Ilias' Blog

Raspberry Pi 3B+: Boot from SSD reliably

2024-09-18T13:44:00+03:00

The problem#</a></h2>
UGREEN 2.5 Inch Hard Drive Enclosure SATA HDD Caddy External USB 3.0 Hard Disk Case</a>.
The problem that I faced was that when I rebooted the device, it would not come up. The enclosure's activity LED would stay on but not blink - indicating drive inactivity.
Also although it was a headless setup, I managed to plug it into a HDMI screen and saw that there was no video output when the problem occurred.
Keep in mind that when the device was cold-booted (pulling the power plug and re-plugging it) it would boot up fine.
Reading through the raspberrypi forums</a>, there were some suggestions to what the problem could be and some solutions provided.

The solution
Formatting the microSD card#</a></h3> First of all we have to identify the card's name and make sure it is not mounted. Run lsblk</code> ilias@raspberrypi:~ $ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS sda 8:0 0 447.1G 0 disk ├─sda1 8:1 0 512M 0 part /boot/firmware └─sda2 8:2 0 446.6G 0 part / mmcblk0 179:0 0 29.7G 0 disk └─mmcblk0p1 179:1 0 29.7G 0 part </code></pre> /dev/sda</code> is my SSD drive</li> /dev/mmcblk0</code> is the microSD card</li> </ul> Carrying on with the format operation ilias@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo fdisk /dev/mmcblk0 [5/1934] Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.38.1). Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them. Be careful before using the write command. Command (m for help): d Selected partition 1 Partition 1 has been deleted. Command (m for help): n Partition type p primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free) e extended (container for logical partitions) Select (default p): p Partition number (1-4, default 1): First sector (2048-62357503, default 2048): Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-62357503, default 62357503): Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 29.7 GiB. Command (m for help): t Selected partition 1 Hex code or alias (type L to list all): L 00 Empty 27 Hidden NTFS Win 82 Linux swap / So c1 DRDOS/sec (FAT- 01 FAT12 39 Plan 9 83 Linux c4 DRDOS/sec (FAT- 02 XENIX root 3c PartitionMagic 84 OS/2 hidden or c6 DRDOS/sec (FAT- 03 XENIX usr 40 Venix 80286 85 Linux extended c7 Syrinx 04 FAT16 <32M 41 PPC PReP Boot 86 NTFS volume set da Non-FS data 05 Extended 42 SFS 87 NTFS volume set db CP/M / CTOS / . 06 FAT16 4d QNX4.x 88 Linux plaintext de Dell Utility 07 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT 4e QNX4.x 2nd part 8e Linux LVM df BootIt 08 AIX 4f QNX4.x 3rd part 93 Amoeba e1 DOS access 09 AIX bootable 50 OnTrack DM 94 Amoeba BBT e3 DOS R/O 0a OS/2 Boot Manag 51 OnTrack DM6 Aux 9f BSD/OS e4 SpeedStor 0b W95 FAT32 52 CP/M a0 IBM Thinkpad hi ea Linux extended 0c W95 FAT32 (LBA) 53 OnTrack DM6 Aux a5 FreeBSD eb BeOS fs 0e W95 FAT16 (LBA) 54 OnTrackDM6 a6 OpenBSD ee GPT 0f W95 Ext'd (LBA) 55 EZ-Drive a7 NeXTSTEP ef EFI (FAT-12/16/ 10 OPUS 56 Golden Bow a8 Darwin UFS f0 Linux/PA-RISC b 11 Hidden FAT12 5c Priam Edisk a9 NetBSD f1 SpeedStor 12 Compaq diagnost 61 SpeedStor ab Darwin boot f4 SpeedStor 14 Hidden FAT16 <3 63 GNU HURD or Sys af HFS / HFS+ f2 DOS secondary 16 Hidden FAT16 64 Novell Netware b7 BSDI fs f8 EBBR protective 17 Hidden HPFS/NTF 65 Novell Netware b8 BSDI swap fb VMware VMFS 18 AST SmartSleep 70 DiskSecure Mult bb Boot Wizard hid fc VMware VMKCORE 1b Hidden W95 FAT3 75 PC/IX bc Acronis FAT32 L fd Linux raid auto 1c Hidden W95 FAT3 80 Old Minix be Solaris boot fe LANstep 1e Hidden W95 FAT1 81 Minix / old Lin bf Solaris ff BBT 24 NEC DOS Aliases: linux - 83 swap - 82 extended - 05 uefi - EF raid - FD lvm - 8E linuxex - 85 Hex code or alias (type L to list all): 0b Changed type of partition 'Linux' to 'W95 FAT32'. Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered. Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. Syncing disks. ilias@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo mkfs.fat /dev/mmcblk0p1 -s 64 -F 32 mkfs.fat 4.2 (2021-01-31) </code></pre> We now have formatted the microSD card to FAT32. ilias@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo fdisk -l /dev/mmcblk0 Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 29.73 GiB, 31927042048 bytes, 62357504 sectors Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disklabel type: dos Disk identifier: 0x6079fc31 Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type /dev/mmcblk0p1 2048 62357503 62355456 29.7G b W95 FAT32 </code></pre> Mounting the microSD card to the system#</a></h3> Create a folder: mkdir mount_sd </code></pre> Mount the empty card to our new folder: sudo mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 mount_sd </code></pre> Downloading the bootcode.bin</code> file#</a></h3> Note More info about the bootcode.bin</code>-only boot mode can be found here</a>. </div> </blockquote> Get into the mount_sd</code> folder: cd mount_sd </code></pre> Download the latest bootcode.bin</code> file: sudo wget https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/raw/master/boot/bootcode.bin </code></pre> Creating an empty file named timeout</code>#</a></h3> While still being in mount_sd</code> folder: sudo touch timeout </code></pre> Once you've done the above procedure you can unmount the card, remove the mount_sd</code> folder and reboot the device: ilias@raspberrypi:~/mount_sd $ cd ~ ilias@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo umount mount_sd ilias@raspberrypi:~ $ rmdir mount_sd ilias@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo reboot </code></pre> The RaspberryPi 3B+ should come up online normally.

WooCommerce: Send tracking info to customer using custom meta fields 2023-03-23T12:52:38+00:00 This post covers the creation of a WooCommerce custom order action. The action will send a notification to our customer with a predefined message. For our use case, a shipping tracking info message will be send along with a tracking number. Adding custom order action#</a></h2> This step will show a new action under the "Order actions" dropdown. Edit your theme's function.php</code> with the following snippet: add_filter( 'woocommerce_order_actions', 'add_send_tracking_info_order_action' ); function add_send_tracking_info_order_action( $actions ) { $actions['send_tracking_info'] = __( 'Send tracking info', 'my-textdomain' ); return $actions; } </code></pre> This won't do anything for the time being. We will define what the action does on the next step. Executing the custom order action#</a></h2> The following snippet checks wether a meta field exists in this order. If it exists and it is not empty, it will send a notification to the customer using the add_order_note</code> command. add_action( 'woocommerce_order_action_send_tracking_info', 'send_tracking_info_process' ); function send_tracking_info_process( $order ) { if($order->meta_exists('my_shipping_tracking')) { $tracking_number = $order->get_meta('my_shipping_tracking'); if($tracking_number != "") { $message = sprintf( __( 'Your order has shipped and its tracking number is %s. You may see the status here: https://shipping-company.com/track.php?tracking_number=%s .', 'my-textdomain' ), $tracking_number, $tracking_number ); // add_order_note($message, is_customer_note [0 / 1]) $order->add_order_note( $message, 1); } } } </code></pre> Note Notice the 1</code> in $order->add_order_note( $message, 1);</code>. If we remove the 1</code> ($order->add_order_note( $message );</code>) our text will be saved as a note and won't be sent as a notification to the customer. </div> </blockquote>Adding the custom meta field on new orders automatically#</a></h2> The following snippet will add an empty meta field to the order during checkout. add_action( 'woocommerce_checkout_create_order', 'add_custom_meta_field_for_order', 10, 2 ); function add_custom_meta_field_for_order( $order, $data ) { $order->update_meta_data( 'my_shipping_tracking', '' ); } </code></pre> Sending the notification#</a></h2> While you are on the order page you may scroll down to find the custom fields box. If an order has been placed after you inserted the above snippets, a my_shipping_tracking</code> should be shown there with an empty value. You may update that field's value with the tracking number your shipping company has given you. If the order was placed earlier, you won't find the my_shipping_tracking</code> field and you will have to create one manually. Once you have that field updated, find the Order actions dropdown, select "Send tracking info" and press the execution button. When the page updates you should see a new note added under the Order notes section. This note has also been sent to the customer. Postfix: Discard mail based on header 2021-07-21T00:00:00+00:00 This post will help you keep your mailbox clean if you are hit by a constant spammer and you want to discard the message completely. Not just move it to your spam folder. Prerequisites#</a></h2> Postfix with PCRE support#</a></h3> root@server:~# postconf -m | grep pcre pcre </code></pre> Configuration#</a></h2> Edit /etc/postfix/main.cf</code>#</a></h3> We will use the header_checks =</code> parameter to load the file that will hold the info of the spammer. Append header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/header_checks</code> to your main.cf</code> file. vim /etc/postfix/main.cf . . . header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/header_checks </code></pre> Edit /etc/postfix/header_checks</code>#</a></h3> Now, let's create the header_checks</code> file. vim /etc/postfix/header_checks </code></pre> In my case, I wanted to block the 'Предложение' subject. Note that because this Subject: </code> header is UTF8 encoded and postfix checks the raw header, I had to use the UTF8 encoded equivalent: /=?utf-8?B?0J/RgNC10LTQu9C+0LbQtdC90LjQtQ==?=/</code>. I found the raw version by checking the source of the mail (with Thunderbird) which contains the headers in raw format. The general format of header_checks</code> file is: /Regular Expression/ ACTION </code></pre> In this particular case: /=\?utf-8\?B\?0J\/RgNC10LTQu9C\+0LbQtdC90LjQtQ==\?=/ DISCARD </code></pre> Note: Had to escape some characters, as you see. You can find more about actions here</a>. Now, let's finalize the header_checks</code> file with postmap</code>: root@server:~# postmap /etc/postfix/header_checks </code></pre> Restart postfix#</a></h3> root@server:~# systemctl restart postfix </code></pre> Conclusion#</a></h2> Jul 21 10:24:07 server postfix/cleanup[12095]: A1DEFB52C1: discard: header Subject: =?UTF-8?B?0J/RgNC10LTQu9C+0LbQtdC90LjQtQ==?= from XXXXX; from=<XXXXX> to=<XXXXX> proto=ESMTP helo=<XXXXX> </code></pre> Upgrade TP-Link PowerLine adapter firmware 2021-01-05T00:00:00+00:00 This post covers the procedure of upgrading the firmware of TP-LINK TL-WPA4226KIT v4 PowerLine adapters. The TP-LINK TL-WPA4226KIT v4 consists of two units: TL-PA4020P (2xRJ45, passthru unit)</li> TL-WPA4220 v4 (2xRJ45, WiFi unit)</li> </ul> I got frequent drops of connection, averaging from 2 to 5 times a day. Like 2 minutes operation interruptions. The rest network worked fine and I concluded that the problem was in the connection between those two units. Upgrading the firmware from TP-Link's website didn't fix the problem. It seems that TP-Link's updates hadn't upgraded the units' firmware since 27/10/2017 (TL-WPA4220) and 28/04/2016 (TL-PA4020P). I bumped into this post</a> in TP-Link's forum which links to files that include newer firmware/drivers than the one in TP-Link’s official updates. Keep in mind that this new firmware is not flashable with the conventional tpPLC utility. Upgrade procedure#</a></h2> Make sure you have directly connected your PC/laptop to the receiver unit (TL-WPA4220 in my case) with an ethernet cable. New firmware file#</a></h3> The first step is to download the new firmware file (FW-QCA7420-1.5.0.0026-02-CS-20200114.nvm</code>) from the post I linked above. Install open-plc-utils#</a></h3> open-plc-utils GitHub repository can be found here</a>. git clone https://github.com/qca/open-plc-utils cd open-plc-utils make </code></pre> You will probably get errors regarding missing libraries. You need to work it out using the package manager of your linux distribution and rerun make</code>. Once you have successfully built the open-plc-utils program, it is time to install it. sudo make install </code></pre> Optionally, install manpages: sudo make manuals </code></pre> Collect the .pib files that will be used in flashing#</a></h3> Firstly, find out the interface name of your network card (NIC). Mine was enp3s0</code>. You can find yours with: ip addr </code></pre> Then, we need to identify the PL units along with some info. The sudo plcstat -t -i enp3s0</code> command provides what we need: P/L NET TEI ------ MAC ------ ------ BDA ------ TX RX CHIPSET FIRMWARE LOC STA 002 D8:47:32:C8:73:39 D4:BE:D9:D9:BB:4A n/a n/a QCA7420 MAC-QCA7420-1.4.0.20-00-20171027-CS REM CCO 001 98:48:27:63:5C:F9 8C:68:C8:F4:BE:27 128 094 QCA7420 MAC-QCA7420-1.3.1.2141-00-20160428-CS </code></pre> D8:47:32:C8:73:39</code> is the address of my WPA4220 with firmware version MAC-QCA7420-1.4.0.20-00-20171027-CS</code> 98:48:27:63:5C:F9</code> is the address of my PA4020P with firmware version MAC-QCA7420-1.3.1.2141-00-20160428-CS</code> To identify which address belongs to which unit, you can match it with the address written on the sticker on each unit. Getting the .pib files#</a></h3> For PA4020P: sudo plctool -i enp3s0 -p TL-PA4020P.pib 98:48:27:63:5C:F9 </code></pre> For WPA4220: sudo plctool -i enp3s0 -p TL-WPA4220.pib D8:47:32:C8:73:39 </code></pre> We've got two .pib files: TL-WPA4220.pib</li> TL-PA4020P.pib</li> </ul> Flashing the new firmware#</a></h3> In this step we will use the .nvm file from earlier and the two .pib files we acquired in the previous step. For TL-PA4020P#</a></h4> sudo plctool -i enp3s0 -P TL-PA4020P.pib -N FW-QCA7420-1.5.0.0026-02-CS-20200114.nvm -R 98:48:27:63:5C:F9 </code></pre> Which outputs a long wall of text ending with: . . MODULE_SUB_ID 0x0000 MODULE_LENGTH 1132 MODULE_OFFSET 0x046C0000 enp3s0 98:48:27:63:5C:F9 Close Session enp3s0 98:48:27:63:5C:F9 Reset Device enp3s0 98:48:27:63:5C:F9 Resetting ... </code></pre> Congratulations! We have successfully flashed the new firmware on our TL-PA4020P! For TL-WPA4220#</a></h4> sudo plctool -i enp3s0 -P TL-WPA4220.pib -N FW-QCA7420-1.5.0.0026-02-CS-20200114.nvm -R D8:47:32:C8:73:39 </code></pre> . . . MODULE_SUB_ID 0x0000 MODULE_LENGTH 1132 MODULE_OFFSET 0x046C0000 enp3s0 D8:47:32:C8:73:39 Close Session enp3s0 D8:47:32:C8:73:39 Reset Device enp3s0 D8:47:32:C8:73:39 Resetting ... </code></pre> Congratulations! We have successfully flashed the new firmware on our TL-WPA4220! Checking the firmware version#</a></h3> sudo plcstat -t -i enp3s0 </code></pre> P/L NET TEI ------ MAC ------ ------ BDA ------ TX RX CHIPSET FIRMWARE LOC STA 006 D8:47:32:C8:73:39 D4:BE:D9:D9:BB:4A n/a n/a QCA7420 MAC-QCA7420-1.5.0.26-02-20200114-CS REM CCO 004 98:48:27:63:5C:F9 7C:64:56:8A:82:5A 169 107 QCA7420 MAC-QCA7420-1.5.0.26-02-20200114-CS </code></pre> Notice the new firmware version for both units: MAC-QCA7420-1.5.0.26-02-20200114-CS </code></pre> Conclusion#</a></h2> Since the upgrade, no connection interruptions have occurred. TP-Link needs to provide updates that include newer firmware/drivers for their products. YouTube link (from clipboard) to mpv 2019-12-02T08:25:38+00:00 This script checks the clipboard every 5 seconds and if a YouTube URL is detected, it is opened with mpv</code>. #!/bin/bash LAST_URL="" while [ 1 ] do CLIP=$(xsel -bo) if [[ $CLIP =~ (((http(s)?://(www\.)?)|(www\.)|\s)(youtu\.be|youtube\.com)/(embed/|v/|watch(\?v=|\?.+&v=|/))?([a-zA-Z0-9._\/~#&=;%+?\!]+)) ]]; then if [ "$LAST_URL" = "$CLIP" ] ; then #same link : else echo "found youtube link" LAST_URL=$CLIP mpv $CLIP fi else : #no yt link fi sleep 5 done </code></pre> IMAP folder names conversion utility 2019-07-11T00:00:00+00:00 If you've encountered folder names like A5EDwQPHA7UDrwO,-</code> in your mailbox after a mail server migration, you can convert them back with this shell pipe</a>: echo 'FOLDER_NAME' | tr "&" "+" | tr "," "/" | iconv -f UTF-7 -t UTF-8 </code></pre> Obviously, you'll have to change the FOLDER_NAME</code> string. e.g.: echo '&A5EDwQPHA7UDrwO,-' | tr "&" "+" | tr "," "/" | iconv -f UTF-7 -t UTF-8 Αρχείο </code></pre> I've also created a PHP Script that does the same thing utilizing the mb_convert_encoding()</code> function: <html> <head> <title>IMAP UTF7 to UTF8 converter</title> </head> <body> <form method="POST" action=""> <input type="text" name="imap7"> <input type="submit" value="Convert"> </form> <?php if (isset($_POST['imap7'])) { echo mb_convert_encoding($_POST['imap7'], "UTF8", "UTF7-IMAP"); } ?> </body> </html> </code></pre> Mass resize images (.jpg/.png/etc) in folder 2019-03-21T09:22:26+00:00 Requirements#</a></h2> imagemagick package installed</li> </ul> Generally, the command for a single file is: convert [input_image.jpg] -resize [percentage]% [output_image.jpg] </code></pre> Now, to batch-resize a folder with images we can write a small shell script that converts each image in the folder. We want the resized images in a subfolder called resized</code>. #!/bin/bash if [ ! -d resized ]; then mkdir resized fi for f in `find . -name "*.JPG"` do convert $f -resize 50% resized/$f done </code></pre> In the example above, we find all files with .JPG</code> extension and pass them to the convert command. Also, see the -resize 50%</code> part. You might want to adjust 50</code> to your needs. Drop that script into the folder, e.g. ~/images/convert_script.sh</code> and: cd ~/images/ chmod u+x convert_script.sh ./convert_script.sh </code></pre> WireGuard: How to access a peer’s local network 2019-02-25T10:50:44+03:00 This is a guide about accessing peer A's local network from peer B. Requirements#</a></h2> Already setup wireguard network</li> iptables</code> installed</li> </ul> If you are not familiar with WireGuard's configuration, head to ArchWiki</a> or WireGuard's quickstart guide</a>. Configs#</a></h2> Server's config#</a></h3> [Interface] PrivateKey = <server's private key> Address = 10.10.1.3/24 ListenPort = 51820 [Peer] #PeerA PublicKey = <peer A's public key> AllowedIPs = 10.10.1.1/32, 192.168.1.0/24 [Peer] #PeerB PublicKey = <peer B's public key> AllowedIPs = 10.10.1.2/32 </code></pre> Peer A client config#</a></h3> [Interface] Address = 10.10.1.1/24 PrivateKey = <peer A private key> ListenPort = 123123 DNS = 1.1.1.1 PostUp = iptables -A FORWARD -i wg0 -j ACCEPT; iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o wlan0 -j MASQUERADE PostDown = iptables -D FORWARD -i wg0 -j ACCEPT; iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o wlan0 -j MASQUERADE [Peer] PublicKey = <server's public key> Endpoint = <server's IP/domain>:51820 AllowedIPs = 10.10.1.0/24 PersistentKeepalive = 25 </code></pre> Since in my occasion PeerA is a RPi connected wirelessly to the network, notice the wlan0 in PostUp</code> and PostDown</code> commands. Note#</a></h4> PeerA must have net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1</code> in kernel parameters. To do that at runtime pass sudo sysctl net.ipv4.ip_forward=1</code>. For a permanent solution, edit /etc/sysctl.conf</code> with net.ipv4.ip_forward=1</code>. Peer B client config#</a></h2> [Interface] PrivateKey = <peer B private key> Address = 10.10.1.2/24 [Peer] PublicKey = <server's public key> Endpoint = <server's IP/domain>:51820 AllowedIPs = 10.10.1.0/24, 192.168.1.0/24 PersistentKeepalive = 25 </code></pre> Results#</a></h2> This way if peer B pings 192.168.1.1, the traffic is routed through 10.10.1.3 then to 10.10.1.1 and then to 192.168.1.1 as we wanted. Doing a mtr 192.168.1.1 from peer B: SSL for Ubuntu Plex Media Server 2018-12-21T11:57:06+00:00 Installing certbot#</a></h2> sudo apt-get install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository universe sudo add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install certbot </code></pre> Issuing a certificate#</a></h2> Now, let's run certbot</code> to issue a certificate for our server: sudo certbot certonly </code></pre> Select 1: Spin up a temporary webserver (standalone) and press enter. Follow the instructions on your screen until it asks for your domain name: Once the certificate has been created by certbot, we need to convert it to PKCS#12 format, since it is required by Plex Media Server. sudo openssl pkcs12 -export -out /var/lib/plexmediaserver/certificate.pfx \ -inkey /etc/letsencrypt/live/<server's domain>/privkey.pem \ -in /etc/letsencrypt/live/<server's domain>/cert.pem \ -certfile /etc/letsencrypt/live/<server's domain>/chain.pem </code></pre> It will ask for a password twice, which will be used in Plex settings. Our certificate is located in /var/lib/plexmediaserver/certificate.pfx</code> and we need to change the ownership to plex user: sudo chown plex:plex /var/lib/plexmediaserver/certificate.pfx </code></pre> Plex Media Server settings#</a></h2> Navigate to http://<server's domain>:32400/</code> and see the following screenshot. Navigate to Settings > Network and fill the appropriate fields as shown above. Save when finished. I had to restart the plexmediaserver service for the changes to take effect. sudo service plexmediaserver restart </code></pre> Now, if you navigate to https://<server's domain>:32400/</code> you'll see the green padlock. Steps taken from srilankanchurro GH</a> Systemd: create a new service and run on boot 2018-09-25T09:02:38+00:00 For this occasion, I wanted my telegram bot</a> to start automatically right after my Raspberry Pi</a> Zero booted and connected to the network. Creating the service file#</a></h2> I named my service file telegram-bot.service</code>: sudo touch /etc/systemd/system/telegram-bot.service </code></pre> And started editing it with sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/telegram-bot.service</code>. I wanted this service to execute python3.6 bot.py</code> on boot, after connecting to the network, under my user (i.e. not as root). The final form of the file: [Unit] Description=Start telegram bot on boot Wants=network-online.target After=newtork.target network-online.target [Service] User=hlias Group=hlias ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/python3.6 bot.py WorkingDirectory=/home/hlias/my-fetch-bot [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target </code></pre> Enabling the service#</a></h2> sudo systemctl enable telegram-bot.service </code></pre> Now, after every reboot, the service will be executed as we wanted. Raspberry Pi 0 camera surveillance and python telegram bot 2018-09-05T13:04:04+00:00 Instead of having your RPi0 stored away in a drawer, collecting dust, you can turn it into your personal assistant as a telegram bot. For example, I have used mine (and still using) for things like: Tracking for new house rental listings in a local website -- when I was in search of a new house</li> Camera monitoring my home and notifying me for any events -- this post is for this</li> Tracking sales of my girlfriend's handmade jewels -- because Outlook might send a sale e-mail to the spam folder</li> Replying to predefined commands</li> </ul> All these processed in a python script. Setting up motion#</a></h2> Start off by downloading and installing the latest motion package for your Pi. You can find the releases page here</a>. Note: Raspbian's repositories have an outdated motion package and that is the reason we're using the latest one. As of the time this post is being written, the latest package is 4.1.1-1</code>: wget https://github.com/Motion-Project/motion/releases/download/release-4.1.1/pi_stretch_motion_4.1.1-1_armhf.deb sudo dpkg -i pi_stretch_motion_4.1.1-1_armhf.deb </code></pre> Now, let's create the config file for motion: mkdir ~/.motion touch ~/.motion/motion.conf </code></pre> With the following content: daemon off process_id_file ~/.motion/motion.pid setup_mode off log_level 6 log_type all videodevice /dev/video0 v4l2_palette 17 input -1 norm 0 frequency 0 power_line_frequency -1 rotate 0 flip_axis none width 1024 height 768 framerate 2 minimum_frame_time 0 netcam_keepalive off netcam_tolerant_check off rtsp_uses_tcp on mmalcam_name vc.ril.camera auto_brightness on brightness 0 contrast 0 saturation 0 hue 0 roundrobin_frames 1 roundrobin_skip 1 switchfilter off threshold 3000 threshold_tune off noise_level 32 noise_tune on despeckle_filter EedDl smart_mask_speed 0 lightswitch 0 minimum_motion_frames 1 pre_capture 0 post_capture 0 event_gap 0 max_movie_time 0 emulate_motion off output_pictures first output_debug_pictures off quality 75 picture_type jpeg ffmpeg_output_movies on ffmpeg_output_debug_movies off ffmpeg_bps 400000 ffmpeg_variable_bitrate 0 ffmpeg_video_codec mkv ffmpeg_duplicate_frames true timelapse_interval 0 timelapse_mode daily timelapse_fps 2 timelapse_codec mpg use_extpipe off snapshot_interval 0 locate_motion_mode preview locate_motion_style redbox text_right %Y-%m-%d\n%T-%q text_changes on text_event %Y%m%d%H%M%S text_double off target_dir /home/[user]/Documents/motion_tmp snapshot_filename %Y%m%d%H%M%S-snapshot picture_filename %Y%m%d%H%M%S-%q movie_filename %Y%m%d%H%M%S timelapse_filename %Y%m%d-timelapse ipv6_enabled off stream_port 0 stream_quality 50 stream_motion off stream_maxrate 1 stream_localhost off stream_limit 0 stream_auth_method 0 webcontrol_port 0 webcontrol_localhost on webcontrol_html_output on webcontrol_parms 0 track_type 0 track_auto off track_iomojo_id 0 track_step_angle_x 10 track_step_angle_y 10 track_move_wait 10 track_speed 255 track_stepsize 40 quiet on on_picture_save "mv %f ~/Documents/motion/" on_movie_end "mv %f ~/Documents/motion/" </code></pre> Note: Change the [user]</code> part on target_dir variable. This configuration works for me. Documentation about the motion program can be found here</a>. When motion detects movement, it starts saving pictures and videos on ~/Documents/motion_tmp</code> folder and once the files are written, they are moved to ~/Documents/motion/</code>. We do that because we want to prevent Telegram bot from sending incomplete mkvs and jpgs. You can test motion by executing: motion -c ~/.motion/motion.conf </code></pre> And terminate it by pressing Control + c</code>. Creating a telegram bot#</a></h2> Head to BotFather</a> and create your first bot. Save the bot's token, we'll use it in a while. Setting up requirements#</a></h2> Assuming you already have python3.x</code> and pip</code> installed, we'll need the python-telegram-bot</code> package: sudo pip3 install -U python-telegram-bot </code></pre> Now, let's create a directory and the python file: mkdir ~/telegram-bot touch ~/telegram-bot/bot.py </code></pre> Code#</a></h2> Main code#</a></h3> Using your favorite editor, start editing bot.py</code>. from telegram.ext import Updater, CommandHandler from telegram import ReplyKeyboardMarkup from os import remove import subprocess import logging import glob logging.basicConfig(format='%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s', level=logging.INFO) logger = logging.getLogger(__name__) def error(bot, update, error): logger.warning('Update "%s" caused error "%s"', update, error) def main(): updater = Updater("INSERT YOUR TOKEN HERE") dp = updater.dispatcher dp.add_error_handler(error) updater.start_polling() updater.idle() if __name__ == '__main__': main() </code></pre> The code above starts the bot and sits idle waiting for user interaction but it doesn't respond, yet. Start command & menu buttons#</a></h3> Let's add a /start</code> command handler by adding: dp.add_handler(CommandHandler("start", start)) </code></pre> just after the dp.add_error_handler(error)</code> line. We will also need to define a start function which will be executed once the user types /start. Two buttons: One to start motion detection</li> One to stop motion detection</li> </ul> def start(bot, update): menu = [['/motion_on', '/motion_off']] markup = ReplyKeyboardMarkup(menu) bot.send_message(update.message.chat.id, 'How can I help you?', reply_markup=markup) </code></pre> </figure> Start motion detection#</a></h3> The /motion_on</code> command executes the function bellow which starts the motion program: def motion_on(bot, update): subprocess.Popen(['motion', '-c', '/path/to/motion.conf'], shell=True, stdin=None, stdout=None, stderr=None, close_fds=True) update.message.reply_text("Motion detection on!") </code></pre> We will also need to add the handler: dp.add_handler(CommandHandler("motion_on", motion_on)) </code></pre> Stop motion detection#</a></h3> The /motion_off</code> command executes the function bellow which stops the motion program: def motion_off(bot, update): subprocess.run(['killall', 'motion']) update.message.reply_text("Motion detection off!") </code></pre> and the handler accordingly: dp.add_handler(CommandHandler("motion_off", motion_off)) </code></pre> Send alarm if event detected#</a></h3> At this point, we need a repeating process (job) that checks for events. j = updater.job_queue job_motion = j.run_repeating(callback_motion, interval=60, first=0) </code></pre> this job runs every 1 minute (_interval = 60_ seconds</code>). the callback_motion</code> function: def callback_motion(bot, job): imgs = glob.glob("/path/to/motion/photos/*.jpg") vids = glob.glob("/path/to/motion/videos/*.mkv") for img in imgs: bot.sendPhoto(chat_id=YOUR_CHAT_ID, photo=open(img, 'rb'),timeout=30) remove(img) for vid in vids: bot.send_video(chat_id=YOUR_CHAT_ID, video=open(vid, 'rb'),timeout=40) remove(vid) </code></pre> In short, it checks for .jpg</code>s and .mkv</code>s in our specified directories, sends them and deletes them. Here's how to find your chat ID (you will have to enter it in the code above): While the python script is not running, send a regular message to your bot (e.g. test</code>). Now, navigate to https://api.telegram.org/botTOKEN_ID/getUpdates</code>. The chat ID is listed under result > 0 > message > from > id</code> Securing unauthorized access#</a></h3> The access security snippet: def restricted(func): @wraps(func) def wrapped(bot, update, *args, **kwargs): user_id = update.effective_user.id if user_id != YOUR_CHAT_ID: print("Unauthorized access denied for {}.".format(update.effective_user.first_name)) return return func(bot, update, *args, **kwargs) return wrapped </code></pre> To take it into action, we have to insert @restricted</code> before each function we have declared. Complete code#</a></h3> #!/usr/bin/python3 from telegram.ext import Updater, CommandHandler from telegram import ReplyKeyboardMarkup from os import remove import subprocess import logging import glob @wraps(func) def wrapped(bot, update, *args, **kwargs): user_id = update.effective_user.id if user_id != YOUR_CHAT_ID: print("Unauthorized access denied for {}.".format(update.effective_user.first_name)) return return func(bot, update, *args, **kwargs) return wrapped logging.basicConfig(format='%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s', level=logging.INFO) logger = logging.getLogger(__name__) def error(bot, update, error): logger.warning('Update "%s" caused error "%s"', update, error) @restricted def start(bot, update): menu = [['/motion_on', '/motion_off']] markup = ReplyKeyboardMarkup(menu) bot.send_message(update.message.chat.id, 'How can I help you?', reply_markup=markup) @restricted def motion_on(bot, update): subprocess.Popen(['motion', '-c', '~/.motion/motion.conf'], shell=True, stdin=None, stdout=None, stderr=None, close_fds=True) update.message.reply_text("Motion detection on!") @restricted def motion_off(bot, update): subprocess.run(['killall', 'motion']) update.message.reply_text("Motion detection off!") @restricted def callback_motion(bot, job): imgs = glob.glob("/home/[user]/Documents/motion/*.jpg") vids = glob.glob("/home/[user]/Documents/motion/*.mkv") for img in imgs: bot.sendPhoto(chat_id=YOUR_CHAT_ID, photo=open(img, 'rb'),timeout=30) remove(img) for vid in vids: bot.send_video(chat_id=YOUR_CHAT_ID, video=open(vid, 'rb'),timeout=40) remove(vid) def main(): updater = Updater("BOT TOKEN") dp = updater.dispatcher dp.add_error_handler(error) dp.add_handler(CommandHandler("start", start)) dp.add_handler(CommandHandler("motion_on", motion_on)) dp.add_handler(CommandHandler("motion_off", motion_off)) j = updater.job_queue job_motion = j.run_repeating(callback_motion, interval=60, first=0) updater.start_polling() updater.idle() if __name__ == '__main__': main() </code></pre>

Sending the notification

Restart postfix #</a></h3>
`Conclusion#</a></h2> Jul 21 10:24:07 server postfix/cleanup[12095]: A1DEFB52C1: discard: header Subject: =?UTF-8?B?0J/RgNC10LTQu9C+0LbQtdC90LjQtQ==?= from XXXXX; from=<XXXXX> to=<XXXXX> proto=ESMTP helo=<XXXXX> </span> </span></code></pre>`

Conclusion

Conclusion

Requirements

Results

Plex Media Server settings
`Steps taken from srilankanchurro GH</a></p>`

Creating the service file
Enabling the service

Enabling the service

Ilias' Blog

Raspberry Pi 3B+: Boot from SSD reliably

WooCommerce: Send tracking info to customer using custom meta fields

Postfix: Discard mail based on header

Upgrade TP-Link PowerLine adapter firmware

YouTube link (from clipboard) to mpv

IMAP folder names conversion utility

Mass resize images (.jpg/.png/etc) in folder

WireGuard: How to access a peer’s local network

SSL for Ubuntu Plex Media Server

Systemd: create a new service and run on boot

Raspberry Pi 0 camera surveillance and python telegram bot

Ilias' Blog

Raspberry Pi 3B+: Boot from SSD reliably

Downloading the bootcode.bin</code> file#</a></h3> </path></svg> </div>

WooCommerce: Send tracking info to customer using custom meta fields

Postfix: Discard mail based on header

Upgrade TP-Link PowerLine adapter firmware

Getting the .pib files#</a></h3> For PA4020P:</p> sudo plctool -i enp3s0 -p TL-PA4020P.pib 98:48:27:63:5C:F9 </span></code></pre> For WPA4220:</p> sudo plctool -i enp3s0 -p TL-WPA4220.pib D8:47:32:C8:73:39 </span></code></pre> We've got two .pib files:</p> TL-WPA4220.pib</li>

YouTube link (from clipboard) to mpv

IMAP folder names conversion utility

Mass resize images (.jpg/.png/etc) in folder

WireGuard: How to access a peer’s local network

Requirements#</a></h2> Already setup wireguard network</li>

SSL for Ubuntu Plex Media Server

Systemd: create a new service and run on boot

Raspberry Pi 0 camera surveillance and python telegram bot