PINN (PINN is not NOOBS)

An enhanced Operating System installer for the Raspberry Pi

PINN is a version of the NOOBS Operating System Installer for the Raspberry Pi. See the change history below for the additional features.

Documentation on how to use PINN can be found in README_PINN.md, which includes all of the original NOOBS documentation.

If you are already familiar with NOOBS' features, you may prefer to read the reduced documenation that just contains PINN's new features alone.

The latest version of PINN-lite can be downloaded from sourceforge.

Source code is available from github

see github for full information

Quick Start

Format your SD card as FAT32

For Windows users, we recommend formatting your SD card using the SD Association's Formatting Tool, which can be downloaded from https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ . If you are still using v4 of this tool, you will need to set the "FORMAT SIZE ADJUSTMENT" option to "ON" in the "Options" menu to ensure that the entire SD card volume is formatted - not just a single partition. However, this tool has now been upgraded to v5 where this feature is now the default and is no longer selectable. For more detailed and beginner-friendly formatting instructions, please refer to http://www.raspberrypi.org/quick-start-guide .

The SD Association's Formatting Tool is also available for Mac users. However, note that the default OSX Disk Utility is also capable of formatting the entire disk (select the SD card volume and choose "Erase" with "MS-DOS" format).

For Linux users, we recommend gparted (or the command line version parted). (Update: Norman Dunbar has written up the following formatting instructions for Linux users: http://qdosmsq.dunbar-it.co.uk/blog/2013/06/NOOBS-for-raspberry-pi/)

Copy the pinn files to your SD card.

• Download pinn-lite.zip from sourceforge
• Extract the files from pinn-lite.zip file onto the SD card. (Windows built-in zip features may have trouble with this file. If so, use another program such as 7zip.)

Please note that in some cases it may extract the files into a folder, if this is the case then please copy across the files from inside the folder rather than the folder itself.

Boot pinn on your PI

• Put the PINN SD card into your Pi and boot it.
• On first boot the "RECOVERY" FAT partition will be automatically resized to a minimum, so if you ever put your SD card back into a Windows machine it will look like a very small partition. THIS IS NORMAL.
• PINN does not come supplied with any OSes. You must download them from the internet or provide them on a USB stick. So,....
• Connect your Pi to the internet with an Ethernet cable (easiest)
• Or If you prefer to use Wifi, click on the wifi button and select your SSID and password. If the wifi button is greyed out, choose another type of wifi dongle.
• A list of OSes that are available to install will be displayed.
• Select one or more OSes that you want and click INSTALL.

Change History

V3.5.5

• Joysticks - New joystick drivers including triggers and deadzones. Support for 2 joysticks.
• Firmware - Removed firmware upgrades for very old OSes.
• Install - Install icon changed to warn against deletion {#380}
• CM4 - Added dwc2 USB driver for CM4
• Backup - Better backups by deleting socket files (#442) and setting attributes (#447).
• ssh - Uses permanent storage
• progress - prevent progressdialog from closing

V3.5.4

• buildroot - improve some build scripts
• dualhdmi - fix license
• Installation - Refactor close dialogs for better error handling
• Memory - Display amount of Pi memory fitted
• partuuid - Allow installation to USB without partuuid
• Filesystems - Added ext3 & exfat
• Wifi - Updated wifi firmware

V3.5.2

• KERNEL - Fix issue with PI4 8GB models
• Translations - Update it translations
• HDMI - Automatic switching between HDMI0 and HDMI1

V3.5

• KERNEL - Bump firmware & kernel as NOOBS 3.5 for CM4
• Certificates - Fix arora certificate errors
• Translations - Update it and zh_TW translations
• Prompt - Update shell prompt
• Clarify - Clarify text between replace & reinstall
• Logs - Add Show Log in Fix up menu

V3.3.4.4

• Labels - Fix partition labels when replacing OS

V3.3.4.3

• Backup - Fix backup of Raspberry Pi OS
• Install - Use multithreaded xz
• Flavours - Fix use of .txt files
• bugfix - fix crash if no source (#414)

V3.3.4.2

• Firmware - Update firmware 5.4.45 for usb-boot (beta)
• Name Change - Update recommended OS name
• KeybdTrigger - Fix keyboard trigger option
• Translations - Update Italian language

V3.3.4.1

• CloneSD - Remove drive restrictions on Clone SD
• Set Time - Added indication that time is in UTC
• Replace - Fixed shortcut for Replace OS
• Buildversions - Made buildversions more intuitive (for me!)
• Legacy - Accounted for Pi4 when identifying legacy hardware

V3.3.3

• MBR fix - Better detection of non-MBR formatted SD cards.
• Joysticks - Better detection of joysticks that are slow to connect.
• Reload Repos - New button to reload the distribution list from internet.
• fontsize - Added rudimentary font size adjustment using +/- keys.

V3.3.2

• Joystick - Added support for USB Joysticks/Gamepads (Xbox-style)
• Silentinstall - Fixed a bug when silent-installing from the network
• VirtualKeyboard - Added a Virtual Keyboard for wifi and option dialogs

V3.3c

• Translations - Updated a few translations (it, zh_TW, ko, de)
• HDMI Pi4 - Removed hdmi_force_hotplug
• Downloads - Fixed download progressbar
• Replace - Changed accelerator key from L to C

V3.3a

• Tidy up - Development moved to Ubuntu 18.04 prompting a tidy up

V3.3

• PI4 support - Added support for the new RPi4. Includes Raspbian Buster in full version.

V3.2.4c

• Hyperpixel - Fixed hyperpixel 4 overlay file

V3.2.4b

• Wifi Drivers - Re-added Realtek rtl8188eu and rtl8192cu modular wifi drivers.

V3.2.4a

• Build - Modified to build on Ubuntu 18.10 'cosmic'
• Progress - Experimental modification to measure installation progress more accurately
• Wifi dialog - Removed focus for better use by keyboard
• Zipfles - Use bsdtar to unzip inline for checksums
• Esc - Esc key exits all menus
• Firmware - Don't automatically downgrade firmware
• Options - Added shortcuts for better keyboard use
• GPIO - Allows gpiochannel and gpiochannelValue to be specified to trigger the recovery menu

V3.2.3

• Customisations - Fix bug introduced by backup preventing customisations.

V3.2.2

• Backup hotfix - Fix for OSnames with spaces.
• Translations - Updated IT & zh_TW
• Iconsizes - fixed to 40x40
• Download - ignore partials

V3.2.1

• Bootselectiondialog - update for CEC and keyboard

V3.2

• Added Ts & C's dialog - for Future OSes
• Resumable download - in case of download errors
• More robust file transfer - in case of download errors
• Change boot selection order - Just for aesthetics
• Added file checksums - for download verification
• Added partition_setup.sh checksum - for download verification
• Added options dialog - To make option setting easier.

V3.1.1

• alias - Fix underscores
• backup - Much faster backups on multicore processors
• silentreinstallnewer - exits to boot menu & stops remotetimeout
• menu - Removed PageDown->nextmenu function because it conflicts
• Translations - Updated IT & zh_TW translations

V3.1

• Nano - Added nano text editor
• Rename - Allows giving an OS an Alias name & change its description
• Hyperpixel - Added full kernel drivers to support Pimoroni Hyperpixel 3.5" and 4" touchscreens
• ScreenSwitch - Performs automatic screen switching at bootup
• dhcpcd - Now configurable

V3.0.4

• forceupdatepinn - Add forceupdatepinn option
• OS Replace - Fixed problem replacing an OS when PINN is booted from USB

V3.0.3

• Backup USB - Fix for multiple USB sticks.
• Translation - Ko & zh_tw.ts updated.

V3.0.2

• Backup USB - Improved backup size calculation for USB installed OSes.

V3.0.1

• Backup/Download - Removed the need to reboot after a download or backup.
• Wallpapers - removed wallpapers folder & Allowed JPEGs
• **Default wallpaper - Changed default to wallpaper.jpg

V3.0

• Backup - Backup an OS in PINN format
• Time - Added button to set date & time
• Download - Fixed foldername of some OSes when downloaded
• Iconcache - Cache icons when connected to internet to speedup startup

V2.8.5.8

• RPi 3A+ - Supports RPi 3A+

V2.8.5.7

• Firmware - Disabled firmware downgrade on 3B+
• Clear - Added Clear button to clear all selections
• Kernel Bump - Linux kernel 4.14.74, firmware and userland bumped to match NOOBS 2.9
• Replace - Removed RiscOS & Windows_10 from OS replacement
• SilentInstall - Fixed waiting for USB images
• networktimeout - 0 means wait indefinitely for network before silentinstall

V2.8.5.5

• Boot menu - Sticky default now uses bootmenutimeout
• rebootp - Added rebootp command to recovery shell

V2.8.5.4

• Boot menu - Fixed focus and sticky default partuuid issues.
• wallpaper_resize - Customised wallpaper can now be resized to fill the screen

V2.8.5.3

• Partuuid - Fixed an issue from v2.8 where partuuids were introduced to installed_os.json
• Wallpaper - Customised wallpaper is now available by writing your own wallpaper.png file to PINN's recovery partition

V2.8.5.2

• VNCnotice - Displays a notice on the main screen when vncinstall is in use
• PINN update - Prevents crash on manual update when there is no network
• ae-ts - tidy up of translations

V2.8.5.1

• Reinstall - BUGFIX for Re-install.
• translations - Updated it and zh_TW translations.
• silentreinstallnewer - USE WITH CAUTION. With select= it will silently re-install any selected OSes that are newer than the installed version.

V2.8.5

• Boot Cancel - Added a new cancel button to the bootselection dialog which will reboot back into PINN
• Swedish keyboard - Swedish keyboard fixed when language selected
• Bootable selection - The bootselection dialog is only available if a bootable OS is installed.
• Select Option - Auto select/check OSes to be installed. "allsd,allusb,allnetwork,waitsd,waitusb,waitnetwork,waitall,allinstalled,"
• SilentInstall - with Select will auto-install selected OSes
• Added Disablesdimages - Disablesdimages in recovery.cmdline will prevent OSes on SD card from being shown
• Network start - The network is always started, even with silentinstall.
• Flavour download - Flavours can now be downloaded from remote repos. Only need to download 1
• Added flavours.tar.xz - Remote flavours need to include flavours.tar.xz
• RPi Model Name - Added name of RPi model to MainMenu screen

V2.8.4

• Replace OSes - Allows the replacement of one OS with another
• Project Spaces - Added Project Spaces
• Reserve disk space - Reserve some space on PINN's partition before formatting
• mkimage - Added mkimage from uboot
• xz - Allow XZ Compression
• Update Dialog - This now cancels any timeout setting

V2.8.3

• Programmable CEC - Fixed bugs
• networktimeout - Added timeout to detect network presence

V2.8.2

• Reinstall - bugfix to Reinstall option following partuuid change on USBs

V2.8.1

• Programmable CEC - Program your TV remote for use with PINN

V2.8

• Fix menu - Replaced Fsck with Fix menu option to include a wider range of tools
• Store meta - Additional meta files stored on installation for fix up tools
• Partuuid - Store partuuid references for better USB support
• Tab fix - Fixed synchronisation of OS tab display

V2.6.2

• pinn_init.sh - Improve calling of script to run before PINN
• config.txt - deleted

V2.6.1

• Kernel - Bump kernel to suppress missing mailbox commands in old firmware
• pinn_init.sh - Add initialisation script to run before PINN

V2.6

• Firmware - Update firmware
• Kernel - Update kernel to 4.14

V2.5.5

• Self-Update - A small fix to the self-update ignore feature

V2.5.4

• Countdown - Re-enabled the boot selection dialog countdown timer.

V2.5.3

• Switch firmware - Enable switching of firmware for 3B+ and other models.

V2.5.2a

Fixes the incorrect recovery.cmdline bug in v2.5.2. (There's a reason why I didn't make this v2.7 just yet!)

V2.5.2

• OS Firmware - Includes a better method of slipstreaming new Firmware
• BUG: Cmdline - Note that the recovery.cmdline is incorrect in this version

V2.5.1

• firmware - New firmware for Rpi 3B+
• Kernel - Update to kernel 4.9.80
• OS firmware - Latest firmware is slip streamed onto old OSes
• wifi drivers - Some wifi drivers temporarily removed until they can be upgraded
• Arora - Prevented multiple instances of Arora browser running

V2.4.5f

• rtl8812 wifi - added wifi driver for rtl8812 5GHz dongles

V2.4.5e

• remotetimeout - Enable network for remote boot alteration.

This new option allows PINN to be used more easily in a remote headless environment.

V2.4.5

This is a small maintenance release for some cosmetic changes and bugfixes mainly.

• background - Specify the background colour as background=r,g,b
• style - Change the style with style=motif/windows/platinum
• configpath - (partially) allow remote flavours to customise an OS
• dsi - Allows the HDMI/DSI switching option to work with OSes installed to USB

V2.4.4c

Finally, PINN can now re-install any installed OS WITHOUT affecting the other OSes, eliminating one of my NOOBS bugbears.

• Re-install - Re-install an OS without affecting others
• no_update - disable PINN self-update (manual refesh of PINN available)
• update PINN - A manual PINN update check can now be done (for when no_update is used)
• Edit PINN - The recovery.cmdline and config.txt fiels of PINN can now be edited.
• no_cursor - The no_cursor option now only affects the bootselection dialog
• Wipe - The Wipe Disk command has been temporarily removed
• Max OSes - The number of OSes has been restricted so that boot partitions numbers are <63
• self-update - Fixes broken self-update since v2.4.2h

V2.4.3

A major change to the User Interface in preparation for some new features.

• 3 Toolbars - Main Menu, Archival and Maintenance.
• OS Groups - OS lists are grouped into General, Minimal, Educational, Media and Gaming.
• Download OS - Download an OS to USB for local installation.
• Fsck - Check and fix your filesystems in case of error.
• Wipe Disk - delete all OSes and restore drive to full capacity.
• Info button - Go directly to the webpage of each OS.

V2.4.2h

• Translations - udpate to Portugese + other translations
• Password - A new password will not expire
• Slideshow - Slides during installation are now scaled to be the same size.
• >1TB MSDs - Installing OSes to a USB Mass Storage Device > 1TB would fail. 2TB is the maximum size.

V2.4.2

• repo_list - Added repo_list cmdline argument

Bugfixes

• Win10IoT - Fixed annoying warning messages on installation
• RTAndrod - re-included missing cpio to allow installation

V2.4.1

• btrfs - Included support for btrfs file systems

V2.4

• Update - Rebase onto NOOBS 2.4
• repo - Support "repo=" from NOOBS
• USB support - Supports USB BOOT and USB ROOTFS

V2.3

• PiZeroW - Further update to match NOOBS 2.3. Add wifi RegDB for channel 13. Add missing DTBs

V2.2

• PiZeroW - Update firmware/kernel for PiZero Wifi version

V2.1.4

• IP address - Shown in window title
• CEC key mapping - Replaced 0 button with PLAY button for greater applicability
• BOOT - Added BOOT button to boot selection dialog for use with limited TV remotes
• **Tarball names - Allow local tarballs to have a different name to the partition labell
• SD Card - Recommend 8GB card minimum
• SD Card - Update SD card requirements
• Network - Do not continue polling for connectivity during installation
• Update - Bump kernel and firmware versions

V2.1.3

• Translations - Added many translations from the community

V2.1.2

• Default Boot - A default OS can be set in a multi-boot setup for quicker boots.
• Bootmenutimout - The timeout of the boot selection dialog can be changed.
• SHIFT key - The PINN interface can be reached using the Left mouse button or a CEC enabled TV remote key as well as the SHIFT key.

Bugfixes

• The build dependencies introduced in v2.1.1 have been fixed.

V2.1.1

• CEC Support - Added CEC support for controlling PINN with a TV remote

V2.1

• IoTpHAT support - Updated to match NOOBS v2.1 to include IoTpHAT wifi

V2.0

• Network Drivers - Added the popular RTL8188eu wifi driver (for HubPiWi and others)
• New Firmware - Updated Firmware and Kernel to match NOOBS 2.0

V1.9.5

• Self-Update - Notification and download of new releases

Bugfixes

• Network Drivers - Fixed the popular RTL8188cus wifi driver.
• RPI3 ACT_LED - Now displays correctly on SD card access

V1.9.4

• Network Drivers - A number of additional wifi and ethernet drivers have been added.

Bugfixes

• Dialog Box - The initialisation dialog box is removed under network errors

V1.9.3

• Clone SD Card - Copy the SD card to another card in a USB reader (BETA)
• Rescue shell - Exiting the rescue shell now enters the PINN recovery program instead of another shell.
• VNCSHARE - Sets up PINN to use VNC at the same time as an attached screen

Bugfixes

• https - Fixed the ability to use https protocol (which was preventing Arch from installing sometimes).
• wifi config - A user supplied wpa_supplicant.conf file is now ALWAYS copied to /settings and then renamed to wpa_supplicant.conf.bak so that it does not continually overwrite any manual changes made through the GUI.

V1.9.2

• Password - Change or reset your password for each OS.
• DSI/HDMI - Auto-switching of DSI/HDMI screen with HDMI taking priority

BugFixes

• NoobsConfig - Config filenames now now have all spaces converted to underscores
• Multiple Os - Multiple installed OSes can now be selected again.
• DHCP - ClientID is now used instead of DUID to request an IP address

V1.9.1 (based on NOOBS v1.9)

• USB support - store your OS installations on USB stick to avoid wasting SD card space and avoid downloading each time.
• Alternative Src - Install OSes from an alternative website, or local webserver
• ARCH support - Install the Arch Linux OS directly from the Arch website
• VGA666 support - Alow PINN to be used with Gert's VGA666 adaptor
• NOOBSCONFIG support - Allow customisation of an OS installation as it installs
• SSH support - SSH remotely into you PINN installation.
• Progress - View your installation progress via alternative means

see github for full information