PyPilot Install

[rdempsey]

I decided to try Anthropic Claude since I'm not a programmer.
Claude got pypilot up and  running fine, but still couldn't see the imu.

It came up with this as the cause:

"That answers it definitively. Looking at the actual OpenPlotter pypilot GUI source, it directly does import RTIMU and calls RTIMU.Settings(...) — so this is a hard dependency, but it comes from a completely separate project: Sean D'Epagnier's own fork of RTIMULib2, not from pypilot's own repo (which explains why building pypilot's setup.py never touches it), and not from Debian's generic librtimulib7 package either (which pypilotPostInstall explicitly removes as incompatible, since it's the wrong fork)."

Here's the list of steps it gave me that solved this (I removed all the tests and stuff that didn't work, because it was LONG !)

1. Fixed the incomplete SignalK plugin install
npm install pypilot-autopilot-provider@1.1.2
(run from ~/.signalk — the app store had listed it as installed when it wasn't)

2. Fixed the missing swig dependency that broke pypilot's own build
sudo apt install -y swig
sudo apt install -y libgpiod-dev
sudo /usr/bin/pypilotPostInstall
(this rebuilt and installed the actual pypilot engine to /usr/local/bin/)

3. Enabled the systemd services so they'd start
sudo systemctl enable pypilot pypilot_web
sudo systemctl start pypilot pypilot_web

4. Removed the wrong RTIMU package (Debian's generic one conflicted with pypilot's expected fork)
sudo apt remove -y python3-rtimulib

5. Built and installed the correct RTIMULib2 fork with Python bindings
sudo apt install -y cmake libi2c-dev
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/seandepagnier/RTIMULib2
cd RTIMULib2/Linux
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DBUILD_GL=OFF -DBUILD_DEMOGL=OFF ..
make -j4
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig
cd ../python
python3 setup.py build
sudo python3 setup.py install

6. Set the operating mode in the OpenPlotter GUI

OpenPlotter → Pypilot → Services tab → set mode to "IMU only" → Apply/Save

That last GUI step turned out to be the actual key to surviving reboots — OpenPlotter's own service manager was overriding the raw systemctl enable state based on its saved mode setting each boot.
Nice work sticking with this one — it was a genuinely deep stack of separately broken pieces. Fair winds with the pilot.


Everything works now !!!!
Hope this helps somebody else or points them in the right direction.

Did you manage to get it working in full autopilot mode, ie talking to motor controller??, mine failed once it moved from IMU only mode

I only have a simrad tp32 autopilot.
I was just trying to get the IMU working, which it is.
I switched to autopilot mode and the control interfaces came up, but that is as far as I could go.
Give Claude a try at fixing your issues !