STICKY: PINN - An enhanced version of NOOBS.

[procount]

Hi pegman.
I guess it depends on why osmc is failing to load.
But anyway, rule #1 is always to backup anything that you don't want to lose. I assume you have kept updating PINN to the latest version, so you have the backup and restore option. So you could get a USB storage device (stick or hdd) and create an /os folder on it, then backup your installed OSes to that. Alternatively, you can put a similarly sized SD card in an SD card reader plugged into a USB port and clone the whole of your SD card to it.

Once you have backed up your OSes or card you can try a few things.
There is a fix-up menu in PINN where you can perform an fsck on your osmc partitions. Next you can try re-running the setup script for osmc from the fixup menu. Finally you can try selecting osmc and choosing the reinstall option which should definitely work, but it will totally replace your osmc installation. All of the above should keep your other OSes intact.

If it's a problem with your SD card and you need to start again, you can use PINN to reinstall your backups you made above and add a new install of osmc.

[pegman]

Hi pegman.
I guess it depends on why osmc is failing to load.
But anyway, rule #1 is always to backup anything that you don't want to lose. I assume you have kept updating PINN to the latest version, so you have the backup and restore option. So you could get a USB storage device (stick or hdd) and create an /os folder on it, then backup your installed OSes to that. Alternatively, you can put a similarly sized SD card in an SD card reader plugged into a USB port and clone the whole of your SD card to it.

Once you have backed up your OSes or card you can try a few things.
There is a fix-up menu in PINN where you can perform an fsck on your osmc partitions. Next you can try re-running the setup script for osmc from the fixup menu. Finally you can try selecting osmc and choosing the reinstall option which should definitely work, but it will totally replace your osmc installation. All of the above should keep your other OSes intact.

If it's a problem with your SD card and you need to start again, you can use PINN to reinstall your backups you made above and add a new install of osmc.

Thanks, found the re-install option, can't believe i didn't find it.
Normally i just backup the SD Image but typically and irritatingly not this time.

[yan]

I want to install Rasbian Buster and a custom version of Rasbian Stretch on a PI 3B+.
These two different versions can coexist on the same SD card without problems?

Thanks.

[procount]

Yes.

You will have to convert your "custom Raspbian Stretch Version" to NOOBS format first to install it from a local USB stick.
There are instructions on my wiki and in the readme on how to create custom OSes. You may need to adapt them for your specific use-case.
You can use the existing stretch meta-files as a starting point: https://github.com/procount/pinn-os/blo ... retch.json and those found at http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbi ... -24-07:07/ which is the last version of stretch.

[procount]

LineageOS 16 has been added to PINN

[5t4n5]

I downloaded Pinn light and when it comes on it only offers me raspbian and thinlinx. I looked at this: https://github.com/procount/pinn/blob/m ... ive-source

newurl.com is not working -- it just says its available for sale. So i have no idea where i'm supposed to go. Where does one go for alternative OS to install?

Can someone update the info on the link to a valid website?

Thanks.

[drgeoff]

I downloaded Pinn light and when it comes on it only offers me raspbian and thinlinx. I looked at this: https://github.com/procount/pinn/blob/m ... ive-source

newurl.com is not working -- it just says its available for sale. So i have no idea where i'm supposed to go. Where does one go for alternative OS to install?

Can someone update the info on the link to a valid website?

Thanks.

You have not understood what is meant by

"An alternative source of OSes to be downloaded from the internet can be specified by adding alt_image_source=http://newurl.com/os_list.json to the argument list in recovery.cmdline, where newurl.com is the name of the alternative server and os_list.json is the list of information about the alternative OSes. "

That newurl.com is not a real URL, it merely indicates the form that one should use if one wants to customise PINN to add another OS that can be downloaded from a server somewhere. The alt_image_source needs to point to that server.

[procount]

Unless you are creating and hosting your own customised OSes, there is no need to mess with alt_image_source.

Provided you haven't altered repo_list, you should get a good sized list of OSes to install, appropriate to your model of Pi.

[dvaitman]

Hi @procount

I might be overthinking this too much but have you ever considered or is it even possible to boot PINN from a PXE? I guess if I'm booting from a network I could have diiferent OS to choose from, but also though instead of having a USB/SD/HDD with multiboot, having that on a server and booting from a network can give more flexibility?

[procount]

Would it still download the os to an SD card?
Or would it choose another OS to be downloaded using PXE from the same server?

If the 2nd option, I don't think that would be PINN.

[dvaitman]

I was thinking more of the latter. Like multiboot from PXE.
I guess that's not PINN but would be a cool idea.
From what I've seen in piServer, you can have multiple OS but only one at the time assigned to a pi. If you could PXE boot and select the OS from a menu, that'll be great. But again, that's not PINN

[beta-tester]

I was thinking more of the latter. Like multiboot from PXE.
If you could PXE boot and select the OS from a menu, that'll be great.

normally the PXE "specification" already has the ability of a primitive multi boot menu.
but it depends on how far this ability is implemented in the RPi firmware.
i guess, making a nice "PXE boot menu" is not the only real problem here...
the loaded OS itself has to be able to support PXE, having all resources to load/store via network (NFS, AoE, iSCSI, SMB, FTP, TFTP, HTTP, ...).
all the necessary drivers/modules/configurations have to be active in the kernel of the OS at initial boot time.

[NimbUx]

Suggest @Procount: could you please in a next update of PINN think to add a version of 'loadkeys"
to the minimum Linux OS in RAM, for ease of use of the virtual console with national keyboards ?

Also, it seems the included version of "e2fsck" cannot check an ext4 FS on external disks (unless I missed
a required command line option). When asked to do the checking, your 'e2fsck' (is that part of 'busybox' or somesuch?) reported it couldn't, due to some optional feature of the FS, and advised for the use of a more capable e2fsck...

[procount]

PINN has been updated to v3.3.3

V3.3.3

• MBR fix - Better detection of non-MBR formatted SD cards.
• Joysticks - Better detection of joysticks that are slow to connect, like Xbox One S gamepads.
• Reload Repos - New button to reload the distribution list from internet.
• fontsize - Added rudimentary font size adjustment using +/- keys.

A minor update for some fixes to the missing MBR detection and slow connecting joysticks.
A new button has been added to refresh the list of OSes from the internet, in case they could not be loaded at startup.
A very rudimentary control of the fontsize has been added. This can cause some text collisions, but may help improve legibility on large screens.

[NimbUx]

PINN has been updated to v3.3.3

Maybe cosmetic, but since updating to this 3.3, when PINN boots there appear immediately
2 lines of warning which I can hardly read (is there a way to pause the booting, or at least
the scrolling ? Neither Pause nor Scroll-Lock seem to be doing anything). I could glimpse
the warnings are something about "modprobe, could not chdir".

- Added rudimentary font size adjustment using +/- keys.

Works for me, thanks for that !

[procount]

Oops! Thanks for the error report. It just affects support for a couple of wifi dongles but I'll fix it when I add the new Raspbian release to the full version.

[procount]

PINN has been updated to v3.3.4

V3.3.4

• New OSes - Updated Raspbian and LibreELEC in the full version
• Wifi - Re-added the missing wifi drivers

A quick fix for the missing wifi drivers, and I've added the updated Raspbian and LibreELEC distributions to the FULL version.

[haaldemir]

Hello

After update Pinn i am seeing at boot this message

modprobe: can't change directory to '4.19.97-resque-v71': No such file or directory
modprobe: can't change directory to '4.19.97-resque-v71': No such file or directory


Two line on boot after rainbow screen. What is mean error or whats it

Thank you

[procount]

Which version are you using?
That should have been fixed in v3.3.4.
If you are using that version, did you do a self-update?

[haaldemir]

It was v3.3.3 now there is another update. I am updating it. With shift key enter when pinn desing uppear. It says there is update.

[haaldemir]

As you told v3.3.4 updated and that message gone.

Thank you

[procount]

Suggest @Procount: could you please in a next update of PINN think to add a version of 'loadkeys"
to the minimum Linux OS in RAM, for ease of use of the virtual console with national keyboards ?

I'll look into it, but not promising.

Also, it seems the included version of "e2fsck" cannot check an ext4 FS on external disks...

Package needs updating for the latest versions of ext4 used in some OSes... I'll check.

[procount]

Also, it seems the included version of "e2fsck" cannot check an ext4 FS on external disks...

I have bumped the package version and placed a test version of pinn v3.3.4a at https://sourceforge.net/projects/pinn/f ... p/download
You are welcome to install and test it on a spare SD card (it's beta software so don't use it with anything important) and report back.
If it works without errors I'll include it in the next version.

[Ian-C]

Hi all

I am new to PINN and think it's great but i have a question. I want to install several OS's for a Pi4 attached to my TV. I want Libreelec for Kodi and a full desktop distro like Raspbian but i also want at least two of Raspbian lite. The first Raspbian lite will be for Steam Link so i can boot straight to that to play games off my PC and i may want other standalone OS space for the future.

Is it possible to install multiple instances of the Raspbian lite so i have it there for future use?

[procount]

Is it possible to install multiple instances of the Raspbian lite so i have it there for future use?

Yes.
Install Kodi, Raspbian, & 2 copies of projectspace: ProjectSpace1 & ProjectSpace2
The Project spaces are reserved partitions that you can replace with Raspbian Lite at a later date.

See https://github.com/procount/pinn/blob/m ... ME_PINN.md
Especially: https://github.com/procount/pinn/blob/m ... ect-spaces
and https://github.com/procount/pinn/blob/m ... idual-oses