PC: ASUS Eee PC 701
2GB RAM
CPU: i686
OS: Debian 9
I am writing this post to remind myself how hard it was setting up a linux server for OctoPrint. These steps will help me repeat the procedure in case I need to start from ground zero.
Setting up the OS
Install OS
Configure disk (use fdisk to delete partitions if the installer cannot find disk drive or partitions)
Manual Partitioning using an SD Card
-use /dev/sda as root
-use /dev/sdc (sd card) for /home /tmp /var swap, etc…
No need to install GUI, just SSH server
Configure users (add user to dialout and tty group as well as uucp and plugdev)
Add Repos inluding Debian backports – https://backports.debian.org/Instructions/ (this helped Octoprint detect the serial port)
switch to superuser
su
nano /etc/apt/sources.list
comment out cd rom in sources.list
nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/backport.list
add this line to the sources.list
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-backports main
apt update
apt upgrade
install packages
apt install sudo htop tmux wget curl ffmpeg zlib1g zlib1g-dev libssl-dev cmake libjpeg62-turbo-dev locate
install python
wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.6.3/Python-3.6.3.tar.xz
tar xJf Python-3.6.3.tar.xz
I was facing issues with installing Python. I dscovered that I needed to uncomment some SSL lines to get Python to install properly. (reference https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46283099/pip-install-issue-with-the-ssl-certificate?rq=1)
sudo nano Python-3.6.3/Modules/Setup.dist
cd Python-3.6.3/
./configure (try enable optimizations)
make
make install
mkdir OctoPrint && cd OctoPrint
python3.6 -m venv venv
source venv./bin/activate
pip install --no-cache-dir octoprint
Setup Octoprint as a service
Grab the script from Octoprint’s github page
wget https://github.com/OctoPrint/OctoPrint/raw/master/scripts/octoprint.service && sudo mv octoprint.service /etc/systemd/system/octoprint.service
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/octoprint.service
In the octoprint.service file, edit user to your user and edit ExecStart path to include your user directory
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable octoprint.service
sudo sevice octoprint start
Now OctoPrint service should be enabled and start at boot
Use the command below to check the status
sudo systemctl status octoprint.service
Here is the reference to install OctoPrint using developer documentation (python) – https://community.octoprint.org/t/setting-up-octoprint-on-a-raspberry-pi-running-raspbian-or-raspberry-pi-os/2337
Webcam Setup
First, we need to install MJPG-Streamer
mkdir ~/mjpg-streamer
cd ~/mjpg-streamer
Grab the code from GitHub and compile
git clone https://github.com/jacksonliam/mjpg-streamer.git
cd mjpg-streamer/mjpg-streamer-experimental
make
sudo make install
/usr/local/bin/mjpg_streamer -i "input_uvc.so -f 15 -r 640x480" \ -o "output_http.so -w /usr/local/share/mjpg-streamer/www"
use -p for port
To start mjpg-streamer at startup follow the guide linked below
https://krystof.io/mjpg-streamer-on-a-raspberry-pi-zero-w-with-a-usb-webcam-streaming-setup/
sudo apt install libjpeg62-turbo-dev
usr/local/bin/mjpg_streamer -i "input_uvc.so -f 15 -r 1920x1080" \ -o "output_http.so"
Setup the Laptop Lid to Close Without Affecting Connectivity
To make sure that closing the lid does not affect the server from sleeping, you need to edit the systemd file
sudo nano systemctl restart systemd-logind.service
uncomment HandleLidSwitch and instead of suspend type ignore
Connect to OctoPrint
Navigate to your server IP:5001 and enjoy OctoPrint!