Hey! I am from Houston! Can I ask where in TX are you showing this? I strongly recommend you show the manual version. It really makes no sense to motorize for didactic sessions.
- SD card showed some files that werenât there last week so deleted them
Was supposed to show the Raspberry Pi OS so we reinstalled it Operating system images â Raspberry Pi
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The SD card didnât show up when connected to the Raspberry Pi either
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Instructions are assuming a headless installation
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Unsure whether a laptop would suffice since it already has a keyboard, mouse, and monitor
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We plugged our device into a monitor and was met with this screen:
It somehow recognized that this would be used for a microscope and asked for a microscope login even though there wasnât any information regarding microscopes given to the device (refer to the last line on the image above). Is there an explanation for why this is the case?
Per the Raspberry Pi Documentation - Getting started , we assumed that plugging in our Raspberry PI with the SD card would prompt us with a similar screen as shown below. The âRaspberry PI Configuration Wizard dialogueâ - is there any information on the documentation page that would help us solve this issue? If not, is there any guidance on the next steps or revisions to previous steps taken that we should look into?
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Hi,
my guess is that you did install the âliteâ version without GUI. After logging in and then becoming superuser / root (see âsuâ and âsudoâ command) you can start (sudo) âraspi-configâ for manual configuration or do a âsudo piwizâ for restarting the wizard.
(I suggest to open a new thread for raspbian related installation topics)
General Rasbian Documentation is here:
cheersâŚ
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As @nethead says, that looks to be a successful install of the âliteâ operating system. This does not have the desktop installed, so will only give you a command line interface as you have seen. It knows that it is a microscope because the operating system images on the Openflexure web site have all of the microscope software installed and set up.
If you connect it to a network by configuring the WiFi or by using a direct ethernet cable to a PC, then you should be able to see the microscope interface by using Openflexure Connect on the PC, or by using a web browser, as listed on https://openflexure.org/software/openflexure-connect. When using a web browser, note that some networks need microscope.local:5000, but some need microscope:5000, so try both and one should work.
If you want to use the microscope directly from a keyboard, mouse and screen plugged into the Pi then you will need to use the full desktop version of Raspbian OpenFlexure instead of Raspbian OpenFlexure Lite.
We have a bit of work still to do before itâs ready to be integrated in the instruction, but it will be in the Houston area, in the Lone Star Community College system. Weâre still going to complete a motorized version, now that weâve started on it, but weâre also going to test out the manual version. I agree that it makes a much more sense to start with the simplest build.
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@nethead and @WilliamW
Thank you both so much! You were both right about having the lite software rather than the full desktop version downloaded. I ended up deleting it and downloading the full desktop version of the OS and it worked perfectly!
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Full auto calibration of the camera did not work.
Got Error 500: check connections so we checked the hardware which did not have any problems.
The Raspberry Pi is recognizing that the camera has been detected and that it is properly set up, but when we try to take a test photo with the camera, the camera is not being recognized and is running an error.
Ran some code to check the camera.
Hi @ramya, has this camera been used successfully before? raspistill is quite a simple routine, so if that does not work there is either something wrong in hardware, or something is corrupted in the main operating system.
The camera is one of the difficult things to troubleshoot because it either works or it does not, and teh error messages donât give much insight into a cause. My go-to suggestion is to check the cable by replacing with another if you have one. The wires in those flat camera cables are not very robust if they are folded, and a cracked wire is almost impossible to spot. Or swap the camera with a known good camera, or swap this camera to a known good Raspberry Pi.
Remember that the Pi is not designed to hot-swap cameras, you must power down before fiddling with the connections or changing cables of cameras.
The other suggestion is a fresh installation of the operating system onto the SD card.
Hi @maketolearn, I found this thread interesting. I have experience using the OpenFlexure microscope to teach undergraduate students about open-source hardware. This semester, I created a guideline for a 2-hours class on implementing, calibrating, and using the OFM microscope. Currently, the doc is in Spanish, but we expect to release an English version soon. Let me know if you are interested. It would be great to validate it with high school students as well. The most rewarding result was this mosaic made by one group (an optional deliverable):
Best,
Pierre
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Thank you so much for the feedback @WilliamW. It seems we have a faulty camera module, but we have ordered more and they will be in shortly.
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Sorry for the delayed response. Weâve been pushing to wrap up the semester here and have finally gotten some time to catch up on overdue correspondence. We would be very interested in collaborating with you on this project. Weâre also working with a professor at the University of North Carolina who is hoping to incorporate the OpenFlexure microscope into high school classrooms across the state. That could be a great opportunity to test out your class if we can get the program off the ground. Having the document available in Spanish as well as English would likely also help support diversity in the classrooms.
Now that our classes have ended, we have a very flexible schedules. Is there a time in the next several weeks when you might be available for a zoom meeting to discuss this?
Best,
Jo
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Thanks for all your help with this project. It looks like we have the camera sorted out. We confirmed that the camera module (V2) works with this specific Raspberry Pi by booting it with the standard Raspbian OS and running libcamera-hello from the terminal. We then switched back over to the OpenFlexure Raspbian OS and continued troubleshooting. Ultimately, we did a fresh installation of the OS, followed by sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade. After the update/upgrade, the camera is working with the OpenFlexure software.
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Just wanted to make a quick update. We have fully assembled the manual knob OpenFlexure Microscope and have verified that the camera functions properly. Below is a test shot of a ink blot that we were able to take using a makeshift slide, hence why the image quality is not the best. Our next step is to finish the assembly of the OpenFlexure Microscope with the stepper motors then test!
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We have been making great progress in adjusting the OpenFlexure Microscope for use in K-12 schools. Due to the wear and tear that K-12-aged students typically have on classroom hardware, we are testing a version in ABS filament, the most durable version of filament we have available to us.
I fully assembled the microscope using PLA filament and had no issue attaching the Viton bands to the linear actuators on my first try. Now, I am building the same microscope with ABS filament and I am having great trouble attaching the viton bands. They are continuing to snap/break. I am using the actuator tool provided on the website and I am having continuous trouble. Please provide me with any tips.
Best,
Zach Palazzotto
UVA Biomedical Engineering '26
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I dont think that ABS is the right material for this. It is harder to print and is too rigid. Perhaps PETG or better PLA
I have not tried ABS, but I am surprised that fitting bands would depend on the filament used. Tha structure should be the same, and that is what defines the band fit. If the printing leaves sharp edges that might give a problem with breaks. You do need to lock the actuator with the nut tool when inserting the bands.
There is a new design for that actuator feet that gives a little more space to put the bands in. That might help. It should be in the current master version of the build instructions. There is a link from a thread in Announcements.
Diagnosing whether it is a problem with printing would mean breaking an actuator apart. For that I print the separate z-actuator from the upright version as it is a relatively quick print.
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I am surprised ABS flexes at all. I remembered I had the same problem with a batch of viton rings. I stretched them before inserting and that helped a lot.
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Hi Zach, just to add to what Daniel has said, warming up the bands by stretching them before inserting them seems to make a big difference, can you let us know if this helps please?
If not, then as William says it sounds like maybe the ABS has printed with a sharp edge somewhere. Does it feel like the band isnât long enough, or that itâs getting cut when you try to attach it?