Some documentation on how to get the Diymall Itead RasPi GSM shield set up.
NOTE: I've recently been getting errors with getting a fresh RasPi image to connect using this guide. It could be a problem with my MVNO, however, if you spot any errors or missed steps, please do raise issues and/or make pull requests. Thanks!
In order to communcate with the SIM Modem and connect to your internet provider, you'll need to install the following packages.
sudo apt-get install ppp picocom elinks
Next, we need to edit the boot settings.
We need to make sure that we can properly access the shield through the serial interface of the RasPi. To do this, we need to first disable the console control of /dev/serial0. Furthermore, if you're using a RasPi 3, you'll need to enable the uart interface. This will involve editing /boot/cmdline.txt and /boot/config.txt.
Upon opening up /boot/cmdline.txt, you'll probably see something like this.
dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=serial0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait
You'll need to remove console=serial0,115200. Hence, you'll be left with something like this.
dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait
Upon opening up /boot/config.txt, search for the uart_enable setting. If not already, make sure that it is enabled by adding the following line...
enable_uart=1
Be sure to save the changes you've made and reboot the device.
First git clone this repo by running git clone https://github.com/Ivraj/itead_gsm_shield. Next, cd into the repo and run the following commands...
sudo cp interfaces /etc/network/interfaces
sudo cp fona /etc/ppp/peers/
Lastly, you'll need to add the Access Point Name (APN) of your SIM Provider to the fona script. Go to the fona script and change the following line...
connect "/usr/sbin/chat -v -f /etc/chatscripts/gprs -T [your_APN_here]"
... to fill in your provider's APN where it says [your_APN_here].
Unfortunately, the documentation on this shield is rather lackluster to say the least. Hence, there are undoubtedly improvements that can be made to these scripts. Please don't hesitate to raise git issues or make pull requests in order to improve this repo for everyone's use.
- Add
restart_modem.pyso that the SIM modem is always on. - Test out these scripts with older RasPis.