Balena OpenFleet for RAK v1.5, v2 and MNTD Miners
Key features:
- local IP diagnostics dashboard
- updated regularly (our automated system means this will get updates at the same time as the entire Nebra fleet)
- automatic updates (if installed via balenaHub) or option to fork and manage your own fleet
- powered by balenaOS which is optimised for edge devices and very secure
- access to new features as added to the core Nebra software
- fully open source software stack (the only one in the Helium community!)
- COMING SOON: access to remote management dashboard (paid extra)
Please note: this repo and the issues section here are not monitored actively, so if you have an issue with this software we would ask that you email support@nebra.com or start an issue in our main helium software repo. We do not provide support or feature requests for this free software at this time so this should only be used for bug reports.
There are two ways you can deploy this firmware to your RAKwireless / MNTD Helium Miner - either using the Balena Hub installation (which gives you auto-updates), or by forking the fleet and starting your own personal fleet (in this instance you will have direct control over your devices but will not get automatic updates).
- microSD card reader for laptop/computer
- OS image file specifically of your RAK or MNTD Hotspot (link in step 4 below)
- computer or laptop (Windows or Mac)
- RAK v1.5, v2 or MNTD Hotspot
Do not follow this guide if you have a different manufacturer of hotspot!
Step 1 - First of all you will need to remove the current microSD card that is inserted into your RAK Hotspot miner. You will need to follow the instructions from RAK wireless in order to see how to do this. Here is a quick video to show you how to remove the microSD card (skip to 3:21):
Step 2 - Insert the microSD card either into an SD adaptor or if your memory card reader takes microSD directly then insert that and connect it to your computer or laptop.
Step 3 - On your computer download and install Balena Etcher from - https://www.balena.io/etcher/
Once downloaded go ahead and open up the balenaEtcher program on your computer or laptop.
Step 4 - Before we move to the next step you will need to download the latest OpenFleet software for your hotspot from balenaHub, which you can find here - https://nebra.io/rak
Click on the link and you will be redirected to the balenaHub page for your hotspot. Click on Get Started.
Important: do not click on Fork this fleet
Step 5 - Select your preferred network connection (Ethernet required on first boot). If you have balenaEtcher already installed (from step 3 above) you can select Flash, otherwise you can select Download from the drop-down box by clicking the arrow.
Step 6 - Click on the Flash from file button in balenaEtcher and navigate to where you saved your downloaded firmware file. Select it to be installed.
In the middle section of balenaEtcher click Select target to select your SD card to install the OS (it may be selected automatically).
Finally, click on the Flash! button to begin installing the firmware to your microSD card (you may need to type your login password here).
Step 7 - Once it has finished flashing you can now remove the SD card from its adaptor and card reader and then insert it back into the RAK or MNTD hotspot.
Step 8 - Finally, connect your Ethernet cable to the hotspot and then the power cable. The hotspot should now boot up with your new firmware installed. It may take up to 30 minutes to do all the updates.
Note: We recommend that you use Ethernet for the first boot of the hotspot, at which point you can configure WiFi using the MNTD hotspot app (for Apple and Android based devices).
This guide is also available on our support site here.
If you are more technical and would like to have more control over your devices (including, among other things, command line access) you can also fork the fleet - thereby creating your own fleet on balenaCloud running our software. However, please do note before continuing that by forking the fleet you will lose the automated updates available from the above recommended install method - unless you set up your own automations, the update process will be manual. Additionally, please note that balenaCloud is only free for the first 10 devices, after which you will have to pay for an account with "Microservices" capability (installing via the balenaHub method above is free regardless of device quantity).
Step 1 - To start with you will need to follow steps 1 to 3 in the above recommended install method. Once you have completed those steps, please return to step 2 below.
Step 2 - Before we move to the next step you will need to fork the fleet and then download the latest OpenFleet software for your hotspot, ready to flash onto your SD card. There are two ways you can do this. The first way is to click the Deploy with balena button below:
Alternatively, you can visit the HELIUM-RAK balenaHub page and then click on Fork this fleet button which you can see in the below screenshot.
Step 3 - Select your preferred network connection (Ethernet required on first boot). If you have balenaEtcher already installed you can select Flash, otherwise you can select Download from the drop-down box by clicking the arrow.
https://github.com/NebraLtd/helium-rak/blob/master/balena.yml#L27-L41 data: applicationEnvironmentVariables: - VARIANT: COMP-RAKHM - HELIUM_MINER_HEIGHT_URL: "https://api.helium.io/v1/blocks/height" applicationConfigVariables: - RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_dtparam: '"i2c_arm=on","spi=on","audio=on"' - RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_dtoverlay: '"spi0-1cs","vc4-kms-v3d"' - RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_gpu_mem: 16 - RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_avoid_warnings: 1 - RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_disable_overscan: 1 - RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_disable_splash: "1" - RESIN_HOST_CONFIG_core_freq: 400 - RESIN_OVERRIDE_LOCK: 1 defaultDeviceType: raspberrypi4-64 supportedDeviceTypes: - raspberrypi4-64 version: 0.0.1
In this repo there are two main branches: