Tutorial: Running Astro Print on Raspberry Pi Zero W

AstroBox
#1

This post is a simple solution to run Astro Print on Pi Zero W. No Raspberry Pi 3 needed. This solution requires 1) a Micro HDMI to HDMI adopter; 2) Monitor or TV with HDMI cable; 3) Micro USB to USB adopter; 4) USB keyboard.

Special thanks to Darren, Daniel and Alex’s original posts! And special thanks to all helpful tips responded by community members!

  1. Flash the firmware into a sd card;
  2. Put the sd card into Pi zero W, connect the monitor or TV and the keyboard to your Pi Zero Pi;
  3. Connect the power port, and wait for the Pi Zero W to boot up;
  4. Once it boots up, login in using: username: Pi, and password: raspberry;
  5. Type:
sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
  1. Add:
allow-hotplug wlan0
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp 
   wpa-ssid "YOUR-WIFI-NAME" 
   wpa-psk "PASSWORD-TO-WIFI"

6.1. Ctrl+ X, hit Y and Enter to save;
7. Reboot:

sudo reboot
  1. Type:
sudo nano /etc/astrobox/config.yaml
  1. Add:
network:
  manager: manual
  1. Change:
  hotspotDevice: wlan1

to

  hotspotDevice: wlan0
  1. Ctrl+ X, hit Y and Enter to save;
  2. Reboot:
sudo reboot
  1. Type:
sudo apt-get update
  1. Type:
sudo apt-get upgrade
  1. Reboot.
sudo reboot

Now you should be able to connect to your AstroPrint by entering your AstroBox IP address. Follow the steps and you should good to go!

Good luck and have fun!

2 Likes
#2

@Ltong: Thanks. Have you tested live video streaming with the Pi Zero? If so, how has that been?

From what I understand, it doesn’t have THAT much resources to handle things like video streaming etc.

#3

My C920 works fine so far. Whenever I turn on the board, it seems to have a hard time to detect the webcam. What I do is re-plug the webcam usb cable and re- scan it. I am going to run some tests to see whether it performances well while printing. In my opinion, the pi zero can’t really hold up long period printing without crashing. I don’t know it is due to overheating or something else. It has a tiny processor and it can be really unstable.

#4

@Ltong: Yeah, makes sense. Thanks! :slight_smile:

#5

The Raspicam is also working great on my pi zero w

1 Like