Download Pyra Debian OS (WIP)

[ible]

i'm curious if it's possible for the pyra to do a debian rolling release based on testing by setting the source lists to "testing" instead of "stretch". or are there some pyra-specific things that are specific to stretch?

if it is possible, is it recommended? i'm completely new to debian, though i've been using it implicitly for a while (via ubuntu). i'm considering installing it as a rolling release on an old laptop for testing purposes.

 

[sebt3]

Technically, changing from strech to "testing" or even to "unstable/sid" is completly doable. You'll just need to pin down a few package that come from here (like fbturbo).

You might face issues with dbps though as they will be only tested on strech (even if, most of the time you'll be able to fix the problem with a symlink)

 

[ible]

neat, writing from my "rolling debian testing" laptop now. i just changed "buster" to "testing" everywhere in /etc/apt/sources.list, even though it says to remove the security lines at this site:
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTesting
i.e., i kept lines like this in:

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security testing/updates main contrib non-free

and these appear to be valid distributions at the http://security.debian.org/debian-security site. this site had them kept in:
http://www.binarytides.com/enable-testing-repo-debian/
that one also explains how to pin repositories, so i'll use that for the pyra specific stuff. thanks!

 

[AxPU]

i just changed "buster" to "testing" everywhere in /etc/apt/sources.list, even though it says to remove the security lines at this

I'm not sure if you just misspoke but I'll add this for clarity:

Changing the sources.list from "buster" to "testing" has no effect this moment. Currently Debian testing is called "buster" and there is absolutely no difference between them. That will of course change when "buster" gets released as Debian "stable". From that moment on, "testing" will be pointing to Debian version 11 "bullseye" and so on.

What does this really mean?
Leave "buster" in your sources.list and you will be using "testing" for now. After its release, you will still be using "buster" - but then it is Debian "stable".
Put "testing" in your sources.list and you will be using "testing" for now. After "buster" is released as "stable" you will still be using "testing" but then it's the upcoming version 11 "bullsye"
And so it goes on...

A word to the "rolling release" nature of Debian testing. It is more or less that as long as the Development has not been frozen. Quite a few months before a Debian release, "testing" gets frozen. That means that (almost) no new software will be included and only bugs will be hunted instead. In that case, it is no longer rolling and some packages might get a bit stale. That might or might not be a problem for you if you want to be on a rolling Linux Distro. I use Debian for almost everything and don't care too much about it. But for bleeding edge "rolling" there are other Linux Distributions like Arch that I would also recommend.

That information is of course not specific to the Pyra but for Debian generally. Maybe you knew that anyway and actually meant "stretch" instead of "buster". But anyway - I thought to include this explanation because not everyone here is a Linux crack - yet ;-)

 

[ible]

@AxPU that's indeed what i intended to do (create a Debian rolling release based on testing), although that laptop died for other reasons (probably need to replace the harddrive).

arch i tried once and got into a bad state, so i didn't care much for bleeding edge, though i do like the idea of a stable rolling release. maybe i should look into tumbleweed...

but it wasn't terrible to do a release upgrade on ubuntu 16.04, i got to 18.04 with no real issues... (though i think my screen backlight keys don't work anymore).

 

[Wally]

rootfs link isn't working right now

 

[levi]

I get the following error from firefox:

packages.pyra-handheld.com uses an invalid security certificate. The certificate is only valid for the following names: mail.openpandora.org, open-pandora.de, open-pandora.org, openpandora.org, www.open-pandora.de, www.open-pandora.org, www.openpandora.org Error code: SSL_ERROR_BAD_CERT_DOMAIN

 

[Grench]

Does anyone have any (rough) estimate for when the next packaged OS image will be coming out with 3D + Tiler? Mostly wondering if this is days, weeks or months out.

Thanks!

 

[TrashyMG]

Does anyone have any (rough) estimate for when the next packaged OS image will be coming out with 3D + Tiler? Mostly wondering if this is days, weeks or months out.

Thanks!

I can guess @aTc would know.

It may be just a case of downloading a fairly latest image and apt updating.

 

[aTc]

Two months.

 

[Grench]

Two months.

Let me know if you get to the point where you have a version that you want some testing done on? I know that things are moving pretty quickly right now with the new 3D developments and whatnot.

Also - is there any chance we can use a more user friendly EXT4 instead of the F2FS? I want to be able to resize (grow AND shrink) and copy the rootfs easily and F2FS is a royal pain in the ass to manipulate.

Use case to grow rootfs: Install image to a > 8GB microSDXC card, grow rootfs to max out the card, use as primary boot target in internal microSDXC slot.
Use case to shrink rootfs: So that the partition can be copied from one big / main card to another old / smaller card for easy backup/archive.
Use case to copy rootfs: Install on one card, get everything configured just right, copy it to a 2nd card to throw in the drawer as a ready swap-in backup.

None of the above is particularly easy with F2FS, but all are commonplace and relatively easy to do with EXT2, EXT3, EXT4, NTFS, HPFS, etc.

 

[levi]

Can't you copy it yourself? If it fits on an 8GB card it doesn't sound enormous, so you could:
(a) Copy rootfs to card
(b) Create a ext4 partition at the end of the card, big enough to take the rootfs
(c) #copy -a from f2fs partition to ext partition
(d) Nuke f2fs partition in fdisk/partitoner of choice
(e) Grow ext partition to fill card

It's a chunk of work, but f2fs is a better fit for flash media than ext ever has been, so I'd hope that or something like it is used for release. If there aren't many more people with devboards wanting this, you can do it yourself.

 

[daveshah]

It's also worth noting that we haven't yet updated the default config yet; so even if we built a new image today it still wouldn't have the new X11/DRI3 packages or configuration by default.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

In 2023, how to reflash the Pyra with the OS that comes preinstalled (get image, flash procedure) ?

 

[EvilDragon]

Should work like this:
Go here: https://packages.pyra-handheld.com/images/buster/
Download the install.img, flash it onto an SD Card (dd, Etcher, etc.), boot that card in your Pyra and it should install the OS on the internal storage.

 

[pimaster]

In 2023, how to reflash the Pyra with the OS that comes preinstalled (get image, flash procedure) ?

The Wiki should hold all the keys! https://pyra-handheld.com/wiki/index.php?title=Manual
And if it doesn't, make sure you correct it.