Software testing help wanted for Raspberry Pi

At the moment the disc image is the only way to get it (except for downloading the sources and building it yourself)

Thanks – I’ve found the missing sound modules in the HardDisc4 disc image file, as described. I was getting confused between the download file for the development ROM image and the download file for the development HardDisc4 image ! These are two different files, and have two completely different uses. Doh !

So to get the sound files:

Go to <http://www.riscosopen.org/content/downloads/other-zipfiles>

Download ‘HardDisc4’ to extract module files. I downloaded the ‘tarball’ version, as I’ve got a tarball un-packer programme loaded on my PC. Once unpacked the sound files can be found in:

\HardDisc4\!Boot\RO510Hook\Boot\PreDesk (as described way above in this thread)

The current RPi RiscOS development ROM can be downloaded on the same page. Load the “riscos” ROM image file and rename it to “riscos.img”. Copy the latest development ROM file to your RiscOS distro SD card and over-write the existing “riscos.img” file with the latest file.

Boot RiscOS into the Desktop. Put the latest HardDisc4 image files onto an SD card in a USB SD card adapter (GBP 1.00 from Poundland). Copy files from the USB drive (1?) to the bootable SD card, and put them in the correct location in the !boot directory.

Sound should now work :-)

Note that I’ve not tried all this yet…

Things have changed since the days of the A310 ;-)

Ralph

Is it available anywhere without needing the whole disk image?

Why on earth should it be? The larger of the two versions (the self-extracting one) is still only a tad over 12 MB.

I was also confusing which disk image.

OK, trying to follow instructions again after first attempt failed miserably!
Did have 2/9/12 riscos/img and August 8th distro. Latest start/elf loader/bin and bootcode/bin also acquired.
Got segment fault something or other.

Before I start,
Post 1, Step 2, is that MOVE or COPY to safe place?

Documenting everything step by step. This may be as tedious to read as it is to write!

Starting again with August 8th freshly written distro, as supplied.

Closed two open windows, “Welcome” and “Licence.”

Not moving, (or copying,) SharedULib for time being.

“Apps , !PackMan” double click, icon appears on icon bar.
Not the little round yellow dude I was hoping for, but carrying on anyway! :)

Single click on icon, two windows appear.
“Create Package Directory” and “Error when trying to load/initialise packages”

Click URL and CTRL U to clear.
“http://www.riscos.info/packages/pkg/raspberrypi” entered instead.

Click OK and get another window pop up and hourglass on

Looks like task window, title bar reads" SDFS::RISCOS.$.Apps.PackMan.!RunImage"

Contents start:-

“Fatal signal received: Segmentation fault
Stack backtrace:”

… some register stuff I can copy if it’s important, but means starting again and copying by hand! …

“Press SPACE or click mouse to continue”

Click mouse and windows disappear. Hourglass remains on.
F12
*hourglass off
“File ‘hourglass’ not found” hourglass still on

CTRL F12
*hourglass off
“File ‘hourglass’ not found” but pointer back anyway!

If I click ok with supplied URL, things look more promising, but I’ve not followed that up yet.

Ummm. that’s weird, due to a cock-up in my rebuild of my image (and the fact acornURI seems damned hard to find!) I reinstalled from scratch.
I’m not sure why your getting Segmentation fault, that isn’t good. But I didn’t get that, but I deleted the old url and added a new one….could it be that?

You aren’t entering the URL when it asks you whether you want to initialise the packaging system, and suggests a location of SDFS::$.! Boot.Resources.!Packages, are you? You need to OK that location, ignore the message about failing to initialise packages, and the relevant !Packages should appear in that place. Then put the URL in the iconbar menu→Advanced→Sources list (removing the riscpkg.org URL already there)

You’ll need to move SharedUnixLib out of the way because the package manager will complain that it’s trying to install something that’s already there (but is unmanaged). SharedULib is however required to run !PackMan, which is why I suggested running PackMan and then moving it as it’ll be then already loaded. Alternatively, just move it and then double click it to load it ready for PackMan.

(There’s a quite a bit of chicken-and-egg tedium in setting up the packaging system which hasn’t been as well tested – the aim is to supply it ready set-up, so none of this should be necessary in an actual release).

I’ve now fixed the creation of the firmware package so it will pick up new firmware versions as they’re released – just run ‘Update all’ to get the latest version.

I managed to get it working on an old install. after a lot of messing around, because I’d forgotten how slow the card was and thought it had crashed.)

Seems to work fine. (Though Netsurf doesn’t display correctly with the new ROM).

Would it be possible to create some sort of dummy package for things that already exist? (i.e. drop something in the directory that makes it think v0 is installed, and then treat it as normal)

I just tried it on my main card. It seems fine, however I won’t be trying the ROM, because I’m away from home and using a lower resolution screen.

It seems fine, however I won’t be trying the ROM, because I’m away from home and using a lower resolution screen.

Actually if you try the latest ROM you might be surprised.

Or possibly it will fail horribly.

(This is code for “the latest ROM now lets you change screen mode”. However so far I’ve only tried it with my main monitor, so it’s possible there are a couple of issues that need fixing with lower-res monitors).

On the subject of moving things that are already there, I think it’s either on Alan’s wishlist or already implemented in 0.7 to have some kind of dialogue that prompts what to do about an existing unmanaged file. 0.7 isn’t quite ready yet, hence I’ve made 0.6.1 by applying necessary patches to 0.6. When Alan’s happy and released it, PackMan will be able to upgrade itself.

@Theo

“You aren’t entering the URL when it asks you whether you want to initialise the packaging system, and suggests a location of SDFS::$.! Boot.Resources.!Packages, are you? "

Yes, I do believe I am! Sorry!
My fault for being blithering idiot and not paying attention!

I’ll carry on and see if I can break it properly.

As an aside, (and off topic,) what do the numbers in brackets after the user name relate to?

I’ve managed to update the ROM and firmware (and then the hard disc image).
Rom update works well, I’m now getting the nice graphical boot.
I can’t get a decent resolution though :-(
The best I can do is set it to 1280×1024 and it’s blurred. Setting it to monitor auto and using 1980 gets a letterbox and squashed…
Looks like I’m stuck with a blurry screen for a while…anyone experienced this?

It seems my monitor is getting a resolution of 1024×768 and scaling it up, even though on RISC OS it’s set to 1920×1200 – no wonder it’s horrible!

But the update part is great, worked no problem for me.

Looks like I’m stuck with a blurry screen for a while…anyone experienced this?

I’m guessing older ROMs worked OK?

I’ve just tested with my 1280×1024 monitor, and despite trying a few different screen modes the Pi is only supplying a 640×480 signal. This might be down to my config.txt trying to force it to 1080p, or it might be down to a bug in the video driver. I’ll investigate further.

OK doing a google search in extreemly low res modes, is not a good idea ;-)

It’s the new firmware update that causes the problem.
I backed out the firmware updates and it all works amazing again!
Wow I forgot how good RISC OS looks!
So crisp!

You also need to take into account the hdmi_group setting; see here for a list of all the different modes.

After removing the hdmi_mode and hdmi_group lines from my config.txt, my 1920×1200 monitor only gets a 1920×1080 signal, and my 1280×1024 monitor only gets a 1280×1024 signal. So I guess there’s still some work to be done in order for the video driver to actually cause the signal to change along with the desktop resolution.

Yeah I used that website for it, but I think a long day at work and low blood sugar can cause brain death!
Updated post above, after my sanity check returned -1 and I thought about it for more than a second

I seem to remember a post about monitor resolutions.
I’m not sure the Pi can actually do 1920×1200.
As usual I could be completely wrong about it.
It’s on the forums here somewhere….

Can anyone make a definitive statement about 1920 × 1200 and RISC OS? Everything I’ve read about the RPi hardware suggests it’s possible, and seeing as how it’s the max. theoretical resolution, I would think it would be of interest to developers at least. Where I come unstuck (not being familiar with Linux) is the config.txt file and how things in there jive with RISC OS (if at all).

Where I come unstuck (not being familiar with Linux) is the config.txt file and how things in there jive with RISC OS (if at all).

The config.txt file overrides the interaction between the GPU and the monitor (which identifies the preferred resoloution of the monitor). RISC OS decides its resolution (from its CMOS configuration for example) and the GPU is clever enough to take whatever it gets from RISC OS and stretch it (or shrink it) so that it produces what the monitor needs. It is thus a two stage process.

To add to the complexity, RISC OS can now also talk to the GPU.

So it is possible to have RISC OS at one resolution, the GPU at another, neither of which matches the monitor’s native resolution (if it is an LCD) so that two stages of stretching/expanding occur. That would be a non-ideal set up! With the new facilities all working, all three resolutions will match. It also makes forcing a particular mode in config.txt unnecessary.

I then once tested software (and hardware) on the RPi:
ComCentre works (not 100% stable but ok)
CDVDBurn works
TechWriter works
RiscCAD works…

I’m not sure the Pi can actually do 1920×1200.

It can. It is higher than that there is a question about.

Mine does on Linux and on RISC OS it letterboxes 1080 into it.

I have removed hdmi_group= and hdmi_mode= lines from my config,txt and the GPU correctly identifies my Dell P2310 as 1920×1080 but RISC OS starts up with monitor identified as Raspi-Builtin at 640×480 C256. I can (sometimes) change this to 1920×1080 but even changing the number of CD drives and then ‘Save CMOS’ and on a reboot there are indeed more CD drives but still 640×480. Am I doing something wrong please?

Were you simply changing mode using the display manager, or setting the configured mode via the screen setup plugin?

Also, I think (via the screen setup plugin) you need to select a monitor other than the Raspi-Builtin one. Raspi-Builtin is in ResourceFS, and I’m not sure whether the screen setup plugin is smart enough to be able to work that out (the predesk file it writes out might be trying to load it from disc)

Were you simply changing mode using the display manager, or setting the configured mode via the screen setup plugin?

Both, neither was remembered after the next reboot.

and I’m not sure whether the screen setup plugin is smart enough to be able to work that out