zerotree

python program to control neopixel christmas tree lights with a Pi Zero, web interface and Home Assistant support.

setup

this guide assumes you're using a pi zero for simplicity's sake - feel free to adapt this guide and the code to your specific pi/device. if you don't know what you're doing enough to do that then why are you even making a christmas tree with addressable lights

1. using raspberry pi imager, flash the latest version of raspbian lite onto your SD card. set it up with a hostname, your wifi SSID and password, a username and password, and enable SSH so you can SSH in without having to hook up to a monitor. I'll assume username garlicbread and hostname zerotree since that's what i'm using (if you choose something different, keep in mind to sub garlicbread for your username and zerotree for your hostname in all commands/text input boxes etc.)

2. wait. it's a pi zero it has like a 500mhz cpu so just go do... something else for a bit. i'll be using termius to connect so maybe get that downloaded and get yourself an account whilst you're waiting.

3. in termius, create a new host. set IP/Hostname to zerotree, and under credentials enter username garlicbread but not the password.

4. DON'T CONNECT YET - head to the keychain tab, and generate a new key. call it whatever you want - i'll use zerotree key for simplicity.

5. once generated, hit the "export to host" button and export it to the zerotree host which you created earlier. hit export, and when prompted for a password, enter it but hit continue instead of continue and save. this can take some time if you're using a hostname instead of a direct IP.

6. head back to the hosts page and connect. if asked for a password - hit the keys button instead, select the key and hit connect & save (yes, hit save this time). again this may take some time.

7. run sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config. edit the following:

• uncomment PermitRootLogin and change to no
• uncomment PasswordAuthentication and change to no
• set UsePAM to no

8. exit with ctrl+x, hit y to save changes and enter to save with the same filename.

9. run sudo service sshd restart to apply changes

10. run sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

11. run sudo apt-get install samba git python3-pip python3-dev build-essential -y

12. install python libraries with sudo pip3 install rpi_ws281x adafruit-circuitpython-neopixel psutil flask --break-system-packages

13. clone the repo with git clone https://github.com/aroasanight/zerotree.git

14. if your username is NOT garlicbread, run sudo nano zerotree/setup/zerotree.service and change all references of the home folder to point to your home folder.

15. run sudo cp webserver_new/setup/zerotree.service /etc/systemd/system/zerotree.service

16. reload services with sudo systemctl daemon-reload

17. enable the service with sudo systemctl enable zerotree.service

18. ...and start the service with sudo systemctl start zerotree.service

19. connect the lights using the following diagram. for coordinates - i can't be bothered right now to fix those scripts up so for now just have a play with coordinate_finder_CAM.py and coordinate_finder_LED.py in the zerotree/setup folder and throw the output into zerotree/app.py. will get to this at some point... in the next 5 years