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Tinypilot on Pi Zero (non-wifi) to replace ST2000+ controller
#1
Greetings from New Zealand!

I have been planning to replace the faulty controller of my ST2000+ with Pypilot & intend to do a fully integrated 'headless' setup (inspired by the great work of Ironman) with buttons & screen, running Pypilot on TinyPilot on a Pi Zero.  Due to hardware unavailability I’ve only been able to source a Pi Zero (non-wifi), which I've read is theoretically compatible with Tinypilot.  I'm new to Pypilot & understand I've a steep learning curve ahead (fairly new to Raspberry Pi), but I'm a keen engineer & will do my best to solve problems independently before asking here for support.

My questions are:
  • Has anyone successfully run Tinypilot on a non-wireless zero, & if so do you have any advice or could point me to some literature to help me through it?
  • Any tips for establishing an SSH connection over USB from a PC?  (Win10).  I thought this might be a convenient alternative to Wifi while I get familiar with Pypilot.  I’ve successfully SSH’d into Raspberry Pi OS on the zero, but with the Tinypilot image the hardware is not recognised at all.

Thus far, I have loaded the image ‘tinypilot_2021_11_16.img.xz’ & connected a monitor to see what’s going on.  It seems to run but I see a few errors -

insmod: can't insert '/mnt/mmcblk0p2/tinypilot/modules/v7_modules/rc-core.ko': invalid module format
insmod: can't insert [i]'/mnt/mmcblk0p2/tinypilot/modules/v7_modules/lirc_dev.ko': invalid module format[/i]
insmod: can't insert [i]'/mnt/mmcblk0p2/tinypilot/modules/v7_modules/lirc_rpi.ko': invalid module format[/i]
ifconfig: SIOCGIFFLAGS: No such device
dnsmasq: unknown interface wlan0    This one keeps repeating, obviously related to the non-existent wireless adapter.

Any support greatly appreciated!  Thanks
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#2
It is possible to do IP networking over USB (although I haven't tried it). If your computer is running Windows, you can turn on Internet Connection Sharing, then the Windows computer will present an Ethernet-over-USB device to the RPi Zero.

https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/qu...ly-using-u
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#3
(2023-03-28, 04:15 AM)CapnKernel Wrote: It is possible to do IP networking over USB (although I haven't tried it).  If your computer is running Windows, you can turn on Internet Connection Sharing, then the Windows computer will present an Ethernet-over-USB device to the RPi Zero.

  https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/qu...ly-using-u

Thanks - yes, that SSH procedure was the one I followed to successfully connect to the Pi0 using the standard Pi OS (modify cmdline.txt, config.txt add a blank ssh file, correct the drivers etc), however it doesn't appear to work with tinycore - Window's doesn't make a peep.  I've read it's possibly a missing USB-LAN extension as tinycore is pretty lightweight - this may be what I need, discussed here:

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php...082.0.html

However this talks about copying a tcz file to '/mnt/mmcblk0p2/tce/optional' - a folder I do not see on the SD card.  I will keep investigating
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#4
Hi, I am currently trying to operate my Tinypilot (equipment sold by Sean D'Epagnier, based on Raspi zero wifi) with wired Ethernet link, I have opened a thread on this question. I am not really experimented with Raspberry and Linux, but to operate a USB to Ethernet adapter you need to install a dedicated extension as I have tried to explain in this thread.

- Paste the extension net-usb-4.9.22.tcz (repo.tinycorelinux.net/9.x/armv6/tcz/net-usb-4.9.22-piCore.tcz) in /mnt/mmcblk0p2/tce/ on the Tinypilot Raspberry,
- create the file "onboot.lst" in /mnt/mmcblk0p2/optional/
- add with sudo nano the line "net-usb-KERNEL.tcz" in onboot.lst
- run the command tce-load -i net-usb-KERNEL.tcz
- activate eth0 with sudo ifconfig eth0 xx.xx.xx.xx up (IP at your convenience)
- check with ipconfig

I am not absolutely sure of my procedure due to the lot of trials and errors to obtain the result and to my poor knowledge in programming but in case there will be somebody to correct it.
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#5
Hi jmj88,

Tinycore does not offer the "IP networking over USB" out of the box, so you cannot connect it to a Windows computer directly.

Erickalon instructions are correct. But in order to follow them you need to be able to mount the "/mnt/mmcblk0p2" partition of the sdcard, and this is not possible on Windows (there might be some tools to do it but I do not know of any myself).

This leave you two options I guess:
- either use a Linux system to do the job (you can even use a live system, on usbstick, on your current computer, there are many options like the Ubuntu installer https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/try-ubuntu-...ou-install )
- or maybe if you have a spare raspberry pi 2 or 3 you could use it to modify the sdcard, as the pi2/3 has an onboard ethernet and I believe network should work out the box.

We can guide you through the steps, but you first need to choose one of the two options above.
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#6
(2023-03-28, 05:00 AM)jmj88 Wrote: Thanks - yes, that SSH procedure was the one I followed to successfully connect to the Pi0 using the standard Pi OS (modify cmdline.txt, config.txt add a blank ssh file, correct the drivers etc), however it doesn't appear to work with tinycore - Window's doesn't make a peep.  I've read it's possibly a missing USB-LAN extension as tinycore is pretty lightweight - this may be what I need, discussed here:

http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php...082.0.html

However this talks about copying a tcz file to '/mnt/mmcblk0p2/tce/optional' - a folder I do not see on the SD card.  I will keep investigating

There is a difference between using the usb port to both power and act as ethernet, and using a usb->ethernet adapter on the zero's usb data port, and powering the zero with the other port.

The /mnt/mmcblk0p2/tce/optional folder will simple be tce/optional on the second partition if you can mount the partition which is a linux filesystem.

(2023-03-28, 08:53 AM)Erickalon Wrote: Hi, I am currently trying to operate my Tinypilot (equipment sold by Sean D'Epagnier, based on Raspi zero wifi) with wired Ethernet link, I have opened a thread on this question. I am not really experimented with Raspberry and Linux, but to operate a USB to Ethernet adapter you need to install a dedicated extension as I have tried to explain in this thread.

- Paste the extension net-usb-4.9.22.tcz (repo.tinycorelinux.net/9.x/armv6/tcz/net-usb-4.9.22-piCore.tcz) in /mnt/mmcblk0p2/tce/  on the Tinypilot Raspberry,
- create the file "onboot.lst" in /mnt/mmcblk0p2/optional/
- add with sudo nano the line "net-usb-KERNEL.tcz" in onboot.lst
- run the command tce-load -i net-usb-KERNEL.tcz
- activate eth0 with sudo ifconfig eth0 xx.xx.xx.xx up (IP at your convenience)
- check with ipconfig

I am not absolutely  sure of my procedure due to the lot of trials and errors to obtain the result and to my poor knowledge in programming but in case there will be  somebody to correct it.
Is this using the usb for both data and power? I was under the impression you had a usb ethernet adapter.

(2023-03-28, 05:49 PM)stelian Wrote: This leave you two options I guess:
- either use a Linux system to do the job (you can even use a live system, on usbstick, on your current computer, there are many options like the Ubuntu installer https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/try-ubuntu-...ou-install )
- or maybe if you have a spare raspberry pi 2 or 3 you could use it to modify the sdcard, as the pi2/3 has an onboard ethernet and I believe network should work out the box.
There are more options. For example, boot the zero and plug in a usb wifi adapter then transfer the file that way. Or plug a usb sd card adapter and put the file on a second sd card, then copy it on the zero.

It may be possible also to emulate the pi zero on windows and use the same sd card.

I will look at making sure the needed drivers are at least available on future releases, and only need to be enabled. Loading drivers that are never used does increase boot time.
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#7
Thanks for the ideas guys! To clarify I was hoping to use the USB port as Ethernet rather than a separate adapter (works for standard Raspbian OS).

It sounds like installing the extension could perhaps be done directly from the tiny core terminal (with a screen & usb keyboard plugged in with an OTG adapter) once I can get the tcz file on, & that’s where the current challenge is. I’ve been attempting access the SD card on a Win10 laptop via Windows WSL but not quite there yet. I also read that Android should be able to read ext partitions but initial attempts on an old android phone have been unsuccessful (can only see the piCore partition). The USB card reader or wireless adapter ideas sound good - I guess I’d need a hub so that I can also plug a keyboard in. The other 2 options are a spare Pi (I unfortunately don’t have one) or the bootable Linux USB - might see how I go with that next.

Just today I got a lead on a Zero W from a supplier who has come into some stock so I’m going to try & get hold of it which will simplify things somewhat! For my own learning I’m still keen to get the non-Zero working, so I’ll persevere in parallel.

Cheers
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#8
You can also put the tcz on a USB stick, I think tinypilot will recognize the USB device out of the box (just a thought, not tested)

I see quite a lot of PiZero W on rpilocator these days... PiZero 2 are much more rare.
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#9
can you fit the tcz on the boot partition that you can access?
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#10
(2023-03-31, 03:09 PM)seandepagnier Wrote: can you fit the tcz on the boot partition that you can access?

Good point, yes I can.  Today I copied the "net-usb-4.9.22.tcz" file to piCore (FAT32) partition & while I was at it created the onboot.lst file.  Plugged in HDMI, OTG adapter, USB keyboard dongle & power.  Pi started up fine, but I've realised I'm not seeing the standard terminal so I'm a bit stuck.  My presumption was that I could run 'cp' commands to copy to the appropriate partition.  Mashing keyboard buttons & 'Ctrl+C' etc doesn't seem to do anything.  Possibly no drivers for a wireless keyboard, or I'm just really missing something.

   

Anyway I've ordered that Zero W from a local supplier who's come into stock - sticking with the standard hardware is probably best given my skills (or lack thereof).  Hopefully should have something up & running in a week or so.

Cheers for the support
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