{"authorId":"","cover":"/content/images/2016/08/IMG_7487.jpg","heroes":{"72b96875d26f256ca5a8e7bea23a0319":"/content/images/2017/07/logo.png","901f2fab2646e83671fe8f6e5500c117":"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6734.jpg"},"kind":"tag","logo":"/content/images/2016/08/projectable-me-4.png","nav":[{"id":"62e854d471683dea63488bcbca5c6188","label":"Home","url":"/","sortOrder":0},{"id":"1bc84fb15620acd635df7735a0b8ddd8","label":"Raspberry Pi","url":"/tag/raspberry-pi/","sortOrder":1},{"id":"3207e2fec51d66d2a5b3d8d04feb9dd8","label":"Sim Racing","url":"/tag/sim-racing/","sortOrder":2},{"id":"59115afd52e59a74faa4b386e00ae3fa","label":"About","url":"/about-me/","sortOrder":3}],"page":1,"perPage":10,"posts":[{"id":"901f2fab2646e83671fe8f6e5500c117","siteId":"projectable","slug":"a-simple-etcher-6-slot-sd-card-jig","title":"A simple Etcher 6 slot SD card jig","markdown":"I've been working with Kubernetes a lot lately, I am using Kubernetes at [Filament](https://filament.com) as a way to manage sandbox blockchain environments, so naturally I wanted to try and replicate this environment using Raspberry Pis. This is actually easier said than done, even though the 3B/3B+ has 1GB of RAM, once you start bringing in persistent storage layers it becomes apparent that it just isn't enough memory to run anything but the simplest of kubernetes containers.\n\n\n\nThroughout the testing and validation of Kubernetes on my 6 node 3B cluster I was constantly re-imaging the SD cards. I tested Raspbian and Ubuntu 18 64bit, with various full resets along the way. The process of imaging 6 cards with only 1 SD reader is a bit monotonous, so I set out to find out what options there were for multiple card writing systems. I was very quickly overwhelmed by the $1500+ SD card duplication systems out there and I realized I would have to cobble something together myself.\n\n####Doing the jig\n\nA quick search on Amazon and I found a [USB 3.0 dual SD/Micro SD card reader](http://a.co/d/fkdFMf3), I figured I could get 3 of these and plug them in to a hub to give me the 6 card slots I needed. I was then pleasantly surprised to find the manufacturer of the card readers also had a [4 port USB 3.0 hub](http://a.co/d/bhqes7W) that was the same size! Once I got all the hardware in hand I could see that the hub was almost exactly the same base dimensions as the 3 dual card readers stacked next to each other!\n\n\n\n\nI designed a simple 3D printable enclosure in Fusion360 and then printed it using Proto-Pasta Metallic Blue HTPLA. It is held together using M3 hardware.\n\n\n\nThe finished enclosure keeps everything together, and doesn't look half bad!\n\n\n\n\nThis setup gives you 6 usable SD/Micro SD card slots with 1 USB 3.0 cable, and a spare USB 3.0 port to daisy-chain more of these jigs if needed! [Etcher](https://www.balena.io/etcher/) can write to all of the SD cards at the same time, cutting the burn time significantly!\n\n\n\nA big thanks to [Balena](https://www.balena.io) (previously Resin.io) for releasing [Etcher](https://www.balena.io/etcher/) to the world, its a fantastic tool that scales well!\n\n####Go make one yourself!\nAll of the STLs and the BOM can be found on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3217069\n\n\n","html":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026#39;ve been working with Kubernetes a lot lately, I am using Kubernetes at \u003ca href=\"https://filament.com\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eFilament\u003c/a\u003e as a way to manage sandbox blockchain environments, so naturally I wanted to try and replicate this environment using Raspberry Pis. This is actually easier said than done, even though the 3B/3B+ has 1GB of RAM, once you start bringing in persistent storage layers it becomes apparent that it just isn\u0026#39;t enough memory to run anything but the simplest of kubernetes containers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6776.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThroughout the testing and validation of Kubernetes on my 6 node 3B cluster I was constantly re-imaging the SD cards. I tested Raspbian and Ubuntu 18 64bit, with various full resets along the way. The process of imaging 6 cards with only 1 SD reader is a bit monotonous, so I set out to find out what options there were for multiple card writing systems. I was very quickly overwhelmed by the $1500+ SD card duplication systems out there and I realized I would have to cobble something together myself.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eDoing the jig\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA quick search on Amazon and I found a \u003ca href=\"http://a.co/d/fkdFMf3\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eUSB 3.0 dual SD/Micro SD card reader\u003c/a\u003e, I figured I could get 3 of these and plug them in to a hub to give me the 6 card slots I needed. I was then pleasantly surprised to find the manufacturer of the card readers also had a \u003ca href=\"http://a.co/d/bhqes7W\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e4 port USB 3.0 hub\u003c/a\u003e that was the same size! Once I got all the hardware in hand I could see that the hub was almost exactly the same base dimensions as the 3 dual card readers stacked next to each other!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6730.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6731.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI designed a simple 3D printable enclosure in Fusion360 and then printed it using Proto-Pasta Metallic Blue HTPLA. It is held together using M3 hardware.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-19-at-12-50-13-PM.png\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe finished enclosure keeps everything together, and doesn\u0026#39;t look half bad!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6733.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/IMG_6735.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis setup gives you 6 usable SD/Micro SD card slots with 1 USB 3.0 cable, and a spare USB 3.0 port to daisy-chain more of these jigs if needed! \u003ca href=\"https://www.balena.io/etcher/\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eEtcher\u003c/a\u003e can write to all of the SD cards at the same time, cutting the burn time significantly!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-13-at-7-58-50-AM.png\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA big thanks to \u003ca href=\"https://www.balena.io\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eBalena\u003c/a\u003e (previously Resin.io) for releasing \u003ca href=\"https://www.balena.io/etcher/\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eEtcher\u003c/a\u003e to the world, its a fantastic tool that scales well!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eGo make one yourself!\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll of the STLs and the BOM can be found on Thingiverse: \u003ca href=\"https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3217069\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003ehttps://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3217069\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n","excerpt":"","metaTitle":"","metaDescription":"","status":"published","featured":false,"publishedAt":"2018-11-19T17:53:22Z","authorId":"190160de54f2192bd5b8734ec8808086","authorName":"Daniel Chote","authorSlug":"daniel","heroMediaId":"453a5a37a265940047559741a496164e","projectId":"","tags":[{"id":"b529314e428273696b02c474dcf56132","name":"Raspberry Pi","slug":"raspberry-pi"},{"id":"1e4c1c80a23c5c7fa3f6f43985fffb50","name":"Kubernetes","slug":"kubernetes"},{"id":"41dfeb58d853ede0e7f6fb6f9e24536c","name":"Etcher","slug":"etcher"},{"id":"e58b4788e99c9f53befd1e47b8073250","name":"3D Printing","slug":"3d-printing"}],"createdAt":"2026-10-18T13:16:27Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-18T13:16:27Z"},{"id":"72b96875d26f256ca5a8e7bea23a0319","siteId":"projectable","slug":"raspberry-pi-touchscreen-octoprint-controller","title":"Raspberry Pi Touchscreen Octoprint Controller","markdown":"As everyone knows I love my Raspberry Pis. I'll put them in whatever I can fit them in. I am in the process of finishing my 3D printer rack and I wanted to get my new Anet A8 printer on wifi so that I didn't need to shuffle the difficult to remove SD card from it when I wanted to print something.\n\n\n\nAlong comes [Octoprint](http://octoprint.org)... Now, there are plenty of \"how to install octoprint on a Raspberry Pi\" documents out there, but nothing quite as pedantic as I would have liked. So I set off to do it my way.\n\nThis project uses a fantastic Adafruit designed 3D printed case: https://learn.adafruit.com/3-dot-5-pitft-octoprint-rig/3d-printed-case to wrap a [Raspberry Pi 3](https://www.adafruit.com/product/3055) + [Adafruit PiTFT Plus 3.5\" touch screen](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2441).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n### Getting Started\n\nThis is a very simple project. Here are the things you will need:\n\n* Raspberry Pi 3\n* PiTFT Plus 3.5\"\n* SD Card\n* 3D Printer\n\nMost of this is already covered in Adafruit's fantastic guide: https://learn.adafruit.com/3-dot-5-pitft-octoprint-rig/overview.\n\nMy approach has been updated and is a bit more bare bones... You will download the latest **Raspbian Jessie Lite** from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/, and burn it to your SD card. \n\nDo the usual Raspberry Pi setup process... Change the default password, enable SSH, get on to your wifi, etc. Once raspbian is running and secured on your Pi3 you can proceed with this guide.\n\n---\n\n### Install required packages\n\nAs root (`sudo -i`), please do the following:\n```\napt-get install python-pip python-dev python-setuptools python-virtualenv git libyaml-dev build-essential chromium-browser raspi-gpio xcompmgr dbus-x11 libgl1-mesa-dri xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xserver-xorg-input-evdev xinit xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi xfonts-cyrillic xfonts-scalable xinput ttf-mscorefonts-installer xinput-calibrator\n```\n---\n\n### Base setup\n\nCreate the octoprint user. This user will be used to run both the backend and the frontend of octoprint:\n\n```\nadduser --disabled-password --disabled-login --gecos \"\" octoprint \n\nusermod -a -G cdrom,audio,video,render,plugdev,users,dialout,dip,input,tty octoprint \n```\n\nFix the xorg config permissions so that a non-root user can run X correctly:\n\n```\nchmod ug+s /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg\n```\n\nNow we will update a few X config files to optimize for this use case:\n\n**edit: `/etc/X11/Xwrapper.config`**\n```\nallowed_users=anybody\nneeds_root_rights=no\n```\n\n**edit: `/etc/kbd/config`**\n```\nBLANK_TIME=0 \nBLANK_DPMS=off \nPOWERDOWN_TIME=0 \n```\n\n**edit: `/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc`**\n```\nxset s noblank \nxset s off \nxset -dpms \n```\n\n---\n\n### Install Octoprint\n\nSwitch from root to the octoprint user `su octoprint`:\n\n```\ncd /home/octoprint\n\ngit clone https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint.git\n\ncd OctoPrint\n\nvirtualenv venv\n./venv/bin/pip install pip --upgrade\n./venv/bin/pip install setuptools==7.0\n./venv/bin/python setup.py install\n\nmkdir ~/.octoprint\n```\n\nThis should leave you with a happy install of octoprint located at `/home/octoprint/Octoprint`.\n\n### Setup systemd services\n\n**edit: `/etc/systemd/system/octoprint-backend.service`**\n```\n[Unit]\n Description=OctoPrint service\n\n[Service]\n User=octoprint\n ExecStart=/home/octoprint/OctoPrint/venv/bin/octoprint\n\n[Install]\n WantedBy=multi-user.target\n```\n\n\n**edit: `/etc/systemd/system/octoprint-frontend.service`**\n```\n[Unit]\nDescription = Octoprint Frontend \nAfter = systemd-user-sessions.service network.target sound.target\n\n[Service]\nUser = octoprint \nGroup = octoprint \nType = simple \nExecStart = /usr/bin/xinit /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/chromium-browser --start-maximized --window-size=480,320 --window-position=0,0 --disable-restore-background-contents --noerordialogs --disable-session-crashed-bubble --disable-infobars --disable-pinch --overscroll-history-navigation=0 --incognito --kiosk http://127.0.0.1:5000 -- :0 -s 0 dpms -nocursor -nolisten tcp vt7 \nRestart = on-abort \nRestartSec = 5\n\n[Install]\nWantedBy = multi-user.target\n```\n\nEnable both services to start at boot:\n```\nsystemctl enable octoprint-backend.service\nsystemctl enable octoprint-frontend.service\n```\n\n---\n\n### Octoprint setup\n\nLog in to your octoprint instance using a browser on your computer. It should be something like http://**YOUR___PI___IP**:5000. You can find your Pi's ip address by running `ifconfig` as root. You will be presented with the \"Setup Wizard\". Follow the instructions to complete the setup process. \n \n*To keep things simple I recommend **DISABLING** access control. I would not recommend this if you are putting your Raspberry Pi on a public network.*\n\n--- \n### TouchUI plugin\n\nTo best fit on the 480x320 screen, you should enable the TouchUI plugin. On your computer connect to the octoprint instance running on the Raspberry Pi (*instructions above*). \"Under the settings section, goto the plugin manager and search for \"Touch UI\", then click the install button.\" --[Adafruit](https://learn.adafruit.com/3-dot-5-pitft-octoprint-rig/software)\n\n---\n\n### Enable the PiTFT\n\nAdafruit has a guide: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pitft-3-dot-5-touch-screen-for-raspberry-pi/easy-install, but it doesnt seem to play nice with the latest Raspbian.\n\nRun the following as root (`sudo -i`):\n```\necho \"deb http://apt.adafruit.com/raspbian/ jessie main\" \u003e\u003e /etc/apt/sources.list\n\nwget -O - -q https://apt.adafruit.com/apt.adafruit.com.gpg.key | apt-key add -\n\napt-get update\napt-get install -y adafruit-pitft-helper\n```\n\nThen run adafruit-pitft-helper:\n```\nadafruit-pitft-helper -t 35r\n```\n\nCheck `/boot/config.txt` to ensure the defined orientation will work for you. The line to review should look like:\n```\ndtoverlay=pitft35r,rotate=90,speed=42000000,fps=20\n```\n\nThe rotate= variable tells the driver to rotate the screen 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees. \n\n * **0** is portrait, with the bottom near the USB jacks.\n * **90** is landscape, with the bottom of the screen near the headphone jack.\n * **180** is portrait, with the top near the USB jacks.\n * **270** is landscape, with the top of the screen near the headphone jack.\n\nNow reboot (`reboot`).\n\nAfter the reboot (in theory) you will see the octoprint web interface on your PiTFT. But you will need to calibrate the touchscreen before you can interact with it.\n\n---\n\n### Touch calibration\n\nAs root (`sudo -i`) run the following:\n```\nDISPLAY=:0.0 xinput_calibrator\n```\n\nFollow the onscreen calibration process:\n\u003cp align=\"center\"\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\nOnce complete you should have a snippet of config to paste relevant to your touch screen.\n\n\n**edit: `/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf`** and paste the output you got from xinput_calibrator.\n\n**Example output:** \n```\nSection \"InputClass\"\n\tIdentifier\t\"calibration\"\n\tMatchProduct\t\"stmpe-ts\"\n\tOption\t\"Calibration\"\t\"3932 82 141 3877\"\n\tOption\t\"SwapAxes\"\t\"1\"\n\tOption \"InvertX\" \"1\"\n\tOption \"InvertY\" \"1\"\nEndSection\n```\n\nIf your config does not contain **InvertX** or **InvertY** (*mine didn't*), you can add it manually to fix input inversion problems you may have.\n\nReboot (`reboot`), and enjoy your octoprint rig!.\n\n---\n\n### My Octoprint controller\n\nI mounted my octoprint controller to the shelving that I have my 3D printers on using double sided adhesive. Overall I am very impressed with how simple octoprint is and how well it works with my Anet A8 3D printer. \n\n\n\n\n","html":"\u003cp\u003eAs everyone knows I love my Raspberry Pis. I\u0026#39;ll put them in whatever I can fit them in. I am in the process of finishing my 3D printer rack and I wanted to get my new Anet A8 printer on wifi so that I didn\u0026#39;t need to shuffle the difficult to remove SD card from it when I wanted to print something.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2017/07/IMG_1559.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlong comes \u003ca href=\"http://octoprint.org\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eOctoprint\u003c/a\u003e... Now, there are plenty of \u0026#34;how to install octoprint on a Raspberry Pi\u0026#34; documents out there, but nothing quite as pedantic as I would have liked. So I set off to do it my way.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis project uses a fantastic Adafruit designed 3D printed case: \u003ca href=\"https://learn.adafruit.com/3-dot-5-pitft-octoprint-rig/3d-printed-case\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003ehttps://learn.adafruit.com/3-dot-5-pitft-octoprint-rig/3d-printed-case\u003c/a\u003e to wrap a \u003ca href=\"https://www.adafruit.com/product/3055\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eRaspberry Pi 3\u003c/a\u003e + \u003ca href=\"https://www.adafruit.com/product/2441\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eAdafruit PiTFT Plus 3.5\u0026#34; touch screen\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2017/07/IMG_1532.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2017/07/IMG_1529.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2017/07/IMG_1531.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2017/07/IMG_1530.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eGetting Started\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a very simple project. Here are the things you will need:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRaspberry Pi 3\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePiTFT Plus 3.5\u0026#34;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSD Card\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e3D Printer\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost of this is already covered in Adafruit\u0026#39;s fantastic guide: \u003ca href=\"https://learn.adafruit.com/3-dot-5-pitft-octoprint-rig/overview\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003ehttps://learn.adafruit.com/3-dot-5-pitft-octoprint-rig/overview\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy approach has been updated and is a bit more bare bones... You will download the latest \u003cstrong\u003eRaspbian Jessie Lite\u003c/strong\u003e from \u003ca href=\"https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003ehttps://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/\u003c/a\u003e, and burn it to your SD card.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDo the usual Raspberry Pi setup process... Change the default password, enable SSH, get on to your wifi, etc. Once raspbian is running and secured on your Pi3 you can proceed with this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eInstall required packages\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs root (\u003ccode\u003esudo -i\u003c/code\u003e), please do the following:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eapt-get install python-pip python-dev python-setuptools python-virtualenv git libyaml-dev build-essential chromium-browser raspi-gpio xcompmgr dbus-x11 libgl1-mesa-dri xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xserver-xorg-input-evdev xinit xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi xfonts-cyrillic xfonts-scalable xinput ttf-mscorefonts-installer xinput-calibrator\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eBase setup\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCreate the octoprint user. This user will be used to run both the backend and the frontend of octoprint:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eadduser --disabled-password --disabled-login --gecos \u0026#34;\u0026#34; octoprint \n\nusermod -a -G cdrom,audio,video,render,plugdev,users,dialout,dip,input,tty octoprint \n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFix the xorg config permissions so that a non-root user can run X correctly:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003echmod ug+s /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow we will update a few X config files to optimize for this use case:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eedit: \u003ccode\u003e/etc/X11/Xwrapper.config\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eallowed_users=anybody\nneeds_root_rights=no\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eedit: \u003ccode\u003e/etc/kbd/config\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eBLANK_TIME=0 \nBLANK_DPMS=off \nPOWERDOWN_TIME=0 \n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eedit: \u003ccode\u003e/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003exset s noblank \nxset s off \nxset -dpms \n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eInstall Octoprint\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSwitch from root to the octoprint user \u003ccode\u003esu octoprint\u003c/code\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003ecd /home/octoprint\n\ngit clone https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint.git\n\ncd OctoPrint\n\nvirtualenv venv\n./venv/bin/pip install pip --upgrade\n./venv/bin/pip install setuptools==7.0\n./venv/bin/python setup.py install\n\nmkdir ~/.octoprint\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis should leave you with a happy install of octoprint located at \u003ccode\u003e/home/octoprint/Octoprint\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSetup systemd services\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eedit: \u003ccode\u003e/etc/systemd/system/octoprint-backend.service\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e[Unit]\n Description=OctoPrint service\n\n[Service]\n User=octoprint\n ExecStart=/home/octoprint/OctoPrint/venv/bin/octoprint\n\n[Install]\n WantedBy=multi-user.target\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eedit: \u003ccode\u003e/etc/systemd/system/octoprint-frontend.service\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e[Unit]\nDescription = Octoprint Frontend \nAfter = systemd-user-sessions.service network.target sound.target\n\n[Service]\nUser = octoprint \nGroup = octoprint \nType = simple \nExecStart = /usr/bin/xinit /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/chromium-browser --start-maximized --window-size=480,320 --window-position=0,0 --disable-restore-background-contents --noerordialogs --disable-session-crashed-bubble --disable-infobars --disable-pinch --overscroll-history-navigation=0 --incognito --kiosk http://127.0.0.1:5000 -- :0 -s 0 dpms -nocursor -nolisten tcp vt7 \nRestart = on-abort \nRestartSec = 5\n\n[Install]\nWantedBy = multi-user.target\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEnable both services to start at boot:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003esystemctl enable octoprint-backend.service\nsystemctl enable octoprint-frontend.service\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eOctoprint setup\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLog in to your octoprint instance using a browser on your computer. It should be something like http://\u003cstrong\u003eYOUR___PI___IP\u003c/strong\u003e:5000. You can find your Pi\u0026#39;s ip address by running \u003ccode\u003eifconfig\u003c/code\u003e as root. You will be presented with the \u0026#34;Setup Wizard\u0026#34;. Follow the instructions to complete the setup process.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTo keep things simple I recommend \u003cstrong\u003eDISABLING\u003c/strong\u003e access control. I would not recommend this if you are putting your Raspberry Pi on a public network.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eTouchUI plugin\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo best fit on the 480x320 screen, you should enable the TouchUI plugin. On your computer connect to the octoprint instance running on the Raspberry Pi (\u003cem\u003einstructions above\u003c/em\u003e). \u0026#34;Under the settings section, goto the plugin manager and search for \u0026#34;Touch UI\u0026#34;, then click the install button.\u0026#34; --\u003ca href=\"https://learn.adafruit.com/3-dot-5-pitft-octoprint-rig/software\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eAdafruit\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eEnable the PiTFT\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdafruit has a guide: \u003ca href=\"https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pitft-3-dot-5-touch-screen-for-raspberry-pi/easy-install\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003ehttps://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pitft-3-dot-5-touch-screen-for-raspberry-pi/easy-install\u003c/a\u003e, but it doesnt seem to play nice with the latest Raspbian.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRun the following as root (\u003ccode\u003esudo -i\u003c/code\u003e):\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eecho \u0026#34;deb http://apt.adafruit.com/raspbian/ jessie main\u0026#34; \u0026gt;\u0026gt; /etc/apt/sources.list\n\nwget -O - -q https://apt.adafruit.com/apt.adafruit.com.gpg.key | apt-key add -\n\napt-get update\napt-get install -y adafruit-pitft-helper\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen run adafruit-pitft-helper:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eadafruit-pitft-helper -t 35r\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCheck \u003ccode\u003e/boot/config.txt\u003c/code\u003e to ensure the defined orientation will work for you. The line to review should look like:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003edtoverlay=pitft35r,rotate=90,speed=42000000,fps=20\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rotate= variable tells the driver to rotate the screen 0, 90, 180, or 270 degrees.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e0\u003c/strong\u003e is portrait, with the bottom near the USB jacks.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e90\u003c/strong\u003e is landscape, with the bottom of the screen near the headphone jack.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e180\u003c/strong\u003e is portrait, with the top near the USB jacks.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e270\u003c/strong\u003e is landscape, with the top of the screen near the headphone jack.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow reboot (\u003ccode\u003ereboot\u003c/code\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the reboot (in theory) you will see the octoprint web interface on your PiTFT. But you will need to calibrate the touchscreen before you can interact with it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eTouch calibration\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs root (\u003ccode\u003esudo -i\u003c/code\u003e) run the following:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eDISPLAY=:0.0 xinput_calibrator\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollow the onscreen calibration process:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp align=\"center\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2017/07/raspberry_pi_xinput.png\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce complete you should have a snippet of config to paste relevant to your touch screen.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eedit: \u003ccode\u003e/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e and paste the output you got from xinput_calibrator.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExample output:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eSection \u0026#34;InputClass\u0026#34;\n\tIdentifier\t\u0026#34;calibration\u0026#34;\n\tMatchProduct\t\u0026#34;stmpe-ts\u0026#34;\n\tOption\t\u0026#34;Calibration\u0026#34;\t\u0026#34;3932 82 141 3877\u0026#34;\n\tOption\t\u0026#34;SwapAxes\u0026#34;\t\u0026#34;1\u0026#34;\n\tOption \u0026#34;InvertX\u0026#34; \u0026#34;1\u0026#34;\n\tOption \u0026#34;InvertY\u0026#34; \u0026#34;1\u0026#34;\nEndSection\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf your config does not contain \u003cstrong\u003eInvertX\u003c/strong\u003e or \u003cstrong\u003eInvertY\u003c/strong\u003e (\u003cem\u003emine didn\u0026#39;t\u003c/em\u003e), you can add it manually to fix input inversion problems you may have.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReboot (\u003ccode\u003ereboot\u003c/code\u003e), and enjoy your octoprint rig!.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eMy Octoprint controller\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI mounted my octoprint controller to the shelving that I have my 3D printers on using double sided adhesive. Overall I am very impressed with how simple octoprint is and how well it works with my Anet A8 3D printer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2017/07/IMG_1557.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2017/07/IMG_1555.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2017/07/IMG_1556.jpg\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n","excerpt":"","metaTitle":"","metaDescription":"","status":"published","featured":false,"publishedAt":"2017-07-21T02:18:30Z","authorId":"190160de54f2192bd5b8734ec8808086","authorName":"Daniel Chote","authorSlug":"daniel","heroMediaId":"51fc6de0bddbd56cfebbf24db5659465","projectId":"","tags":[{"id":"b529314e428273696b02c474dcf56132","name":"Raspberry Pi","slug":"raspberry-pi"},{"id":"f9ecad390ed765b2bb4ae55d9faa7311","name":"Octoprint","slug":"octoprint"},{"id":"e58b4788e99c9f53befd1e47b8073250","name":"3D Printing","slug":"3d-printing"}],"createdAt":"2026-10-18T13:16:27Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-18T13:16:27Z"},{"id":"9854b5687420ea45e22c86d827b8c972","siteId":"projectable","slug":"3d-printed-raspberry-pi-powered-planetarium-projector-nightlight-part-1","title":"3D Printed, Raspberry Pi Powered, Planetarium Projector Nightlight - Part 1","markdown":"##Introduction\nMy son was learning about stars and constellations in daycare and we realized that he is always in bed before it really gets dark outside, so I had the crazy maker-dad thought, lets build a realtime planetarium night light... \n\nThe pieces are actually pretty straight forward, big LED, LCD panel, some optics and something to make the pretty pictures (the Raspberry Pi v3). I will use the Pi's GPIO to switch the LED (via MOSFET) and detect light level in the room (via LDR).\n\n##Parts\n* [Raspberry Pi v3](https://www.adafruit.com/products/3055)\n* [800x480 5\" LCD Panel](https://www.adafruit.com/products/1680) (or cheap ebay one)\n* [Adafruit TFP401 HDMI Decoder](https://www.adafruit.com/products/2218)\n* [20W Cool White LED](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D13DQHM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8\u0026psc=1)\n* [Boost Converter to power LED](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DWX8PM2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8\u0026psc=1)\n* [Headsink and Lens for LED](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D1LD68C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8\u0026psc=1)\n* [Fresnel lenses x2](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B0HW99M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8\u0026psc=1)\n\nYou will need to find something to use as a collimating/triplet lens. I ended up taking one from a cheap Chinese LED projector, as the entire projector cost less than a lot of the other options I could find. \"Why not use a cheap Chinese projector...\" Yeah, yeah, the issue I have was I wanted the crispest image possible, and full control over the throw distance. You could very well skip building your own projector and just go with a Raspberry Pi and cheap projector and call it a day, but you will end up with 1080p input scaled down to whatever crappy resolution the projector does natively, and the kicker is that the projector will likely not run at its native resolution over hdmi, giving you a blurry and out of focus looking star map. Native resolution all-the-way man... Hence the TFP401+800x480 5\" LCD panel.\n\n--------\n\n##Software\nFor software there are a couple of solutions that will run natively on a Pi, but I chose [Stellarium](http://www.stellarium.org) due to its insane flexibility.\n\n**And on to the guide...** Firstly, get Raspbian Lite working on your Pi. At this point we don't want any X stuff, we want just the base Lite Raspbian distro installed on an SD card.\n\nAfter we have a working Raspbian copy running on our Pi, we can get some base things in place...\n\nSetup the Stellarium user:\n```\nadduser --disabled-password --disabled-login --gecos \"\" stellarium\nusermod -a -G cdrom,audio,video,plugdev,users,dialout,dip,input stellarium\n```\n\nInstall the required system packages:\n```\napt-get install --no-install-recommends raspi-gpio xcompmgr dbus-x11 libgl1-mesa-dri xserver-xorg xinit bzr qtmultimedia5-dev\n```\n\nOnce you have installed these packages, you should run `raspi-config` set your timezone and locale information (this is important, as Stellarium will use it) and then **enable the GL Driver** (under advanced). Once enabled, you will be prompted to reboot your Pi, do so and then continue.\n\nEdit `/etc/kbd/config` and `/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc` to stop your screen from turning off.\n\n/etc/kbd/config\n```\nBLANK_TIME=0\nBLANK_DPMS=off\nPOWERDOWN_TIME=0\n```\n/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc\n```\nxset s noblank\nxset s off\nxset -dpms\n```\n\n--------\n\nNow to get Stellarium working. I had issues with font corruption with the standard Raspbian package of Stellarium, so I built it from source.\n\nInstall the Stellarium build dependancies:\n```\napt-get build-dep stellarium\n```\n\nCheckout Stellarium using bzr (*note: this takes a while*):\n```\ncd /usr/src\nbzr co lp:stellarium stellarium\n```\n\nSwitch to the a revision that works, when I tried HEAD wouldn't compile.\n```\ncd stellarium\nbzr branch -r8418\n```\n\nNow build Stellarium:\n```\nmkdir -p builds/unix\ncd builds/unix\ncmake ../..\nmake -j4\nmake install\n```\n\n--------\n\nNext we can setup a systemd service to start Stellarium on boot, create a file `/etc/systemd/system/stellarium.service` and paste the following:\n```\n[Unit]\nDescription = Stellarium\nAfter = systemd-user-sessions.service network.target sound.target\n\n[Service]\nUser = stellarium\nGroup = stellarium\nType = simple\nExecStart = /usr/bin/xinit /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/local/bin/stellarium -t -- :0 -s 0 dpms -nolisten tcp vt7\nRestart = on-abort\nRestartSec = 5\n\n[Install]\nWantedBy = multi-user.target\n```\nNote: When building Stellarium by hand, it will be at `/usr/local/bin/stellarium` if you are using the package it will be `/usr/bin/stellarium` instead.\n\nNow you should test to ensure Stellarium works, you can do this by running `service stellarium start`. If something happens, carry on. If it breaks, let me know and I'll fix my guide! 😬\n\n\n\nAt this point you can play around with Stellarium, I suggest setting your location and FOV, enable/disable things that you may or may not want, and then save defaults. Once you are happy with everything, quit and continue with this guide.\n\n--------\n\nNow we are going to fine tune Stellarium and Raspbian for the 800x480 LCD panel, if you don't want to do that, consider yourself done!\n\nYou will want to edit Stellarium's config file, which should now be located at `/home/stellarium/.stellarium/config.ini`. These are the settings to change:\n\n```\nfullscreen = true\nscreen_w = 800\nscreen_h = 480\n```\n\nEdit the linux kernel boot parameters in `/boot/cmdline.txt` to force our 800x480 resolution by appending `video=800x480` after `rootwait`.\n\nAnd using the instructions from Adafruit's guide [here](https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-5-800x480-tft-hdmi-monitor-touchscreen-backpack/raspberry-pi-config). We edit `/boot/config.txt` to look like this:\n\n```\n#gpu_mem=256\n\n# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default \"safe\" mode\n#hdmi_safe=1\n\n# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible\n# and your display can output without overscan\n#disable_overscan=1\n\n# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console\n# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border\n#overscan_left=16\n#overscan_right=16\n#overscan_top=16\n#overscan_bottom=16\n\n# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus\n# overscan.\n#framebuffer_width=800\n#framebuffer_height=480\n\n# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output\nhdmi_force_hotplug=1\n\n# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (here we are forcing 800x480!)\nhdmi_group=2\nhdmi_mode=1\nhdmi_mode=87\nhdmi_cvt=800 480 60 6 0 0 0\n\n#max_usb_current=1\n\n# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in\n# DMT (computer monitor) modes\n#hdmi_drive=2\n\n# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or\n# no display\n#config_hdmi_boost=4\n\n# uncomment for composite PAL\n#sdtv_mode=2\n\n#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.\n#arm_freq=800\n\n# for more options see http://elinux.org/RPi_config.txt\ndtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d\n```\n\nOnce you have made these changes, you can reboot, and your Pi should restart in native 800x480 and boot right in to Stellarium!\n\n\n\nThis concludes part 1 of the guide, part 2 will go over my build progress thus far, including 3d models of the prototype components I have designed.\n\n\n\n","html":"\u003ch2\u003eIntroduction\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy son was learning about stars and constellations in daycare and we realized that he is always in bed before it really gets dark outside, so I had the crazy maker-dad thought, lets build a realtime planetarium night light...\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pieces are actually pretty straight forward, big LED, LCD panel, some optics and something to make the pretty pictures (the Raspberry Pi v3). I will use the Pi\u0026#39;s GPIO to switch the LED (via MOSFET) and detect light level in the room (via LDR).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eParts\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.adafruit.com/products/3055\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eRaspberry Pi v3\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.adafruit.com/products/1680\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e800x480 5\u0026#34; LCD Panel\u003c/a\u003e (or cheap ebay one)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.adafruit.com/products/2218\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eAdafruit TFP401 HDMI Decoder\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D13DQHM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;psc=1\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e20W Cool White LED\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DWX8PM2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;psc=1\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eBoost Converter to power LED\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D1LD68C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;psc=1\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eHeadsink and Lens for LED\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B0HW99M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;psc=1\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eFresnel lenses x2\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou will need to find something to use as a collimating/triplet lens. I ended up taking one from a cheap Chinese LED projector, as the entire projector cost less than a lot of the other options I could find. \u0026#34;Why not use a cheap Chinese projector...\u0026#34; Yeah, yeah, the issue I have was I wanted the crispest image possible, and full control over the throw distance. You could very well skip building your own projector and just go with a Raspberry Pi and cheap projector and call it a day, but you will end up with 1080p input scaled down to whatever crappy resolution the projector does natively, and the kicker is that the projector will likely not run at its native resolution over hdmi, giving you a blurry and out of focus looking star map. Native resolution all-the-way man... Hence the TFP401+800x480 5\u0026#34; LCD panel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eSoftware\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor software there are a couple of solutions that will run natively on a Pi, but I chose \u003ca href=\"http://www.stellarium.org\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003eStellarium\u003c/a\u003e due to its insane flexibility.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnd on to the guide...\u003c/strong\u003e Firstly, get Raspbian Lite working on your Pi. At this point we don\u0026#39;t want any X stuff, we want just the base Lite Raspbian distro installed on an SD card.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter we have a working Raspbian copy running on our Pi, we can get some base things in place...\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSetup the Stellarium user:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eadduser --disabled-password --disabled-login --gecos \u0026#34;\u0026#34; stellarium\nusermod -a -G cdrom,audio,video,plugdev,users,dialout,dip,input stellarium\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInstall the required system packages:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eapt-get install --no-install-recommends raspi-gpio xcompmgr dbus-x11 libgl1-mesa-dri xserver-xorg xinit bzr qtmultimedia5-dev\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce you have installed these packages, you should run \u003ccode\u003eraspi-config\u003c/code\u003e set your timezone and locale information (this is important, as Stellarium will use it) and then \u003cstrong\u003eenable the GL Driver\u003c/strong\u003e (under advanced). Once enabled, you will be prompted to reboot your Pi, do so and then continue.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEdit \u003ccode\u003e/etc/kbd/config\u003c/code\u003e and \u003ccode\u003e/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc\u003c/code\u003e to stop your screen from turning off.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e/etc/kbd/config\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eBLANK_TIME=0\nBLANK_DPMS=off\nPOWERDOWN_TIME=0\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003exset s noblank\nxset s off\nxset -dpms\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow to get Stellarium working. I had issues with font corruption with the standard Raspbian package of Stellarium, so I built it from source.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInstall the Stellarium build dependancies:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003eapt-get build-dep stellarium\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCheckout Stellarium using bzr (\u003cem\u003enote: this takes a while\u003c/em\u003e):\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003ecd /usr/src\nbzr co lp:stellarium stellarium\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSwitch to the a revision that works, when I tried HEAD wouldn\u0026#39;t compile.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003ecd stellarium\nbzr branch -r8418\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow build Stellarium:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003emkdir -p builds/unix\ncd builds/unix\ncmake ../..\nmake -j4\nmake install\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNext we can setup a systemd service to start Stellarium on boot, create a file \u003ccode\u003e/etc/systemd/system/stellarium.service\u003c/code\u003e and paste the following:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e[Unit]\nDescription = Stellarium\nAfter = systemd-user-sessions.service network.target sound.target\n\n[Service]\nUser = stellarium\nGroup = stellarium\nType = simple\nExecStart = /usr/bin/xinit /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/local/bin/stellarium -t -- :0 -s 0 dpms -nolisten tcp vt7\nRestart = on-abort\nRestartSec = 5\n\n[Install]\nWantedBy = multi-user.target\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNote: When building Stellarium by hand, it will be at \u003ccode\u003e/usr/local/bin/stellarium\u003c/code\u003e if you are using the package it will be \u003ccode\u003e/usr/bin/stellarium\u003c/code\u003e instead.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow you should test to ensure Stellarium works, you can do this by running \u003ccode\u003eservice stellarium start\u003c/code\u003e. If something happens, carry on. If it breaks, let me know and I\u0026#39;ll fix my guide! 😬\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2016/08/IMG_8455.JPG\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt this point you can play around with Stellarium, I suggest setting your location and FOV, enable/disable things that you may or may not want, and then save defaults. Once you are happy with everything, quit and continue with this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow we are going to fine tune Stellarium and Raspbian for the 800x480 LCD panel, if you don\u0026#39;t want to do that, consider yourself done!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou will want to edit Stellarium\u0026#39;s config file, which should now be located at \u003ccode\u003e/home/stellarium/.stellarium/config.ini\u003c/code\u003e. These are the settings to change:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003efullscreen = true\nscreen_w = 800\nscreen_h = 480\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEdit the linux kernel boot parameters in \u003ccode\u003e/boot/cmdline.txt\u003c/code\u003e to force our 800x480 resolution by appending \u003ccode\u003evideo=800x480\u003c/code\u003e after \u003ccode\u003erootwait\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd using the instructions from Adafruit\u0026#39;s guide \u003ca href=\"https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-5-800x480-tft-hdmi-monitor-touchscreen-backpack/raspberry-pi-config\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e. We edit \u003ccode\u003e/boot/config.txt\u003c/code\u003e to look like this:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cpre\u003e\u003ccode\u003e#gpu_mem=256\n\n# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default \u0026#34;safe\u0026#34; mode\n#hdmi_safe=1\n\n# uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible\n# and your display can output without overscan\n#disable_overscan=1\n\n# uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console\n# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border\n#overscan_left=16\n#overscan_right=16\n#overscan_top=16\n#overscan_bottom=16\n\n# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display\u0026#39;s size minus\n# overscan.\n#framebuffer_width=800\n#framebuffer_height=480\n\n# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output\nhdmi_force_hotplug=1\n\n# uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (here we are forcing 800x480!)\nhdmi_group=2\nhdmi_mode=1\nhdmi_mode=87\nhdmi_cvt=800 480 60 6 0 0 0\n\n#max_usb_current=1\n\n# uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in\n# DMT (computer monitor) modes\n#hdmi_drive=2\n\n# uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or\n# no display\n#config_hdmi_boost=4\n\n# uncomment for composite PAL\n#sdtv_mode=2\n\n#uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.\n#arm_freq=800\n\n# for more options see http://elinux.org/RPi_config.txt\ndtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d\n\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce you have made these changes, you can reboot, and your Pi should restart in native 800x480 and boot right in to Stellarium!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2016/08/IMG_8605.JPG\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis concludes part 1 of the guide, part 2 will go over my build progress thus far, including 3d models of the prototype components I have designed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2016/08/IMG_8782-2.JPG\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2016/08/IMG_8780-1.JPG\" alt=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cimg src=\"/content/images/2016/08/IMG_8785-1.JPG\" alt=\"\"\u003e","excerpt":"","metaTitle":"","metaDescription":"","status":"published","featured":false,"publishedAt":"2016-08-10T20:05:10Z","authorId":"190160de54f2192bd5b8734ec8808086","authorName":"Daniel Chote","authorSlug":"daniel","heroMediaId":"","projectId":"","tags":[{"id":"b529314e428273696b02c474dcf56132","name":"Raspberry Pi","slug":"raspberry-pi"},{"id":"e58b4788e99c9f53befd1e47b8073250","name":"3D Printing","slug":"3d-printing"},{"id":"298a0af2ab978a60d089e90666ea07dc","name":"Stellarium","slug":"stellarium"},{"id":"af2996855a33f2b6e91cee4153e3ed0b","name":"LED","slug":"led"}],"createdAt":"2026-10-18T13:16:27Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-18T13:16:27Z"}],"site":{"id":"projectable","theme":"projectable","title":"Daniel Chote's Project Blog","description":"Software Development, Hardware Hacking, Sim Racing, Multirotors and Robots!","timezone":"America/New_York","postsPerPage":10,"logoMediaId":"21557257b3f2ecc4b3fa875b808097a7","coverMediaId":"25f1417193daeb2af73861aaa0dd17fd","copyright":"© Daniel Chote","twitterUrl":"https://twitter.com/dchote","linkedinUrl":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/dchote","googleTagId":"G-07GJBQVM38","hosts":[{"host":"new.projectable.me","canonical":false},{"host":"projectable.me","canonical":true},{"host":"www.projectable.me","canonical":false}]},"tag":{"name":"3D Printing","slug":"3d-printing"},"tagId":"e58b4788e99c9f53befd1e47b8073250","total":3}