[Introduction]
[Requirements]
[Installing]
[Configuration]
[Upgrading]
[Error reporting and support]
Introduction
taloLoggerPi is a logger installation on a
Raspberry Pi device.
It is powered by pre-installed taloLogger and taloLoggerGraph
applications and a set of required supporting applications and
configuration to run Raspberry Pi computer as a simple data logger.
Requirements
The taloLoggerPi can be run on Raspberry Pi computers having
Raspberry
Pi OS installed as operating system distribution. taloLoggerPi installer
will install required software and configuration on top of an empty
Raspberry Pi OS installation.
NOTE!! At the moment Raspberry Pi OS is evolving to a new Debian
version (Bullseye). The taloLoggerPi will not install on the new version,
but currently works on the Raspberry Pi OS Legacy version (Buster).
NOTE!! A Docker container based installation is also available to
be utilized on the Raspberry platform. Find more information
from the taloLoggerCont pages.
Verified with OS version: Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Legacy), Buster, 2021-12-02
Installing
These are step by step instructions to install taloLoggerPi on a Raspberry Pi:
- Have a working Raspberry Pi OS Linux
distribution on your device.
- Log into the device as normal user (usually
pi)
- Download the latest taloLoggerPi installation script by to your device
by issuing a command:
wget -O install_taloLoggerPi.py http://olammi.iki.fi/sw/taloLoggerPi/install_taloLoggerPi.py
- Make the install script executable:
chmod 755 install_taloLoggerPi.py
- Start the installation script as root (hence
sudo):
sudo ./install_taloLoggerPi.py
The installation script will install taloLoggerPi components and
configuration to the system. Follow the installation process and answer
to verification questions presented. The installation process to a clean
Raspberry Pi OS distribution will take around 15 minutes.
It is recommended to run the installation script only on a clean and working
Raspberry Pi OS environment. The script however will work also on systems that have
previous taloLoggerPi v1.1a or later installation. The installation
process will erase taloLogger and taloLoggerGraph configuration and
all collected taloLogger data in the database. The previous configuration
and database file will however be backed up to archive file
/home/talo/talo_home_backup_YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.tgz with contents
of directory /home/talo.
Now taloLoggerPi is up and running with default settings. The taloLogger
is active and logging with 2 minute interval to a SQLite3 database set up
on the device. An example dummy outdoor temperature is being logged.
The example data logged is sinusoidial curve with 2 hour wave lenght
provided by the dummy data source on the taloLogger application.
The log can be viewed by web browser from URL:
http://<device IP address>/
You should see a page opening with a heading TaloLoggerPi and a link
TaloLoggerGraph. The link will open the example log view with chart and
image.
Configuration
You can alter the default configuration of the taloLoggerPi to match the log
environment you have and the required data sources, data measurements and
data stores.
taloLogger
TaloLogger configuration file is located on the Pi in the file path:
/home/talo/etc/taloLogger.conf
The configuration file is minimal and intended as an example. In the same
directory you can also find a configuration file with _original
postfix, which contains documentation and examples of various configuration
capabilities.
You can also read about configuring the taloLogger from the
taloLogger HOWTO.
taloLoggerGraph
TaloLoggerGraph configuration file is located on the Pi in the file path:
/home/talo/public_html/taloLoggerGraph.conf
The configuration file is minimal and intended as an example. In the same
directory you can also find a configuration file with _original
postfix, which contains documentation and examples of various configuration
capabilities.
You can also read about configuring the taloLoggerGraph from the
taloLoggerGraph HOWTO.
Database: SQLite3
The taloLogger stores data in example configuration in to a SQLite3 database
file:
/home/talo/data/talo.db
The schema/structure of the database is generic. When new measurement
points to log are being configured, no alternations to the database
schema or the table model is needed. All you need to do is to
configure new @MEASURE directives to the taloLogger
configuration and utilize the logged data points in the taloLoggerGraph
@SERIES and @POSITION directives.
OWFS (1-wire filesystem)
taloLoggerPi has OWFS installed, but as a default it does not start
in the device boot. You can activate OWFS with the following command
from the command line. After the command OWFS will start up and also
be available after boot from the command on:
sudo ln -s /home/talo/service/owfs /etc/service/owfs
After this, if there is an USB 1-wire adapter connected to the Raspberry
Pi USB port, 1-wire devices will be visible in the folder:
/home/talo/owfs
Upgrading
For upgrading taloLogger and taloLoggerGraph installed in the device
running taloLoggerPi, there is an upgrade script available to
perform the upgrade process and check for new versions of taloLogger
and taloLoggerGraph.
Since taloLoggerPi v1.0b the upgrade script has been preinstalled.
If you are running v1.0a of taloLoggerPi, the following command
issued from the command line will install the upgrade script to the correct
location in the taloLoggerPi image.
sudo wget -O /home/talo/bin/upgrade_taloLogger.py http://olammi.iki.fi/sw/taloLoggerPi/upgrade_taloLogger.py; sudo chmod 755 /home/talo/bin/upgrade_taloLogger.py
To upgrade taloLogger and taloLoggerGraph applications or just to check
if there are new versions available, give the following command on your
taloLoggerPi command line:
sudo /home/talo/bin/upgrade_taloLogger.py
The script must be run as root (hence sudo). Script will first
check if there is a newer version of the script itself and asks permission
to update itself, if newer version is released. The script will not make any
changes to the taloLoggerPi image without asking permission.
The script then checks the installed versions on the taloLoggerPi and the
latest versions from the network. If newer releases are available,
the user will be prompted for permission to upgrade. The script will,
when given permission, upgrade the applications. The configuration files,
databases, logs, etc. are preserved and not overwritten. Only the application
code is affected.
Error reporting and support
If you still encounter problems running the application after following
instructions of this HOWTO documentation and after reading the
taloLoggerPi FAQ, send a support request or
error report by email to the author of the application
(olammi at iki dot fi). Please include the following data to the mail:
- description of the problem
- possible log rows concerning and elaborating the problem
- any possible error messages related to the problem
- any configuration files causing the problem or being root of the problem
