First information for new Pyra owners (FAQ)

[matzesu]

So when like on my Unit a Feature was on the "Stock OS whit the latest Updates" and it wasnt when i used the Reflash Image whit the latest Updates,
(Charging whitout CPU) , i should now Full Upgrade, and after this works, maybe make a Full Upgrade only monthly, and the normal Upgrade maybe every 2 - 3 days?

 

[ClockworkCoder]

Yes, something along those lines. Although I'd personally run full upgrade every 3-6 months rather than more frequently, although I'm not sure how the upgrade cycle for Debian is these days (used to be every 6 months or so there was a new major release which required you to do a full upgrade).

 

[matzesu]

Well, whe use Debian, but a Custom Version whit Pyra Related Packages, so every Upgrade could make the Pyra a bit better, so this is my thinking behind more frequency search for updates.., also using this comment, is quite fast, and i have the Terminal as a "link" on my Desktop..
so lets say: Watching Lets Plays on the Iphone, and whyle this, just run the Terminal on the Pyra dosnt cost me that much time,,

 

[levi]

Yes, something along those lines. Although I'd personally run full upgrade every 3-6 months rather than more frequently, although I'm not sure how the upgrade cycle for Debian is these days (used to be every 6 months or so there was a new major release which required you to do a full upgrade).

It's not documented as clearly as arch would do it, but that's debian for you. As far as I can tell, apt-get doesn't have a full-upgrade option. The slightly newer front end, apt does, and as far as I read it it suggests that your apt upgrade will fail if it can't do what you need to do a full-upgrade for. So as I read it, if you want to use apt-get like an old-timer, run apt-get update && apt-get-upgrade and apt-get dist-upgrade when it becomes time to fiddle with your sources.list, or be more up to date and use apt update && apt upgrade and do apt full-upgrade when it or someone here tells you to.

 

[matzesu]

Is this something „nerd-religious „ ?
If I remember correctly, the Pyra is just a Computer, not a god,
So what would happen when I only type apt update, or too often apt full-upgrade??

And is there a Differenz between the Pyra whit the OS Image, flashed by Evildragon in Ingolstadt, and apt upgrade by me last week multiple times
And the Pyra whit the OS I reflashed on Sunday whit the Test 33 Image I dit , and apt upgrade this week??
Other than that I dit the language setting on the second flash right on the first boot wizard..


Not send from my Pyra, but my Pyra is also here whit me ^^

 

[levi]

And is there a Differenz between the Pyra whit the OS Image, flashed by Evildragon in Ingolstadt, and apt upgrade by me last week multiple times
And the Pyra whit the OS I reflashed on Sunday whit the Test 33 Image I dit , and apt upgrade this week??
Other than that I dit the language setting on the second flash right on the first boot wizard..

The update commands should tell you what they're doing. They are physically upgrading the OS as the name suggests, and that is a category of change.

 

[matzesu]

Ok so this means when I made the upgrade of the test 33 image whit apt upgrade, it’s in the end the same OS I would have when I would apt upgrade the OS who was on the Pyra 28 when it arrived to me last Wednesday?

Im just a bit confused because the blue light that was back who was gone last weekend before I had to reflash..


Not send from my Pyra, but my Pyra is also here whit me ^^

 

[levi]

Yes, although there was a delay while you played with the system and observed the colour of the light, and then a delay while you reimaged the filesystem, and a delay while you observed the colour of the light again. Any lenght of delay means there more of a chance somebody will have published an updated package on the server, which you then install when you do some kind of apt* upgrade.

 

[matzesu]

Ok and what dos this means for someone who only got user experience whit the Pandora and a bit Ubuntu User Experience?
I know how to drive everything from a E-Bike over Scouter, Small Cars, Vans, SUV up to Unimog and even Busses, but the Pyra is something like our Kanzlerin Angela Merkel would called „Neuland“
Would my Pyra gets ever come back to the state of the other Pyras on the Wild?
This is a bit sad because I wanted my Pyra extra Maxed out because my Pandora is a First Batch Unit whit less MHZ and less RAM than a Rebirth..


Not send from my Pyra, but my Pyra is also here whit me ^^

Edit: is this the right version anyway?

 

[levi]

As long as we're all updating like good linux users should, we'll all be on the latest code.

The pandora as well as older linux gadgets were a bit special. It was before google project zero started pointing out all of the holes in our software.

 

[matzesu]

Ok quick Update: I just put my Micro USB Cable on the Charging Port above the black USB2 Port, and the Power Button got the RED LED, but the Green LED on the LID was off, so seems like this might be back on the same state like other Pyra..
Or something else went wrong after my Reflash..


Not send from my Pyra, but my Pyra is also here whit me ^^

 

[PowerGod]

Damn, so there's ANOTHER added package manager ?!
I still remember when I started to use apt-get because it was the "right way" and then after some years had to use aptitude (because became the "right way") to correct all the issues made with apt-get... and then I had to use apt-get again to correct the issues made by aptitude... and in the end I reinstalled everything from scratch...

 

[Phlyra]

in the end I reinstalled everything from scratch...

So far, I’ve only used apt-get or Synaptic and wondered how one goes about installing packages, as you say, from scratch...

 

[BAFelton]

Sorry if it's already written somewhere, but where do I copy dbps on the SD card ? pyra/apps or something ?
Thanks.

 

[levi]

I think the root folder needs to be called 'dragonbox' but I'm not sure what should go in there. Certainly by default I'd expect the same inner folder as the pandora folder for our pnds but I'm not sure. I'll code it up on the wiki if someone posts here with full details.

 

[PowerGod]

So far, I’ve only used apt-get or Synaptic and wondered how one goes about installing packages, as you say, from scratch...

I meant that I repartitioned and reinstalled the entire OS because at some point dealing with all those unmet dependencies and broken packages was almost impossible...

The "correct" procedure should be to stick with ONE package manager and NEVER use the other ones, because all of them do the same things in little different ways... at the beginning you don't even notice that, but when you use the OS for a long time, trough different upgrades, then you'll start to see that very well.

In my case with apt-get I was unable to solve some situations (maybe also caused by the use of Synaptic, I don't know), even removing and reinstalling all the defective packages with it... and aptitude seemingly did a miracle making my system working again with a simple command... but this was only the peace before the storm.

The main problem is that the official upgrade Debian procedure changed from version to version, so in one they were telling to use a manager, in the other they were telling to use another manager, etc... and the mess began like that.

 

[TrashyMG]

Sorry if it's already written somewhere, but where do I copy dbps on the SD card ? pyra/apps or something ?
Thanks.

Typical usage is having the packages in dragonbox/packages folder.
the dragonbox/appdata/*APPLICATION_NAME** is where user data (saves) and such goes. I'm not 100% sure if the appdata folder itself is auto created, but the Application sub directory is typically autocreated on first run of the program.

just to add, I believe it will also read .dbp packages in the root of the SD card, but appdata will still need to be in the dragonbox/appdata folder.

 

[BAFelton]

I just put the dbp on the root of the sdcard and it worked. It creates the folders then.

 

[matzesu]

At the Moment, whe only use 2 Systems: the Debian ARM HF Repo for the Basics (Firefox etc), and the DBP Files for extra for the Pyra optimiced Software, allthough the Basics as DBP would be also a good idea, if you have to reflash your Pyra, you dont have to setup your Links again when Firefox and its Data is saved on the SD Card as DBP..

But as whe dont want to reflash our Pyra, whe may be save..

How do i enable Headset, or Bluetooth Headphones? Just push the button on my Headphones, use the Bluetooth Software on the Pyra to connect, or just put in the Audio Cable and then dissable the speakers in the Audio Software? (Pulse Audio)
And do i have to remember which Audio Canals i dissabled to have Speakers again?

 

[levi]

I wonder how big the OS reflash image is? I generally run a separate home partition from my OS ones on my own maintained machines for just this kind of thing; I can reflash or rebuild my OS from scratch without losing any of my settings or user data.