How To Setup The Marketplace on a Raspberry Pi

Having the case prepared we need to get started with the basic setup of our Raspberry Pi (in this case Rasbery Pi 4 - with 4GB Ram).

Step 1 - Install Raspbian

First, we want to install Raspbian - we recommend installing Raspbian with desktop (Download latest version here). To do that plug the Pi's SD card in your computer and flash the Raspian Stretch Lite on it. Tip: To do that you can use Etcher.

Step 2 - Configure headless WiFi

After the flashing process finished, the SD card has been ejected from your computer. All you need to do is to plug it out and in to let the OS recognize it again. As soon as your boot drive has appeared to open your terminal and execute:

$ cd /Volumes/boot

Now we want to enable SSH, which is disabled by default on the Raspberry Pi. We simply create a file called ssh within the boot drive. To do that execute:

$ touch ssh

Even if the file is empty it will enable ssh as soon as the Pi boots.

Lastly, we also want the Pi to connect with wifi as soon as it boots. To do that we store the connection details at the boot drive of the Pi. Execute the following command:

$ nano wpa_supplicant.conf

Now go ahead and paste the following code in the file. Also, enter your wifi connection details and press ctrl + x to save the changes.

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
network={    
    ssid="YOUR_SSID"    
    psk="YOUR_WIFI_PASSWORD"    
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

Tip: If you intend to use the tool in different places you can easily setup multiple wifi configurations right now. By doing so you won't need to plug out the Pi's SD card when you change your location. If you want to do that just add the following code:

 ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
 update_config=1

 network={
     ssid="SCHOOL_NETWORK_NAME"
     psk="SCHOOL_PASSWORD"
     id_str="school"
 }
 
 network={
     ssid="HOME_NETWORK_NAME"
     psk="HOME_PASSWORD"
     id_str="home"
 }

You can add as many networks as you want here by adding more network object.

Now we are ready to connect via SSH to the Pi.

Step 3 - Connect via SSH

We want to open a WIFI with the Raspberry, so we connect vie normal LAN to the Raspberry for configuration.

Checks the Raspberry Pi IP in your Router, or try to connect with the hostname "raspberrypi".

$ ssh pi@raspberrypi

Now you have to enter the default password "raspberry" and you're in!

For security reasons, let's change the default password of the user "pi. Input this command:

$ passwd

To connect to the Pi via SSH you can execute the following command:

$ sshpass -p <PASSWORD> ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no pi@<IP_ADDRESS>

Tip: To make this process easier if you intend to repeat this multiple times in the future, you can create an alias to access the pi with something like marketplace instead of the command above. To do so execute:

$ nano ~/.zshrc

Then simply create an alias be pasting this inside the file:

alias marketplace="sshpass -p <PASSWORD> ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no pi@<IP_ADDRESS>"

Now, open a new tab and you are ready to connect to the pi by executing:

$ marketplace

Now you need to type in the current password again (raspberry) and then your new password and the confirmation.

Now you're safe and ready for the next step!

Step 2.5 - Install dependencies

For this example, we need to install NodeJS and npm, and some Python libraries to control the e-ink display.

Install NodeJS

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
$ curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | sudo -E bash -
$ sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
$ node -v

After the last command, you should see your node version.

sudo apt install git

setup marketplace backend

Clone and run the marketplace backend

git clone https://github.com/open-marketplace-applications/marketplace-backend
cd marketplace-backend
npm install

Create a new file called .env, take care of the leading dot! Add a new seed like in this example: Please don't use an online seed generator to create a seed!

seed='REPLACE-THIS-WITH-YOUR-SEED'
socketOrigins=http://localhost:* http://127.0.0.1:*

Create a system service to run it on server start

$ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/marketplace-backend.service

Add the following content

[Unit]
Description=Marketplace Backend Service
After=network.target
[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/marketplace-backend
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npm start
Restart=on-failure
User=pi
Environment=PORT=3000
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Add and start the service.

$ sudo systemctl enable marketplace-backend.service
$ sudo systemctl start marketplace-backend.service

That’s how you can see the logs:

$ journalctl -u marketplace-backend

Exit with CTRL+C and leave the backend directory.

$ cd ..

setup marketplace frontend

Clone and run the marketplace frontend application

git clone https://github.com/open-marketplace-applications/marketplace
cd marketplace
npm install
npm build

Create a new file called .env, take care of the leading dot! Add a the following entrie seed like in this example. Replace the Example values with your local community Please don't use an online seed generator to create a seed!

BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000
CITY_URL=http://localhost:5000
CITY_TITLE="Open Marketplace"
CITY_DESCRIPTION="Online Shopping, News, Donations and more."
CITY_LATITUDE=46.711456
CITY_LONGITUDE=10.951586
CITY_HERO_IMGAE_URL="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Bozen_seen_from_east.jpg/1920px-Bozen_seen_from_east.jpg"
MVM=9