Falcon Player on pi

This will cover how to set up the falcon player on a raspberry pi.

Before starting visit this page and download the github file listed this should be the latest working version of fpp.

http://falconchristmas.com/forum/index.php/topic,483.0.html

this has the link to the latest release of the falcon software as well as install instructions... i will cover the instructions here again just to help

Once you have the zip file downloaded from the above page here is the steps to getting it set up

Hardware Required

Raspberry pi

NOTE: the pi's come in a variety of models, as of this writing there is Model A, Model B, Model B+, Model 2B+, Model 3B+, and the pi zero. 
The stats are as follows:
Model A - Single core processor and 256 megabytes of ram (Does not have ethernet out)
Model B - Single core processor and 512 megabytes of ram
Model B+ - Single core processor, 512 megabytes of ram, and new form factor including a 2x20 pin header (this is needed for running pi hats and matrix boards)
Model 2B+ - Quad core processor, 1 gigabyte of ram, and the new form factor
Model 3B+ - Quad core processor, 1 gigabyte of ram, the new form factor, and built in wifi
Pi Zero - Single core processor, 512 megabytes of ram, (note does not have ethernet and all usb are micro usb ports)

Micro sd card 4gb or better, class 10 recommended.

USB thumb drive try to get one big enough to store all your sequences, songs and other stuff generally you would want 8gb or better

USB wifi dongle Not needed on 3B+ models as they have built in wifi

Micro USB wall wart this is to power the pi, note if you are using a hat on the pins the hat may have power to the card so this may not be needed.

NOTE: this is the micro sd card NOT the USB thumb drive

windows

1) Download the sd card formatter from https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/eula_windows/

2) Insert the sd card into a reader for your computer, format the sd card using the sd card formater making sure to turn on size adjustment under options

3) copy the contentes of the zip file onto the sd card (do not copy the zip file you need to put all the files from the zip on the sd card)

4) remove the sd card from the card reader and insert into the micro sd slot on the bottom of the pi

MAC

1) Download the SD Association's Formatting Tool from https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/eula_mac/

2) Insert the sd card into a reader for your computer, format the sd card using the sd card formater making sure to select "Overwrite Format"

3) copy the contentes of the zip file onto the sd card

4) remove the sd card from the card reader and insert into the micro sd slot on the bottom of the pi

Linux

1) Recommended to use gparted

2) format the entire sd card as a single vfat partition copy the contents of the zip file to the sd card.

3) a command-line script called formatSD.sh is available in the git repository for those who prefer the command line.

4) remove the sd card and put in the pi

USB thumb drive prep

NOTE: now for the USB thumb drive

5) insert the USB thumb drive on your computer

6) format the drive to fat32 (if you are running windows 10 you will need to install a 3rd party fat32 formatter) NOTE: exFAT and ntfs are not valid and the pi will not be able to read or write to these formats.

7) create a directory called Config on the thumb drive and open the Config directory

8) Here you will make 2 files and put them in the Config folder made a copy of these available here https://www.dropbox.com/s/7pq73mueu45oiw5/Config.zip?dl=0

 a) open a text editor NOTE: the ip addresses in eth0 and wlan0 must be on different networks (192.168.0 and 192.168.1 in these examples here)
 b) copy the following into the editor and change as necessary (this is your show ip address not home address) If using notepad then make sure its all one line if using another editor turn on linux line formatting and make multiple lines
    INTERFACE="eth0"
    PROTO="static"
    ADDRESS="192.168.1.101"
    NETMASK="255.255.255.0"
    GATEWAY=""
 c) save this file as interface.eth0 and place in the Config folder of the usb drive
 d) new file once again copy this into the editor and change as necessary If using notepad then make sure its all one line if using another editor turn on linux line formatting and make multiple lines
    INTERFACE="wlan0"
    PROTO="static"
    ADDRESS="192.168.0.30"
    NETMASK="255.255.255.0"
    GATEWAY="192.168.0.1"
    SSID='your home network name'
    PSK='home wifi password'
 e) save this file as interface.wlan0 and place in the Config folder of the usb drive (make sure to write down the address of wlan0)

9) remove the thumb drive from the computer and place in one of the usb ports of the pi

The install

10) insert the USB wifi dongle (not needed on 3B+)

11) if you have speakers hook them up to the sound output (when the install is done and its up the pi will do an announcement of what ip addresses it has)

12) power on the pi

NOTE: you can connect the pi to a monitor or tv to watch the install (pretty boring) using either the hdmi output or the rca output depending on which model you have.

13) WAIT for the install to finish... this may take upwards of 30 minutes depending on pi model and sd card class

14) when you hear the pi announce what ip addresses it has found verify that they match what you put in wlan0 and eth0 (they should)

15) access the pi via webbrowser at the ip address you set for wlan0 (192.168.0.30 if you used the same addresses)

16) open the network page under status/control tab

17) the bottom is dns set it to manual

18) for server 1 use your home router's ip address (192.168.0.1 is the normal but yours may vary)

19) update dns and restart networks

Here is part 1 (and from that you can get to further parts) of the falcon install in video form

https://vimeo.com/77569318