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Rajpreet Gill
Rajpreet Gill

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🐾 Setting Up the Raspberry Pi-Based IoT Cat Feeder (Day-27)

#linux #aws #devops #cloudwhislter

Introduction

In today’s guide (Day-27), we’ll walk through the complete process of setting up your own IoT-based pet feeder using a Raspberry Pi. Our goal is to automate the feeding process using a servo motor, Python, and scheduled cron jobs.

🎯 Objective

Set up a Raspberry Pi-powered automated pet feeder that runs a Python script to control a servo motor — scheduled to feed your cat daily.

📚 Table of Contents (Day-27)

  1. 💾 Flashing Raspberry Pi OS to SD Card
  2. 🔐 Enabling SSH Access
  3. 📶 (Optional) Configure Wi-Fi for Headless Boot
  4. 🔌 Booting the Raspberry Pi
  5. 🌐 Detecting Raspberry Pi on Local Network
  6. 🛜 Attempting SSH Access
  7. 🧠 Verifying SSH Setup Again
  8. 🖥️ Tried Accessing via Hostname
  9. 📌 Diagnosis
  10. ✅ Final Status (Day-27 Recap)

🐱 Step-by-Step Setup Guide

1. Flashing Raspberry Pi OS to SD Card

  • Download Raspberry Pi OS (Lite) from the official website.
  • Use Raspberry Pi Imager or Balena Etcher to flash it to a microSD card (32GB in our case). 
Tool Used: Raspberry Pi Imager
Card Size: 32GB microSD
Status   : ✅ OS flashed and verified
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2. Enabling SSH Access

Inserted SD card into MacBook → Mounted as:

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Created the SSH file in boot partition:

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✅ SSH enabled successfully for headless access.

3. (Optional) Configure Wi-Fi for Headless Boot

Created wpa_supplicant.conf inside the boot partition (optional if using Ethernet):

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💡 Replaced with real credentials, saved and ejected the SD card.

4. Booting the Raspberry Pi

  • Inserted the SD card into Raspberry Pi
  • Powered on via USB-C
  • Waited ~2 minutes for the OS to boot

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✅ Expected: Pi should connect to local network (via Wi-Fi or Ethernet)

5. Detecting Raspberry Pi on Local Network

Ran a network scan and see the 🖥️ Output (Filtered):

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6. Attempting SSH Access

Tried to connect But ❌ Error:

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7. Verifying SSH Setup Again

  • Reinserted SD card into Mac
  • Confirmed ssh file still exists in /Volumes/bootfs
  • Reinserted back into Pi and rebooted

Still, SSH failed. Possibly:

  • SSH service didn’t start properly
  • Raspberry Pi didn’t boot fully
  • Network issue

8. Tried Accessing via Hostname

But ❌ Error:

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🔍 9.Diagnosis:

  • .local resolution via mDNS might be missing on Mac
  • Or Raspberry Pi never fully booted

📌 10. Final Status (Day-27 Recap)

Task Status
SD Card flashed ✅ Done
SSH file added ✅ Done
Wi-Fi config (optional) ✅ Skipped or Done
Booted Pi ✅ Boot attempted
Detected IP via nmap ✅ Partial
SSH connection established ❌ Failed
Hostname access (.local) ❌ Failed
Next: Servo wiring + script 🔜 Pending

🔜 Coming Up: Day-28

In the next post, we’ll troubleshoot Raspberry Pi SSH issues step-by-step, verify if the OS is booting correctly, and check if the SSH service is running. Once resolved, we’ll test the Python servo script and complete our cat feeder automation.

#30DaysLinuxChallenge #CloudWhisler
#DevOps #Linux #RHCSA #Opensource #AWS #CloudComputing

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajpreet-gill-4569b4161/

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