I just got my first RS&Boom the other day for a research project. I need some extra software on the Pi for the project, but found I can’t install any packages on it. I just get a flood of 404 errors.
It looks like the version of Debian in use is now so old that the mirrors no longer distribute packages for it. The install appears to be using mirror.us.leaseweb.net, which no longer has buster packages. Neither does the raspbian.raspberrypi.org upstream. Even Debian themselves no longer provide buster packages from deb.debian.org.
I did find a source of packages at legacy.raspbian.org, but those appear to be a newer version of buster than the RS&Boom uses, and I’ve seen the warnings about not updating the software. I’m concerned that perhaps the shake was configured specifically to not pull packages from that source.
(Aside: I’m not really in any position to complain about old software. I once ran a project where we bent over backwards to maintain an old compiler toolchain for about half a decade because updating it would have been too disruptive. I’ve been there.)
So, I suppose I have three questions:
Is there a recommended work-around to install extra packages?
If not, what do I need to be careful of when updating? What shake-specific modifications do I need to make sure aren’t touched?
Has any progress been made on updating the shake OS to a new distribution? It seems the last comment was from April last year indicating this was being considered.
For reference, it would simplify things a lot to be able to install rsync and dump1090. There’s a few other libraries it’d be great to get installed, but those two will cause the most immediate grief.
you bring up a couple of points i will address in turn:
Latest Raspbian OS
Now that the latest Shake-OS, V21.2, has been released and the publicly available Shake-OS image updated, upgrading the underlying Raspbian OS version is on the near-future roadmap. That said, the current version of the OS, though a touch on the old side, does not impact performance of the Shake in any negative way. As regards security, when our published guidelines are followed, there is also no increased risk of the unit being compromised.
Installation of 3rd-Party Software
As stated in the manual, as the end-user and owner of your Shake device, you are free to install any software of your choosing on the Shake’s Pi. However, this is discouraged for at least a couple of reasons:
Depending on what is installed, running additional software on the unit may degrade performance in ways that can neither be predicted nor ultimately controlled.
Even though the on-board Pi is technically a computer, the Shake instrument is regarded as an “appliance”. Thus, there is no guarantee that any future updates to the system made by us will not result in breaking “something” which has been installed by the end-user.
In general, adding “work” to the Pi cannot be regarded as deterministic in terms of predicting any possible negative effects, either short- or long-term, in how the overall system functions.
Our recommendation is always: run all data-processing software on another device.
Regarding the two packages you listed as being of interest to you:
Installing rsync implies you want to use this method to copy the data off the unit to another computer. Copying the data is fine, but in the absence of rsync being available, there are several other methods available to you:
1.1. scp
1.2. configure ‘Data Cast’, available in the front-end configuration app, to send the data over UDP to the receiving computer. This data can then be captured using the RSUDP application, or by a python application you can write yourself.
1.3. using the Seedlink protocol, acquire the data in near real-time from the Shake to be imported to your own Seedlink server.
The other program, dump1090, appears to involve adding an incoming data-stream to the system. Even though I do not know the details of its payload or delivery frequency, I can only say that this is highly discouraged since HW interrupts will now be competing between reading data off the serial port, coming from the Shake board, and this other incoming data, presumably over the USB port. Depending on the details, it is possible in this scenario that Shake data will necessarily be dropped when the Pi is attempting to read from both data-stream buses.
To your specific questions then:
Installing extra packages is discouraged. In general, alternate methods should be investigated to identify a solution that does not involve modifications to the Pi’s OS.
This is not possible to answer in any specific way since each package an end-user could choose to install comes with its own implementation details and requirements.
As stated above, upgrading the Shake-OS to employ the latest Raspbian release is on the near-future roadmap, it is indeed time for this to happen.
Please let us know if you have any other questions, etc.