Pi for Echolink on an RLC-3 Controller - Part 1 - Pi Config

My ham radio club has wanted to enhance our repeater system and add Echolink functionality.   We had IRLP a few years ago but it had fallen out of favor and the gear was removed.   The skill will be to connect it to our repeater system via the RLC-3 controller.   I have not been able to find something specific online, so I am documenting here.

Part 1 - Get the Raspberry Pi basics going

For this project I am using a Raspberry Pi Model 3 B.  This is the latest version as of this writing and allows me the full size USB and Ethernet ports I want to use.

Get a version of the Raspberry Pi software onto a Micro-SD card.

1. I am using the latest version of Rasbian (currently Stretch).  Downloaded the image from RaspberryPi.org and burned it using SD Card Formatter and Win32Disk Imager.   
2. I like to run the Pi "headless" (without a monitor or keyboard) Before ejecting the card add a blank file named

   ssh

   to the boot drive to enable access via command line over the LAN.    If you want to use WiFi there are instructions for that online as well.

Directly connected to my LAN and found the IP address in my router.

1. Login with the pi/raspberry password combination and change the password
2. Run

    sudo raspi-config  
   
   

   and update the following:
1. Network Options - > Hostname
2. Localization Options -> Change Locale
3. Advanced Options -> Expand Filesystem
3. When complete finish and reboot.

Logging back in

1. you should see your new host name next to your login like
   

   pi@ECHOLINK:~$

2. I like to remove Wolfram Alpha from the standard distribution.  This is an optional step but this feature takes up a lot of storage (680+ MB) we won't use.  If you are using a big SD card, you can probably skip this step.  to remove:
   

    sudo apt-get purge wolfram-engine

3. Now, make sure you have all your updates:
   

    sudo apt-get update  
    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade   

   (I did the removal first so I don't have to wait through a lengthy update process for that big file library

Shutdown your Raspberry Pi and make a backup of this disk image:

 sudo shutdown -h -P now  


This allows me a clean place to go back to if I screw up the rest of it.

Next step, installing the Echolink software.