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https://github.com/digitalinteraction/printer-pals

A task based game for care homes
https://github.com/digitalinteraction/printer-pals

Last synced: 12 months ago
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A task based game for care homes

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README 

          
# Printer Pals 🖨

### A Printer Based Game to Support Interactions in Care Homes



## Description

Upload images and songs to a raspberry pi, giving them a title, a short

description and a task. A receipt of the content will be printed out,

identified by a QR code.



The QR can then be scanned, which will print out the content, along with

the task, which you can complete with a friend in a care home.



## Hardware

- Raspberry Pi 3

- Thermal printer

- 8mp Pi camera

- USB speakers



## Software

- Vue application, served by the Pi:

 - Volunteers can upload media they have saved on their phone.

 - Volunteers can media they have uploaded.

- API which prints a QR code when new content is uploaded.

- Client to print content when scanned, using a camera and QR codes.



## Installation

### 1. Turning on the Pi and Opening the Terminal

To use the Raspberry Pi so we can install and run printer-pals we need

to power it and connect it to a mouse, monitor, and keyboard. Connect the

mouse and keyboard over USB, and then connect to a monitor via the HDMI

port. The last thing to do is connect it to power by plugging a 5v power

supply into the micro USB port. The Pi should begin booting, opening up

to desktop display.



Once the Pi has booted up we need to then open up a terminal window so we

can start entering commands into the command line. To do this click on the

4th icon from the top left of the desktop display. This should open a

a black window where you will see something like:

```bash

pi@raspberrypi: ~ $

```

You can start typing in your commands here.



### 2. Enabling Camera and Serial Modules

We need to ensure printer-pals can access the camera and the printer over

a serial connection. To do this we need to edit the Raspberry Pi's

settings to enable the modules. Type the command below to bring up the

settings menu:

```bash

sudo raspi-config

```

From the menu select option `5. Interfacing Options`, then select `P1

Camera`, then `Yes`, then `Ok`. The camera is now enabled. To enable

serial connections select `5. Interfacing Options`, then `P6 Serial`,

then `No`, then `Yes`, then `Ok`. The Pi should now be able to

interface with the printer.



After this select finish, you should be prompted to reboot the Pi, but

if this dialog box does not appear enter the command below to restart

the Pi.

```bash

sudo shutdown -r now

```



### 3. Setting up the WiFi

To connect to the router we need to edit the file the Raspberry uses to

store it's WiFi connections. To do this run the command

```

sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

```

The file will have some text in it, you need to modify it to have the

code below, replacing the `SSID` and `Password` placeholders with

the credentials for the router you want to connect to. You can create a

new network block for each individual network you wish to connect to.

```

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev

update_config=1



network={

  ssid="WIFI_NAME"

  psk="WIFI_PASSWORD"

  proto=RSN

  key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

  pairwise=CCMP

  auth_alg=OPEN

}

```



Save the file by pressing `CTRL+X` to exit, and then `Y` to save the

file when prompted.



This won't take effect until the Pi is restarted. You can restart the Pi

with the command:

```bash

sudo shutdown -r now

```

The Pi should restart and automatically connect to the router.



### 4. Downloading Printer-Pals

After connecting the Pi to WiFi, we can download printer-pals to the Pi

so that we can begin installing the dependencies needed for it run

properly. To download the project run the command:

```shell

git clone https://github.com/digitalinteraction/printer-pals.git

cd printer-pals

```

The first command will download the latest version of the project from

Open Lab's Github account, and create a new folder called `printer-pals`

with the project inside. The second command will then change our working

directory to the project we just downloaded so we can continue setting

up the project.



### 5. Installing Dependencies

Now the Pi is connected to the internet we can install all of the

dependencies and libraries printer-pals needs to run. This can be done

with the command:

```bash

sudo ./install.sh

```



This will run a series of commands contained in the `install.sh` file,

installing the NodeJS to execute the code, Mongo to store the data,

and builds printer-pals so it is ready to run.



Check this has finished correctly. Once the script has finished you should

see the following:

```bash

Checking mongo and versions

MongoDB shell version: 3.2.15



```



### 6. Setting Printer-Pals to Start Automatically

To set the Pi to run printer-pals at boot we need to tell it to run a

script every time it turns on. Enter the command:

```bash

sudo cat run.sh > /etc/rc.local

```

This will override the usual scripts the Raspberry Pi runs at boot with

a script we can use to manually start printer-pals.



### 7. Setting Printer-Pals Environment Variables

We need to tell printer-pals what credentials and passwords it needs to

connect to the database, and what it can use to seed session tokens when

people log into the webapp. To do this enter:

```bash

nano .env

```

And add the following text, changing `random_secret_string` to some

random text.

```env

DEBUG=false

DB_USER=user

DB_PASS=password

DB_HOST=mongo

DB_NAME=database_name

PORT=27017

SALT_ROUNDS=10

APP_SECRET=random_secret_string

```



### 8. Running Printer Pals

Now that everything is installed we can run printer pals using the

command:

```bash

sudo ./run.sh

```

This will start the database, server, and the QR Code scanner.



**Congration, you done it 🏆🎉**



## Updating Printer-Pals

To update printer pals you need to run the command:

```bash

cd ~/printer-pals && git pull

```

This will fetch the latest version of the code from the server. You then

need to restart the Pi, forcing it to run the latest version when it boots

up. Do this by entering:

```bash

sudo shutdown -r now

```



## Using Printer Pals

### 1. Setting up A Router

Firstly, you need to setup a router, with the ssid `printer-pals`, and the password as `print`. Once this is setup plug in printer-pals and it should connect automatically.



### 2. Find the Website

Once connected to power printer-pals will begin serving a webpage which you can use to start uploading and printing media. Open a browser and navigate to:

```bash

http://printer

```

This will connect to the printer over the local network you just set up.



### 3. Start Printing

Create an account and start printing some fun tasks! 🖨