STICKY: PINN - An enhanced version of NOOBS.

[procount]

PINN FULL has not been updated yet for offline installation, but any version of PINN will always use the latest version of Raspbian if connected to the internet

[procount]

PirateBox is now available through PINN.

[procount]

Retropie updated to v4.5.1

[max11]

Hello,

after several days of not touching Pinn at all (v.3.3c - July 24 2019) - just let it boot - i wanted to backup my perfectly running Raspbian.

This is now impossible - it worked before .Now i get the attached message,

And at the start Pinn tells me "Error downloading distribution List..." Pic attached.

Where is my problem?

Thanks in advance
Max11

[procount]

It looks like you installed:

• Raspbian FULL,
• Retropie2
• LibreELEC_rpi2
• Xbian_rpi3
• ProjectSpace-1

using Matt's webs page to customise the partition sizes.

The first error message is due to my mistake.
I have just updated retropie to v4.5.1 and inadvertently changed its name from retropie2 to retropie3. Matt's webpage can therefore no longer find the original files and errors out. Apologies. I have just restored the old retropie2, so it should work again, although you might have to wait up to 24 hours for Matt's webpage to refresh its data. In the meantime, you could try a couple of things:
1. exclude retropie from the backup
2. Edit recovery.cmdline and remove the 'alt_image_source="...." option
3. Try only selecting 1 OS at a time to backup, to avoid errors in one OS preventing you backing up the others. Then post what is still problematic.

It should be possible to backup raspbian_full, so I'm not sure why it claims an update is required. Maybe that is due to the first error, or it could just be due to the version of Raspbian you installed - what version/date do you have installed? If removing alt_image_source does not fix it, let me know and we will fix it another way.

It will not be possible to backup Xbian using PINN because it uses a BTRFS file system. You will have to do this manually, I'm afraid.

Sorry for the unexpected inconvenience.

[max11]

Hello,

thank you for your fast response.

I didn't want to backup retropie (deleted already a few months ago from Pinn)

I only had checked Raspbian full for backup. That was the only OS.

Before i try other things i will wait for the correct list on Matts side and see if that changes the behaviour.

Xbian is also already deleted months ago - but it still shows up in the download error. I will remove the alt_image_source...option.

Although i think it is not the reason for the error, as all earlier backups were perfect.

I think the second error is depending on the first (unable to download) error.

Let's wait and see.

It is not a real üproblem for me , so don't worry

Regards
Max11

[max11]

So today i started another try to backup Raspbian.
The first result (changing nothing) resulted in the same error messages as mentioned above..

I then changed recovery.cmdline and started Pinn again.

rec_cmd.jpg (13.17 KiB) Viewed 10669 times

Result: the Start-message doesn't show anymore,
but it is still impossible to make a backup of Raspbian.


https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/down ... w&id=32717

The error-message is the same as before.(unsupported ....)

Any ideas?

Attached my Pinn configuration.

Regards
Max11

[max11]

ok,

just tested the other backups.

Libreelec : no problem

Openplotter and Raspbian : both unable to backup ... unsupported ...

[procount]

I meant that you should remove the whole of the "alt_image_source" option, not just the part between the quotes.
You will also need to remove the "no_default_source" option and ensure you are connected to the internet.

[max11]

Yesssss

I changed recovery cmdline according to your suggestion and everything is working again.

Thank you, Procount

[BRX7]

Any new dates since 3.3c?

[procount]

Not yet, but working on the next release.

[DalaMicke]

I have a RasBerry 3B+ and using PINN v3.3c

I am trying to install Batocera in PINN, but the installation will fail.
In the debug-log I can see that the install-script is trying to use the link:
http://batocera-linux.xorhub.com/

But now the Batocera has moved to another website: https://batocera.org/
So the install-script will not work anymore.

Is it possible to install Batocera manually or change the install-script?
I can download the RasBerry image from the new website, but how to change the install script to use the image I downloaded my self?

[mattrix]

@DalaMicke

Should be sorted now
Just reboot and try to install again.

[DalaMicke]

Now It works!
Thanks for fast support!

[procount]

PINN has been updated to v3.3.2

V3.3.2

• Joystick - Added support for USB Joysticks/Gamepads (Xbox-style)
• Silentinstall - Fixed a bug when silent-installing from the network
• VirtualKeyboard - Added a Virtual Keyboard for wifi and option dialogs
• Missing MBR fix - Fix to allow SD cards formatted without an MBR to be used

It has been a while since the last update, but I hope the wait was worth it.

Gamers update
I guess you can say this release is mostly for the gamers out there. There have been some long outstanding requests for joystick and gamepad control of the PINN user interface, but finally support for some controllers has been added.
PINN supports USB controllers that that can use the XPAD driver. This means most XBOX style controllers. I haven't tested PS/2 controllers.
Some standard key mappings are provided in a similar manner to the CEC mappings for TV remotes. If these are not suitable, you can create your own `joy_keys.json` file and map them differently. Please see joy_keys.md for details.

Virtual Keyboard
In keeping with users who prefer to use game controllers instead of a keyboard, I have added a virtual onscreen keyboard in some places, such as for configuring the wifi password, or changing the configuration options. This should be useable with Joysticks, CEC TV remotes, mouse or touchscreens. Unfortunately, the keyboard cannot be moved around the screen for technical reasons, so it includes a slide control to make it transparent and make the screen underneath visible.

Fixes
A fix has been added to improve silentinstall of OSes over the network.
A fix to allow SD cards to be used that have been erroneously formatted without an MBR has also been added. Not all use cases have been tested yet, but it seems to work sufficiently. If you spot any unusual behaviour, please report it, preferably as a github issue.

[raspphibian]

Too bad there is no arch linux pinn image support for the raspberry pi 4 yet.
I managed to manually create the dual boot with Raspbian and Arch Linux by doing as described earlier by procount.

...
The installed_os.json must be in valid JSON format, so please try to keep all synta the same, otherwise PINN may not work, hence the command to backup it first above, so you can recover if you make a mistake.
You should see two entries in there: one for RaspbianLite and the other for ProjectSpace1.
In the ProjectSpace1 entry, IIRC, you need to change bootable to TRUE for the entry to be visinble in PINN's Bootmenu.
Here you can also change the name (to Ultibo?) and maybe the description to something more useful.
Make a note of the 2 partition references used for this ProjectSpace/Ultibo. the first one is the partition nuber that you will use to store your new Ultibo programs on, so you would mount it from Raspbian Lite and store all necessary firmware, boot and ultibo files that you need.
Save it and reboot.
Sorry these are brief instructions. I may make a specific Ultibo installer when I have more time.
...

First I copied pinn onto a 32GB MicroSD card, then I selected to install raspbian lite and a single project space. This creates the following partitioning:

Code: Select all

mmcblk0     179:0    0 29.7G  0 disk 
--mmcblk0p1 179:1    0   63M  0 part 
--mmcblk0p2 179:2    0    1K  0 part 
--mmcblk0p5 179:5    0   32M  0 part 
--mmcblk0p6 179:6    0  256M  0 part /boot
--mmcblk0p7 179:7    0 15.8G  0 part /
--mmcblk0p8 179:8    0  100M  0 part /media/pi/prjboot
--mmcblk0p9 179:9    0 13.5G  0 part /media/pi/prjroot

as root I did the wget and bsdtar commands from the official raspberryp pi 4 arch linux instructions as described here, but modified the bsdtar command to get the tarballs into the right partitions, like this:

Code: Select all

[pi@raspberrypi ~]$ ls /media/pi/prjroot
bin  boot  dev  etc  home  lib  lost+found  mnt  opt  proc  README.txt  root  run  sbin  srv  sys  tmp  usr  var
[pi@raspberrypi ~]$ ls /media/pi/prjboot
bcm2708-rpi-b.dtb         bcm2835-rpi-cm1-io1.dtb   fixup_db.dat
bcm2708-rpi-b-plus.dtb    bcm2835-rpi-zero.dtb      fixup_x.dat
bcm2708-rpi-cm.dtb        bcm2835-rpi-zero-w.dtb    initramfs-linux.img
bcm2708-rpi-zero.dtb      bcm2836-rpi-2-b.dtb       kernel7.img
bcm2708-rpi-zero-w.dtb    bcm2837-rpi-3-b.dtb       os_config.json
bcm2709-rpi-2-b.dtb       bcm2837-rpi-3-b-plus.dtb  overlays
bcm2710-rpi-2-b.dtb       bcm2838-rpi-4-b.dtb       README.txt
bcm2710-rpi-3-b.dtb       bootcode.bin              start4cd.elf
bcm2710-rpi-3-b-plus.dtb  cmdline.txt               start4db.elf
bcm2710-rpi-cm3.dtb       config.txt                start4.elf
bcm2711-rpi-4-b.dtb       fixup4cd.dat              start4x.elf
bcm2835-rpi-a.dtb         fixup4.dat                start_cd.elf
bcm2835-rpi-a-plus.dtb    fixup4db.dat              start_db.elf
bcm2835-rpi-b.dtb         fixup4x.dat               start.elf
bcm2835-rpi-b-plus.dtb    fixup_cd.dat              start_x.elf
bcm2835-rpi-b-rev2.dtb    fixup.dat

Then I mounted the pinn settings partition and modified installed_os.json: I changed bootable to 'true', and changed the description, username, password, and added the pi 4 as supported model:

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[
 {
  "bootable" : true,
  "description" : "A port of Debian with the Raspberry Pi Desktop",
  "folder" : "/settings/os/Raspbian",
  "group" : "",
  "icon" : "/settings/os/Raspbian/icon.png",
  "name" : "Raspbian",
  "partitions" : [
"/dev/mmcblk0p6",
"/dev/mmcblk0p7"
  ],
  "password" : "raspberry",
  "release_date" : "2019-09-26",
  "supported_models" : [
"Pi Model",
"Pi 2",
"Pi Zero",
"Pi 3",
"Pi Compute Module 3",
"Pi 4"
  ],
  "url" : "http://www.raspbian.org/",
  "username" : "pi"
 },
 {
  "bootable" : true,
  "description" : "Arch Linux for ARM",
  "folder" : "/mnt/os/ProjectSpace",
  "group" : "",
  "icon" : "/mnt/os/ProjectSpace/ProjectSpace_-_1.png",
  "name" : "ArchLinuxARM",
  "partitions" : [
"/dev/mmcblk0p8",
"/dev/mmcblk0p9"
  ],
  "password" : "alarm",
  "release_date" : "2018-05-14",
  "supported_models" : [
"Pi Zero",
"Pi Model",
"Pi Compute Module",
"Pi 2",
"Pi 3",
"Pi 4"
  ],
  "url" : "https://",
  "username" : "alarm"
 }
]

after doing this it didn't want to boot arch linux yet.
I also had to modify the cmdline.txt file on the boot partition to point to the right root partition number root, changing 2 to 9:

root=/dev/mmcblk0p9 rw rootwait console=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 selinux=0 plymouth.enable=0 smsc95xx.turbo_mode=N dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 kgdboc=ttyAMA0,115200 elevator=noop

and modified the /etc/fstab file on the arch root partition so it can find the boot partition and mount it, but this might not be necessary.

however, I ended up with a pinn installation that does offer me the boot selection screen, but somehow it seemed to have switched up the two options. When I select the ArchLinuxARM option it boots into Raspbian, and when I select the Raspbian option it boots to Arch Linux. I am not sure why this happens.

Maybe I made a mistake somwhere, but maybe the default pinn configuration for this is wrong. I might end up simply switching up the labels and icon in the json file to make it right.

turned out I was just confused by the bootloader selection menu. It works perfectly fine, although it is a bit misleading for me. With two operating systems you can check the box in one of them, and select one of them, making the line blue. The selection box basically does nothing and the OS which has its line selected will boot when you press enter or click the boot button. for example: by first selecting Raspbian, hitting space to 'cross the box', then hitting down arrow key to select Arch Linux, and hitting enter, it will boot Arch Linux and not Raspbian. So this will boot Arch Linux.

[procount]

Congrats on converting Arch4. It's a bit unorthodox, but it will work.
An alternative method is to create a custom OS as detailed in:

• How to create a custom OS version
• How to Create a Multi Boot SD card out of 2 existing OSes using PINN

However, Arch is provided as a .tar.gz file instead of an image, so it needs a bit of massaging to fit.

The last time I looked at the Pi4 version of Arch, it used UBoot as the bootloader, so I didn't bother converting it.
It looks like they have dispensed with this now so I will include a conversion in the near future.

The selection box basically does nothing

The selection box marks ONE of the list of installed OSes as a "Sticky Default" option, meaning it is ALWAYS the one that is booted by default in the event that you make no user interaction at startup (instead of the last booted OS). It is documented here -> README_PINN.md#sticky-default-os

[procount]

I didn't realise that v3.3.2 is not > v3.3c (who knew!) so to get the self-update working I'm by letting it masquerade as v3.3d.

Arch for the Pi4 has now been added.

[mattrix]

I can't see a new zip for 3.3d.
Looks like just the BUILD-DATA has been updated though.

Wouldn't it keep trying to update if it detects 3.3d but then keeps downloading a zip with 3.3.2 version in it

[procount]

No it should be ok. Self-update should just think it is 3.3d.
Will be fixed properly at next update.

[raspphibian]

Thanks for adding the arch linux image for the raspberry pi 4

however there are two small issues:
the name for the arch linux image (on my Pi4) is currently Arch4, with description: An Arch Linux port for ARM devices RPi3
Shouldn't this say RPi4? Is the PRi3 image used here? There is a separate download for the RPi4 from the arch linux ARM website.
I should add that I do not have the 'showall' option enabled. I can't easily check the new image because my SD card is currently full

the update from v3.3c to v3.3.2 gave an error initially:

Error downloading update file
https://vorboss.dl.sourceforge.net/proj ... n-lite.zip

I checked in a browser and the link did provide me with the zip file, so I tried again, I had to manually trigger the PINN update this time by selecting to reinstall it. It gave the error again but this time it did update and reboot into v3.3.2

Something else I noticed is that the Language(l) setting at the bottom isn't saved after a reboot. not very important but would be a nice feature.

[procount]

Sorry, that was a small typo in the description only. Hopefully now corrected to Pi4. Yes, it is the Pi4 image.
The upgrade worked fine for me. Probably just a temporary issue with the mirrors.

EDIT: Re: Language - Are you using a US keyboard? There are some anomolies depending on the combination of Language and keyboard choice.

[sakaki]

Hello,

just a quick note that the new v1.5.2 release of my bootable Gentoo image for the RPi4/RPi3 (announce post here) is now also available for installation via PINN.

In addition to the usual package version bumps, this update also includes (inter alia):

• (preliminary) support for MMAL from a 64-bit userland (including raspivid, raspistill, ffmpeg etc.);
• an EEPROM firmware auto-updater for the RPi4; and
• initial network setup for headless boot support.

A more detailed list of changes is provided in the announce post.

Here's a screenshot of the image running on a dual-display RPi4 B (click to show a higher resolution view):



The full image is called gentoo64 on PINN; the CLI-only version, gentoo64lite.

Images were converted using the pinnify script.

Best,

sakaki

[morbius]

I've been having a good time with PINN, but could use a hand with a new problem.

I have been exploring the PINN offerings by using PINN, and then wiping the card to start over, and install some other things. I'm not settling down yet, right?

In Windows you need to use a partition manager to blow away all the partitions PINN creates, then create a new formatted partition for the PINN files. No problem.

Well now I have a new problem: one of the last things I installed created logical volumes on the SD card. Windows sees 1 MBR volume (14 GB), and 2 locked GPT volumes (500 MB and 37 GB). I cannot find any Windows tools that will let me blow away those GPT volumes. Most tools won't even see them--my 65 GB card now looks like a 14 GB card to the OS. Diskpart "clean" is totally powerless as it only operates on the 14 GB logical volume. My 3rd party partition manager sees the locked GPT partitions, but won't touch them. The official SD card formatter only sees that one 14 GB volume, too.

I searched for help on this issue but only could find discussion on how to handle extra partitions, not locked volumes.

I have access to Unix, Mac, and Windows systems... I am sure the tools are available somewhere... Any ideas on how to nuke this card?

Here are some details.

What Diskpart sees

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DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          238 GB  1024 KB        *
  Disk 1    Online          931 GB      0 B
* Disk 4    Online           14 GB    14 GB

What a 3rd party tool sees

The disk is chopped up like this. The GPT write-protected partitions cannot be manipulated.

https://i.imgur.com/JOzuSYq.png