STICKY: PINN - An enhanced version of NOOBS.

[procount]

@Haris1977 - I posted a new 2854. Not tested with CEC yet, but does fix some things with the focus.

@DarkPlatinum - I updated the wiki tutorial, especially this part -> https://github.com/procount/pinn/wiki/H ... -filenames

[DarkPlatinum]

@Haris1977 - I posted a new 2854. Not tested with CEC yet, but does fix some things with the focus.

@DarkPlatinum - I updated the wiki tutorial, especially this part -> https://github.com/procount/pinn/wiki/H ... -filenames

Nice! I think im have to reflash pinn to usb as usb flashes but nothin on monitor.

i have 2 requests:

1. shutdown button from PINN loader

2. lock to prevent deletion of installed os (you unlock if you want to unistall oses)

[Haris1977]

@Haris1977 - I posted a new 2854. Not tested with CEC yet, but does fix some things with the focus.

Wow! This one works as expected! Now it focus on the OS's themselves. Thanks!

[DarkPlatinum]

PINN will work on a Hard drive shoudn't it?

[procount]

Wow! This one works as expected! Now it focus on the OS's themselves. Thanks!

Finally!

1. shutdown button from PINN loader

Not sure this is necessary. PINN runs entirely from a RAM disk and all drives are only mounted r/w when they are being written to. So it's possible to just pull the power out to shut it down, unlike most OSes.

2. lock to prevent deletion of installed os (you unlock if you want to unistall oses)

This may be useful now that it is possible to easily replace and/or reinstall OSes.

PINN will work on a Hard drive shoudn't it?

Usually yes.
You can run PINN from the SD card and install the OS to the USB Hard drive. In this case, the boot partition will be on the SD card and the root partition will be on the USB hard drive. This works with all RPi models.
If the HDD is bootable (on a 3B or 3B+), then you can boot PINN from the HDD and install the OS to the HDD. In this case both boot and root partitions will be on the USB HDD and the SD card is not required. Not all USB HDDs are bootable.
Not all OSes will work in both of these modes, which is why the list of OSes sometimes changes when you change the target drive - OSes that do not work in that mode will be hidden.

[procount]

PINN has been updated to v2.8.5.4

V2.8.5.4

• Boot menu - Fixed focus and sticky default partuuid issues.
• wallpaper_resize - Customised wallpaper can now be resized to fill the screen

[DarkPlatinum]

Wow! This one works as expected! Now it focus on the OS's themselves. Thanks!

Finally!

1. shutdown button from PINN loader

Not sure this is necessary. PINN runs entirely from a RAM disk and all drives are only mounted r/w when they are being written to. So it's possible to just pull the power out to shut it down, unlike most OSes.

2. lock to prevent deletion of installed os (you unlock if you want to unistall oses)

This may be useful now that it is possible to easily replace and/or reinstall OSes.

PINN will work on a Hard drive shoudn't it?

Usually yes.
You can run PINN from the SD card and install the OS to the USB Hard drive. In this case, the boot partition will be on the SD card and the root partition will be on the USB hard drive. This works with all RPi models.
If the HDD is bootable (on a 3B or 3B+), then you can boot PINN from the HDD and install the OS to the HDD. In this case both boot and root partitions will be on the USB HDD and the SD card is not required. Not all USB HDDs are bootable.
Not all OSes will work in both of these modes, which is why the list of OSes sometimes changes when you change the target drive - OSes that do not work in that mode will be hidden.

I will get my hard drive hopefully
today, so I will test PINN on it.

[Haris1977]

Can we - somehow - remove the black horizontal and vertical bars (overscan) from the PINN's User Interface and boot menu?

[procount]

Its the same as Raspbian.
Create a config.txt file and set disable_overscan=1

[Haris1977]

If i understand correctly i should:

1) Add ssh argument in recovery.cmdline (in order to be able to ssh into PINN)
2) Enter PINN's User Interface by hitting Shift on my keyboard
3) Ssh with root/raspberry from win machine
4) sudo nano /flash/config.txt and add the disable_overscan=1 line.

Is this correct?

[n67]

4) vi /flash/config.txt and add the disable_overscan=1 line.

FIFY

No sudo necessary since in the previous line you indicated that you were logging in as root.

[procount]

Easier...
Boot pinn
Press shift to enter recovery menu
Press M twice to get to maintenance menu
Select pinn
Select edit config button
Add disable_overscan=1
Exit
Reboot

[Haris1977]

Easier...
Boot pinn
Press shift to enter recovery menu
Press M twice to get to maintenance menu
Select pinn
Select edit config button
Add disable_overscan=1
Exit
Reboot

Oups i had forgotten that i can edit config and cmdline from within PINN's UI. Thank you both

[procount]

For completeness....
If you have a keyboard connected you can get to the recovery console with ctrl-alt-f2, avoiding the need to use ssh. Login is the same.

Config.txt is on the first partition which PINN has mounted on /mnt (not /flash) but it will be read only.

So first mount it read write with:

Code: Select all

mount -o remount,rw /mnt
cd /mnt

PINN does not include nano, so you must use vi

Code: Select all

vi /mnt/config.txt

Press i to enter insert mode.
Edit the file
To save and exit press Esc, w & q
Then ctrl-alt-f1 to get back to PINN.

But using the Edit config in the menu is much easier.

[Haris1977]

I will stick with the easy way. Just to clear this out: The config file - which is in the maintenance menu - corresponds to PINN’s partition? Am i right?

[n67]

To save and exit press Esc, then ZZ

FIFY

Note: If you do want to use wq, then you need to precede it with a colon, so it is actually:

:wq<Enter>

But ZZ is so much easier.

[procount]

@n67 thanks. I forgot the colon. Never knew about zz!

@Haris1977 - the config file is for whatever OS is highlighted below. So make sure to highlight PINN first.

[Haris1977]

So make sure to highlight PINN first.

Thanks for this tip

[DarkPlatinum]

Ok, I have booted PINN from a 8Gb SD card, the OS is on my 1 TB Seagate expansion drive.

I was wondering how to install multiple OS from an USB drive. Basically what happened was that i install Raspbian from my USB drive to my HDD, then about 20 mins later decided to also install RetroPie. When i started the install from retropie, it Rewrote Raspbian + RetroPie to the HDD. Is there a way to overcome this?

[DarkPlatinum]

Also having another problem here, I installed raspbian and retropie from my USB drive, but if i want to install a OS from PINN, it says it will overwrite existing data. What can i do to stop Raspbian and retropie from wanting to update, plus also install other OS from wifi resources?

[Haris1977]

I have problem installing retropie OR recalbox. I use network to download my images. If i install e.g Librelec + recalbox (or libreelec and retropie) i m stuck on these messages:

recalboxOS-rpi1: Creating filesystem (ext4) 100%

while in retropie:

Retropie1: Creating filesystem (fat) 0%.

If i install LE with e.g picore i get no problem. Doesnt mind if it is sd card or in usb either. I have a rasp 1 model B rev2. Maybe there is a prob with these 2 images?

PS1 If i install ONLY recalbox (i assume retropie too) seems to work. So i guess the prob starts when i try to download extra os's along with recalbox/retropie. It stucks in "Creating filesystem" image..

[DarkPlatinum]

Also having another problem here, I installed raspbian and retropie from my USB drive, but if i want to install a OS from PINN, it says it will overwrite existing data. What can i do to stop Raspbian and retropie from wanting to update, plus also install other OS from wifi resources?

I see that there are project spaces, I rewrote retropie and Raspbian with all 8 project spaces as well. If I wanted to add a new OS, how do I make the project space bigger so each project space is 1/8th of the total drive space? Not just 600mb?

[procount]

Ok, I have booted PINN from a 8Gb SD card, the OS is on my 1 TB Seagate expansion drive.

I was wondering how to install multiple OS from an USB drive. Basically what happened was that i install Raspbian from my USB drive to my HDD, then about 20 mins later decided to also install RetroPie. When i started the install from retropie, it Rewrote Raspbian + RetroPie to the HDD. Is there a way to overcome this?

Sorry for late reply - I am travelling.

So I hope you have realised by now that both NOOBS & PINN partition your target drive for multiple OSes on first installation, and share all of the disk space out amongst all of those OSes. So it is not possible to add more OSes later because there is no more available space. You must allocate it all the first time you install any OS.

PINN tries to overcome NOOBS' limitations by 1) allowing you to reinstall a single OS without having to reinstall of them at once, and 2) creating ProjectSpaces to reserve partitions that can later be used to reinstall a different OS into.
Bear in mind that the more ProjectSpaces you install, the smaller each one will be, as the disk space is allocated equally between them.

So, you must decide which OSes you want to install at the beginning. If you are not sure, install a ProjectSpace for the number of additional OSes that you might one to install later.

Bear in mind that ProjectSpaces only work with OSes that follow the Raspbian-type layout of 1 FAT32 partition of about 70MB and a 2nd EXT4 partition for the rootfs. OSes that have more partitions, or a larger 1st partition will not be installable, although you could create another ProjectSpace template for those types of OS.

[procount]

Also having another problem here, I installed raspbian and retropie from my USB drive, but if i want to install a OS from PINN, it says it will overwrite existing data. What can i do to stop Raspbian and retropie from wanting to update, plus also install other OS from wifi resources?

As stated above, you cannot keep adding more OSes as the disk is partitioned on the first install.
If you have reserved some disk space by adding some ProjectSpaces, you can replace a Project Space with a new OS from the maintenance menu. select all the OSes you want to install from the main menu, select the ProjectSpaces you want to replace from the maintenance menu, and choose Replace.
See https://github.com/procount/pinn/blob/m ... ect-spaces and https://github.com/procount/pinn/blob/m ... idual-oses

There is nothing to stop you installing all of your OSes at once: from your USB drive and from the wifi - just make sure you are connected to the wifi and the USB storage at the same time when you install them. Only the most recent OS from all sources is shown and local copies take precedence over remote sources if the dates are the same. Check the icon at the far right of each OS to determine where it will be installed from.

[procount]

I see that there are project spaces, I rewrote retropie and Raspbian with all 8 project spaces as well. If I wanted to add a new OS, how do I make the project space bigger so each project space is 1/8th of the total drive space? Not just 600mb?

600MB is the minimum size, but PINN will expand each OS equally to fill the remainder of the disk.
If you want them bigger, the only way is to reduce the number of ProjectSpaces.
If you want to fix the sizes of any of your OS partitions, use Matt Huisman's Webapp: http://pinn.mjh.nz/

Details about it can be found here-> https://www.matthuisman.nz/2017/05/noob ... s.html?m=1