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Raspi-io

Gitter

Raspi-io is a Firmata API compatible library for Raspbian running on the Raspberry Pi that can be used as an I/O plugin with Johnny-Five. The API docs for this module can be found on the Johnny-Five Wiki, except for the constructor which is documented below. Raspi IO supports all models of the Raspberry Pi, except for the Model A.

If you have a bug report, feature request, or wish to contribute code, please be sure to check out the Contributing Guide.

System Requirements

  • Raspberry Pi Model B Rev 1 or newer (sorry Model A users)
  • Raspbian Jessie or newer
    • Node-RED works, but can be finicky and difficult to debug.
    • See nebrius#24 for more info about support for other OSes
  • Node 6.4.0 or newer

Detailed instructions for getting a Raspberry Pi ready for NodeBots, including how to install Node.js, can be found in the wiki

Warning: this module must be installed as a normal user, but run as the root user

Installation

Install with npm:

npm install raspi-io

Usage

Using raspi-io inside of Johnny-Five is pretty straightforward, although does take an extra step compared to the Arduino Uno:

const Raspi = require('raspi-io');
const five = require('johnny-five');
const board = new five.Board({
  io: new Raspi()
});

board.on('ready', () => {

  // Create an Led on pin 7 (GPIO4) on P1 and strobe it on/off
  // Optionally set the speed; defaults to 100ms
  (new five.Led('P1-7')).strobe();

});

The io property must be specified explicitly to differentiate from trying to control, say, an Arduino Uno that is plugged into the Raspberry Pi. Note that we specify the pin as "P1-7", not 7. See the section on pins below for an explanation of the pin numbering scheme on the Raspberry Pi.

Warning: this module must be run as root, even though it cannot be installed as root.

Note: This module is not intended to be used directly. If you do not want to use Johnny-Five, I recommend taking a look at Raspi.js, which underpins this library and is a little more straight-forward to use than using raspi-io directly.

Pin Naming

The pins on the Raspberry Pi are a little complicated. There are multiple headers on some Raspberry Pis with extra pins, and the pin numbers are not consistent between Raspberry Pi board versions.

To help make it easier, you can specify pins in three ways. The first is to specify the pin by function, e.g. 'GPIO18'. The second way is to specify by pin number, which is specified in the form "P[header]-[pin]", e.g. 'P1-7'. The final way is specify the Wiring Pi virtual pin number, e.g. 7. If you specify a number instead of a string, it is assumed to be a Wiring Pi number.

Be sure to read the full list of pins on the supported models of the Raspberry Pi.

I2C notes

There are a few limitations and extra steps to be aware of when using I2C on the Raspberry Pi.

First, note that the I2C pins can only be used for I2C with Raspi IO, even though they are capable of GPIO at the hardware level.

Also note that you will need to edit /boot/config.txt in order to change the I2C baud rate from the default, if you need to. If you notice that behavior is unstable while trying to communicate with another microcontroller, try setting the baudrate to 10000 from the default 100000. This instability has been observed on the Arduino Nano before.

After you install Raspi IO for the first time, you must reboot your Raspberry Pi. I2C support is not enabled by default, and this module runs a script to enable it automatically and adjust a few I2C settings. These settings will not take effect until you reboot your Pi.

Finally, if you try to access a device that doesn't exist, you will get an error stating EIO, i/o error (sorry it's not very descriptive).

Serial notes

There are also a few limtations and extra steps to be aware of when using Serial (UART) on the Raspberry Pi.

As with I2C, the serial pins can only be used for serial with Raspi IO, even though they are capable of GPIO at the hardware level.

If you are not running a Raspberry Pi without WiFi:

All older versions of the Raspberry Pi enable a TTY console over serial, meaning that you can use the screen command on *NIX computers to log in to the Raspberry Pi over serial. This can get in the way of using the serial port for robotics, however. To disable TTY over serial, do the following:

  1. Run sudo raspi-config to start the Raspberry Pi configuration utility
  2. Select 5 Interface Options
  3. Select P6 Serial Options
  4. Select No when asked Would you like a login shell to be accessible over serial?
  5. Select Yes when asked Would you like the serial port hardware to be enabled?
  6. Select OK
  7. Select Finish and select Yes to reboot when prompted

WARNING: If you are running a Raspberry Pi with WiFi:

The Bluetooth module on these Raspberry Pis is controlled using the serial port, meaning it cannot be used directly while also using Bluetooth. Using this module with the default serial port will disable bluetooth!

For an in-depth discussion on why and how to work around it, read https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/45570/how-do-i-make-serial-work-on-the-raspberry-pi3.

API

new raspi(options)

Instantiates a new Raspi IO instance with the given options

Arguments:

Argument Type Description
options (optional) Object The configuration options.
Property Type Description
enableSerial (optional) boolean Enables the use of the serial port by Johnny-Five. The default is true, except on the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B where it is false
enableSoftPwm (optional) boolean Use a software-based approach to PWM on GPIO pins that do not support hardware PWM. The raspi-soft-pwm library is used to enable this.

The default value is false.

Note: the timing of software PWM may not be as accurate as hardware PWM.
includePins (optional) Array<Number|String> A list of pins to include in initialization. If specified, any pins not listed here will not be initialized or available for use by Raspi IO. If not specified, all pins will be available for use by Raspi IO.
excludePins (optional) Array<Number|String> A list of pins to exclude from initialization. If specified, any pins listed here will not be initialized or available for use by Raspi IO. If not specified, all pins will be available for use by Raspi IO.

License

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2014-2017 Bryan Hughes [email protected]

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.