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Using Only a Stock Raspberry Pi ZeroW and USB Cable

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qwertangel edited this page Jan 4, 2020 · 11 revisions

A Raspberry Pi Serial Gadget makes it so when you plug in the Raspberry Pi Zero to your computer, it will pop up as a Serial Port. You can use the Raspberry Pi with any computer and operating system and it doesn't require special drivers or configuration.

The setup process for the Serial Gadget only has to be done once. The Tuya-Convert software can be updated independently of this setup.

Serial Interface Setup

  • Download and flash the latest Raspbian Lite on a microSD card After burning the SD card, the SD flasher may automatically eject it from your computer. If so, remove the SD card and reinsert it to mount it again.

  • Edit config.txt & cmdline.txt

    • Find the partition labeled boot and open that folder
    • Use a text editor to open config.txt
    • Go to the bottom and add 'dtoverlay=dwc2' (no quotation marks) as the last line in the file
    • Save the file as plain text
    • Use a text editor to open cmdline.txt
    • After 'rootwait', add a space and then 'modules-load=dwc2,g_serial' (no quotation marks)
    • Save the file as plain text

  • Create a new text file on the SD card named wpa_supplicant.conf

    • Add the following lines: 
      ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=US
network={
    id_str="HOTSPOT NAME"
    ssid="SSID"
    psk="PASSWORD"
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

  • if your wifi ssid is hidden then add scan_ssid=1 to network section in wpa_supplicant.conf

  • Enable SSH

    • Create a new file on the SD card named ssh
      The contents of the ssh file don’t matter. When the Raspberry Pi first boots, it looks for this file. If it finds it, it will enable SSH and then delete the file.

      Windows:
      C:\> <d>: (where 'd' is the drive letter of the SD card)
      <d>:\> copy nul ssh

      Linux/MacOS:
      $ cd /Volumes/boot
      $ touch ssh

  • Log into your Raspberry Pi (follow instructions below at 'Log into the Raspberry Pi using a Serial Terminal application')

    • Eject the SD card from the computer
    • Insert it in the Raspberry Pi
    • Power up the Raspberry Pi using the microUSB connector labeled PWR. Once it boots, it should be connected to your Wi-Fi network
    • Find its IP address in the router and connect to the Raspberry Pi via SSH
    • Log in with user ID pi; password raspberry
    • Encode the Wi-Fi free text password
      wpa_passphrase "SSID" "PASSWORD" | sudo tee -a /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf > /dev/null
    • Then remove the free text password from wpa_supplicant.conf
    • Run sudo dmesg to verify that it bound the g_serial driver

  • Set up the Raspberry Pi Zero Serial Gadget to accept logins

  • Shut down the Raspberry Pi.
    $ sudo shutdown now

  • Log into the Raspberry Pi using a Serial Terminal application Ensure that your USB cable is data cable and not just a USB power cable. Plug in the USB cable from your computer to the Raspberry Pi microUSB connector labeled USB, not the PWR connector.

    • On your computer you'll see a new Serial port is created

      Windows:
      COMN (where N can be any number)

      Linux/MacOS:
      /dev/tty.usbmodemNNNN (where NNNN can be any number)

    • Connect to it at 115200 baud, 8N1 (8-bit No-parity 1-stop)
      You may have to hit return a few times to get it to come up with the login prompt.

    • I had success using following command on my mac (the number after usbmodem might vary so check your /dev folder for actual name) - screen -L /dev/cu.usbmodem14101 115200 –L

You're now connected to your Raspberry Pi Zero via the USB cable and the Raspberry Pi ZeroW Wi-Fi interface (wlan0) is available for Tuya-Convert to flash your Tuya smart devices.

⚠️ ⚠️ Installing software packages requires a connection to the Internet (i.e., Wi-Fi) ⚠️ ⚠️

  • Update Raspbian packages
    $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade

Tuya-Convert Installation

  • Install git to clone the GitHub repository
    $ sudo apt-get install git
  • Install and configure Tuya-Convert 
    $ git clone https://github.com/ct-Open-Source/tuya-convert
$ cd tuya-convert
$ ./install_prereq.sh

After flashing your Tuya devices, be sure to shut down the Raspberry Pi properly ($ sudo shutdown now).

Optional Housekeeping

  • Remove your Wi-Fi network configuration by deleting or renaming /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
    The Wi-Fi interface will be used by Tuya-Convert. You will connect to the Raspberry Pi with the wired USB Serial Gadget and will no longer want it to connect to your Wi-Fi network automatically.
  • Disable SSH 
    $ sudo service ssh stop
$ sudo systemctl disable sshd.service (Buster)
$ sudo systemctl disable ssh.service (Stretch)

Thank you to @SourPickel (Discord) for bringing this to the community's attention.

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