The RemotePi Board Configuration Tool

What is the Configuration Tool ?

The Configuration Tool is a command-line application provided to configure and customize several aspects of the RemotePi Board. You can, for example, adjust the brightness of the power-on LED or set a power-on timer. The configuration is stored in flash memory and is therefore retained permanently, even when power is disconnected from the RemotePi Board.

The Configuration Tool requires at least version 2.0 of the RemotePi Board firmware. Please visit the firmware upgrade page to find out, which firmware version your RemotePi Board has and how to upgrade the firmware if necessary.
The Configuration Tool runs on any Raspberry Pi hardware (i.e. Pi 1 Model A, A+, B, B+, Pi 2, Pi 3,Pi 3 B+, Pi 4B).

Downloading the Configuration Tool

The recommended way to get the Configuration Tool (and the firmware upgrade tool) is to use our customized DietPi image which is pre-configured with the newest version of our tools. The image is based on the DietPi project, providing a minimal Debian OS.

You need to use this image only when you want to change the configuration of the RemotePi Board, the configuration itself is stored in flash memory of the RemotePi Board, so after configuration with the DietPi image you can go back to your original OS image.

The image can be used with any Raspberry Pi, i.e. Raspberry Pi 1 Model A, A+, B, B+, Pi 2, Pi 3B, P 3B+ and Pi 4B.

(6 Nov 2020 : The DietPi image has been updated to resolve boot issues with newest revisions of the Raspberry Pi 4B.)

The process is the same as with any other OS image for the Raspberry Pi, you will need a spare SD card (4 GB or larger) and software to write an image to the SD card, for Windows you can use Win32DiskImager. More detailed instructions on how to write an image to the SD card can be found here.

Download the image file from here (external MediaFire link, the ZIP file size is about 344 MB), unzip the file and write it on the SD card.
Insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi with the RemotePi Board mounted, and power up the Raspberry Pi.
A network connection is not required. After booting either use a connected keyboard, or start an SSH session from another computer, if the Pi is connected to the wired LAN (the IP address of the Pi is assigned by DHCP and is shown as part of the boot messages just above the login prompt).

The logon username is 'root' and password is 'dietpi'.

Wait for the power LED of the RemotePi Board to stop flashing, i.e. to light solid green. To start the Configuration Tool key in :

./mslconfigtool

If there are no options specified in the command-line, a help text with all available options will be shown. For a description of each option see below.

Preparing and installing the Configuration Tool manually

If you do not want to download and use the image above, you can also manually configure your OS to run the Configuration Tool, although this is a rather complex task, especially on the Pi 3 and Pi 4. The instructions for the manual setup is here.

Configuration Tool Options

The following options can be used with the Configuration Tool. More than one configuration parameter can be used in the command line, separated by a space :

-h or --help	Displays the online help
-l or --list	Shows the RemotePi Board firmware version and lists current configuration
-b or --buttonled=value	This configures the brightness of the red pushbutton LED in % when the Pi is powered off (i.e standby mode). Valid values are 0-50. The default is 2%. Set this to 0, if you want to switch off the pushbutton illumination.
-g or --greenled=value	This sets the brightness of the green LED in %, i.e. power-on indicator, when the RemotePi Board supplies power to the Raspberry Pi. Valid values are 0-100. The default is 100%. Set this to 0, if you do not want the green LED to light up during power-on.
-d or --bootdelay=value	This is the time in seconds the green LED f=blinks on boot. During this period, it is not possible to shut down the power again (using the pushbutton on the RemotePi Board or a remote), to prevent a shutdown when the OS is not yet completely booted. Valid values are 0-254. The default is 75 seconds.
-p or --poweronstate=value	This sets the power-on state when power is (re)-connected to the RemotePi Board. Normally, when the micro USB power cable is connected to the RemotePi Board, the RemotePi Board will not switch on power to the Raspberry Pi. With this option, you can change that behavior. Valid values are ON or OFF, default is OFF
-t or --powerontimer=value	This option allows to configure a delay (in minutes), after which the RemotePi Board will automatically switch on power to the Raspberry Pi. For example, you may want to switch on the Pi every hour to execute some task. The time counts from the point in time when the Pi was shut down. This timer is disabled during the time when power is switched on. Valid values are 0-65534 minutes The default is 0 which means this option is disabled. Using this function may be especially useful for battery powered applications that are not required to run continuously, to preserve battery power. During standby, the RemotePi Board only consumes about 10mA power. This option is active until it is reconfigured, i.e. the board will always switch on the power to the Raspberry Pi after x minutes standby, not only once. The timer will restart over again if the power is disconnected and re-connected to the RemotePi Board. Please note that the RemotePi Board hardware does not contain a real-time-clock and, therefore, the timer delay is not accurate down to the second. It is fairly accurate though (a few % deviation).
-r or --reset=value	This resets the RemotePi Board to factory defaults. All settings are reset to default values, including the learned IR commands. The format is -r=RESET (in capital letters) to avoid accidental use.

After executing the config tool, the configuration is active immediately, it is not necessary to reboot the RemotePi Board.

Examples

./mslconfigtool --list
Lists the current configuration of the RemotePi Board.

./mslconfigtool -p=ON -g=10
Configures the RemotePi Board to automatically power on when power is connected to the board and sets the green power-on LED to 10% brightness.

./mslconfigtool -g=0
Configures the RemotePi Board to not light up the green power LED when the power is switched on (0% brightness).

./mslconfigtool -r=RESET
Resets the RemotePi Board configuration to factory defaults.

Additional test scripts

Aside from the Configuration Tool, the above DietPi image also contains some scripts that can be used to test, if the RemotePi Board hardware is working properly :

./testir.sh
This script runs the mode2 command, which outputs the raw data received from the IR receiver. It will output a stream of data when any key of any IR remote in range is pressed, in this case the IR receiver hardware is working properly.

./testpoweroff.sh
This script checks, if the power-down signal from the RemotePi Board is received on the Raspberry Pi GPIO. After starting this script, it will wait for a power-down signal invoked by pressing the pushbutton (or by using the learned-in power-off button using a remote). It will then show a success-message on screen and shut down the DietPi OS.

Please contact us, if you have any suggestions for additional configuration options in future firmware releases !

This page was last updated 6-Nov-2020