---
title: "K8055 USB + Python + Twitter + IRC: Space Indicator as a OS Service"
url: "http://andrewbolster.info/2012/04/k8055-usb--python--twitter--irc-space-indicator-as-a-os-service/"
date: "2012-04-10T17:52:11Z"
tags: ["Farset Labs","Python","Social Media","USB","Ubuntu","IRC"]
---

After a long time in the oven, [Farset Labs is up and running](http://farsetlabs.org.uk/blog/2012/03/launch-day-hackathon/). Unforanately we don’t have any of the crazy equipment yet, since we’re broke.

As my first ‘official’ Farset Labs project, I’ve installed a ‘Big Red Button’ to notify the [@FarsetLabs](http://twitter.com/farsetlabs) twitter feed and #FarsetLabs on [Freenode](http://freenode.net) to the status of the space.

Basically, first person pushes the BRB down in the morning, then one of the directors key-unlocks the space to ‘close’ it.

This was accomplished using the  [Velleman K8055 USB interface board](http://www.velleman.eu/products/view/?country=be&lang=en&id=351346) and a lot of speaker wire.

Simple enough, but a process fruaght with stupid mistakes, such as:

- Whoops, have to run as sudo to access the USB device
- Whoops, [OAuth2](http://oauth.net/2/) is a pain in the ass
- Whoops, have to change each message slightly or Twitter [thinks I’m spamming the joint](http://blog.tropo.com/2010/12/01/reminder-beware-of-duplicate-tweets-when-testing-twitter-apps-on-tropo/)
- Whoops, have to do [PING/PONG responses](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6853071/python-check-if-irc-connection-is-lost-ping-pong) to the IRC server (easier to use `irclib` since it manages that for you)
- Whoops, need to keep talking to the IRC server otherwise it disconnects us (hence the `irc.process_once()` call in the main `while` loop)
- Whoops, Ruby isn’t any better than python at OAuth2

# Prerequisites

```
sudo apt-get install build-essential libusb-dev python-dev python-setuptools python-irclib


sudo easy_install oauth2


sudo mkdir /opt/bin
```

# Actual Work

```
cd /tmp/


wget package from <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/python-k8055/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/python-k8055/</a>


tar -xvjf python-k8055-0.2.tar.bz2


cd python-k8055-0.2


sudo python setup.py install


cd /opt/bin/


sudo wget <a href="http://pastebin.com/KqCKhKG6" target="_blank" title="Occupy Farset Python Script">occupy-farset.py</a>


cd /etc/init/


sudo wget <a href="http://pastebin.com/mzRZWP75" target="_blank" title="Occupy Farset Upstart Conf File">occupy-farset.conf</a>


sudo initctl reload-configuration


sudo service occupy-farset start


sudo service occupy-farset status
```

# Explanation

1. Download and install [python wrappers](http://python-k8055.sourceforge.net/) for the [Velleman K8055 USB interface board](http://www.velleman.eu/products/view/?country=be&lang=en&id=351346)
2. Copy our customised (but highly customisable) python script that talks to IRC, [Twitter](//2012/04/python-oauth2-for-twitter-status-updates/), and the interface board
3. Copy and install the Ubuntu Upstart conf file to use the script as a service
4. Fire off the service and test that it’s still up.

That’s all folks!