Introducing Pi386

[jdonald]

Hey thanks for digging into all of that. Hopefully your info will help someone find a fix for the Buster chroot ldconfig problem.

I just followed the directions on https://wiki.winehq.org/Debian , which is the official site of wine.

Ahh cool. I had been using the PlayOnLinux binaries mainly as instructed by novaspirit's tutorial. Using the standard ppa as you've pointed out provides version 4.15 from winehq-devel.

BTW, has anyone tried to build qemu 4.1.0 on Pi? Maybe upgrading qemu will solve this.

Oh I neglected to mention that I compiled qemu static from source and am using 4.0.95 (v4.1.0-rc5-dirty). I wasn't sure that mattered but apparently it does. I just uploaded my binaries here edit: something regressed and segfaults by commit 23919ddfd5 so use this instead: f28ed74fd1. I had to install both qemu-user-static from apt and overwrite with these files, because I think the repo installation does some necessary setup with binfmt-support.

Cross-compiled in an x86_64 laptop's Buster container so it takes a couple minutes rather than hours. Procedure was roughly as follows:

Code: Select all

git clone git://git.qemu-project.org/qemu.git
cd qemu
sudo dpkg --add-architecture armhf
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y g++-arm-linux-gnueabihf flex bison libglib2.0-dev:armhf # and possibly other lib*-dev:armhf deps
./configure --cross-prefix=arm-linux-gnueabihf- --prefix=$(pwd)/usr --static --target-list="i386-linux-user x86_64-linux-user " --enable-linux-user --disable-system
make && make install
cd usr/bin
for f in *; do mv $f $f-static; done
cd -

I included the x86_64 part for future use, but haven't tested it.

[shadowownz]

Hey thanks for digging into all of that. Hopefully your info will help someone find a fix for the Buster chroot ldconfig problem.

I just followed the directions on https://wiki.winehq.org/Debian , which is the official site of wine.

Ahh cool. I had been using the PlayOnLinux binaries mainly as instructed by novaspirit's tutorial. Using the standard ppa as you've pointed out provides version 4.15 from winehq-devel.

BTW, has anyone tried to build qemu 4.1.0 on Pi? Maybe upgrading qemu will solve this.

Oh I neglected to mention that I compiled qemu static from source and am using 4.0.95 (v4.1.0-rc5-dirty). I wasn't sure that mattered but apparently it does. I just uploaded my binaries here edit: something regressed and segfaults by commit 23919ddfd5 so use this instead: f28ed74fd1. I had to install both qemu-user-static from apt and overwrite with these files, because I think the repo installation does some necessary setup with binfmt-support.

Cross-compiled in an x86_64 laptop's Buster container so it takes a couple minutes rather than hours. Procedure was roughly as follows:

Code: Select all

git clone git://git.qemu-project.org/qemu.git
cd qemu
sudo dpkg --add-architecture armhf
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y g++-arm-linux-gnueabihf flex bison libglib2.0-dev:armhf # and possibly other lib*-dev:armhf deps
./configure --cross-prefix=arm-linux-gnueabihf- --prefix=$(pwd)/usr --static --target-list="i386-linux-user x86_64-linux-user " --enable-linux-user --disable-system
make && make install
cd usr/bin
for f in *; do mv $f $f-static; done
cd -

I included the x86_64 part for future use, but haven't tested it.

libpixman-1-dev is needed as well. How long did it take to make && make install on a pi 4?

[jdonald]

It took about 3 minutes to cross-compile. I didn't attempt to build natively, because RET80 said that would take about 4 hours.

[Botspot]

Any Pi 4 support?

[brunetton]

Hi,

I'm very interested in Pi386.
What do you think about creating a git repo on GItlab / Github ?

[brunetton]

Thanks for this very inspiring project.

I installed it today, then installed wine inside the container, then tried to run it and got immediately the "famous" `Bus error` :s
I read here that some of us solved it by simply rebooting. I tried but since the reboot, impossible to open container:

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root@raspberrypi:~# systemd-nspawn -D /var/pi386
Spawning container pi386 on /var/pi386.
Press ^] three times within 1s to kill container.
execv(/bin/bash, /bin/sh) failed: No such file or directory
Container pi386 failed with error code 1.
root@raspberrypi:~# ll /var/pi386/bin/bash 
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1.3M May 15  2017 /var/pi386/bin/bash
root@raspberrypi:~# ll /var/pi386/bin/sh
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Nov  9  2018 /var/pi386/bin/sh -> dash

Raspberry Pi3+ / raspbian Buster

Do you have any idea ?
Thanks !

[jdonald]

Sorry to hear that. Yes Bus Error is very frustrating and unclear to debug... you can't simply run strace on something that's running in qemu.

The tests I did above were on a Pi 4 (and thus no guarantees for your Pi 3B+), but I still had to recompile the qemu-user binaries as linked above. Were you using qemu-user binaries from Raspbian's repository, my link above, or somewhere else? What version is it at now?

[Pfann]

Hello. Im not that pro with linux and raspberry. But all what i want i can manage (samba server, nextcloud and so on xd:)

My question is.

Is this easy to install for a newbie?

Is it working with my. Pi 4?

And is this like exagear? (to host a teamspeak 3?)

And can i install it on a existing system?

Sorry for my bad english :/

[Skaizek]

So I've compiled Qemu 4.2.50 on my PI4 Buster image and "Bus Error" is gone but when I want to run pi386, or x86 app inside my own x86 Chroot i get "Segmentation Fault" every time

Code: Select all

Spawning container pi386 on /var/pi386.
Press ^] three times within 1s to kill container.
qemu: uncaught target signal 11 (Segmentation fault) - core dumped

And info from running TS3

Code: Select all

2020-01-04 13:18:55.177725|INFO    |ServerLibPriv |   |TeamSpeak 3 Server 3.10.2 (2019-11-20 08:39:31)
2020-01-04 13:18:55.201411|INFO    |ServerLibPriv |   |SystemInformation: Linux 4.19.75v64 #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Oct 5 03:06:01 CEST 2019 i686 Binary: 32bit
2020-01-04 13:18:55.203632|WARNING |ServerLibPriv |   |The system locale is set to "C" this can cause unexpected behavior. We advice you to repair your locale!
2020-01-04 13:18:55.264310|INFO    |DatabaseQuery |   |dbPlugin name:    SQLite3 plugin, Version 3, (c)TeamSpeak Systems GmbH
2020-01-04 13:18:55.266019|INFO    |DatabaseQuery |   |dbPlugin version: 3.11.1
2020-01-04 13:18:55.327033|INFO    |DatabaseQuery |   |checking database integrity (may take a while)
Segmentation fault

Does anyone know how to fix segmentation fault?
I can send Qemu.4.2.50.deb package if you need it too

[jdonald]

I tried the v4.1.0-rc5 build I linked above and it gets further when I ran TS3 minimal. The server runs without crashing, and occasionally it saw traffic when I attempted a client connection (observed via the syscall printouts), although no connection was successful from the client's perspective.

That's not to say the v4.1 QEMU build is really functional. Combined with Wine, every so often the system gets into a state of always Bus Error, then this goes away again upon rebooting. Furthermore I'm still using a Stretch chroot (on a Buster system) because as far as I've heard Buster i386 chroot + qemu-i386 still doesn't spawn.

Have you tried qemu-x86_64-static with TS3 x64? dqs105 reported that x86_64 might be more stable at least for the Raspbian default (v4.0?) QEMU.

[Skaizek]

No, I haven't tried qemu-x86_64-static with TS3 x64 but i can give it a look.
Also I've noticed that version of Qemu I get from apt install is 3.1. I've compiled whole Qemu 4.2 from git, made .deb package of it using checkinstall (For future use), installed it and noticed very interesting thing. Pi386 said that it still requires qemu-user-static so it downloaded 3.1 version from apt.

As a very first post said

qemu-user-static, which allows you to 'chroot' into a filesystem from a different architecture

I think my problem lies in qemu-user-static which is in older version than my compiled Qemu

Or maybe my whole problem lies in Berryboot which I'm using to switch between OS-es quickly, idk, but I will try these 3 things and see what I can get

[bartislartfast]

Hi, I am totally new to the pi and linux the environment, so I have no experience of what I am trying to do.

What I want to do is run a TS3 server 24/7 on a Pi4 4G, later I would like to add a cloud/data/media server that I can access from my laptop & mobile.

For now though setting up a TS3 server is my goal, can it be done with Pi386 and if so could someone give me the 'Dummies' guide to set it up?

[ChasTech]

Hi, I am totally new to the pi and linux the environment, so I have no experience of what I am trying to do.

What I want to do is run a TS3 server 24/7 on a Pi4 4G, later I would like to add a cloud/data/media server that I can access from my laptop & mobile.

For now though setting up a TS3 server is my goal, can it be done with Pi386 and if so could someone give me the 'Dummies' guide to set it up?

I'm the developer of the project but I switched accounts and my old one is now locked by request. Not sure whether I'm going to continue this project, but if I do it'll probably be built for my Debian 64-bit images since I dont really use Raspbian anymore now that I've got a 4GB Pi 4 (which is ARM64), it would be wasting its capabilities not to have a 64-bit OS to go with it. Maybe even PiA64 could be a thing since my Debian images are ARM64 and theoretically capable of running an AMD64 chroot with qemu-user-static. Who knows?

[Jeebus]

I was just wondering if this would work just to play game files, without having to install windows entirely?

I just want to play a single game, maybe a couple along with all the other emulated games.

Thanks.

[Methanoid]

Is there a release link to a IMG of this? Or do we have to build ourselves? I'd like to try this....

[SC13NC3F1CT10N]

Does pi386 come with xorg and systemd-container?

[SC13NC3F1CT10N]

Does pi386 come with xorg and systemd-container?

Figured it out myself, it does not. So I installed them. But when I try to launch Dillo Browser after installing it I get this:

No protocol specified
Can't open display: :0.0

Can anybody help?

[rickticktock]

I say chaps,
In Ubuntu, a flavour of Linux just like Debian is, WINE is a standard bit of software. Some programs are OK with it, some not. One which works very well is LT-Spice which is only available as a Windows download, but runs under WINE just as quickly, if not more so.
TTFN

[berba]

Hi all,
If any of you can successfully install Metatrader in pi386, appreciate your confirmation please.
I really want to learn on Metatrader in raspberry pi.
Appreciate your input.
Thanks a lot.

[Heater]

I say chaps,
In Ubuntu, a flavour of Linux just like Debian is, ...

Ubuntu is a derivative of Debian. Leaching off all the hard work of the Debian community that existed long before Ubuntu.

...WINE is a standard bit of software. Some programs are OK with it, some not. One which works very well is LT-Spice which is only available as a Windows download, but runs under WINE just as quickly, if not more so.
TTFN

Yes, I have been amazed for many years how well LT-Spice works under Wine on Debian. And hence on Ubuntu as well I guess.

However, that is LT-Spice under Wine on Debian on an Intel x86 machine. I suspect it does not run at all nicely on an ARM processor with x86 emulation.

[hippy]

Ubuntu is a derivative of Debian. Leaching off all the hard work of the Debian community that existed long before Ubuntu.

Does that mean Raspbian and now Raspberry Pi OS, which are also derivatives of Debian, are also leaching off all the hard work of the Debian community that existed long before they did ?

[Heater]

Ubuntu is a derivative of Debian. Leaching off all the hard work of the Debian community that existed long before Ubuntu.

Does that mean Raspbian and now Raspberry Pi OS, which are also derivatives of Debian, are also leaching off all the hard work of the Debian community that existed long before they did ?

Yes.

However I believe credit is due where credit is due.

"raspbian" is very up front about being a build of Debian for the Raspberry Pi. It's right there in the name.

Even now Pi OS calls it's current release "Buster" and follows Debian releases.

What annoys me is the way Debian, as the origin, gets buried to the point I read things like "Ubuntu, a flavour of Linux just like Debian" as in the post above.

[rdb9878]

It looks like this Pi386 thread is still commonly recommended whenever someone is asking about running x86 programs on a raspberry pi. But it's a little hard to follow. I'm generally curious in trying this out, but not too familiar with the concepts (and yes I realize it will be extremely slow since the x86 instructions need to be emulated with the ARM CPU). Even if it's unusably slow, I'm still interested as a curiosity.

Some questions:
1) Is Pi386 still under development, a completed working project, or completely dead?
2) Is Pi386 capable of running on the Rpi 3B, 3B+, or 4?
3) Is Pi386 its own OS/image, or is it an application running within your standard raspberry pi OS?
4) Is it capable of running x86 programs that have graphical interfaces, or command line only?
5) Is there a single step-by-step guide on how to build/install/whatever the Pi386 and go all the way to running an x86 program?

[fruitoftheloom]

It looks like this Pi386 thread is still commonly recommended whenever someone is asking about running x86 programs on a raspberry pi. But it's a little hard to follow. I'm generally curious in trying this out, but not too familiar with the concepts (and yes I realize it will be extremely slow since the x86 instructions need to be emulated with the ARM CPU). Even if it's unusably slow, I'm still interested as a curiosity.

Some questions:
1) Is Pi386 still under development, a completed working project, or completely dead?
2) Is Pi386 capable of running on the Rpi 3B, 3B+, or 4?
3) Is Pi386 its own OS/image, or is it an application running within your standard raspberry pi OS?
4) Is it capable of running x86 programs that have graphical interfaces, or command line only?
5) Is there a single step-by-step guide on how to build/install/whatever the Pi386 and go all the way to running an x86 program?

There is also BOX86 which is included by default in TwisterOS:

https://github.com/ptitSeb/box86

[rdb9878]

Thank you for the tip about TwisterOS. I just tried it out, and so far I'm impressed! I tried a few simple programs that were always a Windows staple for me (Textpad 8, LTSpice, WinMerge), and they all worked fine. I'd describe it as slightly sluggish but completely functional. A far cry from doubters saying to not waste your time. For reference, I was on a Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB option).

Here's my own step-by-step guide:

1) Download TwisterOS image and burn to fresh SD card. Pop it into your raspberry pi and power up. It looks reasonably similar to the Raspbian OS desktop.
2) In TwisterOS, download the x86 Windows 32-bit installer of whatever program you'd like to run.
3) Open terminal, chmod 777 the executable, then run the command 'wine myinstaller.exe.' The first time I did this, it spent about 15 minutes updating and installing Wine and I had to click an "Install" button every few minutes. Eventually, the target program's installer should pop up and look just like a Windows installer. You can even give it the default Windows style installation location ("C:\Program Files\BlahBlahBlah")
4) If the installer has a "Launch Program" option, you can go ahead and use it. If not, go to the start menu, games -> Wine Desktop. This opens an interface that looks like a very simplistic Windows 95 desktop. You can navigate the C drive and do whatever. This Windows 95 desktop has a Start button in the bottom left with a "Programs" folder to select and launch an x86 Windows program.