armbian-config

[Dave Kimble]

OrangePi PC
Armbian 5.35 with LXDE desktop
Firefox 57.0.1

I haven't done anything with my OPi for 6 months, so when I tried it again, it booted normally except for not looking quite right on my big HDMI screen. I remember fiddling with this in the old immediate-post-boot phase, but http://armbian.com says to use "sudo armbian-config".  There were 250 MB of updates, which took forever.

 

Meanwhile I tried to run Firefox, which repeatedly crashed on startup.  Installing v61.0.1 didn't help. Also Konqueror, but not Dillo or Midori or Chromium-browser.

 

Back to fixing the display, I tried running it but didn't have the armbian-config, so I downloaded and installed it OK.
I seem to remember a System > Display entry, and I set it to 1080p60, which improved the look of the display OK.
Then I noticed a System > Install entry, and since I had an SSD (via USB) already plugged in, I tried the installation to SSD.  
It was quicker than it said it would take, but still 1 hour, and of course I missed the end, so I don't know if it complained.
A reboot didn't seem any faster, and looking at the partition, it only had /lost+found/ folder in it.
Using gparted to set the boot flag didn't help.
Also the System > Install entry was now missing, and the System > Display entry too.

 

Then I noticed about the fifth screen line of the boot sequence said "CRC error - assuming default environment".

 

The Documentation says armbian-config > System > Install is done by nand-sata-install, so it tried running it again but got the response "The tool must run from SD-card" - maybe that explains why it didn't copy anthing to my SSD.

 

Questions
1. has anyone succeeded in doing the install to SSD?
2. the SD-card, which is mounted at /boot, doesn't seem to have any nand-sata-install in it,  or any armbian-config

3. what's with the CRC error, it doesn't seem to make any difference?

4. is anyone else having problems with browsers?

Edited August 4, 2018 by Dave Kimble
extra question

[Dave Kimble]

So I downloaded Armbian 5.38 (which does contain armbian-config) and the install to SSD went OK.

I then installed lxde OK.  There is a dependency that is not included so also install lxsession-logout .

 

The primary user is set up with autologin set - I think this is a very bad idea.

It also caused me another problem, as with 2 desktops environments (LXDE and XFCE)  and no login screen to choose between them, it was impossible to get out of XFCE.  Uninstalling it was the only option.  XFCE is so horrible, I think you should change to LXDE, and have NO APPS in the basic version, just a menu of apps to tick and have things just the way you want them without wasted downloads.

[Igor]

On 8/4/2018 at 8:48 AM, Dave Kimble said:

There were 250 MB of updates, which took forever.

Which is why we recommend using fast media. Bad SD card can be easily 100x slower than a normal one. This problem is certainly not ours.

 

On 8/4/2018 at 8:48 AM, Dave Kimble said:

Meanwhile I tried to run Firefox, which repeatedly crashed on startup.  Installing v61.0.1 didn't help. Also Konqueror, but not Dillo or Midori or Chromium-browser.

At least Firefox and Chromium are tested and they work fine. You must have break some vital system dependencies or your SD card is dying out

 

On 8/4/2018 at 8:48 AM, Dave Kimble said:

A reboot didn't seem any faster, and looking at the partition, it only had /lost+found/ folder in it.
Using gparted to set the boot flag didn't help.

 

This means that your system is broken to some degree. Installer certainly works but it is not 100% bulletproof if you fiddle around the system. Download a clean image, don't change anything and it will work. We only support such cases, if you apply changes to the system, "a warranty is void".

 

On 8/4/2018 at 8:48 AM, Dave Kimble said:

Then I noticed about the fifth screen line of the boot sequence said "CRC error - assuming default environment".

1

 

Copy and paste this here www.armbian.com/search

 

On 8/4/2018 at 8:48 AM, Dave Kimble said:

1. has anyone succeeded in doing the install to SSD?
2. the SD-card, which is mounted at /boot, doesn't seem to have any nand-sata-install in it,  or any armbian-config

3. what's with the CRC error, it doesn't seem to make any difference?

4. is anyone else having problems with browsers?

 

1. Of course

2. Why should applications be there? They are where it should be. If you want to observe how things are done, start here: https://github.com/armbian/build

3. Unrelated.

4. None. Use forum search. The problem is ACKed when more people report the same problem. 

 

3 hours ago, Dave Kimble said:

So I downloaded Armbian 5.38 (which does contain armbian-config) and the install to SSD went OK.

 

See?
 

3 hours ago, Dave Kimble said:

I then installed lxde OK. 

 

From here on, the problem is yours. We don't support general Debian/Ubuntu install troubles. Only if they are in conflict with our work. That is ofc possible but I don't see any evidence while reading this.

 

3 hours ago, Dave Kimble said:

The primary user is set up with autologin set - I think this is a very bad idea.

 

Really? Again there are virtually no complaints about this. If you proceed with our horrible (why exactly?) XFCE desktop, we provide exactly what you are complaining about. You can download image with or without a desktop.  The desktop image comes with some apps and Chromium, Word, ... while we provide an upgrade from CLI in three options: desktop only, desktop with a browser and separate OpenOffice install. 

[Dave Kimble]

Thanks for your detailed response.  The problems were largely my own, as you suggested, and reinstalling the latest image fixed almost everything.

 

My complaint about autologin is valid though.  What is the point of having a secure Linux system if anyone can walk up to it and mess with it without having to login?  "there are virtually no complaints about this" means only a few people are aware of sensible computer security - that doesn't surprise me, but is hardly an excuse for poor practice. 

 

Of course if you know how to change the user back to require a password, you can do that, but how on XFCE?  I know how on LXDE, but the checkbox was greyed out.  I tried with unfamiliar XFCE but had no success.

 

With today's wide screens the obvious place for the taskbar is on the left, but when you do this with XFCE, the writing runs vertically along the edge, instead of reorienting itself to the horizontal.  I like lots of launcher icons (I have 18 currently) and lxpanel allows a wide taskbar and fits all the small icons into it in rows.  This is the only panel that can do this.  (attaching images doesn't seem to work).

 

Finally, Firefox 61.0.1 still crashes on opening.  There are lots of posts on this forum.  A workaround that works is to use v52.0.2 :

Download: ftp://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu_ports/pool/main/f/firefox_52.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_armhf.deb
sudo apt remove firefox
sudo apt-get install libpango1.0-0
sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/firefox_52.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_armhf.deb
sudo apt-mark hold firefox

[Igor]

8 hours ago, Dave Kimble said:

My complaint about autologin is valid though.  What is the point of having a secure Linux system if anyone can walk up to it and mess with it without having to login? 

 

Desktop console usage is defacto unsecured - give me access to hardware and you don't need to give me any passwords  

 

8 hours ago, Dave Kimble said:

Of course if you know how to change the user back to require a password, you can do that, but how on XFCE?  I know how on LXDE, but the checkbox was greyed out.  I tried with unfamiliar XFCE but had no success.

 

Perhaps using armbian-config to switch on / off?

 

8 hours ago, Dave Kimble said:

With today's wide screens the obvious place for the taskbar is on the left, but when you do this with XFCE, the writing runs vertically along the edge, instead of reorienting itself to the horizontal.  I like lots of launcher icons (I have 18 currently) and lxpanel allows a wide taskbar and fits all the small icons into it in rows.  This is the only panel that can do this.  (attaching images doesn't seem to work).

1

Most of our interest lies far below the desktop and we have no means nor people that would mess around the Desktop UX. I can only agree it's not the most modern and since most of the boards are anyway barely usable with a desktop, we don't focus into this area much. If you or anyone wish to tweak the desktop, welcome to join. You need to start here: https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/master/lib/desktop.sh and here: https://docs.armbian.com/Process_Contribute/

 

8 hours ago, Dave Kimble said:

I like lots of launcher icons (I have 18 currently) and lxpanel allows a wide taskbar and fits all the small icons into it in rows. 

 

I think this part is already on the users' side. Nothing that we need to worry about. I am not aware that XFCE has such limits. In any case, you need to talk to them. We have no means nor resources to make our own desktop or provide a selection of them. Only slight cosmetic fixes at most.

 

8 hours ago, Dave Kimble said:

Finally, Firefox 61.0.1 still crashes on opening.  There are lots of posts on this forum.  A workaround that works is to use v52.0.2

Unfortunately, there is little we can do about  Thanks for the tip. For those who want's to use Firefox.