STICKY: PINN - An enhanced version of NOOBS.

[beta-tester]

i updated PINN 2.4.4c to PINN 2.4.5 by using the build-in update option.

i have an issue with reinstalling retropie.
i have retropie 4.2 installed (by using previous version of PINN 2.4.4c) and thought i can reinstalling it to retropie 4.3 in PINN 2.4.5.
but there i get an error "File Not Found" (root_rp4.tar.xz)
(i haven't setted up retropie 4.2 - so i thought that option would be the simplest and cleanest to get retropie 4.3 to SD card)

and the background=r,g,b option does not change the background of all stages of PIN boot process.
at boot with the logo, the background option takes effect. but the following boot menu where you chose where to boot into of the installed OS is still white.
e.g.
when booting and holding left [shift]-key, PINN starts in the menu to maintain OS. there all the backgrounds ist changed.
but by using exit you change to the boot menu, and there the background is back to bright white.

[procount]

The background option is not the best - just a quick fix for now. It will get better. A full solution with font changes etc is a lot more work.

The Retropie problem is a mistake I thought I had fixed but it's crept back in. I'll look at it. Thanks for reporting.

[phmio]

I had to remove it because it often stopped PINN from booting into another os. It would just freeze. Not had time to look further into it. If you can fix it I will be happy to reinclude in a future version.

I have done a few tests (with an RPI2 and 5 OS installed) and i notice it seems to happen when enter into the MainWindow, exit it to the showBootMenu and then select an OS to boot.
Sometimes PINN seems really frozen, but others not. I have plugged an USB-serial controller to the rpi2 rx/tx gpio and i could login into PINN
Here is what i have got:

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Memory use:
# free 
             total         used         free       shared      buffers
Mem:        235328        91192       144136          388        11124
-/+ buffers:              80068       155260
Swap:            0            0            0

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Filesystem use:
# df -hPT
Filesystem           Type            Size      Used Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/root            squashfs       28.9M     28.9M         0 100% /
devtmpfs             devtmpfs       96.4M         0     96.4M   0% /dev
tmpfs                tmpfs         114.9M    364.0K    114.6M   0% /tmp
/dev/mmcblk0p5       ext4           30.0M      3.7M     24.0M  13% /settings
/dev/mmcblk0p1       vfat           62.9M     37.0M     25.8M  59% /mnt

But what it is strange is that there is more than one recovery process when it happens (sometimes 2 or 3 processes).
Whatever piece of code that is added after bsd.exec(); it produce often the frozen state, if i remove it as you have done, PINN works OK,....and i also don't known why

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# ps -o user,group,pid,ppid,comm,args| grep reco
root     root       132     1 recovery         /usr/bin/recovery -repo_list http://raw.githubusercontent.com/procount/pinn-os/master/os/repo_list.json -qws
root     root       201   132 recovery         /usr/bin/recovery -repo_list http://raw.githubusercontent.com/procount/pinn-os/master/os/repo_list.json -qws

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# ps -o user,group,pid,ppid,comm,args| grep reco
root     root       132     1 recovery         /usr/bin/recovery -repo_list http://raw.githubusercontent.com/procount/pinn-os/master/os/repo_list.json -qws
root     root       213   132 recovery         [recovery]
root     root       215   132 recovery         /usr/bin/recovery -repo_list http://raw.githubusercontent.com/procount/pinn-os/master/os/repo_list.json -qws

.

[beta-tester]

The Retropie problem is a mistake I thought I had fixed but it's crept back in. I'll look at it. Thanks for reporting.

i flashed the SD card from scratch and installed everything newly from scratch
(because the retropie file system was broken after the file not found issue i had before)
the new installation of retropie 4.3 worked without any issues.

so no idea, what the reason was before.
maybe it was, because labels of the partitions includes the version of retropie.
boot_rp4, root_rp42 (retropie 4.2)
boot_rp43, root_rp43 (retropie 4.3)
if that was the reason, isn't it better to make the label independent to the installed version to bypass that kins of issues?

BTW.: is there a way to control in which physical order the OS'es will be installed on the SD card?
when i installed LibreElec + Retropie, then allways retropie is placed in front of LibreElec physically on SD card.
but i wanted to have it in the oppsid order.
it is easier to shrink LibreELEC partition and grow Retropie (with gparted), when the partition to shrink (LibreELEC) is in front and the partiton to grow (Retropie) is the very last partition on the SD card.
or in case, when there are more OS'es are installed and you want to shrink and grow partitions afterwards, then it would be good, when you could control the order of installation to minimize the shrink/grow/move processes.

[procount]

Yeah I originally mislabelled the 4.2 boot partition and I thought I'd done the same again but apparently not. So I was trying to investigate. It should not matter what the partition name was so I think it picked up the old file for the new version. Did you originally install v4.2 from the internet?

Reordering will be tricky but I'll put it on the list.

[beta-tester]

Yeah I originally mislabelled the 4.2 boot partition and I thought I'd done the same again but apparently not. So I was trying to investigate. It should not matter what the partition name was so I think it picked up the old file for the new version. Did you originally install v4.2 from the internet?

it was previously pinn-lite 2.4.4c to a fresh formated SD card and installed Retropie 4.2 + LibreELEC + Raspbian-lite via internet.
and then updared PINN via its updater to 2.4.5 and then i tried to reinstall Retropie (4.2?) by ticking Retropie item and clicking reinstall button.
(in the menu there was still Retropie 4.2 shown at that time after update to PINN 2.4.5, but i thought it was a refresh issue or forgotten menu entry. then by trying reinstall retropie, i got that File Not Found error and the retropie installation was broken and not bootable anymore)
i can not reproduce that, because now i have the SD card re-flashed.

Reordering will be tricky but I'll put it on the list.

thank you... only a whish - i think not many people will have the specific needs.
it would already help, then the install order is the same as the selection order.
maybe instead of running through the "check box list" afterwards at clicking install button (OsGroup::selectedItems),
then tracking the "check box state change" event and fill the list when a selection happens then you have the order in the right way
(add to list, the check state == checked, remove from list, when unchecked).
maybe at OsGroup::newTab by adding an additional
connect(list, SIGNAL(itemChanged(QListWidgetItem *)), this, SLOT(handle_selection_order(QListWidgetItem *)));
statements that may do the tracking.
but i am not familary with Linux and Qt programming

[procount]

@beta-tester - I've identified the problem, so will fix it soon.

[mattrix]

@beta-tester

If you want to skip having to manually resize the partitions, I have a web app that can do it for you.
It allows setting the initial partition sizes.

More info:
https://www.matthuisman.nz/2017/05/noob ... sizes.html

[beta-tester]

@beta-tester
If you want to skip having to manually resize the partitions, I have a web app that can do it for you.
It allows setting the initial partition sizes.

More info:
https://www.matthuisman.nz/2017/05/noob ... sizes.html

thank you, it is a nice idea to do it like this.
that functionality also could be integrated to PINN itself to override the partition sizes at OS installation time...
a new entry for the wishlist... .

[procount]

PINN has the ability to change the recovery key instead of SHIFT via text file option?
I'm using this controller for media player:
https://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B008RTE16K
that has numbers, letters, CAPS/NUM LOCK, cursor key, mouse, ENTER, ESC, and some other keys, but miss SHIFT.

Have you tried using your remote to Left-click on the Raspberry logo in the centre of the screen?

[procount]

Procount can you make bigger fonts in the selecting os booting screen?

I mean this sceen: https://imgur.com/a/n3nUo . I think in big tv's it s hard to see those fonts

If you go to the Maintenance menu, highlight PINN and select Edit config, you can add the following to config.txt:

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framebuffer_width=800
framebuffer_height=480

(Adjust size to suit)
But this means you can scale the screen and make the fonts and windows bigger.

[Haris1977]

Thanks @procount. I will take a look when i ll have the time. Any news about programmable cec controls?

[procount]

Programmable CEC controls are still on the list, but I have some more important issues to solve first, and some more OSes to release. I have not forgotten, but it might be a while.

[Haris1977]

@procount that is great. Thanks

[Rellik8821]

Hello,
How to add OS?
I want install Ubuntu Server.

is there a easy way to install?

[procount]

https://github.com/procount/pinn/blob/m ... os-version
https://github.com/raspberrypi/noobs/wi ... n-examples

[procount]

PINN has been updated to v2.4.5d

V2.4.5d

• re-install - A small bugfix release to improve the Re-install option.

A consequence of this is that OSes that are already installed ARE NOT shown in the Main Menu and Archival Menu OS lists unless there is a version of that OS available to install or re-install. The full list of installed OSes is always shown in the Maintenance Menu.

If an updated version of an OS is available for (re-)install, then it will display as [NEW VERSION]. If the description has changed, then this will also be reflected and will then differ from the description in the maintenance menu which will still display the OLD description of the OS that is installed. In this case the installed OS will display as [UPDATE] to indicates a new version is available. An installable OS that is the same one already installed will display as [INSTALLED] as before.

Observant users will have noticed a minor release to fix the background colour of the boot menu.

Gentoo64 has been updated to v1.2 and XBian has been updated to use the latest rolling releases from their website.

[procount]

PINN has been updated to v2.4.5e

V2.4.5e

• remotetimeout - Enable network for remote boot alteration.

This new option allows PINN to be used more easily in a remote headless environment.

PINN did not start any network services unless the main recovery menu was entered, so to access PINN remotely it was necessary to use a local keyboard/mouse to enter the recovery menu first, or use the `forcetrigger` option. But of course, this meant any default booting was disabled and required user interaction to boot an OS.

This new setting adds a timeout to the recovery menu, so if no user interaction is detected within the timeout period, it closes the menu and goes to the boot selection dialog where any default or sticky boot option will be used.

It should be used in conjunction with the following cmdline options:
`forcetrigger` to enter the recovery menu.
`vncshare | vncinstall` to enable remote vnc access.
`[ssh]` if ssh access is also required.
`remoteinstall=20` to set the timeout in seconds (using 20 secs as an example).

Note that adding `vncshare`, `vncinstall` or `ssh` is a potential security risk, with or without this new option.
They are only meant for local LAN use. Providing access to these services/ports over the internet will allow anyone to access PINN once the network is enabled.

[procount]

PINN has been updated to v2.4.5f

V2.4.5f

• rtl8812 wifi - added rtl8812au_rtl8821au-4.3.20 wifi driver for some 5GHz dongles
• Translations - Updated some translations

[CoolPlaysGaming]

Well of course PINN is not NOOBS! I mean there's a huge difference!

Moving on...

I think PINN would be a good idea with all the new features and stuff. But maybe you need to change the name to something more descriptive. PINN decsribes the O B V I O U S (see the beginning of my post).

[procount]

New Kernel v4.14 version available

V2.4.5h

I have released a beta test version of PINN version 2.4.5h.

There's no real functional changes, but the kernel has been updated from v4.4 to v4.14.15 and the RPi firmware updated accordingly.
This is quite a jump and has required new wifi drivers. It is reported that the Autoboot.txt functionality will be fixed with this version, but I've not had chance to test it with all OSes.

Because of these changes, you won't get this version automatically through self-update.
But if you are interested I would encourage you to download it manually from https://sourceforge.net/projects/pinn/files/testing
(Direct link: pinn-245h.zip) and provide feedback on any issues or successes (especially on any wifi drivers that worked before but don't now, or any autoboot issues) so I can gain confidence and push it to mainstream release.

PLEASE don't try it on any existing PINN installation, or SD card you want to keep, just in case there are any issues - it is classed as beta for a reason!

And remember: if you do copy this onto an existing PINN installation, please delete the `runinstaller` option from recovery.cmdline to avoid it wiping out any existing OSes you may want to keep.

I host a lot of files on sourceforge, which has recently undergone a datacentre change. Because of this they have experienced a few download problems and all statistics are still missing for the time being. So if you have problems downloading PINN or any OSes, please be patient and try again in a short while, although it seems to be stable at the moment.

[randytsuch]

Been trying to use Pinns to make a multi OS card, but it hasn't worked very well trying to load the OS's online.

Finally decided to get a USB stick, and download the OS's to the stick first. I'm installing from the stick to the sd card now, this looks like it will work. Some OS's still won't download, but I got what I really wanted.

[procount]

Sourceforge, who host the OSes, still seem to be having a few intermittent problems. Downloading might be a good idea. Be patient and persevere for the time being.

[jypang]

There is only a blank console after i finish installing my os, no option on "Select OS to boot" console.
The OS was successfully installed with NOOBS

[michaelnewham]

Hi all,

I need to move my installed PINN (and OS's, Game ROM's) to a larger SD card. From 8GB to 32Gb.

Any advice on completing the above would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Michael.