Deploying OS on Rasperry - partitions, filesystems,...

From my point of view, the default raspberry OS images or the installation script, lacks of some useful features, such as:

• Deployment from an image

• A bigger fat partition (useful for data exchange; it able to insert this SD in a Windows computer and copy files there)
• Additional partition for  data  (having system and data separated, it is possible to have smaller backups containing only system partition)

• Deployment from a installation script

• OSMC (installation script, creates a
•      a 1st partition of 242MB FAT32-LBA
•      a 2nd partition using the rest of the SD.

So, we can improve the default deployment with the following solutions:

1. Deploy the standard image on a bigger SD card (default)
2. Deploy the standard image on a bigger SD card and resize partitions (gparted)
3. Manual method 1
4. Manual method 2
1. Deploy standard image on a bigger SD card
2. Resize ext partition (decrease from begining) in order to free space after the fat32 partition
3. Copy or pack (tar) files from fat32 partition
4. Delete fat partition
5. Create a new fat32 (lba) partition with desired size
6. Paste, untar files on fat32 partition

Some examples of a "better" partition

XBMC

SD 8GB
fat32 1GB(boot+media)
ext4 7GB(system+media)

SD 16GB 
fat32 8GB(boot+media)
ext4 8GB(system+media)

Raspbian

SD 16GB 
fat32 1GB(boot+media)
ext4 7GB(system)
ext4  8GB(data)

Partition backups on images

Backups to image can be done at partition level, using dd command or graphical tool (i.e Disks in Ubuntu)
To restore an image containing a partition, you have to create a partition on destination disk.
If you are using "Disks" and image size and destination partition have not the same size, it will alert you but don't worry it works.

Checking content of images

sudo fdisk /media/midisco/raspberry_cosas/OpenELEC-RPi.arm-4.0.5.img

Resizing OS from an image

Gparted

In theory with gparted it is possible to resize fat and ext partitions but it

sometimes can have problems resizing a  fat32 filesystem, it means that partition have desired size but filesystem and available space still having the original size.
-usually works fine with ext2, ext3 partitions

Manual method for fat32 partition

dd partition1(fat32) on a disk

Copy or pack (tar) files from fat32 partition
Delete partition
Create a new fat32 (lba) partition with desired size
Paste, untar files 

Accessing from Windows to Linux Filesystem

Use a file explorer, i.e Linux reader from diskinternals

Configuring Raspberry

 

Index:
Common Raspberry configuration
Configuring XBMC
Configuring Openelec
Configuring RaspBMC
Configuring Raspbian
Configuring RiscOS

 

Common Raspberry configuration

http://elinux.org/RPiconfig#
System configuration parameters that would normally be kept and set using the BIOS are now stored in a text file named "config.txt". 

http://elinux.org/R-Pi_ConfigurationFile
http://www.raspians.com/Knowledgebase/raspberry-pi-configuration-file/
Including an example configuration file with comments

i.e

Make display smaller to stop text spilling off the screen

## overscan_left
##     Number of pixels to skip on left
overscan_left=20

http://elinux.org/RPi_cmdline.txt
File is for passing arguments to the Linux kernel and it can be found in /boot/
i.e   ip=192.168.0.10    (Static ip for direct RJ45 cable connect)

Configuring XBMC

-Scrape directories to download art work, information, categories,...
Movie add-ons: filmaffinity,..
Over a folder, set content, select scraper.

-TV a la carta
blog.tvalacarta.info/plugin-xbmc/

Manage  xbmc  from an Android and WIFI:
XBMC Remote 
(default port:8080)

Kore
Seetings, Services, Webserver, Allow control via HTTP
(default port:80)
(activate in Raspberry)

Configuring Openelec

Network, programs, openelec configuration, Connections

Install addons
Programs, Openelec configuration, Addons
XBMC backups
CU lrc lyrics

Create a backup
programs, openelec settings, system, backup
->storage/XBMC

Configuring RaspBMC

As backup feature is not included, addon XBMC backup can be installed  but it is not working  (tested on ver 2014-06) 
Install/config from Addons, Program Addons
Execute from from "Programs"; but it will not show an icon

SSH from a linux terminal, requires to specify that user is "pi"
ssh pi@x.x.x.x

Configuring Raspbian

 

multimedia player GUI for omx player

sudo raspi-config
configure keyboard layout

>>>from https://github.com/KenT2/tboplayer
tboplayer
A GUI interface using jbaiter's pyomxplayer wrapper to control omxplayer

Required pexpect:
wget http://pexpect.sourceforge.net/pexpect-2.3.tar.gz
     tar xzf pexpect-2.3.tar.gz
     cd pexpect-2.3
     sudo python ./setup.py install

Installing tboplayer:
From a terminal window open in your home directory type:
     wget https://github.com/KenT2/tboplayer/tarball/master -O - | tar xz

There should now be a directory 'KenT2-tboplayer-xxxx' in your home directory. Rename the directory to tboplayer

Open the tboplayer directory and from a terminal opened in THIS directory:

    python tboplayer.py

TBOPlayer is developed on Raspbian Wheezy with python 2.7
<<<<

Useful software for Raspbian/RapberryOS:

matchbox-keyboard (on screen keyboard)

gnumeric
abiword
sylpheed (email)
gmusicbrowser (music browser)
gstreamer
GNOME partition editor (gparted)
xarchiver
pyneighborhood
mp3

RealVNC  (android, win, linux)

(preinstalled) RealVNC (not compatible with other clients)
tightvnc-server  (launch with vncserver :1) ¿by default port 5901?

From PiStore
Pi-Web-Agent (l/p admin/admin)
sudo /etc/init.d/pi-web-agent start
from local https://127.0.0.1:8004
from remote https://192.168.1.109:8003

Packages from CLI:
nmap
apt-get install nmap --no-install-recommends
pistore

sudo apt-get install pistore

Configuring RiscOS

Its is not CRT friendly. Default image works with a CRT screen however, Risc OS has a screen resolution is too high for a CRT TV and it is impossible to use the OS.

Configuring OSMC

Install from AppStore:

SSH Server
Samba SMB
FTP Server

Addons from: "Programs" ,"Addons"


SSH
default login/password: osmc/osmc

Raspberry Pi - stuff (pins, model specs,...

Raspberry Hardware

Raspberry Pi 1 Model B revision 1.2
Model B - Rev2 aka Rev2 - 512MB RAM


ARM1176JZF-S a 700 MHz (family ARM11)
implements the ARM11 ARM architecture v6. provides support for extensions to ARMv6 

ARM11 single core model B 512MB
3Conector RCA (PAL and NTSC),
HDMI (rev1.3 y 1.4),

gpio pins for B - rev2

61 Interfaz DSI for panel LCD62 63
HDMI Type A



 from a cat /proc/cpuinfo
ARMv6  rev7(v6L)
hardw: BMC2708

GPIO:26 pins

Spanish Lesson:
Raspberry Pi y GPIO
http://www.diverteka.com/?p=1370




http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/21/getting-started-with-the-raspberry-pi-is-not-as-easy-as-pie/

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

Quad-Core, 1.2 GHz, 1 GB RAM, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi

BCM2837R1FBG
The Cortex-A53 supports the full ARMv8-A architecture.
It not only runs 64-bit applications also seamlessly and efficiently runs legacy ARM 32-bit applications.

 Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video
Camera interface (CSI)
Display interface (DSI)
Micro SD card slot (now push-pull rather than push-push)
VideoCore IV 3D graphics core

GPIO: 40 pins

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B

64bit Quad-Core,  Cortex A72, 2 GB RAM, 2HDMI

USB 2.0, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi

Power: 3V/5V

Software/Images

Most of raspberry images are based in copy files to SD formated in FAT, and during the 1st boot, original partition is dynamically resized  and new partitions are created.


rpix86 is a PC emulator for the Raspberry Pi
http://rpix86.patrickaalto.com/index.html

 chameleon Pi
 http://chameleon.enging.com/?q=download


Tools:Windows Software
Ms. Windows is not the best environment to work with disks, filesystems etc.. but using the following apps we can do most of the tasks without the need of rebooting a Windows computer.

Win32DiskImager.exe (GPL)
Linux Reader (Diskinternals)
EaseUS Partition Master (EaseUS)

There are better software for Windows\DOS and Linux but at least the previous are gratis



Installation

//Raspbian//

dd

gparted

wifi config


multimedia player GUI for omx player
>>>from https://github.com/KenT2/tboplayer
tboplayer
A GUI interface using jbaiter's pyomxplayer wrapper to control omxplayer

Required pexpect:
wget http://pexpect.sourceforge.net/pexpect-2.3.tar.gz
     tar xzf pexpect-2.3.tar.gz
     cd pexpect-2.3
     sudo python ./setup.py install

Installing tboplayer:
From a terminal window open in your home directory type:
     wget https://github.com/KenT2/tboplayer/tarball/master -O - | tar xz

There should now be a directory 'KenT2-tboplayer-xxxx' in your home directory. Rename the directory to tboplayer

Open the tboplayer directory and from a terminal opened in THIS directory:

    python tboplayer.py

TBOPlayer is developed on Raspbian Wheezy with python 2.7
<<<<

install mp3 player

video
//Raspbmc//

1. Uncompress downloaded file
2. Identify SD card device (i.e /dev/mmblkxx) (1)
3. Format/remove partition from SD card. Disks or Fdisk (2)
4. Applying image to SD
•  sudo dd if=/path/sd.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 (3)
•  /path/ mounter folder where image is placed
5. Boot Raspberry with SD
• (Raspbmc will do some actions over SD, Sucha as partition resizing etc)
6. (optional) From PC, resize/create partitions
• (i.e with gparted) (4)
• Create a fat32 partition
• Copy multimedia to SD

(1) use Disks, dmesg, ...
(2) if there is problem try with a different card reader, usb to SD adaptor,..
(3) Use dd command or restore image from Disks on GUI, wait because it can take sometime and there is not a progress bar
(4) gparted recommended, but other software could done this action

OS
Username: pi. Password: raspberry

login via ssh
raspbmc
 username: root
 password: root
openelec
  username: root
  password: openelec


Some useful links:
technical articles:  http://raspi.tv/

Linux in your old Ibook PPC

After use many times Ubuntu as Live CD or running Linux apps with Fink and MacPorts. I decided to have Linux and MacOS X installed in the Harddrive.

Therefore I don't want to do a clean installation, I have to resize my partitions to free space for Linux partition/s.

I will install a quiet recent Ubuntu 10.4PPC from CD.

1- Resize and move HFS partition with "ipartition" from a MacOS Live CD.

note1:
You must have the free space at the begin instead of the end of the HD,
if you have the free space at the end of HD, Linux will not see correctly your partition table

note2:
Power users also can do this task from a Linux CD using the application "parted" from command line because the graphical Gparted can't.
The command should as:
>parted /dev/hdX resize (partition number) (start location) (end location)
*1

2-Boot from Ubuntu CD
Press "C" key on the Apple boot
Write "live" to load Ubuntu in RAM







*1:
These lines can be important, dependin:
turn off journaling on Mac partition?
cd /Volumes/
ls
sudo diskutil enableJournal Macintosh\ HD/
sudo diskutil disableJournal Macintosh\ HD/
?

*2:




Comments:
-Ubuntu 10.10PPC is available and above procedure is useful for this version as well.

Interesting webs about Linux on Mac:

http://www.mintppc.org/
http://mac.linux.be/content/apple-powerpc-wiki
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/PowerPC
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/10.04/release/

EasyDebian On Maemo

A complete desktop PC in my pocket
Why? There are many technical reason to do.
why not? It is a easy procedure, there is no danger for your Maemo OS.

It is funny to see a linux desktop distribution running on our small devices, and there some applications missing in Maemo, and available with this way.
Using easydebian can be useful for some tasks, however the user interface wasn't designed for work in a small screen and you will feel tired after a time.



I think this instructions are easier than other available in Internet.
(tested on Nokia N800)

1 Install easydebian (aka Turbo Easy Debian for Everyone) from Maemo.org or Application (Maemo Extras repository)
1.1 You must chose menus for some access shortcuts (if you prefer don't mix with Maemo menu categories, you could create a menu 'debian' and place all this access links there)


2 Download on PC the following linux imagefile for easydebian
http://qole.org/files/
debian-squeeze-img.tar.bz2

3 Unpack downloaded file with 7zip, Winrar, (your prefer uncompress tool)
Unpack previous file to
debian-squeeze.img.tar
Unpack previous file .tar to
debian-squeeze.img.ext2

3 Copy imagefile to SD memory, for example to
//media/mmc1
You can copy in any format partition (FAT,EXT,..) and folder, you only need 1.3GB on target

4 Give the path of image to easydebian
edit /home/user/.chroot
write a new line with the path where we copied the imagefile
IMGFILE=/media/mmc1/debian-squeeze.img.ext2
(lines with # are comments)


5 Executing
Execute the app on menus (LXDE Desktop)
wait and now you have linux running

6 Executing apps without from Maemo Desktop (no need LXDE desktop)
From terminal(as normal user)
#debbie linux_app_name (e.g. keepassx)
(on N800 to show onscreenkeyboard, open Toggle Matchbox-kbd)





Config the environment
Onscreen keyboard are on main menu/accesories

Open a terminal and execute
sudo apt-get update
This command download info from internet debian repositories

Now you can install apps using a graphic way(1) or command way(2)

(1)Execute Synaptic (install manager) from a terminal with: sudo synaptic

(2) sudo apt-get install keepassx
(Keepass is an example of app)

Maemo, nokia, linux and more

I've a new tag for the blog "Maemo".
As a start point I'm creating a list of my prefer apps like I did in other platforms.


Nokia N800
Hardware:
400MHz TI OMAP 2420
800 × 480 resolution,
105 mm (4.13 in), 88 pixels/cm,
225 ppi, 65536 colors (16-bit)
Internal SD: 8GB (max 32 GB)
Removable SD: 8GB (max 32 GB)
MiniUSB
Battery: BP-5L Li-Po 1500 mAh
OS Maemo OS2008 aka Diablo (5.2008.43-7)


Nokia N810

Hardware:
400MHz TI OMAP 2420
800 × 480 resolution,
Integrated mem: 2GB (/dev/mmcblk0) (/dev/mmcblk0p1 1.84GB FAT32)
SD mem(MiniSDHC): -
Internal GPS
Keyboard
MicroUSB-B
Battery: BP-4L Li-Po 1500 mAh
OS Maemo OS2008 aka Diablo (5.2008.43-7)



1st steps:
1 Upgrade firmware
2 Add repositories (application manager, catalogues)
2.1 Enable Extras
2.2 ?Add Maemo Hackers (osso-statusbar
3 Install utilities
rootsh
Usbcontrol 1.03




Improvements/hacks:

1 Partition internal SD (5GB FAT32 !*, 3GB EXT)
2 Add linux ext3 partitions
3 Clone OS to SD+ install bootloader
4 Install QT4
5 Install Easy debian


!* Windows have problems with big FAT32 partitions

(G) GPL
(F) Freeware
(C) Commercial



Garnet VM(Palm OS emulator)
PalmOS has some good apps, Maemo hasn't as good PIM apps as Palm:
-Agendus Pre
-Bonsai
-Project@Hand

MAEMO APPS




NETWORK/INTERNET
Mail: Email, Claws 3.7.1
Instant Messenger (msn, jabber,etc): Pidgin 0.6.6.6onix
Web browsers:
--Midori v0.1.4 [webkit flavor]
--Tear 0.3.5.1 [webkit flavor, light weight]
--Fennec 1.0b1 [firefox flavour, heavy weight, 25mb RAM]
--Opera Mobile 10.1beta1-6
1.0Alpha1.2

Voip/SIP Client:
--InternetCall (Generic providers)
--Skype 1.7.113
--Gizmo

Remote Admin:Rdesktop
PyRDesktop
IRC Client: Xchat
FTP Client:
Telnet:
SSH:



PRODUCTIVITY
Word: Abiword
Spreadsheet/excel: Gnumeric
PDF: ePDF viewer, evince
Dictionary/translator: StarDict+

TOOLS
Partitions: Partition Editor aka Gparted 0.3.8 (*)
*internal flash. doesn't work on Maemo installed in SD.
Console-tools.deb v1 (clone,backup,restore,bootmenu using pb or pbeasy command)
easy-chroot 0.2.3-1

System:
Advanced power 0.4.1-6
Advanced power-monitor 0.5.1-6
osso-statusbar-cpu
USB Host
EmelFM2 0.5.0 rev29
Kerez
mlocate 0.18-2(debfarm repository)

Applets:
Hometools

Development:
PyGTKEditor v2.4.4-1
Python develop env.
python2.5-runtime(apt-get)


MULTIMEDIA
MP3 Player:
MediaBox 2010.09.11(support lrc files, internet radio..)
Quasar Media Player
gPodder 2.13 (podcasts from gpodder.net)


Video:
mYTube 0.1.5-1(* need a patch)
mplayer 1.0rc1
kmplayer (frontend)

Image viewer:
Mirage
Quiver


LEARNING
mnemosyne 2.0.0beta11
-Import .xml, .mem (ver1), tab text(for Q/A)
-sounds (Espeak v1.43 installed)

GPS
Mapas: Maemo mapper 2.6.2 [openstreet maps,]
Route planning: navit

PIM
Passwords: KeepassX 02.2(needs QT4)