In my search for a solution to organize our server room’s numerous Raspberry Pis, I stumbled upon the UCTRONICS Pi Rack. This solution presents four dedicated slots tailored for Raspberry Pi 4 devices. Beyond the advantage of relocating all external ports and slots to the rack’s frontal section, it also introduces the convenience of showcasing system information through an integrated OLED display on the front panel of each Pi. Additionally, the rack incorporates a reliable shutdown mechanism, featuring individual power buttons allocated to each Raspberry Pi unit.
Putting together the rackmount was pretty easy. The one issue I discovered was the cooling fan on the board that mounts above the Pi. It wouldn’t allow for heatsinks to be attached to the Pi. I fixed this by mounting it on the top side of the board.
Some scripts are needed to get the OLED working correctly.
The included instructions didn’t work for me at first.
These are my steps I took to get the OLED to work on boot:
- Install Python3
sudo apt install python3-pip
sudo apt install python3-pil
- Enable I2C
sudo raspi-config
Then go to interface options > I2C
- Clone the code from here
sudo git clone https://github.com/UCTRONICS/U6143_ssd1306.git
cd /U6143_ssd1306
- Install the library
sudo pip3 install install adafruit-circuitpython-ssd1306
Now you can cd to the python folder inside U6143_ssd1306 directory and test the script
cd /python
sudo python3 ssd1306_stats.py
Now in order to have the OLED work on boot, you need to add it to the rc.local file
cd /..
sudo nano etc/rc.local
Add this to the file just before [exit 0]
sudo python3 /home/pi/U6143_ssd1306/python/ssd1306_stats.py &
It should look like this:
Just finish up with ctrl + x then y to save.
sudo reboot
Profit.
I did end up going with POE to type C adapters to keep my outlets from being full with bulky wall warts. Not needed but space is tight in our closet.
