Quick Start Guide#
Welcome to the Raspberry Shake Community! Now it is time to get your Raspberry Shake RS1D, RS3D, RS4D, RJAM and/ or RS&BOOM up and running!
Note
You can find the complete PDF guide here: Raspberry Shake Quick Start Guide
In this manual we refer to the Raspberry Jam as the “RJAM” and the Raspberry ‘Shake and Boom’ as the RS&BOOM.
Click on “Table of Contents” in the left hand side menu to return to the main menu of the manual.
Do It Yourselfers - please visit diy.raspberryshake.org for laser cutter and 3D printer source files and the SD card image.
How to assemble your own Raspberry Shake#
See here: Assembly Guide
How to install your Raspberry Shake#
Raspberry Shake was designed as a personal seismograph for settings with lots of noise generated by cars passing by, people walking about, etc. You can install your Shake in almost any location- in your home, office, under your desk or even in a seismic vault. For the best results, we recommend installing your Raspberry Shake on the bare floor (no carpet) and not on top of your desk or windowsill. A good location for the Shake would likely be on the concrete slab of the lowest floor, near a foundation wall and away from furnaces, washing machines, air conditioners and such. We also recommend installing the Raspberry Shake in an area of minimum air flow. A stiff breeze can generate some long-period wander on the ENZ of the RS4D, for example.
Warning
The Raspberry Shake has a plastic enclosure. If you are going to use tools, be careful. You can easily overtighten the screws (especially the leveling feet) and strip the threads. We recommend nothing more than hand-tight.
Note for the Raspberry Shake RS3D and RS4D#
As the RS3D and RS4D have orthogonal components of velocity and acceleration, respectively (up-down, north-south, east-west), you will have to use a compass to align the RS3D or RS4D towards North. We provide a North Arrow on the RS3D and RS4D boards.
Note for the Raspberry Shake RS&BOOM#
See here for RS&BOOM specific installation instructions: Raspberry Boom (RBOOM/ RS&BOOM) Infrasound Monitors
Turning your Raspberry Shake on for the first time#
First time configuration:
Plug an Ethernet cable into your Raspberry Shake and connect the other end to one of the ports on the back of your Wifi router, modem, switch or an Ethernet jack in the wall and not directly into your computer. Like many other IoT devices, the Raspberry Shake has an onboard computer of its own. The main difference between your Raspberry Shake and most other computers is that it doesn’t have a keyboard, mouse, or screen to let you control it. You will configure your Raspberry Shake from another computer, laptop or tablet using an Internet browser.
Warning
We do not recommend using the built-in Raspberry Shake 3 Model B’s wifi, but it is available. Be aware that using the built-in Wifi (as opposed to Ethernet or Wifi from a USB adapter) will introduce high amplitude RF noise into the Raspberry Shake, often seriously compromising the seismic signal by introducing high amplitude low-frequency spikes. This appears to be a result of the proximity of the Wifi antenna to the Raspberry Shake board itself. External/ USB wifi solutions are not as problematic because the wifi antenna is further from the Raspberry Shake board.
Once the Ethernet cable is connected to the router, plug the unit in and power it on. A blue LED should light up on the Raspberry Shake card. If you assembled your own unit and a blue LED does not come on, check that the Raspberry Shake card is aligned correctly (see position of Raspberry Shake with respect to the Raspberry Pi header in the video above).
Note
When running your Raspberry Shake for the first time, you must be connected to the Internet to allow the software to automatically update. Depending on your bandwidth, the update could take seconds or tens of minutes.
Open a browser on your phone, tablet, desktop computer or laptop and navigate to http://rs.local/
Note
rs.local/ replaced raspberryshake.local
Note
If you have more than one Raspberry Shake on the same network, they will appear as rs.local/, rs-2.local/, … , rs-n.local/
Note
An alternative (if rs.local/ does not work) is to discover the IP address of your Shake(s) via the modem/router admin panel, or with an app such as Fing, and enter it in the address bar of your browser.
Note
Another alternative (if both rs.local/ does not work and it is not possible to find the Shake IP address with Fing) is to discover it by plugging in an HDMI display and restarting the Shake. The IP address will show about 10 lines up from the terminal login prompt.
Note
Web elements are currently only actively supported on Google Chrome. Internet Explorer is not actively supported but this and other browsers may work as well.
Open the menu, choose the Settings icon and configure your Raspberry Shake. Enable data forwarding to share data with the Raspberry Shake Community and enjoy all of our web and mobile app tools. After enabling data forwarding, please take a minute to zoom in and to select exactly where your Raspberry Shake lives, down to the building and not just the city or town. This is critical for accurate earthquake locations. You can update this information at any time. We have been testing this feature by traveling around with Raspberry Shake in our backpacks and reconfiguring it everywhere we go!
Note
For user privacy reasons, we obscure the location of each Shake on our public servers by a couple hundred meters in a random direction. For more information about this, see: Why is the location on StationView, ShakeNet, and in metadata “wrong” by a couple hundred meters?.
After you have answered all of the data forwarding questions and selected your Raspberry Shake’s geolocation, hit the “Save and Restart” button. You will be prompted to enter a password. The default is “shakeme”. Wait a few minutes and then check out StationView. Search for your Raspberry Shake on the station map (If you already had stationView open before configuring your Raspberry Shake, then hit CTRL+F5 for Windows and Linux users (Command+Shift+R for Mac users) first to refresh the page!). For more information see The Raspberry Shake Worldwide Network.
To view and interpret the live data feed coming from your Raspberry Shake, please download “Swarm”. Swarm is a software package that runs on your laptop or Desktop computer, displays a live data stream from your Raspberry Shake and allows for numerous methods of data interpretation and interaction. To download Swarm navigate to “Actions” and hit the download Swarm button. See How to visualize the waveforms in real time for more details.
Default username and password#
username: myshake
password: shakeme
Now that you are up and running, secure your Raspberry Shake#
Before you do anything else, it’s essential that you change the password on your Raspberry Shake in order to keep it secure. The basic anti-hacking measures that you can take to keep your Raspberry Shake safe are described at Ready, Set, Get Hacked! Security and Raspberry Shake
How to get the most out of your microSD card#
The life of your microSD card will be a short one unless you take some easy steps to protect it including:
If you plan to move your Raspberry Shake from one location to another, or shut her down for any reason, always do so from the web front-end. Never just pull the plug on her. Doing so will damage the microSD card and may even render it dead.
We recommend pairing your Raspberry Shake with a small UPS backup power supply. UPS’s that have Ethernet protection are the best. Doing this will protect your Raspberry Shake from spikes and other inconsistencies in the power supply (something less important for highly developed countries) but, more importantly, it will help the Raspberry Shake bridge short- to medium-term power outages, dramatically extending the life of the microSD card.
Technical Support#
Questions? Visit the Raspberry Shake Technical Support Forum.