Installing operating system images on Mac OS

[jhayward1]

Please help me. I have 2 Pis, bought several months ago for my two small children, aged 6 and 8. They can't do the installation work for themselves. And after a life starting with FORTRAN programming in CERN, all the way to AJAX and Javascript, neither can I.

The problem: I am trying to "image an SD card." The instructions online "Installing operating system images on Mac OS" I cannot follow.

I am on a Mac, of course. OS X Yosemite Version 10.10.1
I have downloaded the NOOBS_v1_3_10.
I think the SD card, currently plugged into the USB port inside a FujiFilm SD HC USB 2.0 "card reader"(?)
is:
disk3s6:
Capacity: 1.52 GB (1,520,418,816 bytes)
BSD Name: disk3s6
Content: Linux

Mount Point = Not Mounted (Question 1: Does this mean that the steps in the above under "(Mostly) Graphical Interface" section, fourth bullet point: "Unmount the partition" is not necessary?

It then says "From the Terminal run:

sudo dd bs=1m if=path_of_your_image.img of=/dev/diskn"

Question 2: What is "path_of_your_image"? I cannot work this out.
Question 3: Can you confirm from the above that "diskn" should be "disk3"? Perhaps also "disk3s6".

In Terminal, I am getting "syntax error".
In more detail:
Js-MacBook-Air:~ jhayward1$ diskutil unmountDisk /dev/<disk3 from diskutil>
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

Question 4: What is wrong with the above?

Failing using the section on "(Mostly) Graphical Interface", there is the next section 'Command Line".
I tried this too.
I am not sure what "Command Line" is. Sounds like terminal.
Question 5: Is Command Line the same as the terminal, (with which I am familiar)?

Question 6: Top level - what do I need to do, given the above notes, to get the operating system code onto a Pi?

I am giving up at this point and await any randomly kind soul who can offer really clear actions here at some point.
If no-one comes forward these boys will have to await my wading through this and I am not confident I can do it having failed thus far.
I know it is all part of the exercise, but this has been really frustrating so far. Takes me back to ZX80 etc.

[DirkS]

Maybe http://www.tweaking4all.com/hardware/ra ... -pi-baker/ can help you with writing the SD cards.

Gr.
Dirk.

[ghans]

Your instructions are not meant to be used with NOOBS in
the first place. Let whoever gave them you know
so they can fix it or make that clearer.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentatio ... n/noobs.md

ghans

[DirkS]

Your instructions are outdated and not meant to be used with
NOOBS in the first place. Let whoever gave them you know so they can fix it.

I think they're the actually the instructions for the distribution install...

Gr.
Dirk.

[fruitoftheloom]

http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentatio ... /README.md

[DirkS]

http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentatio ... /README.md

I did not post the link to avoid confusion. The OP is trying to install NOOBS.
The link ghans posted is the one the OP needs.

Gr.
Dirk.

[jhayward1]

Your instructions are not meant to be used with NOOBS in
the first place. Let whoever gave them you know
so they can fix it or make that clearer.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentatio ... n/noobs.md

ghans

The SD card just had memory on it and no OS at first, as far as I can tell. I was the person that found this instruction set and downloaded it and tried to follow.

I have downloaded and run the SD formatter that someone else mentions in this thread and I've also downloaded and run the 'RAR Genie".

I still don't know where to start from here. If I now load the SD card will it automatically load the image?

I'm blinded by all the suggestions (for which, thank you). The texts I read even on the Pi website are so badly worded that they are hard to read, with e.g. "XYZ. To do this..." where you are not clear what "this" is, and so on.

Is there no-one physically in Cambridge, UK that can help with this? This is where it all started after all. I recall similar nightmares many years ago trying to install an image on a laptop with LINUX.

I really would need step by step instructions based on what I have sent in in the first post, otherwise it is not obvious where to start.

Surely Pi would like to make it easier to get to the point of writing the first lines of code?

[drgeoff]

1. Download NOOBS.
2. Unzip the contents to an empty folder.
3. Format the card using the prescribed tool and options.
4. Copy the contents of the folder in step 2 to the card.
5. Put card in RPi and apply power.

[fruitoftheloom]

Download the latest version of NOOBS 1.3..10

http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads

Follow instructions here

http://www.raspberrypi.org/help/noobs-setup


OSX has unzip built-in, the only extra sosftware is the SD Formatter.

Forget any other instructions, you are over complicating and confusing yourself

[jhayward1]

Thanks drgeoff fruitoftheloom and others.

Steps 1 & 2 ok (it unzips automatically) and Step 2 (formatting the card using the SDFormatter App, seemed OK):
In step 3
I used the "quick draft" format from the SD formatter which noticed the SD Card, which is from RPi (i.e. black SD card with a raspberry logo on it).

Step 4:
I dragged the files over as instructed by the female person on the link video that you gave on the RPi website.

(I am on a Mac laptop.)

This is what happened next:

The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “root.tar.xz” can’t be read or written (Error code -36)

Stuck? Has it worked or is this a fatal error? Do I need to go back to the formatting step and redo with some other option or is this an error to do with storage or some other problem?

[jhayward1]

OK I retried loading the single file root.tar.xz again on its own and it seems to have transferred to the RPi SD card. Will try further steps now, but the process has been interrupted by the previously mentioned error message, so less confidence that this will have worked. Total storage used on the SD card is now 745Mb suggesting all the files are on it.

[jhayward1]

Download the latest version of NOOBS 1.3..10

http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads

Follow instructions here

http://www.raspberrypi.org/help/noobs-setup


OSX has unzip built-in, the only extra sosftware is the SD Formatter.

Forget any other instructions, you are over complicating and confusing yourself

I have followed all the instructions above and equivalently via drgeoff Steps 1-4 and now his step 5, insert to RPi and see what you get. I also watched the video above.

But I am stuck. It didn't work. The Dell monitor(s) are alive but blank, except for the Digital Test screen: "2: Digital Output Self Test Feature Check" but what I expect to see on the screen is a Raspberry, should I not?

This means the monitor is not talking to the Raspberry presumably?

The Raspberry is connected and has a red light on it. A green light comes on for a few seconds each time it is reconnected to the mains.

The connector between the Dell monitor and the RPi is USB flat at the RPi end and another USB, the squarer kind (?) at the Dell monitor. I don't know whether perhaps we should be connecting the two via the HDMi socket on each or some other combination.

In any case, having apparently managed to format the RPi supplied SD Cards and transfer the RPi OS files onto them using the Mac environment, I am now again stuck, much to my and my sons' frustration.

What are the possible problems? It seems the monitor-RPi connection is the prime candidate. But could it also be that the loading up of the NOOBs files was incorrect?

[DougieLawson]

You need to run the SDCard formatter with "format size adjustment ON" (or whatever the equivalent option is on the Mac version).

You unzip the NOOBS zip file and copy ALL files and subdirectories to the root of the SDCard.

So you'll end up with
bootcode.bin
BUILD-DATA
defaults/
INSTRUCTIONS-README.txt
os/
recovery.cmdline
recovery.elf
RECOVERY_FILES_DO_NOT_EDIT
recovery.img
recovery.rfs
riscos-boot.bin
in the root of the SDCard and a bunch of other stuff in the /os and /defaults directories.

I suspect your failure is in the unzip and copy step. If you can unzip directly to the SDCard root directory it's more likely to work.

[fruitoftheloom]

Download the latest version of NOOBS 1.3..10

http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads

Follow instructions here

http://www.raspberrypi.org/help/noobs-setup


OSX has unzip built-in, the only extra sosftware is the SD Formatter.

Forget any other instructions, you are over complicating and confusing yourself

I have followed all the instructions above and equivalently via drgeoff Steps 1-4 and now his step 5, insert to RPi and see what you get. I also watched the video above.

But I am stuck. It didn't work. The Dell monitor(s) are alive but blank, except for the Digital Test screen: "2: Digital Output Self Test Feature Check" but what I expect to see on the screen is a Raspberry, should I not?

This means the monitor is not talking to the Raspberry presumably?

The Raspberry is connected and has a red light on it. A green light comes on for a few seconds each time it is reconnected to the mains.

The connector between the Dell monitor and the RPi is USB flat at the RPi end and another USB, the squarer kind (?) at the Dell monitor. I don't know whether perhaps we should be connecting the two via the HDMi socket on each or some other combination.

In any case, having apparently managed to format the RPi supplied SD Cards and transfer the RPi OS files onto them using the Mac environment, I am now again stuck, much to my and my sons' frustration.

What are the possible problems? It seems the monitor-RPi connection is the prime candidate. But could it also be that the loading up of the NOOBs files was incorrect?

You need to connect the monitor via HDMi

[DougieLawson]

The connector between the Dell monitor and the RPi is USB flat at the RPi end and another USB, the squarer kind (?) at the Dell monitor. I don't know whether perhaps we should be connecting the two via the HDMi socket on each or some other combination.

Do you have any details of the model number of your Dell monitor? Does it have a HDMI or DVI-D interface?
Do you have a plain ordinary HDMI TV and a HDMI to HDMI cable? That WILL be easier to use than some random old piece of obscure Dell hardware from days gone by.

[B.Goode]

I have followed all the instructions above and equivalently via drgeoff Steps 1-4 and now his step 5, insert to RPi and see what you get. I also watched the video above.

But I am stuck. It didn't work. The Dell monitor(s) are alive but blank, except for the Digital Test screen: "2: Digital Output Self Test Feature Check" but what I expect to see on the screen is a Raspberry, should I not?

This means the monitor is not talking to the Raspberry presumably?

Others are helping with the primary issue, for the time being, of your monitor not getting a display from the RPi.

I just wanted to pick up the next issue you will face. You say "what I expect to see on the screen is a Raspberry, should I not?"

No. That is not what you should expect.

If you are copying the NOOBS Installer files onto the SD card, what you should see on the display is a brief information panel telling you the utility is reformatting the partitions, followed shortly by the NOOBS Recovery Console. This is what is shown in the first image at the top of this installation guide: http://www.raspberrypi.org/documentatio ... n/noobs.md

(In your case, you will only have an option displayed for Raspbian: the other Operating Systems are no longer downloaded by default with the initial installation.)

[jhayward1]

Update 191214
Went to shop to buy HDMi to HDMi thanks to fruitoftheloom and others.
Went home, turned out one end on the monitor did not in fact have an HDMi socket: my idiocy.
Back to shop, bought adaptors for HDMi to DVI-D (I think is its name).
Boys plugged these together and into the RPis (HDMi)) and monitors (DVI-D). By "DVI-d" I mean the connection with lots of small round holes in a matrix and a horizontal line groove next to them...I'm informed that this way there will be no sound and that the sound jack and speakers will need to be added to the RPi later and some sort of coding choices made at that point when and if we get there.

Nothing. Same as before. Lifeless except for the screen monitor test page.

Exhaustion. This is much much worse than in 1980 with the ZX80, but then I was young and more patient. Hopefully the end is in sight and we can begin to hand it all over to my sons and they can take it all on from there.

???

[fruitoftheloom]

Update 191214
Went to shop to buy HDMi to HDMi thanks to fruitoftheloom and others.
Went home, turned out one end on the monitor did not in fact have an HDMi socket: my idiocy.
Back to shop, bought adaptors for HDMi to DVI-D (I think is its name).
Boys plugged these together and into the RPis (HDMi)) and monitors (DVI-D). By "DVI-d" I mean the connection with lots of small round holes in a matrix and a horizontal line groove next to them...I'm informed that this way there will be no sound and that the sound jack and speakers will need to be added to the RPi later and some sort of coding choices made at that point when and if we get there.

Nothing. Same as before. Lifeless except for the screen monitor test page.

Exhaustion. This is much much worse than in 1980 with the ZX80, but then I was young and more patient. Hopefully the end is in sight and we can begin to hand it all over to my sons and they can take it all on from there.

???

You have likely got a Dvi to HDMi Convertor. Look on ebay for a HDMi to DVi Cable, last one I bought was £1.50

There is tons of info on the RPF Website and in this Forum covering your issues......

[jhayward1]

Thanks for that

It is as advised in the shop by someone who set up an RPi (which group of awesome people I currently have immense respect for).

He sold me an adaptor to go from HDMi to DVi, rather than the other way about. The cable is HDMi to HDMi with Dvi adaptor from HDMi added.

Going on eBay is not an option I would consider at this stage. I've saved money on monitors, but this has created more problems than it was worth.

I don't use eBay and that will create further delays. Happy to buy any more cables needed at this point.

My original goal was to get this working by Christmas for my two sons. It has taken its toll, but there is still time.

[drgeoff]

At the risk of causing you to make an even bigger mountain out of your molehill. Most monitors with a DVI socket also have a VGA socket (15 pins in 3 rows). To display whatever is on the DVI input, the monitor needs to be switched to that, not VGA. Many monitors can do that automatically if only the DVI input is connected. But maybe yours does not. Either way there will be some means, usually via front panel button(s), to manually select the DVI input.

[jhayward1]

At the risk of causing you to make an even bigger mountain out of your molehill. Most monitors with a DVI socket also have a VGA socket (15 pins in 3 rows). To display whatever is on the DVI input, the monitor needs to be switched to that, not VGA. Many monitors can do that automatically if only the DVI input is connected. But maybe yours does not. Either way there will be some means, usually via front panel button(s), to manually select the DVI input.

Thanks for this. I will try changing the monitor input via the front buttons to Dvi. I also have a VGA to VGA cable, which would presumably require me to go back out and buy a VGA to HDMi in order to connect back to the RPi. But let's try your idea first.

[drgeoff]

At the risk of causing you to make an even bigger mountain out of your molehill. Most monitors with a DVI socket also have a VGA socket (15 pins in 3 rows). To display whatever is on the DVI input, the monitor needs to be switched to that, not VGA. Many monitors can do that automatically if only the DVI input is connected. But maybe yours does not. Either way there will be some means, usually via front panel button(s), to manually select the DVI input.

Thanks for this. I will try changing the monitor input via the front buttons to Dvi. I also have a VGA to VGA cable, which would presumably require me to go back out and buy a VGA to HDMi in order to connect back to the RPi. But let's try your idea first.

Buying a HDMI to VGA converter would be a bad move. Don't do it.

[jhayward1]

Thank you very much for your suggestion. Simply changing the input via buttons on the monitor worked. For the first time we can now all see a terminal-like window and a raspberry in the top left (on one monitor) and on the other monitor, no raspberry, but at least the same terminal-like window with command prompt. A little intermediate win!

The reason why the second monitor and RPi system doesn't show a Raspberry seems to be the monitor screen display settings, which we haven't worked out yet how to change.

Now the next two problems are:
1. Neither (brand new, wireless, new batteries) keyboard/mouse seems to be talking to the RPi to which they are supposed to be connected. This clearly means that we cannot type anything. Surely an easy one to solve...

2. When we do get round to solving item 1.: The screens we see are full of errors. E.g. "Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS. Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,0)" or on the other machine: ditto and "unknown-block(179,2)"
There are literally hundreds of lines on the command prompt of errors.

This is a mountain (to me) by any reckoning. I'm finding progress really hard going and am ready to give up. Who needs this level of frustration? But I am doing this for my children. Another approach is that it is a journey.

[jhayward1]

The connector between the Dell monitor and the RPi is USB flat at the RPi end and another USB, the squarer kind (?) at the Dell monitor. I don't know whether perhaps we should be connecting the two via the HDMi socket on each or some other combination.

Do you have any details of the model number of your Dell monitor? Does it have a HDMI or DVI-D interface?
Do you have a plain ordinary HDMI TV and a HDMI to HDMI cable? That WILL be easier to use than some random old piece of obscure Dell hardware from days gone by.

Thanks for this.

One of the Dell monitors is a "Dell B 17BNS" Appears to be 10 years old and was at the computer lab at Cambridge before one of the programmers there took it home when released by the CL and ultimately gave it to me to try with. The other is probably the same model (I'll check).
We do have an HDMi TV, so will bear that in mind as an option, but we don't want the children on there and also, there is only one TV and 2 children each with an RPi.

[drgeoff]

Are you sure that is not the model number of the stand?