Help test the next Debian image (wheezy)

[asb]

Update: See the new beta release at http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1435

I've been working on preparing the next Debian image and am ready to share the results so far. We'd really appreciate your help in testing it out and helping to iron out any bugs.

This is based on Debian wheezy (where as the previous image was based on squeeze). It is also generated using a totally new build system (spindle) and should solve most outstanding problems with the previous image. Firmware is now packaged. This includes the latest kernel and 'firmware' (which has many more modules enabled - if it's missing any you think it needs then let us know).

Raspberry Pi specific packages are temporarily hosted on my server. I'll sort out package signing and get an official repository set up over the next few days. Once we've had some initial testing, I'll also get the image mirrored on to the raspberrypi.org distribution network.

NOTE to those who downloaded: do a `sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade` to update to the latest firmware (including the SD card speed enhancements http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... 987#p98987). Note you will end up with the 128MB start.elf after this, which you might want to change with `sudo raspi-config`.

Out of the box this has:
* Scratch, Python, Midori etc as before
* A configuration tool for common initial setup tasks (resize root partition, change keyboard layout)
* omxplayer
* USB drives auto mount
* Lots more

If you encounter issues, report them here or on the bug tracker (and indeed, do leave a comment to report no issues!): https://github.com/asb/spindle/issues

Note: This image is just for testing. Do not expect an upgrade path to the version which gets released for download officially (though the only major changes are likely to be changing the apt source for raspberry pi specific packages).

User/pass is pi/raspberry (though on initial boot you're automatically logged in until you finish configuration).

Update: See the new beta release at http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1435

[dom]

Thanks Alex.
I've been playing with early builds of this, and it's looking very promising.
Please download and help test.

[croston]

I'm also using one of your early spindle builds. Thanks for your work!

[Nburnes]

Downloading currently. Potential breakage excites me. (Not saying anything will be broke)

[arthurcnorman]

This looks very encouraging! When I wrote this to a Sandisk extreme 16GB SD card (which is what I have "most spare of") Linux booted nicely. The previous version had not booted at all and the squeeze image had started to boot but moaned and shown timeout messages a lot - so this feels a lot better.

When I got through that I tried the "configure keyboard" option (if only to see what it did) but that merely reported to me that it had failed. I may try again.

The locale selection tool is probably an excellent idea, but the HUGE number of locales all identified with what superficially seem to be odd strings of letters and digits is daunting. For the general punters it needs some easy options to pick eg UK, USA," EEC member countries" or some such, each with some default that will suit most, then maybe a subdivided list or some additional guidance. It may be that the best guidance is "accept UK English UFT-8 for now if you can read English at all, then here is the name of the gui tool you use later on to make your choice. If you are an EXPERT select "advanced" now to get a very long list"? I made the mistake of following the simple "install all" option, not understanding how long that would take to process.

I will try looking more later today. But thank you for this!
Arthur

[Nburnes]

This looks very encouraging! When I wrote this to a Sandisk extreme 16GB SD card (which is what I have "most spare of") Linux booted nicely. The previous version had not booted at all and the squeeze image had started to boot but moaned and shown timeout messages a lot - so this feels a lot better.

When I got through that I tried the "configure keyboard" option (if only to see what it did) but that merely reported to me that it had failed. I may try again.

The locale selection tool is probably an excellent idea, but the HUGE number of locales all identified with what superficially seem to be odd strings of letters and digits is daunting. For the general punters it needs some easy options to pick eg UK, USA," EEC member countries" or some such, each with some default that will suit most, then maybe a subdivided list or some additional guidance. It may be that the best guidance is "accept UK English UFT-8 for now if you can read English at all, then here is the name of the gui tool you use later on to make your choice. If you are an EXPERT select "advanced" now to get a very long list"? I made the mistake of following the simple "install all" option, not understanding how long that would take to process.

I will try looking more later today. But thank you for this!
Arthur

Had the same problem with the keyboard configuration. As for the locales thing, that is normal when setting up the pi, even in the regular Debian image. It's what comes with

Code: Select all

sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales

Most people I assume will keep the en_UK UTF-8 (as the wiki says) and add the en_US-UTF8 (if their from the US)

[paulcpaulc]

I look forward to testing this new release.

Does it do anything to improve 2D graphics performance?


Thanks,
Paul.

[Montala]

As I hope to be receiving my Raspberry Pi later this week, I had considered giving this one a 'whirl', but seeing as it is still an 'alpha' version I think I might just wait for the next 'release' so as to give the 'experts' the chance to iron out a few bugs first!

I must say though that I am very impressed with all the activity on the Raspbian front!

[dom]

Does it do anything to improve 2D graphics performance?

No acceleration yet, but I think you will find it more responsive for other reasons.

[asb]

This looks very encouraging! When I wrote this to a Sandisk extreme 16GB SD card (which is what I have "most spare of") Linux booted nicely. The previous version had not booted at all and the squeeze image had started to boot but moaned and shown timeout messages a lot - so this feels a lot better.

When I got through that I tried the "configure keyboard" option (if only to see what it did) but that merely reported to me that it had failed. I may try again.

The locale selection tool is probably an excellent idea, but the HUGE number of locales all identified with what superficially seem to be odd strings of letters and digits is daunting. For the general punters it needs some easy options to pick eg UK, USA," EEC member countries" or some such, each with some default that will suit most, then maybe a subdivided list or some additional guidance. It may be that the best guidance is "accept UK English UFT-8 for now if you can read English at all, then here is the name of the gui tool you use later on to make your choice. If you are an EXPERT select "advanced" now to get a very long list"? I made the mistake of following the simple "install all" option, not understanding how long that would take to process.

Yes, for the time being I'm just throwing you in to the standard Debian tools. I agree the locales list is daunting, and we'll want a better solution. Regarding keyboard configuration - that's my bad, I misspelt dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration as dpkg reconfigure keyboard-setup in /usr/bin/raspi-config. I'll fix, thanks

I should say this configuration tool is just meant to be handier than the existing options, but there's clearly a long way to go before it's something that a novice user would be comfortable with. I welcome patches (https://github.com/asb/raspi-config) or indeed new implementations which offer the same basic functionality in a more user-friendly way.

[fbutler]

After doing an "apt-get update" and an "apt-get upgrade" attempting to install bluetooth with "apt-get-install bluetooth" fails with:

Setting up bluez (4.99-2) ...
[ ok ] Reloading system message bus config...done.
[....] Starting bluetooth:Segmentation fault
invoke-rc.d: initscript bluetooth, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing bluez (--configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 139
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of bluetooth:

[asb]

After doing an "apt-get update" and an "apt-get upgrade" attempting to install bluetooth with "apt-get-install bluetooth" fails with:

Setting up bluez (4.99-2) ...
[ ok ] Reloading system message bus config...done.
[....] Starting bluetooth:Segmentation fault

Can you get more info on that? Add a 'set -x' to the top of the bluetooth init.d script and see where it gets to, then see if it's possible to run the command that segfaults in verbose mode. I can investigate more this evening assuming I can reproduce it.

[fbutler]

Here you go:

Code: Select all

root@raspberrypi:/etc/init.d# ./bluetooth start
+ PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
+ DESC=bluetooth
+ DAEMON=/usr/sbin/bluetoothd
+ HCIATTACH=/usr/sbin/hciattach
+ HID2HCI_ENABLED=1
+ HID2HCI_UNDO=1
+ UART_CONF=/etc/bluetooth/uart
+ RFCOMM_NAME=rfcomm
+ RFCOMM=/usr/bin/rfcomm
+ RFCOMM_CONF=/etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf
+ SDPTOOL=/usr/bin/sdptool
+ SSD_OPTIONS=--oknodo --quiet --exec /usr/sbin/bluetoothd
+ test -f /usr/sbin/bluetoothd
+ test -f /etc/default/bluetooth
+ . /etc/default/bluetooth
+ BLUETOOTH_ENABLED=1
+ HID2HCI_ENABLED=0
+ HID2HCI_UNDO=0
+ test -f /etc/default/rcS
+ . /etc/default/rcS
+ TMPTIME=0
+ SULOGIN=no
+ DELAYLOGIN=no
+ UTC=yes
+ VERBOSE=no
+ FSCKFIX=no
+ RAMLOCK=yes
+ RAMSHM=yes
+ RAMTMP=yes
+ . /lib/lsb/init-functions
+ run-parts --lsbsysinit --list /lib/lsb/init-functions.d
+ [ -r /lib/lsb/init-functions.d/20-left-info-blocks ]
+ . /lib/lsb/init-functions.d/20-left-info-blocks
+ FANCYTTY=
+ [ -e /etc/lsb-base-logging.sh ]
+ true
+ set -e
+ alias enable_hci_input=hci_input
+ alias disable_hci_input=hci_input
+ log_daemon_msg Starting bluetooth
+ [ -z Starting bluetooth ]
+ log_daemon_msg_pre Starting bluetooth
+ log_use_fancy_output
+ TPUT=/usr/bin/tput
+ EXPR=/usr/bin/expr
+ [ -t 1 ]
+ [ xxterm != x ]
+ [ xxterm != xdumb ]
+ [ -x /usr/bin/tput ]
+ [ -x /usr/bin/expr ]
+ /usr/bin/tput hpa 60
+ /usr/bin/tput setaf 1
+ [ -z ]
+ FANCYTTY=1
+ true
+ /bin/echo -n [....]
[....] + [ -z  ]
+ /bin/echo -n Starting bluetooth:
Starting bluetooth:+ return
+ test 1 = 0
+ start-stop-daemon --start --oknodo --quiet --exec /usr/sbin/bluetoothd
Segmentation fault
root@raspberrypi:/etc/init.d#

Let me know if you want me to do anything else.

[Davespice]

Seeding, I'll give it a test over the coming week.

[bbb]

After doing an "apt-get update" and an "apt-get upgrade" attempting to install bluetooth with "apt-get-install bluetooth" fails with:

Setting up bluez (4.99-2) ...
[ ok ] Reloading system message bus config...done.
[....] Starting bluetooth:Segmentation fault

Can you get more info on that? Add a 'set -x' to the top of the bluetooth init.d script and see where it gets to, then see if it's possible to run the command that segfaults in verbose mode. I can investigate more this evening assuming I can reproduce it.

This problem was seen in raspbian (based on wheezy) too, check this thread for more info and a workaround http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... =66&t=6628

[Michael1260]

Is SSH active on first boot ?

[asb]

Is SSH active on first boot ?

It is. You are given the option to enable it and/or change the password of the 'pi' user in a configuration menu that shows at initial startup. Note that the first boot takes a little longer than usual (ssh host keys must be generated).

[Dandapani]

Damn. I just got the initial Debian set up. Will there be an update path?

[amar]

Seeding. Will test it latter today.

[bredman]

Is SSH active on first boot ?

It is. You are given the option to enable it and/or change the password of the 'pi' user in a configuration menu that shows at initial startup. Note that the first boot takes a little longer than usual (ssh host keys must be generated).

Is it possible to perform the initial configuration over ssh, or is a monitor needed for the initial configuration?

[asb]

Damn. I just got the initial Debian set up. Will there be an update path?

The intention is to support upgrading from this image onwards (when an official version of it is published). You can update a squeeze installation to wheezy, but you won't benefit from the cleaner/better default configuration as used in this new wheezy image. If you're happy with what you have, I'd recommend waiting for the official release (maybe this weekend) and switching to that when you feel like it.

[asb]

Is SSH active on first boot ?

It is. You are given the option to enable it and/or change the password of the 'pi' user in a configuration menu that shows at initial startup. Note that the first boot takes a little longer than usual (ssh host keys must be generated).

Is it possible to perform the initial configuration over ssh, or is a monitor needed for the initial configuration?

When you log in via ssh and have not performed this configuration, a message will print out suggesting you "sudo raspi-config". So no need for a monitor.

[Michael1260]

Thanks for your answer. Actually, I'm using a minimal Debian Wheezy but I will look to this new official distrib when it will be 1.0 release

[asb]

This problem was seen in raspbian (based on wheezy) too, check this thread for more info and a workaround http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... =66&t=6628

Thanks so much for that. You'd hope it's not too long before that patch is included in an updated version of the official Debian package, but I'll look at rebuilding the deb if I get a chance.

[fbutler]

This problem was seen in raspbian (based on wheezy) too, check this thread for more info and a workaround http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewt ... =66&t=6628

Thanks so much for that. You'd hope it's not too long before that patch is included in an updated version of the official Debian package, but I'll look at rebuilding the deb if I get a chance.

Thanks all, I'll retry when it has been rebuilt.