Difference between revisions of "Installation"

Latest revision as of 20:38, 8 March 2026

Template:Note

Recommended: Pre-configured microSD Card Image (V1)

Step 1: Download and Flash the Image

Download the bcMeter image file here
Unzip the downloaded file
Use Etcher to flash the image to your microSD card:
- Insert your microSD card
- Open Etcher and select the image
- Select your microSD card as target
- Click "Flash!" and wait for completion

Step 2: Boot and Connect

Insert the flashed microSD card into the Raspberry Pi
Power on the device
Wait approximately 2 minutes for boot
Connect to the WiFi network "bcMeter" with password: bcMeterbcMeter

Step 3: Configure

Open a browser and navigate to http://bcmeter-XXXX.local (where XXXX are the last 4 hex characters of the MAC address, shown on the device label)
The bcMeter interface will appear
Follow on-screen instructions

Advanced: Manual Setup via SSH (V1)

Use the Raspberry Pi Imager to write Raspberry OS 64-bit LITE to the microSD card. Do not install the Desktop variant.

Configure with username bcmeter and password bcmeter.org. Enable SSH and WiFi.

SSH Installation

ssh bcmeter@bcMeter
# or: ssh bcmeter@bcMeter.local

# Download and run installer
wget -N https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bcmeter/bcmeter/main/install.sh && sudo bash install.sh

This runs an unattended installation taking a few minutes.

Current Platform (V2)

The V2 bcMeter comes with firmware pre-installed. Setup only requires:

Plug in power
Connect to the "bcMeter" WiFi hotspot
Open http://bcmeter-XXXX.local (XXXX = last 4 hex chars of MAC address)
Follow the Welcome Screen

See Setup for detailed instructions.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Note|1='''Legacy V1 Documentation''' — This page documents software setup for the bcMeter V1. The current V2 bcMeter comes pre-configured and is set up via the [[Setup#Welcome Screen|Welcome Screen]]. These instructions are preserved for V1 users.}}
-== Preconfigured Set Up the microSD Card ==
+== Recommended: Pre-configured microSD Card Image (V1) ==
-. Download the file image [https://bcmeter.org/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/bcMeter.img.tar.gz here], unzip it and use [https://www.balena.io/etcher/ Etcher] to copy it to your microSD card.
-. After the process is complete, a new drive is visible in Windows Explorer or Mac OS Finder called /boot. Open wpa_supplicant.conf with any notepad application and change the WiFi credentials to your needs. Dont use Word or Office since they might change the quotation marks.
-. Eject the microSD card and put it into the raspberry pi and boot it up. After 1-2 Minutes it should be logged into the WiFi with hostname raspberry
+=== Step 1: Download and Flash the Image ===
-Alternatively, you can do that by commandline as well with dd and nano:
+# Download the bcMeter image file [https://bcmeter.org/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/bcMeter_latest_img.zip here]
+# Unzip the downloaded file
+# Use [https://www.balena.io/etcher/ Etcher] to flash the image to your microSD card:
+#* Insert your microSD card
+#* Open Etcher and select the image
+#* Select your microSD card as target
+#* Click "Flash!" and wait for completion
-Write the image to microSD on Linux
+=== Step 2: Boot and Connect ===
-      sudo dd if=path/to/bcMeter.img of=/dev/diskX bs=8M
-Write the image to microSD on OSX
-      sudo dd if=path/to/bcMeter.img of=/dev/rdiskX bs=8m
-Replace path/to/image with path to image and (r)diskX with deviceaddress of your microSD-card. Drag / drop the icon to the terminal is possible if in desktop environment.<br>
-After the transfer is complete, change the WiFi credentials on /boot
+# Insert the flashed microSD card into the Raspberry Pi
-      nano wpa_supplicant.conf
+# Power on the device
-Safe the file with ctrl+o and exit with ctrl+x
+# Wait approximately 2 minutes for boot
+# Connect to the WiFi network "'''bcMeter'''" with password: <code>bcMeterbcMeter</code>
+=== Step 3: Configure ===
+# Open a browser and navigate to <code><nowiki>http://bcmeter-XXXX.local</nowiki></code> (where XXXX are the last 4 hex characters of the MAC address, shown on the device label)
+# The bcMeter interface will appear
+# Follow on-screen instructions
-== Manual Set Up the microSD Card ==
+== Advanced: Manual Setup via SSH (V1) ==
-.	Copy Image of [https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/operating-systems/#raspberry-pi-os-32-bit Raspberry Pi OS '''Lite'''] on your microSD card, Documentation for Linux / OSX in this file, for Windows use [https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/ this method] <br>
+Use the [https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ Raspberry Pi Imager] to write '''Raspberry OS 64-bit LITE''' to the microSD card. Do '''not''' install the Desktop variant.
-'''Make sure to download the Lite''' and '''not''' Desktop / Desktop and recommended software
-.	For Linux use the terminal to copy the image to the microSD card by this command:
+Configure with username <code>bcmeter</code> and password <code>bcmeter.org</code>. Enable SSH and WiFi.
-      dd if=path/to/image of=/dev/diskX bs=8M
-Replace path/to/image with path to image and diskX with deviceaddress of your microSD-card. Drag / drop the icon to the terminal is possible if in desktop environment.<br>
+=== SSH Installation ===
-Use rdiskX instead of diskX on OSX to accelerate the transfer
+<pre>
+ssh bcmeter@bcMeter
+# or: ssh bcmeter@bcMeter.local
-== Configure the microSD Card for WiFi access ==
+# Download and run installer
+wget -N https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bcmeter/bcmeter/main/install.sh && sudo bash install.sh
+</pre>
-After the above steps, on Windows and OSX a new drive/partition named „boot“ is visible in Explorer or Finder. On Linux you see additionally rootfs, we can ignore this.
+This runs an unattended installation taking a few minutes.
-.	Create a new and empty file just called „ssh“ on the new boot partition. This is just for enabling ssh as Raspberry OS evaluates this file to enable the ssh configuration.
+== Current Platform (V2) ==
-You can simply do that in Linux/OSX by navigating to the /boot partition of the microSD Card and enter
-      nano ssh
-Then just save the empty file and exit (ctrl+o for save, ctrl+x for exit)
+The V2 bcMeter comes with firmware pre-installed. Setup only requires:
-On Windows, open Notepad.exe and save the empty file as ssh on /boot. Double check in file properties that no .txt is added (but hidden)
+# Plug in power
+# Connect to the "bcMeter" WiFi hotspot
+# Open <code><nowiki>http://bcmeter-XXXX.local</nowiki></code> (XXXX = last 4 hex chars of MAC address)
+# Follow the [[Setup#Welcome Screen|Welcome Screen]]
+See [[Setup]] for detailed instructions.
-.	Using the same method as above, put a file called wpa_supplicant.conf  in the same partition (/boot). This contains the credentials needed to connect to your WiFi. Add as many Networks as you like.
-'''Be sure to edit the parameter „country“ correctly, else the pi may not be able to connect to your WiFi.'''
-Copy / paste the following. Make sure quotes are pasted correctly.
-      ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
-      country=de
-      update_config=1
-      network={
-      ssid="YourWiFiName"
-      psk="Password"
-      }
-Save the file and eject the microSD Card from the PC. This file will be removed from this place as soon as the raspberry has read it. If your Raspberry does not connect to your WiFi, you can repeat this process as often as necessary. If the file is still there after an attempted boot, there has something more severe gone wrong.
-== Configuring the Raspberry Pi to be a bcMeter ==
-.	Put microSD-Card in Raspberry and boot it up (takes up to a minute)
-Log into the raspberry via terminal on Linux/OSX
-      ssh pi@raspberrypi
-Or any terminal client on Windows (for example Putty) with the following default credentials
-address: raspberrypi
-login name: pi
-login passwort: raspberry
-'''(For some mobile hotspots it is required to add .local to the hostname (e.g. raspberryp.local). Try this first if no connection is possible.)'''
-.	Being logged in, enter
-       wget -N https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bcmeter/bcmeter/main/install.sh && sudo bash install.sh