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Raspberry Pi setup

Turn a freshly-flashed Raspberry Pi OS card into the Skylight appliance. Tested on a Raspberry Pi 5 with Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm (64-bit, Desktop).

64-bit OS required. Node.js has no 32-bit ARM builds, so the installer refuses to run on 32-bit images. All supported Pis (3/4/5, Zero 2 W) run the 64-bit OS.

No radio? Skip the decoder bits and run against the free public API: after install, set Environment=DATA_SOURCE=api in /etc/systemd/system/skylight-server.service and sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo systemctl restart skylight-server. Already feeding PiAware/FR24 from another box? Keep DATA_SOURCE=radio and point the Radio URL in /control → Source at that feed's aircraft.json.

1. Provision the card (headless WiFi + SSH) - on your computer

Flash Raspberry Pi OS (Desktop) to the card. With the card's boot partition mounted (e.g. at /mnt/sdboot):

sudo BOOT_MNT=/mnt/sdboot \
  HOSTNAME_PI=skylight \
  WIFI_SSID="YourWiFi" WIFI_PSK="YourPassword" WIFI_COUNTRY=US \
  PUBKEY="$(cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub)" \
  ./provision-sd.sh

This writes custom.toml (processed on first boot) + an ssh flag file, and prints a random console/sudo password - save it. SSH is key-only by default (use a passphrase-less key, or load yours into an agent, so unattended rsync/deploy works).

Eject, boot the Pi, wait ~60–90 s, then:

ssh pi@skylight.local        # or ssh pi@<pi-ip>

Tip: if your only key is passphrase-protected, either generate a dedicated passphrase-less deploy key and authorize it, or set password_authentication = true for first setup. Local-network convenience vs. security is your call.

2. Install the appliance - on the Pi

Copy the repo to the Pi and run the installer:

git clone https://github.com/cpaczek/skylight.git ~/skylight   # or rsync it over
cd ~/skylight
LAT=37.6213 LON=-122.379 ./pi-setup/install-on-pi.sh            # set your coordinates

Installs the rtl-sdr-blog V4 driver (+ DVB-T blacklist), dump1090-fa, Node + pnpm, builds the app, and enables the skylight-server service. Verify decode first with rtl_test -t and curl -s localhost:8080/data/aircraft.json | head before moving on.

3. Kiosk display - on the Pi

./pi-setup/setup-kiosk.sh
sudo reboot

Chromium opens full-screen on the display page at boot (via Xwayland - the native Wayland GPU path crashes on the Pi 5), cursor hidden, screen blanking off.

No HDMI signal? The Pi 5 turns HDMI off when nothing is connected at boot and doesn't always re-detect on hotplug. Force it on by appending to /boot/firmware/cmdline.txt: video=HDMI-A-1:1920x1080@60D (and -A-2 for the far port), then reboot. Connect the projector to the port nearest the USB-C power.

4. Calibrate

From your phone open http://skylight.local:3000/control and tune rotation + mirror against a real overhead pass until the ceiling tracks the sky (it's a calibration, not a formula - you're projecting up and looking up).

Pushing updates

From your dev machine, after editing code:

PI_HOST=skylight.local ./scripts/deploy-to-pi.sh

(rsyncs the source, rebuilds on the Pi, restarts the server, and reloads the kiosk.)

Files

File Runs on Purpose
provision-sd.sh your PC headless WiFi + SSH onto the SD boot partition
install-on-pi.sh the Pi driver + decoder + Node + app + server service
skylight-server.service the Pi systemd unit template for the server
setup-kiosk.sh the Pi Chromium kiosk autostart + no-blanking