Setup a ZING Relay on Raspberry Pi

The following instructions has been extensively tested on Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and Pi Zero Wireless, both using the embedded WiFi & Bluetooth hardware. This should also work on older models with supported external wireless adapters.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Install Raspbian Jessie Lite
   (as of this writing, the latest available is kernel version 4.4)

2. Boot & Login
   default username: pi
   default password: raspberry

3. Perform Basic Setup

   1. Update localization settings to your specific region, e.g. from GB to US

      • locale
      • keyboard
      • wifi
      • etc...

   2. Reboot then verify locale settings, e.g. if symbols on keyboard work as expected

   3. Change default password for user pi
      (make sure you do this after changing the keyboard locale)

   4. Enabled SSH Server

4. Setup Wifi

   • Edit the WPA supplicant configuration file

   • Add your wifi credentials to the end of the file, in the form of

   • Reboot then verify network connectivity

5. New a single line script to install everything below:

6. Update Installed Packages & Firmware

   • Reboot
     (the Pi may hang at this point -- black screen with flashing green ACTI led, simply power cycle if that happens)

7. Install bluez from source

   • Install dependencies first

   • Download the latest version of bluez (v5.44) from http://www.bluez.org/download/

   • Enable full Bluetooth LE support by editing bluetooth.service and add –experimental flag to bluetoothd service

   • the edited line should look like:

   • reindex the systemd units and reboot

8. Install Node.js

   • Install nvm (node version manager)
     nvm is a "simple bash script to manage multiple active node.js versions." More importantly, it's an easy way to compile node from source on platforms without prebuilt binaries, i.e. Pi Zero Wireless (ARMv6hf). Another bonus, it'll allows us to do npm install -g later without requiring root/sudo.

     As stated, you'll need to log out and back in to see the environment variables take effect, do that now.

   • Alternative method:
     If you are on a Pi 3, you can install prebuild binaries directly from node.

   • verify node is installed

   • by default, escalated privileges are required to start/stop bluetooth advertising; to avoid having to run node programs as root or sudo each time, grant cap_net_raw privileges to the node binary:

9. Install zing-relay