Node-RED is a development tool installed by default on the Raspbian distribution, the official Linux distribution of the Raspberry Pi. If you have decided to run your Orange Pi under Armbian, here’s how to install Node-RED. For this article, I installed Node-RED on Armbian and an Orange Pi Lite (Wi-Fi version).

Install Node-RED on Armbian

Installing Node-RED is now much easier with the installation script. Initially intended for the Raspbian distribution of the Raspberry Pi, it works perfectly on the Armbian distribution of Orange Pi. Log in SSH or open a Terminal and run the installation script by executing this command. The operation lasts about 15 minutes.

bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/raspbian-deb-package/master/resources/update-nodejs-and-nodered)

This can take 20-30 minutes on a Pi 1 - please wait.

  Stop Node-RED                       ✔
  Remove old version of Node-RED      ✔
  Remove old version of node.js       ✔
  Install node.js for Armv6           ✔   Node v6.11.0   Npm 3.10.10
  Clean npm cache                     ✔
  Install Node-RED core               ✔   0.16.2 
  Install extra nodes                 ✔
  Install serialport node             ✔
  Npm rebuild existing nodes          ✔
  Add menu shortcut                   ✔
  Update systemd script               ✔
  Update update script                ✔

Any errors will be logged to   /var/log/nodered-install.log

All done.
  You can now start Node-RED with the command  node-red-start
  or using the icon under   Menu / Programming / Node-RED
  Then point your browser to localhost:1880 or http://{your_pi_ip-address}:1880

Started  Thu 22 Jun 14:42:28 UTC 2017  -  Finished  Thu 22 Jun 15:00:14 UTC 2017

Start Node-RED on startup with PM2

There are several ways to start NR automatically on Mac (or Windows). Here I suggest you use PM2, a process manager for Node.js. The advantage is that this solution works on all platforms. Convenient, if you ever have the urge to develop on Raspberry Pi.

sudo npm install -g pm2

If you no longer know the Node-RED path, run this command

which node-red

On macOS, it should be in /usr/local/bin/node-red .

To run NodeRED, run this command PM2

pm2 start /usr/local/bin/node-red -- -v

The configuration is saved and automatic start is activated

pm2 save
pm2 startup

A short video to see how to do

Installing Node-RED on Armbian – Depreciated method

The installation of Node-RED on Orange Pi (or Raspberry Pi) is different from other Linux distributions (how to install on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS) since it will have to install everything from the sources. Here’s how to do it step by step.

We start by doing some housekeeping in the package manager

sudo apt-get remove -y nodered nodejs nodejs-legacy npm
sudo apt-get autoremove -y

Then we install Node-RED from the source code

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_4.x | sudo bash -

Now the necessary dependencies: Node.js, Python, Build

sudo apt-get install -y build-essential python-dev nodejs

Before going any further, we can check the installed versions

$ npm -v
2.15.11

$ node -v
v4.6.2

This complies with the Node-RED specifications (here).

Clean the npm cache and run the Node-RED installation. Attention, it is quite long, several minutes on an Orange Pi Lite because everything must be compiled for the ARM processor (Allwinner H3 @ 1,2GHz). I encountered a crash during this stage. I just restarted the command after reboot.

sudo npm cache clean
sudo npm install -g --unsafe-perm node-red

Finally we install the scripts that will start and stop Node-RED

sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/raspbian-deb-package/master/resources/nodered.service -O /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/raspbian-deb-package/master/resources/node-red-stop -O /usr/bin/node-red-stop
sudo wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/raspbian-deb-package/master/resources/node-red-start -O /usr/bin/node-red-start

All you have to do is activate the Node-RED service to enable it to start when Armbian starts.

sudo sed -i -e 's#=pi#=orangepi#g' /lib/systemd/system/nodered.service
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/node-red-st*
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

It only remains to create the directory of operation of Node-RED.

mkdir .node-red
cd .node-red

You can add the node-red-admin module.

sudo npm install -g node-red-admin

Here is a list of articles to go further with Node-RED

• Xiaomi Mijia Honeywell Smoke Detector Test with Domoticz, Emergency Notification with PushOver
• #Test Zigbee2MQTT gateway. Part 2, include Xiaomi Aqara or Mijia accessories to Domoticz with Node-RED [update]
• #Test Zigbee2MQTT project, hack of the Xiaomo Aqara Smart Home Gateway. Part 1: assembly, demo with Node-RED, 3D printed case [update]
• Install Node-RED on Raspbian Jessie Lite on a Raspberry Pi Zero W
• Node-RED + MQTT + ESP8266: how to drive an articulated PTZ system in WiFi
• Orange Pi: test of the OPI.GPIO package for Node-Red (node-red-contrib-opi-gpio)
• Orange Pi (Armbian): replace the GPIO by an Arduino/Firmata, Node-RED and Johnny-Five
• Use Node-RED to create a gateway between MySensors and Blynk (local server)
• Getting start with MQTT Mosquitto Broker on Raspberry Pi, Windows, macOS and Linux [update]
• ESP Easy + MQTT + Node-RED: bi-directional communication, dashboard
• Dashboard for IoT with Node-RED. Part 2: Gauges, Graphs, Notifications, HTML
• Secure Node-RED with Nginx and OpenSSL on Ubuntu 16.04
• Node-RED: installation and configuration on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
• Node-RED (Tutorial): saving MySensors measurements on InfluxDB
• Create a dashboard for IoT with Node-RED. Part 1: button, list, switch, slider, form, input field
• Node-RED: install, uninstall easely modules with Palette Manager
• MySensors v2: decode/send messages with Node-RED
• Node-RED: How to integrate a connected object developed with MySensors v2 library
• Installing Node-RED on macOS or Windows, auto startup with PM2
• Getting start with Node-Red: Installation and discovery on Raspberry Pi 3 (or 2)

Source:

The installation procedure proposed in this tutorial is extracted from the installation script developed by Brian Weet https://gist.github.com/brianweet/a055f344f57cd485dc8b91cd18523002

Updates:

[06/28/2017] – installation using bash script

• Install Home Assistant (HASS) on an Orange Pi running under Armbian
• IoT development based on Orange Pi, Arduino (Firmata), Nodejs, Blynk and Johnny-Five
• Blynk + Node.js + Johnny-Five: drive a Pan-Tilt PTZ SG90 kit on Orange Pi with an Arduino / Firmata
• Start programming with Node Js and Johnny-Five: IoT and robotics based on Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Orange Pi
• Orange Pi: test of the OPI.GPIO package for Node-Red (node-red-contrib-opi-gpio)
• Orange Pi (Armbian): replace the GPIO by an Arduino/Firmata, Node-RED and Johnny-Five