Installing the Orb sensor on a Raspberry Pi

Installing the Orb sensor on a Raspberry Pi

Difficulty: Intermediate 🧑‍🔬

Installing the Orb sensor on a Raspberry Pi

Introduction

This guide walks you through setting up a Raspberry Pi with Raspberry Pi OS to act as a standalone Orb sensor to monitor your network via a WiFi or ethernet connection. If you already have a Raspberry Pi set up and running Raspberry Pi OS and wish to install Orb, simply see this guide

Equipment Needed

  • Raspberry Pi (Compatible with Raspberry Pi 3, 4, 5)
  • Personal Computer (Windows, macOS, or Linux)
  • SD Card (Minimum 8GB, recommended 16GB)
  • SD Card Reader

Step 1: Download and Install Raspberry Pi OS

  1. Download Raspberry Pi Imager from the official website.
  2. Insert your SD card into your computer (directly or via USB adapter).
    ⚠️ Warning: This will erase all data on the SD card!
  3. Open Raspberry Pi Imager and click "CHOOSE DEVICE".
  4. Select your Raspberry Pi model (e.g., "Raspberry Pi 5").
  5. Click "CHOOSE OS" and select "Raspberry Pi OS (Other)".
  6. Select Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit)
  7. Click "CHOOSE STORAGE", then select your SD card.
  8. Click "NEXT".

Step 2: Customize the OS

When prompted with "Use OS customization?", click "EDIT SETTINGS" and configure the following:

General Settings

  • Enable "Set hostname" → Change it to raspberrypi-orb.
  • Enable "Set username and password" → Set the username to orb and choose a password.
  • WiFi Setup (Optional, for wireless connection):
    • Enable "Configure wireless LAN" and enter your WiFi SSID and password.
    • ⚠️ Important! Set the correct two-letter country code (e.g., US for the United States).
  • Enable "Set locale settings" → Select your time zone.

Services

  • Enable "Enable SSH" → Select "Use password authentication".

Final Steps

  1. Click "Save" → "Yes" → "Yes".
  2. Approve any system prompts to allow writing to your SD card.
  3. Once completed, eject the SD card and insert it into the Raspberry Pi.

Step 3: Power On and Connect to the Raspberry Pi

  1. For a wired connection, plug an Ethernet cable into the Raspberry Pi and connect it to your router or switch. See this guide on Orb placement for different use cases.
  2. Power on your Raspberry Pi.
  3. Open a terminal on your computer:
    • Windows: Open PowerShell.
    • macOS/Linux: Open Terminal.
  4. Connect to the Raspberry Pi using SSH: ssh [email protected]
  5. If prompted about authenticity, type yes and press Enter.
  6. Enter your password and press Enter (the cursor will not move as you type).
  7. You are now connected when you see: orb@raspberrypi-orb:~$

Step 4: Install the Orb service

# Add Orb Forge's GPG key
sudo mkdir -p --mode=0755 /usr/share/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://pkgs.orb.net/orbforge.noarmor.gpg | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/orbforge-keyring.gpg >/dev/null
# Add the orb repository
curl -fsSL https://pkgs.orb.net/stable/debian/debian.orbforge-keyring.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/orb.list
# Install Orb
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install orb
# Enable auto-update
sudo systemctl enable --now orb-update.timer

Step 5: Link your Orb to your account

  1. Once the installation script finishes, the Orb sensor should be running on your Raspberry Pi device.
  2. Open the Orb app on your phone or personal computer.
  3. Your new Orb sensor should be automatically detected on your network and appear in the app, ready to be linked to your account. Follow the prompts in the app to link it.

Congratulations! Your Raspberry Pi is now running as an Orb sensor, monitoring your network.