Avoiding wireless connections - EmonTX serial RPiZero solution

borpin · 2020-08-26T16:09:49.809Z

haffle:

I used emonSD-17Oct19.img

Odd. Not sure why it isn’t working then.

borpin · 2020-08-26T17:19:19.351Z

I know

The overclock settings are wrong fro a PiZ.

Edit /boot/config.txt comment out this line (and one below it IIRC)

arm_freq

Solved in the new Image.

Bill.Thomson · 2020-08-26T17:30:14.337Z

borpin:

The overclock settings are wrong fro a PiZ.

raspberrypi.com

Raspberry Pi Documentation - Configuration

The official documentation for Raspberry Pi computers and microcontrollers

says the Pi Zero CPU clock is 1 GHz:

Or are you just having some good natured “fun?”

borpin · 2020-08-26T17:30:51.037Z

You can comment the settings out and let it default.

Edited above - didn’t mean to leave a figure in, just meant to say comment out the line.

Bill.Thomson · 2020-08-26T17:33:09.448Z

haffle · 2020-08-27T08:28:29.355Z

Woo Hoo! Commenting out those two lines ( arm_freq=1200 and gpu_mem=16 ) & rebooting the Pi Zero, and it appears in the router’s CP.

After typing in the LAN IP I get the “Welcome to your emonPi” page. This is presumably what @lgheorghe was seeing on Getting setup wizard page instead of login . I clicked on the wifi option, and then after reconnecting to emonpi.local I get in to a bit of a loop - searching for networks (again).

Not sure how important this is - possibly related to the above - but above the Welcome page there is a warning message

**Warning** : file_get_contents(/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf): failed to open stream: Permission denied in **/var/www/emoncms/Modules/setup/setup_model.php** on line **24**

The Pi is powered through my emonTx, with the wires connected as per @pb66 's second schematic:
4: 5v > 5v
6: Gnd > gnd
8: tx > tx
10: rx > rx
12: p12 > rts

I am able to ssh in to the Pi, but my linux skills are so limited that I although I am able to use some very basic commands (cd and ls etc), am not yet able to poke around (or change) anything. (EDITORS Note: Good job probably )

So, progress (thank you all), but still not quite there yet.

djh · 2020-08-27T09:46:46.908Z

what are the permissions of /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf?
i.e. what’s the result of

ls -l /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

haffle · 2020-08-27T09:53:29.846Z

Last login: Thu Aug 27 09:20:24 2020 from 192.168.2.30
pi@emonpi : ~ $ ls -l /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
-rw------- 1 root root 219 Aug 27 09:16 /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
pi@emonpi : **~ $

djh · 2020-08-27T10:40:44.399Z

Well I suppose that setup_model.php is run as the pi user, so it won’t be able to read that, as it says. wpa_supplicant.conf is -rw-r–r-- 1 root root on my emonBase so I suppose you need to add the extra read permissions. i.e.

sudo chmod go+r /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

I don’t understand why it was -rw------- to begin with though. How was it created?

edit: I just looked at a pi zero i fairly recently set up with buster and wpa_supplicant.conf is root-only access on there too (there’s no emoncms on that m/c) so perhaps there’s some conflict between raspbian defaults and emoncms expectations? Maybe @TrystanLea would know?

pb66 · 2020-08-27T11:13:38.981Z

haffle:

Woo Hoo! Commenting out those two lines ( arm_freq=1200 and gpu_mem=16 ) & rebooting the Pi Zero, and it appears in the router’s CP.

Yeah those 2 lines have been an issue for quite sometime, unless you are running a Pi3. But I believe on the latest image @TrystanLea has now moved back to using the default setup (allowing the Pi to set these) which caters equally for all Pi’s.

haffle:

Not sure how important this is - possibly related to the above - but above the Welcome page there is a warning message

**Warning** : file_get_contents(/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf): failed to open stream: Permission denied in **/var/www/emoncms/Modules/setup/setup_model.php** on line **24**

haffle:

added an amended wpa file, and an ssh file.

What I believe is happening (and this is true and tested on the pre-emonscript images so may have carried over) is that your wpa_supplicant file in the boot directory is overwriting the OEM’s (modified permissions) file at start up as it is designed to in the OS image, then the OEM stuff (emoncms?) isn’t able to read/write as needed.

This has been addressed in previous images by loading the image to a sdcard then putting it in a Pi with Ethernet so that you can modify the location and symlink the OEM copy and then you can modify the wpa_supplicant file at will on a PC or via ssh or indeed still use the emoncms setup.

See Wifi config on Pi Zero using emonSD - #4 by pb66 although the rpi-rw is no longer needed and I think the source location of the OEM file has maybe changed to.

Brian or Trystan may be able to advise more on the current image, I have to say I thought this was going to be implemented on the emonScripts images TO enable the use of Pi Zero’s without any additional difficulties. Perhaps that was missed or not working quite right? What files do you have in the boot folder?

ls -la /boot

anything there wifi related that isn’t the wpa_supplicant file?

borpin · 2020-08-27T11:49:00.461Z

What is odd is that this has just worked for me (adding in the wpa file) in the recent past.

haffle · 2020-08-27T14:33:12.119Z

Thanks all - very interesting. In case it is of help / use, herewith the result of ls -la /boot

pi@emonpi : ~ $ ls -la /boot
total 52574
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 4096 Jan 1 1970 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4096 Oct 17 2019 …
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 23966 Oct 17 2019 bcm2708-rpi-b.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 24229 Oct 17 2019 bcm2708-rpi-b-plus.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 23747 Oct 17 2019 bcm2708-rpi-cm.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 23671 Oct 17 2019 bcm2708-rpi-zero.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 24407 Oct 17 2019 bcm2708-rpi-zero-w.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25293 Oct 17 2019 bcm2709-rpi-2-b.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25422 Oct 17 2019 bcm2710-rpi-2-b.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 26463 Oct 17 2019 bcm2710-rpi-3-b.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27082 Oct 17 2019 bcm2710-rpi-3-b-plus.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 25277 Oct 17 2019 bcm2710-rpi-cm3.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 40559 Oct 17 2019 bcm2711-rpi-4-b.dtb
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 52296 Oct 17 2019 bootcode.bin
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 98 Aug 27 09:12 cmdline.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Aug 27 09:34 ._config.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1821 Aug 27 09:15 config.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18693 Oct 17 2019 COPYING.linux
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Oct 17 2019 emonSD-17Oct19
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Jan 1 1980 emonsdinit
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3073 Oct 17 2019 fixup4cd.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6167 Oct 17 2019 fixup4.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9247 Oct 17 2019 fixup4db.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9249 Oct 17 2019 fixup4x.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2657 Oct 17 2019 fixup_cd.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6736 Oct 17 2019 fixup.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9808 Oct 17 2019 fixup_db.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 9810 Oct 17 2019 fixup_x.dat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 145 Sep 26 2019 issue.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5310624 Oct 17 2019 kernel7.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5628040 Oct 17 2019 kernel7l.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13230592 Oct 17 2019 kernel8.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5029176 Oct 17 2019 kernel.img
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1494 Oct 17 2019 LICENCE.broadcom
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 15872 Oct 17 2019 overlays
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 512 Aug 26 15:31 .Spotlight-V100
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Aug 26 15:34 ._ssh.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 770816 Oct 17 2019 start4cd.elf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4733128 Oct 17 2019 start4db.elf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2769540 Oct 17 2019 start4.elf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3683816 Oct 17 2019 start4x.elf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 685668 Oct 17 2019 start_cd.elf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4854728 Oct 17 2019 start_db.elf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2877988 Oct 17 2019 start.elf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3792232 Oct 17 2019 start_x.elf
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Aug 26 15:34 ._wpa_supplicant.conf
pi@emonpi : ~ $

Would it still be a good idea to run this command ?

sudo chmod go+r /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

djh · 2020-08-27T15:02:47.391Z

pb66:

What files do you have in the boot folder?
ls -la /boot
anything there wifi related that isn’t the wpa_supplicant file?

Why would you expect to find anything wpa_supplicant-related in /boot?

pb66 · 2020-08-27T18:47:13.690Z

borpin:

What is odd is that this has just worked for me (adding in the wpa file) in the recent past.

I would of expected putting a wpa_supplicant file in /boot “to work” too, the only reason it didn’t work on earlier images was that they booted in RO mode so the OS couldn’t over write the existing file with the one found in /boot. Although I would expect issues with the OEM WiFi setup due to permission issues, but the wifi should connect ok even if the wifi setup page isn’t able to modify it moving forward.

haffle:

In case it is of help / use, herewith the result of ls -la /boot

I don’t see anything there that looks WiFi related, other than your " ._wpa_supplicant.conf" file.

djh:

Why would you expect to find anything wpa_supplicant-related in /boot?

Because that is where you are supposed to put it if you want the OS to use a preset wpa_supplicant from the next boot.
Because that is/was “the fix” and the best way to ensure easy access to the wifi settings when there is no Ethernet to get around being “locked out” due to a network change of SSID or PSK, you can just whip out the SD card and edit any text file in the /boot partition from any OS, it doesn’t need to be mounted as a Linux file-system.

By putting the wpa_supplicant.conf file on the boot partition under any other name, strictly NOT “wpa_supplicant.conf” it will always be accessible and will not trigger an over write at boot time.

haffle · 2020-08-27T19:36:02.282Z

pb66:

I don’t see anything there that looks WiFi related, other than your " ._wpa_supplicant.conf " file.

snip

By putting the wpa_supplicant.conf file on the boot partition under any other name, strictly NOT “wpa_supplicant.conf” it will always be accessible and will not trigger an over write at boot time.

Numpty question: JFTAOD, and I don’t even know if it matters, but when I uploaded the wpa_supplicant.conf file to the SD card it was called just that … ie: wpa.suplicant.conf ; not sure why it now says _wpa_supplicant.conf . Or does this happen as part of the overwrite during boot?

djh · 2020-08-27T22:08:03.210Z

The wpa_supplicant.conf file that gets used is the one in /etc/wpa_supplicant/. The one with the same name in /boot/ is used at first boot time to set that one up if you need wireless to work from first boot, just the same as the empty ssh file in /boot.

See the documentation at Raspberry Pi Documentation - Configuration and linked documents.

It seems like emon… has some kind of grossly bodged arrangements on top, but I know nothing about them.

pb66 · 2020-08-27T22:33:45.090Z

djh:

The wpa_supplicant.conf file that gets used is the one in /etc/wpa_supplicant/ . The one with the same name in /boot/ is used at first boot time to set that one up if you need wireless to work from first boot, just the same as the empty ssh file in /boot .

Correct, I don’t need to look at the documentation, I’ve been using these for years and fully understand how they work.

djh:

It seems like emon… has some kind of grossly bodged arrangements on top, but I know nothing about them.

The emonSD image does have “other routes” to editing the wpa_supplicant.conf and I’m not able to comment on the intricacies of the current setup, but have simply highlighted the necessary “Pi zero” fix for previous emonSD images. It’s a fix that resolved all the previous hurdles (No Ethernet, emon “pi” user access for the wifi module plus manual sdcard access for when there is no Ethernet and the wifi creds need changing) that (I believe) would still work with the current image.

I was using this method way before it was needed for the emonSD images as it was more convenient for several reasons, like taking a demo unit from site to site and not needing to hook up Ethernet to get on the client’s wifi etc. Martin Harizanoff (original RFM2Pi developer) also used the same approach.

Martin's corner on the web – 24 Sep 14

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borpin · 2020-08-28T06:56:38.502Z

djh:

It seems like emon… has some kind of grossly bodged arrangements on top

Wild accusation. Can you support that with evidence (other than hearsay)?

haffle · 2020-08-29T15:40:07.601Z

OK - a bit more progress. I can now access the Pi Zero through both ssh and via a browser. I have the emoncms splash screen, asking for a Username & Password (to log in), or to Register.

Do I want to register with a new Username etc? That seems counterintuitive (as I want this to be a daughter / slave to my emonPi & it’s account etc). Or do I create a new User, and then somehow connect the two later?

TIA

pb66 · 2020-08-29T17:09:21.612Z

If this is just a slave device to a central master then it might be useful to Ser up a user just to be able to edit emonhub.conf, perform updates, check admin stats etc via the web GUI. Just because you create a user, doesn’t mean you must collect/save data, although many would argue a redundant copy of the data might one day be useful if you have a major issue and lose data.