🎩✨ RoutineButler

ℹ️ Overview

RoutineButler is an application designed to run in "kiosk-style" on a Raspberry Pi 🥧 connected to an LCD touchscreen interface 📺 and an electro-mechanically operated lockbox 📦. The app's primary purpose is to manage and notify users about daily routines 🏋️‍♂️, rewarding them with incentives (such as unlocking the lockbox) upon successful completion.

Here is a picture of my current setup which I am actively using as my morning and evening alarm clock:

🏃 Setup Instructions

1. Flash Raspberry Pi OS

Flash the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS: BULLSEYE (not Bookworm) (currently using 64-bit although 32-bit might be better?) onto an SD card and boot up the Raspberry Pi.

2. Make sure system is up-to-date

After configuring the Raspberry Pi with language, timezone, and internet, make sure the system is up-to-date with:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

3. Clone Repo

Clone the repo with:

git clone https://github.com/sonnygeorge/routine-butler.git

4. Install Python 3.11

First, install the dependencies for building Python 3.11 with:

sudo apt-get install -y build-essential tk-dev libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev libreadline6-dev libdb5.3-dev libgdbm-dev libsqlite3-dev libssl-dev libbz2-dev libexpat1-dev liblzma-dev zlib1g-dev libffi-dev

Next, download Python 3.11 with:

cd ~/Downloads
wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.11.1/Python-3.11.1.tgz

Extract the downloaded file with:

sudo tar zxf Python-3.11.1.tgz

Configure the build with:

cd Python-3.11.1
sudo ./configure --enable-optimizations

Build with (this takes around 30 minutes):

sudo make -j 4

Install with:

sudo make altinstall

Verify that Python 3.11 is installed with:

python3.11 --version

5. Change audio output device

While the above command is running, use sudo raspi-config and configure the usb audio device as the output device.

Verify that this worked by opening a YouTube video and checking that the audio is playing through the correct device.

6. Install matchbox-keyboard

First, install matchbox-keyboard with:

sudo apt-get install matchbox-keyboard

7. Install emojis

Next, install emojis with:

sudo apt install fonts-noto-color-emoji

8. Install flac

Next, install flac with:

sudo apt-get install flac

8. Create venv and install dependencies

Once Python 3.11 is succesfully installed, create a virtual environment and install the packages in requirements.txt with:

python3.11 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

If pyaudio fails to install, try the following:

sudo apt-get install portaudio19-dev python3-pyaudio
pip install pyaudio

9. Change screen resolution

Use the screen configuration app to change the screen resolution to 1200x720.

10. Verify app's audio and keyboard functionality

First, verify that the app's audio is working by running (make sure venv is activated):

python3.11 test_audio_and_keyboard.py

11. Create a systemd service to run the app on startup and enable the service

In order to run the app on startup, we will create a systemd service file and enable it.

Create a systemd service file named /etc/systemd/system/routine-butler.service with:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/routine-butler.service

Copy and paste the following contents into the file:

[Unit]
Description=Routine Butler Python App
After=network.target

[Service]
User=rpi
WorkingDirectory=/home/rpi/routine-butler
Environment=DISPLAY=:0
Environment=PULSE_SERVER=/run/user/1000/pulse/native
ExecStart=bash startup.sh
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

After creating the service file, enable it using the following command:

sudo systemctl enable routine-butler.service

Hint: To check the status and logs of the service, use sudo systemctl status routine-butler.service and sudo journalctl -u routine-butler.service, respectively.

12. Install chromium-chromedriver

sudo apt-get install chromium-chromedriver

13. Download and add certain files to repo

Ascertain that the following files are present in the repo:

• google_credentials.json
• db.sqlite (optional if you want to use the last backup)