Satellite1-RPi

Raspberry Pi SDK for the Satellite1 HAT

Satellite1-RPi is a complete software stack for running the Satellite1 HAT on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2WH. It provides a custom kernel with USB-C Power Delivery support, device tree overlays, ALSA audio configuration, and a Python SDK with CLI tools for hardware control.

Target Platform: Raspberry Pi Zero W2 OS: Raspberry Pi OS (Trixie)

⚠️ Early-stage development: This is early-stage experimental software. No official support is provided yet. For issues and feature requests, open an issue on the GitHub repository: https://github.com/futureproofhomes/Satellite1-RPi/issues

Overview

The repository is organized into four packages:

Package	Description	Status
satellite1-rpi	Python SDK library and CLI tools (sat1)	Stable
satellite1-rpi-setup	Raspberry Pi configuration: overlays, ALSA config, init service	Stable
rpi-kernel-fusb302	Custom kernel with USB-C Power Delivery (FUSB302) support	Stable
image-builder	Automated SD card image generation (all components preinstalled)	In Progress ⚠️

Quick Start

Pre-Build Image

The fastest way to get started is to flash the pre-built PiCompose Satellite1 Image. This single image includes the OS, custom kernel, overlays, SDK, and all configuration.

For the Installation steps please follow the PiCompose documentation.

Manual Setup

If building from source or installing packages manually, follow these steps in order.

1. Install the Custom Kernel
2. Install System Configuration
3. Install the Python SDK

CLI Usage

The sat1 command provides unified control over Satellite1 hardware subsystems.

More documentation about that here

Development

Repository structure

Satellite1-RPi/
├── satellite1-rpi/          # Python SDK (pyproject.toml, src/, tests/)
├── satellite1-rpi-setup/    # System config (debian/, dt-overlays/, etc/)
├── rpi-kernel-fusb302/      # Kernel (config/, Dockerfile, build script)
├── image-builder/           # Image gen (Dockerfile, pi-gen config/stage)
└── README.md                # This file

Troubleshooting

DAC not responding

• Verify satellite1-init.service is active: sudo systemctl status satellite1-init
• Check that the I²C interface is enabled: ls /dev/i2c-*
• Ensure the FUSB302 kernel module is loaded: lsmod | grep fusb302

CLI reports "connection refused"

The HAT may not be properly seated on the Raspberry Pi GPIO header. Power off, reseat the HAT, and power on again.

Kernel module errors

Confirm you are running the custom kernel: uname -r. If still on the stock kernel, ensure linux-image-6.18.29-fusb302-rpi-v8 is installed and the bootloader is configured to load it.

Audio output silent

• Check ALSA configuration: cat /etc/alsa/conf.d/50-satellite1.conf
• Use alsamixer to ensure DAC and speaker outputs are unmuted
• Confirm satellite1-init.service successfully initialized the DAC

License

See the LICENSE file. The code is provided as-is for hobbyist and evaluation use.