STICKY: Jessie (now defunct and replaced with Stretch) Q&A

[fruitoftheloom]

At this point in development, does it appear like Raspbian Stretch is going to be much faster than Raspbian Jessie? Are there any major changes that the developers are willing to reveal?

Around what time is Raspbian going to be released? Does it look like there's going to be a significant delay from the Debian release, like with Jessie?

Is there any chance the open source VC4 is going to be turned on by default for Raspbian Stretch? Is it unrealistic to expect any better desktop performance in the future?

Debian have not yet confirmed a Stretch release date:

https://www.debian.org/releases

[rpdom]

At this point in development, does it appear like Raspbian Stretch is going to be much faster than Raspbian Jessie? Are there any major changes that the developers are willing to reveal?

I don't see that upgrading to Stretch will make any real difference to speed. The significant changes that affect the Pi come from the Raspberry Pi Foundation repository, not the Raspbian ones, and the RPF tend to release updates when they are ready, not when there is a Debian/Raspbian update.

For example, new kernel and firmware updates happen all the time from the RPF. Any major speed differences and new features will be in there.

[Metasyntactic]

So, another quick question. This is a VNC question but related to how it's implemented in Jessie. I'm trying to modify the default geometry of the realVNC server and, for the life of me, can't get it to work. I've tried creating a new config file in /etc/vnc as well as modifying the existing one. Nothing seems to actually change the resolution.

Code: Select all

# Continue even if standard ports fail
-pn

# Default font path (from xset)
-fp "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled,/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1,/usr/shar$
-geometry 1400x850

As you can tell, I'm trying to create a default geometry of 1400x850. I just can't figure out how Jessie is implementing VNC at boot since it's so different than how I had wheezy set up. It keeps creating the window at what I presume is 800x600 which is cutting off the bottom of applications I try to run on the pi. However, if I plug in a HDMI, the resolution is perfect.

Edit: I can create a new instance of the VNC Server with the appropriate geometry manually once the RPI is running and the resolution is fine, it's just not setting the geometry when I try to set up a config file to do it automatically on start.

[sconemad]

Hi,

When you enable VNC from the Raspberry Pi configuration app, it enables the RealVNC service mode server. This remotes the console desktop (i.e. what you would see if you had a monitor plugged in). However, if you don't have a monitor plugged in, it defaults to the SDTV resolution (720x480 I believe). You can force a particular resolution by editing /boot/config.txt - see the following article for details:
https://support.realvnc.com/knowledgeba ... e/View/523

Alternatively, you can start a virtual desktop by running the vncserver command, which allows you to set the geometry on the command line (which sounds like what you'd been doing previously). You can find more information about that here:
https://www.realvnc.com/docs/raspberry- ... pi-virtual

As for which is the best method, it really depends on what you're doing. If your Pi is booting to desktop anyway, then probably makes sense to use service mode and connect to that, rather than run yet another desktop session in virtual mode. Service mode also has the advantage of being able to display apps that use hardware acceleration (e.g. Minecraft, omxplayer, camera preview), if you enable the "experimental direct capture mode" for VNC Server.

[kerlu]

About touchpad configuration.

Hi !
I just got a Rii K12 wireless keyboard/touchpad (and a RPi !).
I would like to know how to finely configure a touchpad on raspbian.

My problem is how to click and drag an item (window, icon) on a long distance. I use double clic and hold ("click and half") but if I have a long distance, the selection is release at the instant I lift my finger -or it goes out of the border of the pad- (no delay) and I cant replace my finger to continue. That cause me a problem for dragging an icon out of a large window for example.
How can I set a delay to release the selection (0.5-1 sec) so the can replace my finger rapidly to continue dragging (as I do on others computers) ?
Thanks for your help.
--
Fra

[evilkitty]

I just did a fresh install of jessie lite (2016-11-25-raspbian-jessie-lite.img)
i found my ssh not working, so i connected a RCA cable and a keyboard an ran sudo ssh restart and it worked fine till a reboot
however after using raspi-config i found out that ssh seems to have been disabled

Is ssh now disabled by default? if so i believe that should not be the case for jessie lite

[PeterO]

I just did a fresh install of jessie lite (2016-11-25-raspbian-jessie-lite.img)
i found my ssh not working, so i connected a RCA cable and a keyboard an ran sudo ssh restart and it worked fine till a reboot
however after using raspi-config i found out that ssh seems to have been disabled

Is ssh now disabled by default? if so i believe that should not be the case for jessie lite

googling for "raspbian ssh disabled" ... First link.... https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/a-secu ... ian-pixel/

Please try google first !

PeterO

[evilkitty]

googling for "raspbian ssh disabled" ... First link.... https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/a-secu ... ian-pixel/

Please try google first !

To be fair i did use google 1st but I was searching for something along the lines of: raspberry pi jessie ssh connection refused
i did not realize it was actually disabled till i installed telnet and noticed i did not see the message about the ssh password till after i told the ssh service to restart it was at that point i went into raspi-config and went to check if it was disabled there

also that post states it is for pixel, i always use the headless (light) image

i really do not consider leaving ssh on to be that big of a risk, does anyone use a pi connected directly to there modem and not have it behind a router? i would not except the attack to come from a local address
* a router acts as a firewall, so unless you forward port 22 to the pi, the ssh server is not accessible over the internet to be attacked
i do believe anyone who knows how to forward ports would know better that to use a default password when doing so, but then again common sense seems to be quite uncommon these days

i can understand doing that with the pixel image, but not the light image

[Martin Frezman]

You really gotta wonder what the actual motivating event was here.

It seems clear that *SOMETHING* happened to cause the Raspbian developers (and/or the HHs at RPF) to "see God" and have a security epiphany.

Of course, we'll never find out what it is/was.

[jojopi]

It seems clear that *SOMETHING* happened to cause the Raspbian developers (and/or the HHs at RPF) to "see God" and have a security epiphany.

If the change was really motivated by security, then I think they should have identified the proper issue—the "default" password.

Apparently Simon "vetoed" the idea of being able to set a password or key via /boot/ on "usability" grounds. Like with the previous removal of "cryptic" boot messages, it is clear that RPF are focussing on a particular user, and that user has more televisions than Pies.

I do wonder whether that type of user is actually the one driving Pi sales, and also whether the type of user who is scared (rather than fascinated) by boot messages can ever become a computer scientist.

[hippy]

I do wonder whether that type of user is actually the one driving Pi sales, and also whether the type of user who is scared (rather than fascinated) by boot messages can ever become a computer scientist.

The Pi is intended to introduce people to computers and coding, especially kids, so it's not surprising that many of the intended audience would be daunted by obscure messages and warnings they don't understand. Some of the messages produced during apt-get upgrade I often don't understand and worry if it's how it should be or something is wrong, about to break. A novice might just walk away if scared too much.

I don't think judging how novices may react to something which really is quite complex and daunting is a good measure of their future potential.

[gkreidl]

I do wonder whether that type of user is actually the one driving Pi sales, and also whether the type of user who is scared (rather than fascinated) by boot messages can ever become a computer scientist.

The Pi is intended to introduce people to computers and coding, especially kids, so it's not surprising that many of the intended audience would be daunted by obscure messages and warnings they don't understand. Some of the messages produced during apt-get upgrade I often don't understand and worry if it's how it should be or something is wrong, about to break. A novice might just walk away if scared too much.

I don't think judging how novices may react to something which really is quite complex and daunting is a good measure of their future potential.

Do you have kids? Did you ever teach kids?
They are not easily scared (except if we scare them).
But there's another group of people which the Foundations has to deal with: teachers. Many of them get easily scared if something doesn't look like Windows.

[kkolbo]

I am new to Linux administration. I have a project that will use RPis as time clock terminals linking to a central server for database, reporting, and time sync. All of the units will be on a local network with no access to the outside world / internet. Setting up the NTP server on a Windows box as the central server is pretty simple. I found the instruction for directing my Linux Mint box to a specific server. I have tried to read as many Linux posts on the net about NTP, but what I have learned is there are different procedures for the different distros.

Can you point me to the instructions for pointing the RPi 3, running Jessie, to a specific local NTP server when it boots? It would be nice if when it queries the local server, if the server has suffered the same power outage, that the RPi will continue to try until the server finishes booting.

It does not matter, but the server may be a RPi with a RTC installed, or a Windows box.

Thanks,

KK

[DougieLawson]

It's no problem at all. NTP uses a polling system to connect when possible to the reference server. The connections are done using UDP/IP which isn't a reliable connection unlike TCP/IP. If a packet goes missing with UDP/IP nothing matters.

[deodio]

Hi everyone,
i have 2 different audio card 1 for audio out and 1 for audio in.
I have to configure ~/.asoundrc or /etc/asound.conf but i don't know how is possible.

Can anyone help me?

Regards

[karlkiste]

Hiya!

There's a new raspbian image out since 2017-01-11, but the release notes have not been updated. When CM3 was announced a few days later I thought, ah, that new image has support for CM3 and the release notes were kept back not to spoil the real announcement.

Isn't it time now to release the notes? Or is there another piece of newly supported hardware to be expected the next few days?

Greets
Kiste

[procount]

@karlkiste

Already discussed. viewtopic.php?f=66&t=171024&hilit=new+raspbian+release

[karlkiste]

Already discussed.

Thanks, must have looked over that one

[kkolbo]

It's no problem at all. NTP uses a polling system to connect when possible to the reference server. The connections are done using UDP/IP which isn't a reliable connection unlike TCP/IP. If a packet goes missing with UDP/IP nothing matters.

I don't understand how that points my Pi to my local NTP server. I have added the IP of the server in /etc/np.conf but it still does not go get the time from the local server. It is on a net without internet access.

KK

[B.Goode]

I have added the IP of the server in /etc/np.conf

Is that just a typing error in the forum, or does it reflect Real Life?

The configuration file is /etc/ntp.conf

There is some support information here: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/sag/html/basic-ntp-config.html

[DougieLawson]

I posted my ntp configuration on another thread today
viewtopic.php?p=1103784#p1103784

[JasonNaughton]

Just a quick question. I've been using (raspbian) jessie since April 15, 2016. I've been updating/upgrading/dist-upgrading my pi3 when I see there are updates to be applied. Yet I couldn't help but to notice /etc/debian-release contains:

Code: Select all

# cat /etc/debian_version 
8.0

as you can tell via my uname -a:

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Linux trooper 4.4.50-v7+ #970 SMP Mon Feb 20 19:18:29 GMT 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux

That I'm running the latest update. Yet I couldn't help but notice that debian latest release is at 8.7. Have I missed a step and have fallen behind in my updates?

[fruitoftheloom]

Just a quick question. I've been using (raspbian) jessie since April 15, 2016. I've been updating/upgrading/dist-upgrading my pi3 when I see there are updates to be applied. Yet I couldn't help but to notice /etc/debian-release contains:

Code: Select all

# cat /etc/debian_version 
8.0

as you can tell via my uname -a:

Code: Select all

Linux trooper 4.4.50-v7+ #970 SMP Mon Feb 20 19:18:29 GMT 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux

That I'm running the latest update. Yet I couldn't help but notice that debian latest release is at 8.7. Have I missed a step and have fallen behind in my updates?

Debian is 8.7, but you are actually running Raspbian Jessie not Debian Jessie.

Debian Jessie ARMHF is for ARMv7.

Raspbian Jessie is a re-spin of Debian Jessie for ARMv6 & ARMv7.

[JasonNaughton]

Thanks fruitoftheloom for the response. So my next question would be is Raspbian Jessie only at 8.0 or am I behind in updates? I've done a apt-get update, apt-get upgrade and apt-get dist-upgrade and /etc/debian_version is still at 8.0. Is this the latest version or is there a set of commands I'm missing?

[rpdom]

Thanks fruitoftheloom for the response. So my next question would be is Raspbian Jessie only at 8.0 or am I behind in updates? I've done a apt-get update, apt-get upgrade and apt-get dist-upgrade and /etc/debian_version is still at 8.0. Is this the latest version or is there a set of commands I'm missing?

The version in the case refers to the base image you installed. Using apt-get update and apt-get upgrade (or dist-upgrade if it shows packages are held-back) will make sure you are running an up to date system.