The latest 4GB images for BeagleBone boards already have Node-RED pre-installed so you can just start running with the node-red command.
The 2GB console version suitable for flashing to older eMMC versions of the BBB will need to install as per below.
As they already have node.js 4.x installed - the easiest way to upgrade is to over-install the latest version:
sudo npm cache clean
sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red
Then stop and restart Node-RED.
Note: Do NOT use the Raspberry Pi / Debian upgrade script (update-nodejs-and-nodered) as it will re-install both node.js and Node-RED
in different locations and will conflict with the existing systemd configuration files.
If you are using the 2GB eMMC version of Debian it has been stripped right down so you may need to install some utility functions first
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y curl locales ntpdate avahi-utils python build-essential
Make sure the local time is set correctly. The BeagleboneBlack does not have a battery backed real time clock so needs to be set on every boot in order for software certificates date checks to be valid.
ntpdate -b -s -u pool.ntp.org
We recommend using node.js LTS 4.x or 6.x
sudo apt-get install curl
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_6.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential nodejs
hash -r
The easiest way to install Node-RED is to use node’s package manager, npm:
sudo npm i -g --unsafe-perm node-red
Note: the reason for using the --unsafe-perm option is that when node-gyp tries
to recompile any native libraries it tries to do so as a “nobody” user and often
fails to get access to certain directories. This causes alarming warnings that look
like errors… but only sometimes are errors. Allowing node-gyp to run as root using
this flag avoids this - or rather, shows up any real errors instead.
For other install options, e.g. to run in development mode from GitHub, see the main installation instructions.
There are some BBB specific nodes that give you direct access to the I/O pins in the simplest possible manner. The easiest way to install them is direct from npm.
For Debian Jessie based builds with kernel 4.x run the following commands in the user
directory of your Node-RED install. This is usually ~/.node-red
sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red-node-beaglebone
For previous versions of Debian (eg Wheezy) - use the older version of this node.
sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red-node-beaglebone@0.0.8
An alternative option is to use the gpio nodes contributed by @monteslu that are available here. These give more options for interfacing like i2c and software serial, as well as simple digital and analogue IO.
Due to the constrained memory available on the BBB, it is advisable to
run Node-RED with the node-red-pi command. For details and other options such
as auto-starting on boot, follow the Running Node-RED
instructions.
To access the GPIO pins it is currently necessary to run as root :
sudo node-red-pi
There are ways to avoid this using udev rules and groups and so on - but that is beyond the scope of this readme. Google is your friend.
The simplest way to auto-start Node-RED on boot is to use the built in systemd.
To do this create a file /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service containing the following
# systemd service file to start Node-RED
[Unit]
Description=Node-RED graphical event wiring tool.
Wants=network.target
Documentation=http://nodered.org/docs/hardware/raspberrypi.html
[Service]
Type=simple
# Run as root user in order to have access to gpio pins
User=root
Group=root
Nice=5
Environment="NODE_OPTIONS=--max-old-space-size=128"
#Environment="NODE_RED_OPTIONS=-v"
ExecStart=/usr/bin/env node-red-pi $NODE_OPTIONS $NODE_RED_OPTIONS
KillSignal=SIGINT
Restart=on-failure
SyslogIdentifier=Node-RED
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Reload the systemd configuration, and enable the service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable nodered.service
Systemd uses the /var/log/system.log for logging. To filter the log use
sudo journalctl -f -u nodered -o cat
Once Node-RED is started, assuming you haven’t changed the hostname, point a browser to http://beaglebone.local:1880.
To run a “hello world” flow that toggles the USR2 and USR3 LEDs, copy the following flow and paste it into the Import Nodes dialog (Import From - Clipboard in the dropdown menu, or Ctrl-I). After clicking okay, click in the workspace to place the new nodes.
[{"id":"184087e6.e7bf78","type":"inject","name":"on","topic":"","payload":"1","repeat":"","once":false,"x":370,"y":188,"z":"345c8adc.cba376","wires":[["919e132f.6e61f"]]},{"id":"25e4d6c.fda1b2a","type":"inject","name":"off","topic":"","payload":"0","repeat":"","once":false,"x":370,"y":228,"z":"345c8adc.cba376","wires":[["919e132f.6e61f"]]},{"id":"6be2c4b9.941d3c","type":"bbb-discrete-out","pin":"USR2","inverting":false,"toggle":false,"defaultState":"0","name":"","x":613,"y":136,"z":"345c8adc.cba376","wires":[[]]},{"id":"919e132f.6e61f","type":"bbb-discrete-out","pin":"USR3","inverting":false,"toggle":false,"defaultState":"0","name":"","x":619,"y":193,"z":"345c8adc.cba376","wires":[[]]},{"id":"1cf2bd40.e30d43","type":"inject","name":"on","topic":"","payload":"1","repeat":"","once":false,"x":368,"y":102,"z":"345c8adc.cba376","wires":[["6be2c4b9.941d3c"]]},{"id":"3e4caa12.c1b356","type":"inject","name":"off","topic":"","payload":"0","repeat":"","once":false,"x":368,"y":142,"z":"345c8adc.cba376","wires":[["6be2c4b9.941d3c"]]}]
Click the deploy button and the flow should start running. The USR2 and USR3 LEDs can be manually set on or off using the Inject node buttons.
For experts, the octalbonescript module can be made available for use inside
Function nodes. This is NOT necessary for simple use with the built in nodes.
To do this, first install the octalbonescript library - see
the octalbonescript readme
for detailed install instructions depending on your kernel, but for Debian Jessie it will be
cd ~/.node-red
npm i octalbonescript
Then update settings.js to add the octalbonescript module to the
Function global context - to find this run node-red-pi, and it will print the location of settings.js like
[info] Settings file : /root/.node-red/settings.js
Edit this settings.js file. And there we need to uncomment the octalbonescript library line.
functionGlobalContext: {
octalbonescript:require('octalbonescript')
},
The module is then available to any functions you write as context.global.octalbonescript.
An example flow that demonstrates this is below :
[{"id":"e370f54b.baa368","type":"inject","z":"e524537e.2ec11","name":"on","topic":"","payload":"1","repeat":"","once":false,"x":150,"y":320,"wires":[["383a5612.0d587a"]]},{"id":"cba5ca3b.02b978","type":"inject","z":"e524537e.2ec11","name":"off","topic":"","payload":"0","repeat":"","once":false,"x":150,"y":360,"wires":[["383a5612.0d587a"]]},{"id":"b545aca3.75e4e","type":"inject","z":"e524537e.2ec11","name":"tick","topic":"","payload":"","repeat":"1","once":false,"x":150,"y":260,"wires":[["ebbe2d86.c74b2"]]},{"id":"49b03095.64b31","type":"debug","z":"e524537e.2ec11","name":"","active":true,"x":630,"y":260,"wires":[]},{"id":"ebbe2d86.c74b2","type":"function","z":"e524537e.2ec11","name":"Toggle USR3 LED on input","func":"\nvar pin = \"USR3\"\nvar b = context.global.octalbonescript;\ncontext.state = context.state || b.LOW;\n\nb.pinModeSync(pin, b.OUTPUT);\n\n(context.state == b.LOW) ? context.state = b.HIGH : context.state = b.LOW;\nb.digitalWrite(pin, context.state);\n\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":380,"y":260,"wires":[["49b03095.64b31"]]},{"id":"383a5612.0d587a","type":"function","z":"e524537e.2ec11","name":"Set USR2 LED on input","func":"\nvar pin = \"USR2\";\nvar b = context.global.octalbonescript;\n\nb.pinModeSync(pin, b.OUTPUT);\n\nvar level = (msg.payload === \"1\")?1:0;\nb.digitalWrite(pin, level);\n\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":370,"y":320,"wires":[["49b03095.64b31"]]}]