So, ... What's The Easiest Way To Install Stuff On Pandora?

[VRAndy]

So, I've installed a couple of small things with opkg, and that works great for little things that I want on my Pandora at all times.

What I'd like to know is, what's the easiest way to install packages from that repository onto the larger removable drives. Ideally I'd like something that could be done on-device.

Is there a known way to do this or is this still being worked out?


For example, say I want to use The Gimp. My first thought was that I could use the destination directory's feature of opkg, and that installed to a SD card just fine but I can't seem to make it actually run with some of its libraries in the non-standard folder.

Am I missing something obvious? Thanks.

 

[WizardStan]

didn't someone create a gimp PND? Obviously that would be the easiest way to "install" something.

 

[mali]

Yep, Stuckie made a Gimp PND
If you want to test Angström stuff and don't want to worry about filling up the NAND, just run the OS from an SD card(see stickied post in this section).

 

[jdbye]

There is a variable you can set to the path of the libraries it needs that will let it know where to find them, try running this in a shell (not sure about the exact variables, but it won't hurt to try it):

export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/libraries
export LIB=/path/to/libraries

Then run GIMP from the same shell.

I'm unsure if the second one does anything at all, but I've used that method before to run apps installed to /home on a linux shell, where I also had some dependencies installed to /home that it couldn't find without that method. So the same method should work on the Pandora although I can't guarantee anything since I don't have a Pandora yet to try it.

But when there's a PND available for the app you want it's much easier just to use that. Some PNDs probably use that method too, in a script that does all the work for you.

 

[urjaman]

IMHO it's to run from SD and use opkg.

 

[VRAndy]

didn't someone create a gimp PND? Obviously that would be the easiest way to "install" something.

Well, sure. I was using Gimp as an example only.

export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/libraries
export LIB=/path/to/libraries

Hmm... I thought I tried this, but it's possible I screwed it up. I'll try it again.

If you want to test Angström stuff and don't want to worry about filling up the NAND, just run the OS from an SD card(see stickied post in this section).

Hmm... I was afraid someone would say that. OK, I'll give that a try as a sort of last resort. (It feels like I lose flexibility that way.)

 

[VRAndy]

(Thanks all for the quick replies.)

 

[WizardStan]

didn't someone create a gimp PND? Obviously that would be the easiest way to "install" something.

Well, sure. I was using Gimp as an example only.

It works for everything not-gimp as well.
"What's the best way to install ABC?" "Use the PND for it."
"No PND exists for ABC." "Ask someone to make one for you."
I'm reasonably certain that sooner or later there will be a simple script which can make PNDs from OPKG files (more or less), in which case that will supersede the second part there.

 

[VRAndy]

No offense, but that's a horrible answer.

I understand the desire to increase the library of PND files, but if I own a computer, especially a Linux machine, It's important to me that I know how to install software on it without someone holding my hand.

 

[SomeGuy99]

Just use a Stuckie extension, install what you want. We are winners.

 

[WizardStan]

No offense, but that's a horrible answer.

I understand the desire to increase the library of PND files, but if I own a computer, especially a Linux machine, It's important to me that I know how to install software on it without someone holding my hand.

You asked for the easiest way. It doesn't get any easier than this.

 

[Tobriand]

Easy, maybe, but I can understand the desire to be able to install programmes - both from opkg and from elsewhere - without needing a pnd made from someone else. It may not be as easy as wait for the .pnd, but let's assume that we're impatient people here, and hey, maybe we want to learn something about the actual OS in the process!

 

[sebt3]

Easy, maybe, but I can understand the desire to be able to install programmes - both from opkg and from elsewhere - without needing a pnd made from someone else. It may not be as easy as wait for the .pnd, but let's assume that we're impatient people here, and hey, maybe we want to learn something about the actual OS in the process!

SomeGuy already answered you then....

Just use a Stuckie extension, install what you want. We are winners.

 

[VRAndy]

You asked for the easiest way. It doesn't get any easier than this.

Fair enough.


I guess what I was looking for was the easiest way I could do it all by myself. I should have specified.

 

[VRAndy]

Just use a Stuckie extension, install what you want. We are winners.

Hmm... This may be what I want. I'll have to look at it more closely.

Either this, or running entirely from SD will make me happy. Thanks all.

-Andy

 

[sebt3]

I guess what I was looking for was the easiest way I could do it all by myself. I should have specified.

you could package pnds yourself too that's not too hard

 

[jdbye]

I'm probably gonna boot from SD when I get a Pandora, no worrying about wearing out the NAND or running out of space. I like to browse through repositories and install stuff that looks interesting (though I wish I could use Synaptic on the Pandora, but that's not possible since it uses opkg right?)

 

[paulguy]

If you want to be weird, you could make the root on the NAND read only, and union mount a partition on an SD card over it. Any changes would be committed to the SD card, but your OS would still be running off the NAND.

mount -t unionfs -o dirs=/=ro:/mnt/mmkblk0 none /

Or something thereabouts... I just did some basic research on union mounts so that might not be quite right, and I don't know the benefits of aufs so that might be worth looking in to.

 

[SomeGuy99]

If you want to be weird, you could make the root on the NAND read only, and union mount a partition on an SD card over it. Any changes would be committed to the SD card, but your OS would still be running off the NAND.

mount -t unionfs -o dirs=/=ro:/mnt/mmkblk0 none /

Or something thereabouts... I just did some basic research on union mounts so that might not be quite right, and I don't know the benefits of aufs so that might be worth looking in to.

Stuckie's extension system already uses this method. Plus, he is testing and tweaking it to death... for the benefit of us all.

 

[paulguy]

Oh, nifty, I didn't even know what you meant by Stuckie extension and couldn't find anything with googling, so I just mentioned union mounting.