ElimuPi

The purpose of this project is to provide a DEAN digital classroom environment for educational project in Tanzania and Kenya. This includes providing full Android tablet support without any direct internet connectivity.

Please visit https://www.dean.ngo/solutions/elimupi/ for more information.

Introduction

This version of the ElimuPi build supports:

• F-Droid an Android application store.
• Web pages for management of the system and content management (WordPress).
• WiKiPedia alike functions based on Kiwix.
• Kolibri learning system.
• Dynamic content addition through USB storage.
• Secured WiFi Access Point.
• Wifi client support that defaults connects to AP's: elimupi-connect or dean-4g.
• Local DHCP, DNS.
• Scratch, a high-level block-based visual programming language.
• Beamer support via onboard micro HDMI

Installation

Prerequisites:

• PC or laptop with Linux, Windows with WSL or MacOS operating system installed.

• A Raspberry Pi model 5 with a wired TCP connection to LAN.

• A Micro SD-card class 10 > 8GB.

• Git installed.

• Ansible 2.10 > installed.

• ssh_askpass installed.

• Raspberry Pi Imager installed.

• Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64 bits image , Release date: March 15th 2024.

• Ansible vault password ( contact DEAN development)

Install Raspberry Pi OS

• Use Raspberry PI Imager to write the downloaded image to the SD-card using instructions at https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/getting-started.html#installing-the-operating-system.
• Insert the SD-card.
• Start Raspberry PI Imager.
• Under Raspberry Pi Device select Raspberry Pi 4.
• Under Operating system select Choose OS --> Use Custom and select the downloaded image - Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64 bits image , Release date: December 5th 2023.
• Under Storage and select the SD-card device.
• Select Advanced options --> Enable SSH --> Use password authentication.
• Set Username to: pi and Password to : elimupi and select SAVE.
• Select WRITE.

When the image has been successfully written insert the SD-card into the Raspberry Pi and boot the device connected to local LAN.

Build ElimuPi Image

Provision the ElimuPi software by running the ansible-play book against local Raspberry Pi and build Elimupi the image.

• Find the Pi's assigned IP address on your local LAN. ( via Wifi router or a nmap).
• Git clone this repo and cd elimupi/ansible directory of this repo.
• Adjust the current IP adresss of key : ansible_host in file inventory.yml to your Pi's local assigned IP address.
• Increment version release number variable, elimupi_release: in file ansible/group_vars/all/vars.yml if needed.
• Install Ansible collections:

ansible-galaxy collection install -r collections.yml

• Install Ansible roles.

ansible-galaxy install -r roles.yml

• Run playbook

ansible-playbook -i ./inventory.yml playbook-raspberrypi.yml --ask-vault-pass

The installation will take approximately 20 minutes to finish and there shouldn't be any errors.

Create ElimuPi image copy

• Create a image copy of the SD-card with the ElimuPi software installed using instructions at https://beebom.com/how-clone-raspberry-pi-sd-card-windows-linux-macos/
• Shrink cloned the image file (Linux Only) using PiShrink and the compression option -Za
• Name the image: ElimuPi_Image_-raspios-bullseye-arm64_lite_Release_<-Version->.img.xz e.g.

This should produce a xz compressed Elimupi image file.

The image file can than be directly written to other SD-cards using Raspberry Pi Imager selecting the image with Use Custom Operation System option.

Connecting to Elimupi

• Disconnect the Raspberry PI's TCP wired connection.
• Connect your device via WiFi to SSID: elimu using passcode: 1234567890
• Point your browser to http://start.elimupi.online

Default users

All default username and passwords will be pi/elimupi unless noted differently.

The default password for the Wifi AP with SSID: 'elimu' is : 1234567890

User access

The end users can access the available resources after they are connected to the Wifi network.

The following links are provided to access the resources:

• Main interface - start.elimupi.online
• Kolibri - kolibri.elimupi.online
• Kiwix - wiki.elimupi.online
• Fdroid - fdroid.elimupi.online
• Files - files.elimupi.online
• Moodle - moodle.elimupi.online
• Admin - admin.elimupi.online
• Scratch - scratch.elimupi.online

After you finished the installation you need to visit admin.elimupi.online login with the Admin account and go to Manage --> "Please follow the directions to register your device, so that it can synchronize with the central server."

Notes

NOTE1: This install is tested to work with Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64 bits image , Release date: March 15th 2024. on a Raspberry Pi model 5.