Can I install Raspbian and a custom image onto one SD Card?

[DeeDooDaa8]

Hello, I've been trying to figure out how I could install two Operating Systems onto one SD Card. I would put this SD Card into my Raspberry Pi 3 and boot. The two that I want to install are the default os, Raspbian, and, the PirateBox image. I want to be able to boot into one or the other OS, and then go on from there. Also, could I use a 16GB SD card with this, or would it require more storage? I hope that someone can help.

[procount]

Use PINN to multiboot them. But you will need to convert Piratebox into a "custom os" which is described in the readme_pinn.md and in the wiki (see signature to start)

[rpdom]

Generally it is easier to use two cards and just switch them when you want to boot from a different OS.

Also this gives you the advantage that if you have a problem with one OS you can boot from the other card and try to fix the problem with a USB card reader.

[procount]

@rpdom - yes you can do that, but it's not an advantage over PINN.
If you have a problem with an OS under PINN, you can use the recovery shell of PINN to do the same low level repairs, or use PINN's backup, restore, replace, reinstall, fsck, or password recovery features to fix it, all without having to swap SD cards. Once properly installed it is rare that PINN will not boot since it is a mostly read-only OS / installer.

[procount]

@DeeDooDaa8 - regarding SD card size, Raspbian is OK on a 16GB card. I've been asked to provide Piratebox as a PINN install before, but I've not got around to it yet. It looks relatively small in itself, so you should be able to install them both. However, PINN shares any free space equally between the OSes, so you end up with around 8GB for each of the OSes. This is getting rather small for Raspbian now, so it depends what you want to do with it. Also, given Piratebox is used for file sharing, it depends on how many files you are going to share and where you will store them (on the SD card, or externally). If you are storing files to be shared externally, then you can probably adjust the SD card allocation of both OSes, but this is more of an advanced subject.

[DeeDooDaa8]

Thank you to everyone who replied. PINN has been mentioned a lot in the answers, yet I haven’t really seen how to put the pirate box software on it. Raspbian is supported but I can’t see the Pirate Box software on the list. Would there be a way to install pirate box onto PINN. I hope you can help.

[B.Goode]

Thank you to everyone who replied. PINN has been mentioned a lot in the answers, yet I haven’t really seen how to put the pirate box software on it. Raspbian is supported but I can’t see the Pirate Box software on the list. Would there be a way to install pirate box onto PINN. I hope you can help.

See the reply from the developer/maintainer of PINN about exactly this question: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 4#p1549056

[procount]

I have not converted Piratebox for PINN yet, but details on how to convert an OS such as Piratebox for use with PINN yourself are explained here -> https://github.com/procount/pinn/blob/m ... os-version and here -> https://github.com/procount/pinn/wiki/H ... using-PINN
It's not too difficult, but if you have problems, you may have to wait until I have time to get around to it.

[DeeDooDaa8]

@procount, I downloaded PINN lite and in the os directory, there was another directory called ProjectSpace. In the os.json file, it wasn’t like the tutorial had said. I am really confused and I hope you can help.

[procount]

Project spaces are documented in the link I gave you to README_PINN.md.
You can just ignore them.

Try following the wiki procedure. It is more comprehensive. You will need a USB stick, usbreader and another SD card

[DeeDooDaa8]

The procedure says I need:
“ Access to NOOBS formatted OS distributions (via Internet or local memory device).”. What does this mean?

[procount]

That's just for general operation of PINN.
i.e. if you want PINN to install an OS, PINN must be able to download it from the Internet, or you need to download it yourself and provide it on a USB stick. Nothing more than that.

[DeeDooDaa8]

Providing that I use a USB stick, how should I go around adding Pirate-box to PINN. Sorry if I sound stupid, but I'm a noob in this sort of thing.

[procount]

I have made a start to convert it for you, so if you can be patient it should be available soon.
It has presented one small conversion issue for me, so please bear with me.

[procount]

PirateBox is now available through PINN.

[DeeDooDaa8]

Thank you so much. It works