Skip to main content

TAPPER Client Installation

Basic installation of the TAPPER client application.

Prepare​

TL;DR
  • Flash RPi
  • Update RPi and install client 
    # For easy copy
    sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
    sudo reboot
    # reconnect
    sudo apt install git pipx python3-dev cmake libdbus-1-dev libglib2.0-dev
    pipx ensurepath
    sudo raspi-config # enable serial port and SPI
    pipx install 'git+ssh://git@github.com/hardwario/tapper.git@main#egg=tapper' # stable
  • Continue at Testing

Flash the Raspberry Pi​

  1. Open the TAPPER device.

    tip

    There are two plastic latches from the bottom of the device. Use a flat head screwdriver.

  2. Insert the MicroSD card to your computer (the size of 16 GB is preferred).

    info

    The MicroSD card is already shipped with the TAPPER device.

  3. Download and install the Raspberry Pi Imager tool.

  4. Click CHOOSE DEVICE and select Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W.

  5. Click CHOOSE OS, select Raspberry Pi OS (other), and then select Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit).

  6. Click CHOOSE STORAGE and select the target MicroSD card.

  7. Click NEXT - the tool will ask about the settings customization - click EDIT SETTINGS.

  8. Check Set hostname.

  9. Enter a hostname for you TAPPER into the hostname field.

  10. Check Set username and password.

  11. Enter a username and a password into the username and password fields respectively.

tip

You can use tapper for username and hardwario for password.

danger

This is only recommended with public-key SSH authentication, otherwise use a strong passphrase.

Set up public-key SSH authentication (recommended): SSH with public-key authentication

You can use the Bitwarden passphrase generator.

  1. Select Passphrase in type.
  2. You can click generate a few times for a more memorable Passphrase, we recommendd oing 6 at most.
    • Write the passphrases down and then choose the most memorable one.

  1. Check Configure Wireless LAN.

  2. Enter your wireless network's SSID and password into the SSID and Password fields respectively.

  3. Set the Wireless LAN Country drop-down to the country where the TAPPER device will be used.

  4. Check Set locale settings.

  5. Select your time zone in the Time zone drop-down menu.

  6. Select your preferred keyboard layout in the Keyboard layout drop-down menu.

SSH Security

It is recommended to set up SSH with public-key authentication only. For simplicity, you can use the password-based login.

The Raspberry Pi Imager lets you do this within OS Customization.

Update Raspberry Pi​

  1. Connect to your Raspberry Pi through SSH:

    ssh tapper@[IP ADDRESS OF TAPPER]

  2. Update the system packages:

    sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

  3. Reboot the system:

    sudo reboot

Install and set up required packages​

  1. We will need the following packages:

    sudo apt install cmake git libdbus-1-dev libglib2.0-dev pipx python3-dev

  2. The package pipx needs to be added to the PATH environmental variable:

    pipx ensurepath

    info

    This adds an entry into your ~/.bashrc

  3. Load the new shell environment:

    source ~/.bashrc

Enable SPI and Serial Port​

  1. Enable the serial port and SPI interfaces:

    sudo raspi-config

  2. Both interfaces are under the Interface option.

Install TAPPER Client​

Install the TAPPER client Python package:

pipx install 'git+https://github.com/hardwario/tapper.git@main#egg=tapper'

danger

If you want to test a bleeding-edge installation instead, you can do:

pipx install 'git+https://github.com/hardwario/tapper.git@dev#egg=tapper'

note

The command pipx experimentally supports suffixes. If you want a bleeding-edge version with the suffix support, append --suffix <suffix> to the command.

Example: --suffix dev would result in the command tapperdev

Testing​

Run TAPPER in debug mode:

tapper run -d -h &lt;your_mqtt_broker_host&gt;

Parameters:

  • -d enables DEBUG logging into the CLI
  • -h specifies the MQTT host