I've only recently been able to begin working seriously with my first Raspberry Pi, received months ago but hastily shelved in preparation for JavaOne. The Raspberry Pi and other diminutive computing platforms offer a glimpse of the potential of what is often referred to as the embedded space, the "Internet of Things" (IoT), or Machine to Machine (M2M) computing.
I have a few different configurations I want to use for multiple Raspberry Pis, but for each of them, I'll need to perform the following common steps to prepare them for their various tasks:
I've been very happy to see good friend and JFXtras teammate Gerrit Grunwald document how to do these things on his blog (link to article here - check it out!), but I ran into some issues configuring wi-fi that caused me some needless grief. Not knowing if any of the pitfalls were caused by my slightly-older version of the Pi and not being able to find anything specific online to help me get past it, I kept chipping away at it until I broke through. The purpose of this post is to (hopefully) help someone else recognize the same issues if/when they encounter them and work past them quickly.
There is a great resource page here that covers several ways to get the OS on an SD card, but here is what I did (on a Mac):
There are other ways, but this is fairly quick and painless, especially after you do it several times. Yes, I had to do that dance repeatedly (minus formatting) due to the wi-fi issues, as it kept killing the ability of the Pi to boot. You should be able to dramatically reduce the number of OS loads you do, though, if you do a few things with regard to your wi-fi.
Firstly, I strongly recommend you purchase the Edimax EW-7811Un wi-fi adapter. This adapter/chipset has been proven with the Raspberry Pi, it's tiny, and it's cheap. Avoid unnecessary aggravation and buy this one!
Secondly, visit this page for a script and instructions regarding how to configure your new wi-fi adapter with your Pi. Here is the rub, though: there is a missing step. At least there was for my combination of Pi version, OS version, and uncanny gift of timing and luck. :-)
Here is the sequence of steps I used to make the magic happen:
To recap, that OS upgrade (at least at this point, with this combination of OS/drivers/Pi version) is absolutely essential for a smooth experience. Miss that step, and you're in for hours of "fun". Save yourself!
I'll pick up next time with more of the Java side of the RasPi configuration, but as they say, you have to cross the moat to get into the castle. Hopefully, this will help you do just that. Until next time!
All the best,
Mark
I look forward to part 2 of this series. I'm interested to know your thoughts on the various Java options available for the Raspberry Pi, including openjdk based ones.
Oracle has an article describing installation of Java 7 SE Embedded on the Raspberry Pi here: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/raspberrypi-1704896.html#Java
I see you installed the soft-float version, but didn't address why. Is this because it's the only one supported with the current JVM?
Hi rgm, Kenny,
I look forward to exploring more options as they become available and I have opportunities to do so! An early-access hard-float JVM has been promised this year, so stay tuned for more information. Exciting times!
All the best,
Mark