Advice on approaching a project

[scbenoit 5]

No problem, always glad to help, especially the FD folks

 

about your networking question, I'm not sure I understand the problem. Can you describe the problem and why you think its a dhcp issue ?

 

Is your station network run by the city/municipality, or is t a local DSL/cable style Internet connection that you manage yourself ?

[Tripitaka 1]

The WiFi is a standard DSL connection that we manage. A couple of times, I've come to the screen to see the Midori screen saying that the site cannot be reached and with the 'Try Again' button, which never does anything; I have to reboot. I'm wondering if I'm getting a DHCP lease timeout that isn't getting refreshed for some reason and I thought that rather than spending time troubleshooting, I could just circumvent the area that might be contributing. I've no need for this to be DHCP but the WiFi does need to be issuing DHCP leases for other devices, like FF smartphones etc.

[scbenoit 5]

Hi - before we switch it to a fixed address, can we have a quick look at the dhclient config history ?

 

Can you try this command

 

grep dhclient /var/log/syslog > ~/dhclient_history.txt

 

this will create a file called dhclient_history.txt in the current user's home dir, likley /home/pi/

 

then can you attach it here, or send me your email and we can converse that way

 

you mentioned wifi, is this Pi connected via wifi ?

[Tripitaka 1]

OK, it will be tomorrow before I grab that. There are 3 Pi's, all hooked up via WiFi in 2 different stations.

[Tripitaka 1]

OK, this morning I managed to get some time to play with the test rig.

 

startx /usr/bin/chromium -kiosk [url="http://some.url.here/"]http://www.iamresponding.com[/url]

did start Chromium but still dumped me at the mobile/desktop choice screen

 

Anything in a script or at command that uses the --app switch crashes Chromium

 

Running Chromium under matchbox WM with no switches does allow it to start but after about 10 seconds, if you type anything into the URL address bar, it crashes. WIthout typing, it will quite happily sit and run.

 

I pulled the user agent string from an IE instance I have; it was:

 

Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/4.0; SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; Media Center PC 6.0; InfoPath.3; .NET4.0C; .NET4.0E)

 

It seems that nothing running from a script uses the user agent string; if I run Midori under the GUI, it does pick up the user string in the config file perfectly and bypasses the choice screen at IAR.

 

However, if I use:

 

startx /usr/bin/midori -e Fullscreen -a http://www.iamresponding.com/

 

I get the same problem with the choice screen appearing. I've no problem using startx as a WM as long as I can script the startup. I'm going to see if I can capture the destination of the link for 'Access from a Desktop' and hit that directly.

[Tripitaka 1]

Hmm. It would seem that the mobile/desktop selection is determined via a javascript post form from that landing page so no success in discovering the URL. They sure do like to make life difficult and I wouldn't mind if it was an all singing, all dancing HTML5 implementation but the site looks like something we used to build in about 1998!

 

Running out of options that don't rely on the devs, I fear.

[scbenoit 5]

:-) I went there too, to the java script call and lost it at that point - I may grab a packet capture of that process to see the URL called by the java

 

as for the Midori, I missed that it worked from the GUI, just not from the cmdline launch. I wonder if there is something there for us

 

Yes, the complex string of characters for the user-agent ( all the special symbols like .\/[]() etc) get messed up in a script and need to be escaped or encoded which I've not had any luck doing. As I mentioned, I tried adding the user-agent in the default config file for chrome as well and had the same problem

 

let me try midori again and see what I can see there

[Tripitaka 1]

Yeah, I discovered that Midori uses the useragent defined in the config file while expanding on your use of startx to run Chromium, I've no idea why it wouldn't use the same when called from the command line but thats why I'm no programmer.. :-)

 

Back to the choice screen, I did copy the link from the 'Access From A Desktop' and it was something like - default.aspx,true,false)) so I suspect that hitting one or the other link simply sends back a true/false value through the post form which then triggers something on the back end.

[scbenoit 5]

hi, any progress on this? I've been distracted by work lately . Were you able to get the dhclient files we discussed, or have you resolved the dropped connections ?

[Tripitaka 1]

I did get the dhclient files but I've been maxed out with work also. Stability seems to have settled down a bit with only one of the units - the furthest away from the router - giving problems. I'm going to move the router first and see if that helps.

 

The devs are IAR are just just painful to deal with. I can write detailed test reports, present ideas and ask questions and I get maybe 3 or 4 word replies. They don't even have a support ticket system. From what I can gather, in March they will release an update that will eliminate all the issues regarding login so all I can do is wait and see what that brings; it seems pointless to expend energy finding workarounds at this stage if that is on the horizon.

 

I'll update as I find more but I've had the fire lit under me to do a bit more stuff with the Pi. I have a 6 yr old daughter that I'd like to get into it so expect more from me here. :-)

[trask 0]

Never thought I would find a Rasberry & I Am Responding thread!!!!!  LOL...

 

I am trying to accomplish the same.  for my IMG, i am using: http://www.binaryemotions.com/

 

Very simple, boots up and i can set a single web page to load.  However, the 2 issues that i am still having are:

 

1) While www.iamresponding.com loads. it doesnt seem to like the user agent so, i have to click mobile or desktop version.

2) I wish wish wish i could set IAR to auto login.....

[scbenoit 5]

Hi trask 

 

You issue sounds like what tripitaka and I were working on in the spring.  I had to drop off the conversation but am now gettign back into it.

 

I wonder if tripitaka has it working ?

[Tripitaka 1]

Yes, I have it working as well as it is going to given the limitations of the IAR code. I'm just about to fly out of the door but I can probably grab the image and mail it to you if you PM me your email address. better yet, I can probably up it to a Dropbox or something but it might be early Mon/Tue.

 

In the end, I had to boot into the GUI and autostart Chromium to get past the useragent issue. I then use TightVNC to get remote access for login.

[cwachs 0]

Found this tread while doing a Google search.  I am having the exact same issue.  Trying to use a RPi to drive a computer monitor for IamResponding in 2 of our fire stations.  And like the other two users, I can't get past either the browser type selection (mobile or desktop) or the login screen to run this as a fully automated kiosk.

 

Since it has been a few months from the last update, have any of you had any success in getting your RPi to auto log into IamResponding?  I have also found their tech support to be both condescending and downright not helpful so I'm pretty sure I know what will happen when I go that direction.  Would love to hear any updates on this forum.

 

Thanks!

Chad

[SirSmith 0]

I also found this while google searching.  I am looking for an easy to use Raspberry Pi solution to use with iamresponding.com.  If anyone has a solution and could message me I would be very greatful!

[Tripitaka 1]

Hey all. I dropped off this for a while but rediscovered it while patching my stuff for Heartbleed. Apologies for my lack of diligence.

 

In the end, I managed to get a viable solution based off Raspbian that boots through to the IAR login page. I've not found a solution to auto-populate the login pop-up but I haven't looked either. I get around that by using an X-11 server and logging in remotely using TightVNC to IPaddress::5900 (note the double colon), fill out the details in the pop-up and then close the VNC session.

 

Here are my build notes from last year:

 

Obtain base build

Install base build using Win32DiskImager

Card into Pi and attach keyboard & mouse

Config base build

Resize root partition

Set Keyboard

Set locale

Set timezone

Enable SSH

Boot to GUI

Config WiFi

         Wifinet / password

Exit GUI

Update:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

Install packages:

sudo apt-get install chromium x11-xserver-utils unclutter x11vnc

Boot to GUI

Config Chromium

Set default start page

Close

Exit GUI

Setup auto-login:

     sudo nano /etc/inittab

     #1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 tty1

     1:2345:respawn:/bin/login -f pi tty1 </dev/tty1 >/dev/tty1 2>&1

Config no screensaver

sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

# don't sleep the screen

xserver-command=X -s 0 dpms

Set up x11vnc

sudo nano ~/.xsessionrc

x11vnc -bg -nevershared -forever -tightfilexfer -display :0

 

x11vnc -storepasswd

Config chromium start

sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart

# comment everything and add the following lines

@xset s off

@xset -dpms

@xset s noblank

@chromium --kiosk --incognito http://www.iamresponding.com/V3/pages/default.aspx

Config GUI autostart:

sudo raspi-config

enable GUI start at boot

Reboot

[coling223 0]

Could someone post a working image of their rendition of the iAR status board?  We are a small volunteer dept looking to do the same kind of "kiosk" setup.  Limited resources and a fairly limited understanding of all things pi.

Thanks in advance!

[Burnhaj 0]

Maine Newbie,

 

I have very successfully implemented this on a pi3. However, the image is too large to be compressed and sent (at least using my means). Shoot me an email if you are still looking for a solution. Burnhaj@netzero.net

 

My image auto boots to chromium in full screen kiosk mode, loads IaR, and automatically logs in. It is connected to a flat screen LED tv at the station that stays on constantly. Any status updates to IaR show up immediately. Runs on wifi.