older boards that still work perfectly fine.
./install.sh legacy
Follow all of the prompts that you are presented with. The very end of the installation script will instruct you to copy & paste the cron job on your screen into the cron editor, and make a couple changes in raspi-config.
Reboot your device and you're off to the races. You can then pull up the web UI from another computer, tablet, or cell phone on the same WiFi network with http://ip-address-of-your-pi
You can then safely delete the rpi-smart-still directory since it won't be needed again on the Raspberry Pi itself.
NOTE: While it is "possible" to install this on Raspbian 12, the onboard serial port (uart0) for the hydrometer will not work on anything older than a Raspberry Pi model 5. They changed all kinds of stuff in Raspbian 12 that had absolutely ZERO benefit to anybody who still uses older Raspberry Pi boards that still work perfectly fine. Plus, they broke other things on older boards for absolutely no good reason. The reason they did this is because the company is losing money due to all the clones that came out during the drought, so now they're trying to force people into buying the Model 5 and tossing their old units in the trash. The problem is, there are clones that out-spec and out-perform the Model 5 for far less money. Sabotaging older units isn't going to work out like they think it will.