Warning

OhmPi is a participative project open to all, it requires skills in electronics and to respect the safety rules. OhmPi must be assembled in a professional context and by people competent in electronics. The OhmPi team cannot be held responsible for any material or human damage which would be associated with the use or the assembly of OHMPI. The OhmPi team cannot be held responsible if the equipment does not work after assembly.

Getting started

Step 1: Set up the Raspberry Pi

First, install an operating system on the Raspberry Pi by following the official instructions

Then connect to the Raspberry Pi either via ssh or using an external monitor.

For all questions related to Raspberry Pi operations, please refer to the official documentation

In the “Raspberry Pi Configuration” (graphically: start button > Preferences > Raspberry Pi Configuration; in command line: raspi-config ), in the ‘Interfaces’ tab, make sure I2C is enabled. That will allow the Pi to communicate with the OhmPi measurement board.

Step 2: Clone the OhmPi project

You need to clone the OhmPi repository on the Raspberry Pi with the following command:

git clone https://gitlab.com/ohmpi/ohmpi.git

Note that the project moved from the Gitlab IRSTEA to gitlab.com in January 2024. The Gitlab IRSTEA is synced as a read-only clone from the gitlab.com.

Step 3: Run the installation script

Simply navigate to the OhmPi folder:

cd ohmpi

And run the following command on the terminal:

./install.sh

The install script:

  • creates an python virtual environment called “ohmpy” in which all dependencies will be installed;

  • installs all dependencies specified in requirements.txt;

  • installs a local MQTT broker which will be used to centralize all the communication between the hardware, the software and the interfaces;

  • configures the I2C buses on the Raspberry Pi.

When the installation is performed, we need to add the OhmPi folder to the PYTHONPATH by editing the .bashrc file as follows:

nano ~/.bashrc

And add the following line:

export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/home/<username>/OhmPi

Replace <username> by your username on the Raspberry Pi (e.g.: /home/pi/OhmPi).

Step 4: Activate the ohmpy virtual environment

Before operating the instrument, we need to activate the ohmpy virtual environment with the following command:

cd ~/OhmPi
source ohmpy/bin/activate

If you need to leave the virtual environment, simply type:

deactivate

Following these steps, you are now ready to operate the OhmPi.