BrewPi is a raspberry-based brewery automation system. Combined with a central brain based on a Spark Photon, you can drive fermentation chambers and soon, pumps & valves to make a fully-automated HERMS system.
Here are my notes that got me started with the new version of BrewPi (based on the Spark Photon) after spending a few hours reading everything I could and bothering Elco on the forum. I hope it’ll save you a few hours!
Upgrade and install an ARM compiler
Since the Spark Firmware requires at least gcc4.9 and 4.8 is only available atm (2015-07-28) on Ubuntu 14.10, you need to add a PPA first:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:terry.guo/gcc- arm-embedded sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install gcc-arm-none-eabi
If you already had an arm compiler installed as I did, you might encouter an error about overrinding files from another package. If that’s the case, you can do (you may need to adjust the command line with your package version):
sudo dpkg -i --force-all /var/cache/apt/archives/gcc-arm-none-eabi_4.9.3.2015q2-1vivid1_amd64.deb
Checkout Spark Firmware and flash your Photon
Checkout the spark firmware using git:
git clone https://github.com/spark/firmware/ spark-firmware
cd into spark-firmware/main and use:
make clean all PLATFORM=photon
then, cd into spark-firmware/modules and use again:
make clean all PLATFORM=photon
You should end up with something like this (no error):
arm-none-eabi-size --format=berkeley ../../../build/target/user-part/platform-6-m/user-part.elf text data bss dec hex filename 4596 144 332 5072 13d0 ../../../build/target/user-part/platform-6-m/user-part.elf
Now, plug you Photon via USB and put it in DFU Mode (hold both RESET and SETUP buttons then release RESET and wait until the LED becomes Yellow). Make sure you have dfu-util by apt-get installing it:
sudo apt-get install dfu-util
Then, from the spark-firmware/modules directory, flash it using:
sudo make PLATFORM=photon program-dfu
It should flash three parts (system1, system2 and user) and finish on
Download [=========================] 100% 4740 bytes Download done. File downloaded successfully dfu-util: Error during download get_status
Don’t worry about this error message, it’s known and can be safely ignored. Your Photon should now flash green.
Configure the WiFi
First, put your Photon in SETUP Mode. Just hold the SETUP button for three seconds while it’s running. You should get a blinking Blue led.
First, make sure you have npm installed:
sudo apt-get install npm
then, install the particles tools in a local folder:
npm install particle-cli
You should get a node_modules/ directory.
Now, run:
node_modules/.bin/particle setup wifi
Say ‘n’ when prompted for scanning networks and enter your SSID and password. It should finish with:
Done! Your device should now restart.
And indeed, your device should restart and you should have a pulsing cyan led. It means it’s connected!
Compiling BrewPi firmware
[TO BE CONTINUED! :)]
What did enabling wifi get you? Does the brewpi spark send data to the web/data server over wifi now?
Hi James,
Not yet! We’re working on it, the next firmware just got WiFi today but the full stack is not ready yet. I’m afraid you’ll still have to wait a few weeks/months before being able to use it over Wifi.