Pi Zero W and Mote

Discussion Raspberry Pi
1

Hi there, I wonder can someone help me here, I am new to this and am I am trying to follow the tutorial - Using Mote with Homekit and Siri. So far I have the mote working on both my laptop and the Pi Zero W (not at the same time) but I have run into a problem with the Pi, when I try to install nodejs I get the message -

You appear to be running on ARMv6 hardware. Unfortunately this is not currently supported by the NodeSource Linux distributions. Please use the ‘linux-armv6l’ binary tarballs available directly from nodejs.org for Node.js v4 and later.

I just can’t figureout how to install this, nothing I could find so far works.

thanks,
fi

2

the message indicates that indeed your Raspberry Pi is not compatible with the distribution of nodejs mentioned in the tutorial.

Unfortunately I don’t know of any pre-compiled distribution compatibble with the armv6 processor… the Raspbian repo has a version of node js but it is so outdated that I highly doubt that you’d get any further with the tutorial/homebridge.

… I’ll flag it to @sandyjmacdonald as I think it would be worth mentioning in the tutorial that this is only compatible with the Pi2/Pi3. Sorry about that!

PS: you could of course try to compile it from source, but I would highly advise not to try, this will be a gruesome and long process that I’m not even would get you anywhere useful, though in theory it should be possible.

PS2: I see that Sandy mentions the Pi3 as an assumed underlying hardware mid-way through the tutorial, though a clarification right on the onset would avoid any disappointment or puzzlement.

3

It is indeed possible to get a recent version of node.js installed on the Zero W without too much hassle. You should begin with a freshly-burned Raspbian Lite. The instructions below are a slightly-modified version of what is in this blog post: https://blog.miniarray.com/installing-node-js-on-a-raspberry-pi-zero-21a1522db2bb

In the terminal, type:

cd ~
wget https://nodejs.org/dist/v6.10.3/node-v6.10.3-linux-armv6l.tar.xz
cd /usr/local
tar -xvf node-v6.10.3-linux-armv6l.tar.xz --strip=1
sudo apt-get remove --purge npm node nodejs

The last step probably shouldn’t be necessary as I don’t think Raspbian Lite has any node stuff included (hence why I’ve said to use Lite, rather than Pixel).

You’ll also want to update npm:

sudo npm install -g npm

Hope that helps!!

4

Thanks very much guys, I’ll let you know how I get on - and will probably have more questions :)

5

Well that all works nicely using the android app - Controller for Mote, I’ve only been able to try it with an older iPhone so far and that only has on/off function no changing colour

Next I want to do the same thing using the Mote pHAT - I assume it will work with a few adjustments? I also want to connect a battery pack or rechargeable battery, the Zero seems under pressure (making a humming sound) when the brightness is fully on and the mote is not powered separately and I’m just using two light sticks for now - I was thinking the PowerBoost 1000C but I know nothing about it - what would you recommend @RogueM @sandyjmacdonald?

Thanks for your help.