1 December 2021 - No more updates here! This page has moved to: Last Update 2 November 2021
This page will be used to chronicle tests of alternative distributions and operating systems on Raspberry Pi computers. Simply playing with more and more options for my PIs and decided to log my antics. This page will morph as I experiment and will likely be notes to self, tailored to my world, but may be useful to others. Expected to be long/slow/low priority project - similar to my AAO OS Alternative quest, will probably be more active in the winter. Suggestions Welcome
Summary (notes/observations below the test table) November 2021
June 2021
January 2021 - Current favorites, 2021 plans
October 2020
August 2020
----------- July 2020 - Back to building a starter system for grandkid
June 2020 - RPI update
----------- April 2020 - STILL looking for final RPi 4 Desktop for MiPi Project
Mar 2020 - Looking for RPi 4 based Desktop for MiPi
Jan 2020 - New Year!
Latest Tests
N See Notes below 2 Home Network (samba, mac + win workgroup) n/a = Not applicable LibreELEC
Plasma Bigscreen
Arch Linux
NEMS Linux
2020 Tests (Part 2)
N See Notes below 2 Home Network (samba, mac + win workgroup) n/a = Not applicable 2020 Test Notes (Part 2)Kano OS
Ubuntu-Mate
Sugar OS
Raspberry PI OS
|
Ratings: A=Perfect (out of box), B=Little Tweak, C=Big Tweak, D=Works/Flaky, F=Total Fail |
XFCE
|
KDE Plasma
v20.02, Mar 2020 Stable
|
XFCE
v20.02, Mar 2020 Stable
|
3.7.8 (RPI4)
|
Needs Work
but good potential |
VERY NICE! Works & Looks Great Notes |
Seemed solid Aborted testing (not for me) Notes |
Looked Good Probably a little Early Notes |
|
General |
||||
Distro Source/Vendor | opensuse.org | manjaro.org | manjaro.org | endlessos.com |
Ongoing Evolution/Support | Very Active: - RPi 4 info |
Very Active: - Arm Project Info - Arm Wiki/Docs(?) - Arm Forum - Forums - Documentation |
Very Active: - Arm Project Info - Arm Wiki/Docs(?) - Arm Forum - Forums - Documentation |
New? Circa 2016? - Support - Community |
Security Info/Doc | Security/Anonymity | Security/Anonymity | ||
Reviews/Reputation | Distrowatch | Distrowatch | Distrowatch | Distrowatch |
Cost/$$$ | Free | Free Support Arm Project |
Free
Support Arm Project |
|
License | GNU V2 | OIN & OIN Linux | OIN & OIN Linux | Terms of Use |
Download | openSUSE-Tumbleweed-ARM-XFCE-raspberrypi4.aarch64-2020.02.26-Snapshot20200226.raw | Manjaro-ARM-kde-plasma-rpi4-20.02.img | arm8-raspberry-pi-4-xfce-20.02.img | eos-eos3.7-arm64-rpi4.200310-001521.en.img.gz Via Torrent @ endlessos.com/download/ |
Image Size | 5.3g (800M zipped) | 5.4g (1.1g zipped) | 840M Zipped | 13g Zipped |
Under the Hood (OS info /etc/os-release) |
|
|
||
Name | openSUSETumbleweed | Manjaro ARM | Manjaro ARM | Endless |
Version | 20200226 | 3.7.8 | ||
ID_Like | opensuse suse | ubuntu debian | ||
BUILD_ID | 200309-143327 | |||
uname -a | Linux localhost.localdomain 5.4.14-4-default #1 SMP Thu Jan 23 08:54:47 UTC 2020 (fc4ea7a) aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux |
After Boot: MiPi-Manjaro 4.19.97-1-MANJARO-ARM #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jan 24 19:39:39 UTC 2020 aarch64 GNU/Linux |
After update: MiPi-Manjaro 4.19.97-1-MANJARO-ARM #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jan 24 19:39:39 UTC 2020 aarch64 GNU/Linux |
Linux endless 5.4.0-7-generic #8+dev192.8ca3667bem1 SMP Wed Feb 26 07:36:16 UTC 2020 aarch64 GNU/Linux |
Release Info | RPi 4 Preview Release | |||
Test Hardware |
||||
RPI Model used for tests | RPI 4 Model B 4g* | RPI 4 Model B 4g* | RPI 4 Model B 4g* | RPI 4 Model B 4g* |
SD Used for testing | 32g PNY Elite (slow!)* | 32g PNY (slow!)* | 32g PNY (slow!)* | 32g PNY (slow!)* |
SD - Disk Available | 20g | 22g | 23g | 19g |
Special Hardware/Peripherals | ||||
3.5" TFT TouchScreen* | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Edimax Wi-Fi USB Adapter* |
n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Apple Magic Keyboard* | F | B | A | A |
BT Mouse (M720Triathlon*) | B | A | A | |
Apple Magic Mouse* |
F | A | A | |
SSD Boot | Looks Promising | Looks Promising | ||
USB | A | A | B | |
Audio output (HDMI) | F | A | A | C |
Audio output (3.5mm Jack) | F | CN | C | |
Ethernet | A | A | A | A |
Built-in WiFi | A | AN | B | |
Built-in Bluetooth | B | A | A | |
HDMI | D | A | A | B |
Dual Monitors | F | A | A | CN |
Power Management | D | |||
Mouse/Kbd Batt monitor | C | BN | B | |
Monitor DPMS | F | AN | D | |
Usage/Usability |
||||
General usability | A | A+ | C | A (different!) |
Install effort | D | A | A | A |
Documentation/Help | C | C | C | C |
GUI/X | A | A | C | A |
Network Participant2 | A | A | C | A |
Stability | A | A | A | D |
Performance/Responsiveness | A | A | B | D |
Software |
||||
Apps/Add-ons Availability | A | A | A | B |
Automatic Updates |
C | A | A | A |
Default Browser | Firefox | Firefox | Firefox | Chromium |
Window/Desktop Manager | XFCE | KDE Plasma |
XFCE | GNOMEish |
N See Notes below
2 Home Network (samba, mac + win workgroup)
n/a = Not applicable
2020 Test Notes (Part 1)
Endless OS
- Overall: Looked REALLY good, possibly a little early. Follow project and retry.
VERY interesting OS! Simple, lots of software. May be easier than a Mac! - Motivation: Future replacement for our family's Mac? Possibly grandkids first genpurpose compooter
Tagline: "Technology that Enriches Life. Endless OS comes with everything your family needs" - See also hack-computer.com. EndlessOs is underpinning for Kids Computer project!
- Notes in Raspberry Pi 4 Preview Release | Endless OS 3.7.7~beta1, Late Jan 2020. Downloaded 3.7.8
- Install Notes
- Downloaded via Torrent on this page endlessos.com/download. Not marked as beta, but ... unsure
- Created SD using etcher ... used 32g micro sd due to size of disk image - 19g! Room for expansion!
- Came right up, very simple install ... its different
- Finding way around was different ... but simple
- Looks like ARM version may still be evolving, but most things worked right out of the box
- Settings available if you right click on user icon (initials) in lower right
- Performance was so so. A youtube video pegs it, some clipping & studders
- Stability ... some stumbles.
- Seemed to have trouble waking up, even with non bluetooth keyboard/mouse.
I set Suspend & Power Button to off, simply let monitor blank after 15 Mins - Settings app refused to run @ one point. Fine after reboot
- Struggled to Restart @ another time. Had to power cycle
- Didnt like to shut down ... seems to hang
- Most Hardware worked
- HDMI
- No dual monitor options that I could see
- HDMI Audio was low vol even when slider maxed. Had to alsamixer it up to hear
- Networking
- Ethernet worked fine
- WiFi works ... but ... had to reconnect after reboot
- Bluetooth worked well
- it EVEN noticed our Smart TV and tried to pair with it ... will have to play with that!
- Apple Magic mouse and keyboard came right up
- It DID see BT smart TV ... this may be alternative monitor
- Audio/Sound - no option for 3.5mm audio jack, hdmi sound only option
- Lots of preinstalled apps. Arranged on desktop like a smartphone
- Enough, will download and try again when next version comes out
Manjaro (XFCE)
- Overall: Looked good, ran pretty well. Not for me tho. Aborted testing, too excited about KDE/Plasma version (see below)
- Motivation: MiPi Project - my X86 Desktops are getting old, RPi 4 SHOULD be suitable replacement
- See also Manjaro (KDE) below
- Install Notes
- Using slow 32g Micro SD again
- Downloaded from https://manjaro.org/downloads/arm/raspberry-pi-4/arm8-raspberry-pi-4-xfce/
- Etcher to create SD ... yada yada
- Booted up fine, same install menu as KDE/Plasma
- Bluetooth Keyboard - apple (A1314) and logitech mouse (M720 Triathalon) paired right up!
- updated via gui (panel notification), couple of errors.
- Not as glitzy as Plasma, basic gui and tools - e.g. System monitor is Terminal with Htop running
- Didn't know how to log into network drives - not much time spent on it
- Ran thru initial tests, all seemed well - even places where kde/plasma struggled like bluetooth & Openshot editor. BUT ... doesn't have the look and feel I was looking for. I'm used to Cinnamon and Mac OSX
- Actually seemed a little less responsive than KDE/Plasma ... surprised.
Manjaro (KDE)
- Overall: Wow! Looks really good! Easy to use, surprisingly fast. Possibly my utopia
Currently my top choice in Search for RPi Desktop replacement. Will revisit w/ a better SD card! Antics HERE
- Motivation: MiPi Project - X86 Desktops are getting old, RPi 4 SHOULD be suitable replacement
- Manjaro is apparently well regarded desktop distro. Have played with on x86 in the past - nice
- From Manjaro.org: "a suitable replacement for Windows or MacOS"
Tagline: Enjoy the Simplicity" (Exactly what I'm looking for!) - Started w/ KDE Plasma version - haven't seen plasma for a long time
- Install Notes - have not found Arm install notes ... but haven't really needed them!!
- Using slow 32g micro SD ... all I had available
- Download from manjaro.org/downloads/arm/raspberry-pi-4/arm8-raspberry-pi-4-kde-plasma/
- Oh, oh! Arm Documentation looks like skeleton page ... "This group don't use Wiki."
- Created SD using Etcher on x86, of course
- Booted RIGHT UP! ARM install menu
- Wow! Keyboard List includes the Apple Magic keyboard I plan to use!
Stuck wireless with Logitech initially - Prompted to add user and additional user groups - unsure how/what power default user has, so I added myself to wheel and power groups
- I did get to set passwords during install - including root
- Came Right up! Looks really nice!
- ssh enabled by default - apparently no root access via ssh
- hmmm ... its not apt-get or rpm or yum ... It's Pacman!
- Appears to be skeletal RPi config.txt in /boot
- Checklist run-down (see table above)
- Things look good ... but will do updates first - from gui panel. 241 of them!
- Oh Oh! Warnings: Error while configuring (x3), looks like it was working on Germany and japan! I may be OK in USA!
- Update looked to be mostly KDE. Plasma from 5.18.1 to 5.18.3
- On with checklist ...
- Bluetooth - LOOKS like its working .... BUT ...
- Apple Magic keyboard detected and connected, but doesn't work - I'll revisit this
Looks like I may have fumbled pairing - Logitech BT Mouse (M720 Triathalon) - seems to connect and be avail, but no workie!
- I'll revisit this - it sees BT stuff, I should be able to fiddle my way out of this!
- HEY! Reboot and Voilà - BT Apple keyboard and Logitech BT Mouse came right up!
- Audio - LOOKS good!
- VERY Happy to hear HDMI audio - my raspbian/cinnamon stopped working!
- 3.5mm Audio jack - no go, will revisit this. I can see it in Alsamixer, it'll work
- Displays/Dual Monitors - Dual Monitors worked right out of the gates
- Something strange - programs appear to pop up on Monitor #2, Not sure why, but behavior seems normal once they are closed/repopened
- Everything seems to work as its supposed to! Nice Change!
- No Temp Monitor that I could find
- Installed cpu-temp-speed, CLI, but it works
- WiFi worked fine - looks like it can create a hotspot! Added to my ToDo list to try.
- Performance is looking really good - youtube video runs great w/ approx 34% CPU utilization, temp 38C - This is MUCH better than raspbian/cinnamon contraption I've been using!
- Apps - Repository looks great - Installed a dozen or so apps that I use, spot checked
- Openshot video editor fails at launch - looked repairable: python undefined symbol
- EVERYTHING ELSE SEEMED TO WORK *and* performed well!
- Installed ksystemlog, did not see log viewer
openSUSE (XFCE)
- Overall: Looks nice! Probably a little early.
- Motivation: MiPi Project - X86 Desktops are getting old (me too), RPi 4 SHOULD be suitable replacement
- openSUSE is pretty well know Desktop world, may try a couple of these
- Started with Tumbleweed XFCE from download.opensuse.org/ports/aarch64/tumbleweed/images/
- Release info @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSUSE#Distribution
- RPi Sing-a-long: https://en.opensuse.org/HCL:Raspberry_Pi4
- Install Notes:
- Dowloaded from http://download.opensuse.org/ports/aarch64/tumbleweed/images/
- Using slow 32g Micro SD PNC - only one I had avail
- Imaged SD using etcher.io, worked fine
- Booted right up! U/P=root/linux
- Started with wireless USB keyboard and trackpad
- SSH enabled by default
- Ran YaST online update (from start menu) - hmmm? nothing installed
- Networking - Ethernet and Wifi - seemed fine right out of the box
- Will have to do some fiddling to get other stuff working ... looks to be worth the effort
- Stumbled through YaST update, looks like I got alsa, bluetooth stuff & more
- Installed blueman - didn't detect bluetooth hardware
- Similar for Audio - no hardware detected
- Found YaST hardware Info - seemed like a lot of Pi hardware not detected
- Enough for now ... I'll revisit when there is a Leap version
2019 Tests
Sept 2019
- Interesting Project: RPi-QEMU-x86-wine - Runs x86 win apps! Notes
- win98-pi image seemed to work - it's win98!
- RPi-Stretch-qemu-x86 - in process
June 2019
- FreeBSD 12.0 - Simple curiosity - twas slow, missing alot - Notes
April 2019
- NetPi Plus - Handheld Network probe - Notes Here
February 2019
- Kali Linux 2019.1 just out! Arm is easier now - Notes
January 2019
- Fedora 29 - Tried ARMv7 & aarch64. Disappointed. Notes HERE
- Mozilla IoT Gateway v0.6.1 - still early, but coming along VERY well. Done for now, but I'll watch for next - Summary in 2018 pt 2 table. Notes
Here wee go again ... Page Cleanup for 2019 testing
- 2018 ended up in two parts
- Early 2018: Random OS testing, as usual
Hands down favorite was DietPi - VERY Nice foundation - Mid/Late 2018: Tested mostly Home Automation distros
No finalist for our Home Automation Cleanup ... yet
- Find of the Year was Q4OS - used to replace dying windows desktops
-----------------
Ratings: A=Perfect (out of box), B=Little Tweak, C=Big Tweak, D=Works/Flaky, F=Total Fail |
Fedora 29 Workstation Arm |
NetPi Plus | FreeBSD 12.0 | RPi-QEMU- x86-wine |
|
Not Good Slow/Unstable Notes |
Whoops! Accidental Abort! Notes Below |
Little Rough but nice! Notes |
Slow not many packages Notes |
In Process Notes |
|
General | |||||
Distro Source/Vendor | getfedora.org | kali.org | blamethenetwork.com (Blog) |
freebsd.org | Project |
Ongoing Evolution/Support | Very Active - Fedora Wiki - Documentation - Arm Specific |
Active - docs.kali.org - Kali RPI Info |
Hobby-ish - Build guide (kinda) - Github Project - @DefendTheWire - Blog Chatter |
25+ Years! - RPI Doc - Forums - Handbook - Newbies |
Not much Github Sourceforge |
Security Info/Doc | Security Features | Security Info | |||
Reviews/Reputation | Distrowatch | DistroWatch | DistroWatch | ||
Cost/$$$ |
Free/Donate
|
Free/Donate | Free/BeerFund | Donate/Foundation | |
License | Various | Various | GPLv3 | FreeBSD 2-Clause | |
Download | Fedora-Workstation-armhfp-29-1.2-sda also quick retry with aarc64, still no luck |
kali-linux-2019.1-rpi3-nexmon.img.xz | NetPiPlus.7z (1.5g) Inside: NetPiPlus.img |
FreeBSD-12.0-RELEASE-arm-armv6-RPI-B.img |
or
win98-pi.zip |
Image Size | 1.9g | 824M | 3g | 299 MB | RPi-Stretch-qemu-x86 7.5g image (3g zipped) win98-pi 7.5g Image (2.5g zipped) |
Under the Hood (OS info /etc/os-release) |
|||||
Name | Fedora 29 (Workstation Edition) | Kali GNU/Linux Rolling | Raspbian GNU/Linux | Raspbian GNU/Linux | |
Version | 29 | 2019.1 | 9 (stretch) | 9 (stretch) | |
ID_Like | debian | debian | debian | ||
uname -a | 4.18.16-300.fc29. armv7hl #1 SMP Sun Oct 21 00:56:28 UTC 2018 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux |
Linux kali 4.14.93-Re4son-v7+ #1 SMP Thu Jan 24 12:44:19 AEDT 2019 armv7l GNU/Linux | Linux netpi 4.14.52 -v7+ #1123 SMP Wed Jun 27 17:35:49 BST 2018 armv7l GNU/Linux |
FreeBSD rpi-b 12.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE r341666 RPI-B arm | Linux raspberrypi 4.9.80-v7+ #1098 SMP Fri Mar 9 19:11:42 GMT 2018 armv7l GNU/Linux |
Release Info | Fedora 29 | 2019.1 Release Changelog Here |
Build V1.0 | Codename: Lightning | Release: 07312018 | 12.0 Announcement & Notes | |
Test Hardware | |||||
RPI Model used for tests | RPI 3 Model B* | RPI 3 Model B* | RPI 1 Model B | RPI 3 Model B+* | |
SD Used for testing |
Generic 8g
|
Generic 8g | Generic 8g | Generic 8g | Generic 8g |
SD - Disk Available | 6g Avail | approx 2.5g | 5.1G Avail | ~4g used | |
Special Hardware/Peripherals | |||||
3.5" TFT TouchScreen* | Didn't try | CN |
Didn't try | ||
Edimax Wi-Fi USB Adapter* |
No need | No Need | C | ||
USB | A | A | |||
Audio output (HDMI) | A | No test | No test | ||
Audio output (3.5mm Jack) | D | No test | No test | ||
Ethernet | BN | A | A | A | |
Built-in WiFi | A | A | A | n/a | |
Built-in Bluetooth | DN | A | n/a | ||
HDMI | A | A | A | ||
Power Management | AN | ||||
Usage/Usability |
|||||
General usability | C | C | B | C | |
Install effort | B | B | B | D | |
Documentation/Help | C | Hmmm?! | C | ||
GUI/X | B | xfce | Pixle | C | |
Network Participant2 | A | A | C | ||
Stability | D | D | A | ||
Performance/Responsiveness | D | B | |||
Software | |||||
Apps/Add-ons Availability | A | A | D | ||
Automatic Updates |
? | ? | |||
Default Browser | Firefox | Firefox ESR | Chromium |
N See Notes below
2 Home Network (samba, mac + win workgroup)
n/a = Not applicable
2019 Test Notes
RPi-QEMU-x86-wine
- Overall: Lost interest. There was some potential on RPI4, but not for my project. RPI4 is too Hot!
- Motivation: Learning experience: QEMU+Wine. IF it works, I'll add x86 emulation to Pi 4 GramPi!
- QEMU info @ https://www.qemu.org/
- RPI 4 thread to watch @ https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1507593
- Readme on github, Downloads on Sourceforge
- Install Notes:
- win98-pi.zip = "Raspbian Lite based image which boots straight into Windows 98 (qEmu)"
- Started with win98-pi.zip image, flashed 8g SD using Etcher
- Whoa! It IS win 98! My mouse (or trackpad) didnt work, but I looked around with win keyboard!
- No network, Win 98 Second Edition 4.10.2222A, actually RUNS PRETTY WELL on Pi 3B+!
- SSH server is running - pi/raspberry login
- Impressive, but not what I was looking for ... will retry with other image!
FreeBSD 12.0
- Overall: it runs, takes a lot of work. Not for the faint of heart ....
- Motivation: Haven't played with FreeBSD for decades! RPI is a simple way to check it out.
- Started w/ this doc - https://wiki.freebsd.org/FreeBSD/arm/Raspberry%20Pi
- Install Notes:
- Started with RPI2 image, Etcher seemed to work fine to create SD
- Boots very sloowwly
- Came up fine - default users were root/root or freebsd/freebsd
- Ethernet and SSH came up after install ... that was nice
- Quite plain-jane (CLI), but may play with installing GUI
- VERY little pre-installed - even had to install package management ... Sloooow
- Didn't bother to test audio
- wifi - some futzing. See handbook config-network-setup & network-wireless.
EDIMAX usb was detected, but I had to do some tweaking/configuring to get it rolling - Installed wpa_supplicant
pkg install wpa_supplicant
- created minimal /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
# cat /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
network={
ssid="<ssid>"
psk="<passkey>"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}
- dmesg to see device info and find adapter
rtwn0 on uhub1
rtwn0: <Realtek 802.11n WLAN Adapter, class 0/0, rev 2.00/2.00, addr 4> on usbus0
rtwn0: MAC/BB RTL8188CUS, RF 6052 1T1R
- Added interface using ifconfig
ifconfig wlan0 create wlandev rtwn0
- bring it up: Ifconfig wlan0 up
- and a boot or two during the process
- x/gui ... reserve some time, it's like the good old days: /handbook/x11.html
- Got x11 installed and working, but never found a display mgr to try.
gnome3, kde5, xfce4 in handbook, but not found in repository - Gave up
NetPi Plus
- Overall: May require a tweak or two - but nice! Came up nicely ... nice suite of pre-installed net tools.
Prob not for me - pretty small screen, but I'll dig into design and tools, lots to learn here.
- Motivation: Stumbled upon this - looking for a probe like gizmo to keep an eye on our internet connection
- Looks like site is being recovered from a hit - rebuild in process, not all images downloadable at this point - will test w/ stuff that's there initially, may need to revist ...
- Nice/Simple - designed for small touchscreen ... too bad it wasnt not MY Touchscreen. Hardware dependent
- Install Notes:
- Hardware is a tad specific - I'll need to tweak to get my TFT display working, but that's OK
SSH & VNC seems to work in meantime - VNC seems to be good representation - Raspbian Stretch under the hood
- 'Stealth' mode hangs my Pi - may dig in later
- 'Active' Mode - Ping, Trace Route, Speed Test, ETH0/WLAN details, Note pad with popup keyboard & network diagramer/eye test
- 'Pen Test' Mode - Port Scan, Wireshark, Wardrive (no worky)
- <still playing>
- To replace Kuman 3.5in LCD by my Adafruit PiTFT Plus 3.5 (P2411B) ...I stumbled thru the following with this sing-a-long from adafruit - https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pitft-3-dot-5-touch-screen-for-raspberry-pi/overview
- First: Switch back to HDMI
cd ./LCD-show/
./LCD-hdmi
- Then ... sing-a-long @ https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pitft-3-dot-5-touch-screen-for-raspberry-pi/overview
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adafruit/Raspberry-Pi-Installer-Scripts/master/adafruit-pitft.sh
chmod +x adafruit-pitft.sh
sudo ./adafruit-pitft.sh (installs PiTFT) - Finally, reboot and calibrate as needed.
Kali 2019.1
- Overall: Aborted - I accidentally overwrote the Kali sd card, never finished testing. Will retry in future...
It came up nicely, a little light in terms of available tools - significant subset of Kali from what I saw - Motivation: Interested in a RPI-based network security probe, simply to watch over 'things' on our network
- Install Notes:
- Whoops! Shot one of my toes off right out of the gate!
- Download RPI images from www.offensive-security.com/kali-linux-arm-images instead of main download page. First image (kali-linux-light-2019.1-armhf.img) did NOTHING!
- Started with image marked Kali Linux RaspberryPi 2 and 3. Will play with on RPI 3 & RPI2
- Created 8g sd boot using my new favorite - Etcher.io - and image=kali-linux-2019.1-rpi3-nexmon.img.xz
- Came right up on RPI3 - some prompt to create windows or something - I clicked on 'default'
- Oh! I See! Initial dialog was probably for setting up xfce panel and such! Pretty much a blank desktop w/ app menu via right mouse click ... I should read those messages! There is a Panel icon is setting to put things right - remember to save setting when you logoff
- SSH was live right out of the box
- No Audio, first glance thru /boot/config.txt looked like much/all commented out
- Software? Attempted to apt-get a few familiar tools - nothing found yet. It is what it is? Vim?
- MetaSploit came right up - I've been interested in this for a long time. Much to learn
- Abort - I'll redo this one in the future
Fedora 29
- Overall: Didn't go well ... Quite unstable/wobbly. Odd hangs & periods where it was painfully slow.
- I even backtracked, started over w/ aarch64 image ... I must have done something wrong!
- Motivation: Working on a separate Redhat project, need to bring myself back up to speed, Pi will be handy.
Also my first/fav flavor of Linux a looong time ago, well deserving of a RPI boot! - Reads:
- StackExchange PiDora vs Fedora ARM thread (circa 2015, updated in 2017)
- Fedora Workstation vs Server Editions (2018)
- Settled on Fedora Arm over PiDora, which seemed a tad stale
- Install notes - https://arm.fedoraproject.org/
- Yikes! MANY flavors - KDE, Xfce, LXDE, Mate, Sugar ... Chose default: Fedora Workstation
- Arm Doc is here -> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM
- Tried both armv7 and aarch64 images on RPI3 B+
- Used etcher.io to create SD's
- This thing was VERY slow/nonresponsive at times. Updates Hard to tell what was going on?
It settled down over time and was quite usable, but VERY strange/slow episodes. - Ghastly slow/buried Pi with first run of firefox. Couldn't even get monitor up to see what was going on
- Killed FireFox, fired-up monitor and relaunched FF - ran fine, of course! Watched pot! Updates?
- Still a tad slow (jerky mouse pointer) after clean boot. nothing obvious, settled down after a few
- Odd hang in middle of the night - on signon screen clock display was alternating between two times approx an hour apart.
- Stability & Performance skitzy - I ran monitor and log viewer most of the time. Hard to tell what was going on
- Hardware
- Ethernet: worked out of the box, but some odd messages during boot - link not ready BS
- Bluetooth: Flakey
- Fumbled getting BT Apple Keyboard working, had to connect USB kb initially
- BT Speaker seemed to make BT struggle for its life before dying - system log "Hardware error"
- Power Management: Good! Even showed battery levels for BT keyboard *and* put monitor to sleep
BUT ... Auto Screen Lock screwed me, could not get login screen up had to boot - Audio: HDMI sound worked out of the get-go, no obvious access to 3.5mm jack.
BT speaker was a fail - recognized as audio (headphones), seemed to try hard to pair, but no worky
2018 Tests (Part 2)
January 2019
- Back to Home Automation
- Mozilla IoT Gateway v0.6.1 - still early, but coming along VERY well.
Done for now, but I'll watch for next release, its getting closer - Notes Here
October 2018
- Q4OS 2.6 Desktop - Working great for my XP replacement project - Notes
- Home Automation quest continues (not done yet)
- OpenHABian - Not for me, but VERY formidable! Quite a bit of tech-tweaking to get it up and running, but appears to be transforming from config files to GUI for config/maint. Worth a look - I may revisit in the future - My Notes
- Added thethingbox.io to my ToDo list - very interesting.
Tagline from site: "A ready to use SDCard for Raspberry Pi featuring Node-RED and The Internet of Things technologies, easy to use with a graphical interface"
September 2018
- Hold Everything! Q4OS 2.5 Scorpion for RPi is out, I've been waiting!
Works good enough to restart my GramPi project ... My Notes - Back to OpenHABian testing - Notes as I go
- Aborted testing Home Assistant via HassOS - too many struggles. Notes
August 2018
- Home Assistant via DietPi is working pretty well - Notes as I go
- Interesting ThreatPost article: Open MQTT Servers Raise Physical Threats in Smart Homes. Added separate categories for Security documentation & accommodations. Much to learn, will stick to local access/use for now
July 2018
- RPI Home Automation refocus right now (I need to cleanup our smarthome!)
- Reorganized Latest Tests table to accommodate this one
- Alternatives HA platforms Side-by-Side compare
- Added HA specific requirements to end of Test Table
- This may take a while!
- Initial Home Automation testing
- OpenHABian (openhab.org) - Vendor/Tech agnostic, popular - Notes
- Home Assistant - Popular/Active project.
Two test scenarios: - Home Assistant via DietPi - Add HA to our HomePi - Notes
This is my first choice: Use an existing multipurpose Pi for HA - Home Assistant via Hass.io (HassOS, new in July 2018)
Read Hass.io 2018 Blog Post for background - Mozilla IoT Gateway Redo - Up and comer? Notes
- Running list of Raspberry Pi IoT/Home Automation possibilities.
- Domoticz - RaspberryPi Wiki
- Calaos Project - Raspberry Pi Quickstart
- Mr House (I like the name) - looks like perl, an adventure!
- PiDome - Looks half-baked, but will keep an eye on it
- MajorDomo Home - appears to be active project
- Fhem - perl!
- MyController.org - appears to be companion proj for DIY mysensors.org
- OpenMotics - opensource software and hardware - interesting
- Jeedom.com - open source or prebuilt
- OpenNetHome.org - RPi download
- Smarthomatic.org - Opensource with concentration on devices
- HomeGenie.it - Opensource focused on Integration
- thethingbox.io - A ready to use RPI image w/ Node-RED and IoT technologies, graphical interface
- <Yeeesh! there are more than I thought!>
2018 Test Notes (Part 2)
Ratings: A=Perfect (out of box), B=Little Tweak, C=Big Tweak, D=Works/Flaky, F=Total Fail |
Home Assistant via Hass.io (HA ver 0.77.2) |
(HA ver 0.73.1)
|
Mozilla IoT Gateway v0.6.1 | ||
Aborted Notes |
Formidable (but not for me) Notes |
Works pretty well (more to come) Notes |
Experimental but looks GREAT! Notes |
Working Great! Notes |
|
General | Demo Server | Demo Server | Demo Server | _____________ | _____________ |
Distro Source/Vendor | home-assistant.io | openhab.org -- OpenHAB Foundation |
dietpi.com (details) |
iot.mozilla.org | q4os.org |
Ongoing Evolution/Support | Very Active - Documentation - Forum - Github Project - Issue Tracker |
Very Active - Documentation - Community - Github Project OpenHAB Foundation - MyOpenHAB (Free Instance of OpenHAB Cloud) |
Very Active Dietpi Software - Home Assistant - Forums Home Assistant - Documentation - Forum - Github Project - Issue Tracker - |
Early Preview - Project Page - Blog - Hacks/Install - Hardware See Comments - IoT Discourse - Github Project - Github Issues - Hacks/IoT - Dev Wiki^ ^ VERY Useful |
Semi-Active - Documentation - Forums - Bug Tracker - SF Project - RPI Setup |
Security Info/Doc | - HA Security - Securing Install - Tor Serv Config - Remote Access - Fingerprint |
- Secure Access - Remote Access - OpenHABCloud |
- HA Security - Securing Install - Tor Serv Config - Remote Access - Fingerprint |
Remote Access See Also pagekite.net |
- RPI Security |
Reviews/Reputation | Distrowatch (dietpi) | - SF Reviews - Distrowatch - The Register |
|||
Cost/$$$ |
Free, See also
|
Free/Donate | Free - Dietpi Donate - HA's Nabu Casa |
Free - Foundation - Donate |
Free/Donate |
License | Apache 2.0 | ICS License | Apache 2.0 | Mozilla Public License 2.0 |
GNU
GPL&GPLV2
(I think!)
|
Download | -2.2.img (32-Bit) hassos_rpi3 -64-1.10.img (64-bit) |
openhabianpi-raspbian-201804031720-gitdba76f6-crc9e93c3eb.img | DietPi_RPi -ARMv6 -Stretch.7z Home Assistant is an optimized option on Dietpi |
gateway-0.6.1.img.zip | q4os-2.6-rpi.r2.zip |
Image Size | 158.9MB zipped | 250MB zipped | 83MB zipped | 917MB zipped | 450MB zipped |
Under the Hood (OS info /etc/os-release) |
|||||
Name | Alpine Linux | Raspbian GNU/Linux |
Raspbian GNU/Linux |
Raspbian GNU/Linux | Raspbian GNU/Linux |
Version | 3.7.0 | 9 (stretch) | 9 (stretch) | 9 (stretch) | 9 (stretch) |
ID_Like | debian | debian | debian | debian | |
uname -a | Linux core-ssh 4.14.66-v8 #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Aug 27 20:12:37 UTC 2018 aarch64 Linux |
Linux openHABianPi 4.9.80-v7+ #1098 SMP Fri Mar 9 19:11:42 GMT 2018 armv7l GNU/Linux |
Linux DietPi 4.14.52-v7+ #1123 SMP Wed Jun 27 17:35:49 BST 2018 armv7l GNU/Linux |
Linux raspberrypi 4.14.62-v7+ #1134 SMP Tue Aug 14 17:10:10 BST 2018 armv7l GNU | Linux gateway 4.14.71-v7+ #1145 SMP Fri Sep 21 15:38:35 BST 2018 armv7l GNU/Linux |
Release Info | Project Blog | Release Notes | Notes - DietPi - Hass.io vs HA |
Release Notes | Q4OS Scorpion 2.6 for RPi Trinity R14.05 |
Test Hardware | |||||
RPI Model used for tests |
|
RPI 3 Model B* | RPI 2 Model B* |
RPI 3 Model B* |
RPI 3 Model B+* |
SD Used for testing | Samsung 16g EVO* |
Generic 8g |
16g*
|
Samsung 16g EVO* |
|
SD - Disk Available | approx 1.5g used | approx 2g used | approx 50% | ~85% free | 35% free |
Special Hardware/Peripherals | |||||
3.5" TFT TouchScreen* | n/a | CN | n/a | n/a | no test |
Edimax Wi-Fi USB Adapter* |
n/a RPI 3 | n/a RPI 3 | A | n/a RPI 3 | n/a RPI 3 |
USB | A | A | |||
Audio output (HDMI) | n/a (headless) | n/a (headless) | n/a (headless) | n/a (headless) | AN |
Audio output (3.5mm Jack) | A (dietpi) | C | |||
Ethernet | A | A | A | A | A |
Built-in WiFi | A | AN | A (on RPI 3) | BN | BN |
Built-in Bluetooth | CN | A (on RPI 3) | CN | ||
HDMI | A (headless) | A (but headless) | A (but headless) | A (headless) | A |
Power Management | n/a | BN | |||
Usage/Usability |
|||||
General usability | C | D | C | B | A |
Install effort | D | D | A (DietPi) | B | C |
Documentation/Help | C | B | B | C | C |
GUI/X | B (Browser) | D (Browser) | C (Browser) | A (Browser) | Trinity |
Network Participant2 | A | ||||
Stability | C | B | B | A | A |
Performance/Responsiveness | A | A | A | A | AN |
Software | |||||
Apps/Add-ons Availability | A | B | A | B (evolving!) | A |
Automatic Updates |
F | F | A (DietPi) | Maybe! | A |
Default Browser | n/a (headless) | n/a (headless) | n/a (headless) | n/a (headless) | KonquerorN |
Home Automation | Tested some Y = Available N = Not yet |
Desktop not HA | |||
SIMPLE UI for Family | CN | A | A | ||
Smartthings Integration | D | No BUT! | n/a | ||
Nest integration | C | N | n/a | ||
Homekit Integration | C | Sort of | n/a | ||
WeMo Motion Integration | A (detected) | B (detected) | A (detected) | N | n/a |
WeMo Switch Integration | A (detected) | B (detected) | A (detected) | Y | n/a |
Hue Integration | A (detected) | B (detected) | A (detected) | Y | n/a |
Camera/Local USB | F | F | B | N | A |
Camera/Remote | D | C | N | n/a | |
Zigbee 'Things' |
no test | Y (smartthings!) | n/a | ||
Zwave 'Things' | no test | Y | n/a | ||
GPIO interface | F | D | BN | A | n/a |
Remote (Cloud) Controls |
C
|
B | n/a | ||
Security/Privacy | evolving | Looks good | n/a | ||
Setting up Automations | CN | C | A | n/a |
N See Notes below
2 Home Network (samba, mac + win workgroup)
n/a = Not applicable
Mozilla Things Gateway
- Overall - This thing looks GREAT! Still early/preview state, but I'll probably buy a Zigbee adapter when the next version is released. Looks like a potential Smartthings Hub replacement. I'll Keep testing this one
- Main site = Mozolla Things Gateway
- This is a redo of some testing earlier in year (see below)
- Started from scratch - noticed new release of Things Gateway - 0.6.1 (oct 2018)
- Motivation: Smartthings is a POS! Latest version of Moz Gateway supposedly handles ST Sensors w/ Zigbee Adapter, of course. Have also been looking for an easy GPIO interface and/or roll-your-own.
- Couple of good reads:
- Original Web-of-Things overview @ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2017/06/building-the-web-of-things/
- Things Framework to build your own @ https://iot.mozilla.org/things/
- Web Thing API Draft Specification @ https://iot.mozilla.org/specification/
- Install notes
- Singing along with https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/02/how-to-build-your-own-private-smart-home-with-a-raspberry-pi-and-mozillas-things-gateway/
- Pretty simple install/boot -
- Raspbian, Resizes fs on first boot
- Acts like an AP - Connect to "Mozilla IoT Gateway" SSID to setup WiFi
BUT ... never asked for password, consequently never came up on our WiFi - Logged in as pi/raspbian and raspi-config to get it on our WiFi network
- Ack! Reflashed, I must have done something wrong!
- Razin Frazin - worked better last time ... connected it to a wire to get thru initial setup & WiFi config
- Logged in as pi/raspberry and enabled ssh (raspi-config) - had a feeling it would be handy!
- Added subdomain because I want to see how tunneling will work ...
email confirmation request failed like this:
This site can’t provide a secure connection
api.mozilla-iot.org sent an invalid response.
ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR
- Connect to gateway.local via browser - nope, that didn't work w/ chrome or safari. Connected via http://<ip>
** Correction: Connecting using https://gateway.local works fine ... my network issue ** - Initial scan for things (+) came up empty
- Add-ons - quite a few listed, selected the following
- DateTime Adapter seemed useful (sunrise/sunset, etc)
- GPIO Adapter! I'll need that!
- Homekit
- Philips Hue
- Wemo
- Nice UI!
- Still needs some technical tweaks, but simple, browser-based and easy to use!
- Rules/Automation seems to be VERY simple - nice UI!
- Security looks pretty well thought out. I need to think it thru a bit, but looks pretty good!
- Remote access info @ https://github.com/mozilla-iot/wiki/wiki/Gateway-Remote-Access
- Seems to use pagekite.net
- Our World/Things ( See also https://github.com/mozilla-iot/wiki/wiki/Supported-Hardware)
- Use Settings/Add-ons to find/add Adapters for your world ... some interesting Add-ons in here!
- Detected a couple of things - Didn't spend a lot of time here
- GPIO - this will be important for me. Singing along with instructions
@ https://github.com/mozilla-iot/wiki/wiki/Configuring-GPIO-for-use-with-the-gpio-adapter
and @ https://www.npmjs.com/package/onoff (this looks nice btw) - Pretty easy setup - when they say 'pin' they mean GPIO#
- I'm going to
- WeMo - Found the Switch, didn't find motion detector
- HUE (old/original bridge) - took its time, but found HUE bridge and bulbs.
- Some granular controls like color, but didnt see others - brightness, etc
- Smartthings - No Smartthings hub adapter BUT Moz gateway supports a number of smartthings adapters directly - IF you have a Zigbee Adapter. THIS IS VERY APPEALING because smarthings sucks!
- Apple Homekit - appears to interface with Homebridge (I have to think that thru too!)
Q4OS 2.6
- Overall: Couple of little bumps, but is working great now! I like Q4OS a LOT! Waited a quite a while for the Scorpion Release on RPI. Focused on a complete desktop environment on the ARM architecture
- Motivation: Trinity Desktop was GREAT start for my XP look-a-like project.
- Notes as I go
- Etcher.io is really the way to go to burn OS images to SDs. It even burns from zip file
- SD booted right up and resized filesystem (using a 16g SD)
- Login was default raspbian: User=pi, PW=raspberry
- Nice initial startup, detected hardware, set language, forced password change
- Chose "Full Featured ..." desktop from Desktop Profiler Menu. 540M
- Profiler does all package installs ... looks to be Stretch
- Ack! Profiler exited with error code 70 aft approx 10 mins.
"Please try again in a few minutes". Looks like something failed to download - Reran Profiler, ran fine
- Performance was
pretty goodEXCELLENT on RPI3B+. Very Usable! - Seemed a little sluggish initially, but actually did quite well running youtube video (chromium) while tweaking, installing and testing. RPI3 avg load probably around 50%
- Q4OS struggled the last time I tested it, could be Raspbian Stretch
- Installed RPI-Monitor to keep an eye on it while I test ... Nice utility BTW
https://rpi-experiences.blogspot.com/p/rpi-monitor-installation.html - Ran a quite a few tests on GUI watching utilization and temp on Pi3B+
... seems good with video/audio streaming on Chromium, Firefox ESR not so good
Even tested hangouts using a usb webcam - possibilities! - Running thru normal Raspbian config per https://www.q4os.org/dqa010.html
- Audio - HDMI Audio worked right out of the box, prepare to tweak to get other stuff working
- Did not get bluetooth speaker working - but confident it can be done
- Did not figure out how to switch to 3.5mm output - tried to force via raspi-config ... failed
Did not spend a lot of time playing with Kmix - WiFi works, but is quirky - I had to set it up using raspi-config,
- desktop tray/app thingy (TDENetworkManager?) doesn't seem to work ... I just hid it
- I set a wifi network via raspi-config to get wifi working
- There is a PowerSave feature! I've been looking for Monitor power off capabilities (DPMS)!
- Odd - shows battery state(?) *and* 84% charged?
- Monitor didn't shut off, will keep putzing here
- Got it! Stumbled my way into thru rpi /boot/config.txt file using https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt/README.md.
Lots of interesting stuff in here ...... this did the trick, turns off HDMI. This is not a Q4OS feature/option, essentially RPI BIOS equivalent. How2 is now Herehdmi_blanking=1
- Network Participant
- Windows shares worked right out of the box
- Network printers worked fine too - CUPS 2.2.1
- USB - Worked great
- Automounted removable drive
- Webcam worked right out of the box - tested with VLC Media Player
(Logitech HD Webcam C525, Portable HD 720p* - $40 via Amazon.com in Mar 2014) - Standard USB Mouse/Keyboard seem fine too ... will need these for my little proj
- Config/Usage
- Struggling with kmenuedit: Attempting to adjust Start Menu. May be my Trinity Desktop IQ
- If you unlock panel (right click on start) you can switch between Menu styles - I liked 'kickoff' best
- VERY easy to use if you dumb it down, remove unnecessary icons and such
- So far
so good!OKGOODGREAT! on RPI3B+ - Had VERY good experience on support forum - Figured out WiFi glitch, very responsive
OpenHABian
- Overall: Abandoned this one for now, may revisit in the future. It is complicated, partially due to transition-in-process from v1 (raw config files) to v2 (GUI helpers). Project is very active, I'll revisit in the future
- Looks Formidable! Backed by openhabfoundation.org
- Main Website @ https://www.openhab.org/
- Demo @ https://demo.openhab.org:8443/start/index
- Some fun quotes from Doc:
- "A home automation enthusiast doesn't have to be a Linux enthusiast!"
- "The good news: openHABian helps you to stay away from Linux - The bad news: Not for long..."
- Motivation: Decided to fireup OpenHAB up to compare/contrast with Home Assistant
- Working though setup @ https://www.openhab.org/docs/installation/openhabian.html#quick-start
- Notes as I go
- Misc Hardware/Test notes
- WiFi - worked fine, config using openhabian-config - there is no raspbian-config
- TFT Touch Screen: Didn't test, but there is potential, see this note
@ community.openhab.org/t/raspi-7-touch-display-as-openhab-gui-how-to/4113 - Bluetooth - there is a Binding
- Installation takes a while (and a couple of reboots, if I recall)
- v 2.3.0-1openhabian
- Installing with no monitor ethernetted to our 'things' network segment to see if it discovers things
UI not responsive during install, so I took a peek via ssh openhabian@<myip> (pw=openhabian)
Looked like install died
2018-03-13_22:53:35_UTC [openHABian] Starting the openHABian initial setup.
2018-03-13_22:53:35_UTC [openHABian] Storing configuration... OK
2018-03-13_22:53:35_UTC [openHABian] Changing default username and password... OK
2018-03-13_22:53:36_UTC [openHABian] Setting up Ethernet connection... OK
2018-03-13_22:53:36_UTC [openHABian] Ensuring network connectivity... OK
2018-03-13_22:53:36_UTC [openHABian] Waiting for dpkg/apt to get ready... OK
2018-03-13_22:53:57_UTC [openHABian] Updating repositories and upgrading installed packages... FAILED
2018-09-06_12:04:05_UTC [openHABian] Initial setup exiting with an error!
- REBOOT w/ no ssh peeking! Seemed to work fine this time
- Chose "Standard Package (Recommended)" via UI @ http://<ip or host>:8080
Initial screen: - Log Viewer @ http://<ip or host>:9001 - all seemed fine
- Link to Help @ https://www.openhab.org/docs/installation/openhabian.html
- Link to Homebuilder tool
- Link to BasicUI Tool
- PaperUI Tool
- HABPanel - dashboard builder. Looks nice
- ssh openhabian@<myip>
- sudo openhabian-config
doc @ https://www.openhab.org/docs/installation/openhabian.html#openhabian-configuration-tool - Stepped thru all items
- Password must be > 10 (and hint for me)
- Updated everything - "Upgrade System" appears to be to latest/greatest
- Apply Improvements - Stepped thru all of these, looked like all were already installed on RPI image
- Optional components - installed stuff that looked interesting or useful
(All installed stuff shows up on OpenHab start screen @ http://<ip or host>:8080)
- Log Viewer
- Mosquitto (w/ a password)
- Influxdb and Graphana - looks cool and seems to run @ http://<ip or host>:3000
but no clue yet. More info @ https://community.openhab.org/t/13761/1 - Node-RED - installed as root eventho it attempted to scare me off! I want to learn
Potential useful notes from install
You can now start Node-RED with the command node-red-start
or using the icon under Menu / Programming / Node-RED
Then point your browser to localhost:1880 or http://{your_pi_ip-address}:1880
- System Settings - Hostname, Locale, Timezone. More here too
- Backup/Restore - just to see. Setup Amanda Backup
- More setup via browser interface @ http://<ip or host>:8080 using Paper UI
Working thru www.openhab.org/docs/installation/openhabian.html#first-steps-with-openhab
- Configuration/System - Turned on Inbox Auto Approve and Item Linking/Simple and set regional settings (Lang, TZ, Region, etc)
- Configuration/Bindings for a few of our 'Things' - WeMo was easy to test here
- Took a read thru 'Concepts' section of doc
- Never saw anything in my "Inbox", but managed to discover Hue and WeMo things and manually add to Control screen by selecting Channels and setting Room Name
- Still a little Confusing - but I'm stumbling along making progress. LOTS of Doc. Recommendations for new users may help.
- Config Tutorial @ www.openhab.org/docs/tutorial/configuration.html
- Looks like I have to Create a Sitemap - time for ssh and an editor.
- File Locations vary - found mine via
$ set | grep OPENHAB_CONF
OPENHAB_CONF=/etc/openhab2
- Used Home Builder to create sitemap, items and dashboard. Odd utility, no save button ... create, then copy/past into correct config file
- Our World/Things (Configured using Paperui)
- Philips Hue Hub (v1) - Configuration>Bindings: Added hue Binding
Bridge was discovered came up fine. Had to manually select 'Channels' for each bulb in Configuration>Things dialog to get them listed in Control Section of UI, but they work! - WeMo - Configuration>Bindings: Added WeMo Binding. Motion and Switch worked fine
- Switch - Detected switch - manually set Channel to get it to show up in Control area of UI.
- WeMo Motion - Set Channel to get it to Control area,
- GPIO - Hmmm, time to get the editor out to whip together some .cfg files
- Cameras - No Bindings that I could see, some outside work on IP cameras tho on github @ github.com/thhart/openhab2-addons/tree/master/addons/binding/org.openhab.binding.camera
- Smartthings - Didn't Test. Possibly Doable using Binding from project @ https://github.com/BobRak/OpenHAB-Smartthings/tree/master/org.openhab.binding.smartthings
- Nest - Looks doable, there is a binding. I didn't go thru the motions to test
- HomeKit - Binding exposes OpenHAB as HK Hub, didn't test this
- Did not test Automations, but there is a facility
- Enough for now - Will make a note and revisit this one in the future
Home Assistant (Hass.io)
- Overall: A tad disappointing, more of a struggle to get this going than Hass via Dietpi. Aborted
Dietpi version simply worked better and has many nice features wrapped around (e.g. backups, autoupdate) - Dedicated Pi running Hass.io (the new HassOS) - apparently the traditional way to run Home Assistant
- Interested to compare/contrast config effort here vs Dietpi/Hass
- Based on complexity of Home Automation a dedicated Pi probably makes sense
- Testing on RP3 w/ 16g SD. 32g SD recommended, 16g seemed fine for testing
- Motivation: Cleanup our home automation, utilize older switches and sensors built into our home *and* attempt to control cloud chatter (privacy)
- Notes
- Hass.io seems to have gotten major re-work in July 2018 - new OS under the hood
- Installation: Singing along with https://www.home-assistant.io/hassio/installation/
Downloaded 32bit version because it was marked 'Recommended' on Installation Page32-bit didn't work for squat, 'initializing' for hours! never came up
- Downloaded 64-bit version, came right up. Etcher is a nice way to flash these SD's
- Wired connection to our 'Things' segment and booted so it could discover stuff
- Hass is @ http://<yourip>:8123
- Hass.io Add-on's are nice! Not quite as techie as dietpi version
- Turned on ssh via web interface! Nice
- Added the Configurator Add-on. @ http://<yourip>:3218 by default
Web-based config editor - pretty nice, it also checks yaml - Alpine Linux package management is different. apk to add stuff, but only to running instance, package will disappear after reboot if you don't also run ibu .... interesting!
- My pass thru /config/configuration.yaml
- Used this for to find location long/lat - https://www.latlong.net/
- Timezone from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones
"America/Chicago" seemed to be valid - Add name to platform 'yr' so it displays "Weather" on top of page ...
# Weather prediction
sensor:
- platform: yr
name: Weather
- <more yaml to come>
- Server restarts seem to be required for configuration.yaml mods - to restart follow menu:
Configuration->general. Will take you to Configuration and Server Control - Our World/Things
- Detects 'things' I hadn't intended to include in home automation....
# Discover some devices automatically
discovery
ignore:
- roku
- Roku
Had to tell Discovery Component to ignore Roku, could not find way to ignore our TV
- Philips Hue Hub (v1) - Bridge was discovered came up fine
- WeMo Switch detected and functioned right out of the box
- WeMo Motion detected and functioned right out of the box
- GPIO: FAILED(?!?!) using the exact GPIO syntax that was working on HA on Dietpi - WTF!
Retried using switch example in documentation - STILL failed
------
Pop up on mainscreen:
invalid config
The following components and platforms could not be set up:
- rpi-gpio
- switch.rpi_gpio
Please check your config.
------ - Camera: Never figured out howto define local USB cam. JUST worked on Hass on Dietpi
Home Assistant (DietPi)
- Overall - Testing Paused. Looks pretty good, but lots of tweaking that will need to be redone on hass.io.
My gut feel is that Home Assistant will deserve a Pi of its own, not simply a service on an existing Dietpi box.
Will take what I've learned to Hass.io and see if its any easier - Home Assistant using an existing DietPi (Home Assistant is a DietPi option)
- Install took a while - HASS is Python
- Appears to be v0.73.1
- Web interface came up GREAT, also discovered a few of our 'Things'
- Configuration is a tad complicated (yaml) - it's a techie gizmo, you will tweak
- Discovery is a little flaky (just me?) - sometimes things show, other times not?
- Motivation: I need to cleanup Home Automation in our home - also investigating using RPI GPIO to interface an existing (old) home security system - many hardwired sensors. Curious if I can use existing Dietpi box
- Notes as I go...
- Switched from RPI 3 to RPI 2 w/ edimax Wifi adapter - added to an existing dietpi system. Seems OK
- Came right up, discovered a couple of wifi 'things' (like WeMo, Roku, Sony TV!)
// discovered devices seemed to work right out of the box - turned on the TV in chromecast mode // - Access via browser @ http://<ip or host>:8123
- Walked through UI config options - looks like it will be brute force mods to config files
- Attempting to sing-a-long with links in "Welcome Home!" box on web interface
- Configuring Home Assistant: Hmmm, dietpi not listed, this will not be as easy as hass.io
Doesn't seem to match https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/configuration/ - found only 1 config file @ /mnt/dietpi_userdata/homeassistant/configuration.yaml
- Shot a toe off with first mod to configuration.yaml (setting timezone!)
Had to restore original yaml file to get it back up and running - probably my tyep-o's - Runs as a service on dietpi:
journalctl -u home-assistant.service
to see whats up - yaml appears to get complicated, plenty of samples but lots of rummaging around
- Displays "failed to call service homeassistant restart" when I restart via web frontend, but does seem to restart
- Web UI is a tad confusing - "Discovered" vs "Configured"
- Have to be a careful editing yaml. I'm steering clear of tabs
- Looks like many devices are registered and working on multiple hubs!
e.g. Hue Lights via Smartthings or HA, WeMo too! Not sure if this is good or bad yet - Our World/Things
- Detected a few 'things' I didn't expect - these seem to be detected each time, not added to yaml
- Smart TV - periodically discovered
- Roku
- Philips Hue Hub (v1) - Bridge was discovered came up fine. playing with config
- WeMo Switch detected and functioned right out of the box
- WeMo Motion seems to take a bit to be detected (motion?), but worked
- GPIO: It works BUT ... I had to make a little tweak to user homeassistant and add him/her to the gpio group. I noticed this in Manual Install documentation
The Mod was simple:usermod -a -G gpio homeassistant
My test yaml:
# GPIO - an led in GPIO 4 and a push button @ GPIO2 in my breadboard
switch:
- platform: rpi_gpio
ports:
4: Blue Light
binary_sensor:
- platform: rpi_gpio
ports:
2: Button
- Cameras:
- Remote stream from network mjpeg didn't work, but I think its my net/cam
- Local Cam (usb web cam) - seems to work out of box
- My ToDo's
- Automations ... just beginning to play w/ automations and scripts
- Check "Porosity" of Home Assistant on DietPi using Hass.io Porosity Guide
- Dashboard looks promising - https://appdaemon.readthedocs.io/en/stable/DASHBOARD_INSTALL.html
- EASY UI for family - a BIG Button on screen to turn on Coffee in morning!
- Nest: https://www.home-assistant.io/components/nest/
- Homekit: https://www.home-assistant.io/components/homekit/
- Need z-wave/zigbee adapter - looking at this one because it does zigbee+z-wave and may work with Home Assistant and/or OpenHAB - GoControl Linear HUSBZB-1*
- Smarthings looks doable, may be kludgy/cloud chatty.
ST Thread @ community.smartthings.com/t/home-assistant-can-now-control-smartthings - Github project @ https://github.com/stjohnjohnson/smartthings-mqtt-bridge
- Cameras/motion detection: http://queen.run.montefiore.ulg.ac.be/~barbette/home-assistant-live-camera-feed-and-motion-detection-with-a-usb-camera-using-motion/
2018 Tests (Part 1)
April 2018
- Home Assistant (via Hass.io) - Home Automation Platform - Notes
- Built a RPI v1 based Honeypot using Honeeepi - fun one! Notes
March 2018
- Mozilla IoT Gateway to see what Project Things is all about - Notes
- More Stretch: Worked thru jessie to stretch update, went very well - I'm sold
February 2018
- Raspbian Stretch - Time to upgrade mi Pi's - looks really good ... Notes
- Parrot OS 3.10 - Security/Pen Testing Distro. Works, will revisit again
Ratings: A=Perfect (out of box), B=Little Tweak, C=Big Tweak, D=Works/Flaky, F=Total Fail |
Parrot OS! |
(stretch)
|
(stretch)
|
Honeeepi | |
'Experimental' but works fine! |
Worth the Upgrade | Works Great | Looks VERY Promising but still early 'Experimental' |
Works Fine |
|
General | |||||
Distro Source/Vendor | parrotsec.org | raspbian.org | dietpi.com | mozilla.org | honeynet.org |
Ongoing Evolution/Support | Active Project - Wiki/Doc - FAQs - CommunityRPI Zero W |
THE RPI OS: - Forums - Help Guides - Documentation |
See Forums - Release info - GitHub Proj - Setup Guide - Software Details |
Experimental - Project Page - IoT Discourse - Github Project - Issues - HowTo (see Comments) |
Little stale (2016) - Project Page - Prob on your own - SourceForge |
Reviews/Reputation | - RPI Foundation - DistroWatch |
||||
Cost/$$$ | Free: Donate | Free | Free: Donate | Free: Donate | Free |
License | GNU/GPL v3 | FOSS - mainly GPL | GNU/GPLv2 | Mozilla Public License 2.0 | FOSS - mainly GPL |
Download | Parrot-rpi-2017.11.15_armhf (img file) |
NOOBS_v2_4_5 (zip) |
DietPi_RPi-ARMv6-Stretch.7z | gateway-0.3.0 (zipped img) |
honeeepi201610 (zipped img) |
Image Size | 1.5g Zip | 1.6g Zip | 84MB zip! | 705MB zip | 607MB zip |
Under the Hood (OS info /etc/os-release) |
|||||
Name | Parrot GNU/Linux |
Raspbian GNU/Linux | Raspbian GNU/Linux | Raspbian GNU/Linux | Raspbian GNU/Linux |
Version | 3.10 (Intruder) |
9 (stretch) | 9 (stretch) | 9 (stretch) | 8 (jessie) |
ID_Like | debian |
debian | debian | debian | debian |
uname -a |
Linux parrot-armhf 4.4.38-v7+ #938 SMP Thu Dec 15 15:22:21 GMT 2016 armv7l GNU/Linux |
Linux Raspberrypi 4.9.59-v7+ #1047 SMP Sun Oct 29 12:19:23 GMT 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux |
Linux DietPi 4.9.59-v7+ #1047 SMP Sun Oct 29 12:19:23 GMT 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux | Linux gateway 4.9.59-v7+ #1047 SMP Sun Oct 29 12:19:23 GMT 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux | Linux honeeepi 4.4.21-v7+ #911 SMP Thu Sep 15 14:22:38 BST 2016 armv7l GNU/Linux |
Release Info | Release Notes | V6.0 Info | Release Notes | Project Wiki | |
Test Hardware | |||||
RPI Model used for tests | RPI 2 Model B* |
RPI 3 Model B* | RPI 2 Model B* |
|
|
SD Used for testing | 8g (generic) |
Samsung 16g EVO* |
8g (generic) | 8g (generic) | |
SD - Disk Available | 685k (91% used) |
4.4g (35%) | 5g (25% used) | 5g (25% used) | 2.4g (9% used) |
Special Hardware/Peripherals | |||||
3.5" TFT TouchScreen* | n/a | n/a | Not listed :-( | n/a | |
Edimax Wi-Fi USB Adapter* |
A | n/a | BN | A | B |
USB | A | A | A | A | B |
Audio output (HDMI) | DN | A | A | ||
Audio output (3.5mm Jack) | DN |
A | AN | ||
Ethernet | A | A | A | A | A |
Built-in WiFi | n/a (PI 2) |
A | n/a (PI 2) | A | B |
Built-in Bluetooth | n/a (PI 2) |
A | n/a (PI 2) | ||
HDMI | A | A | A | A | A |
Power Management | F | F | F | ||
Usage/Usability |
|||||
General usability | B | A | A | C | C |
Install effort | B | A | A | B | C |
Documentation/Help | B | A | A | C | D |
GUI/X | A | A | AN | n/a (headless) | none |
Network Participant2 | A | A+N | BN | B | |
Stability | B | B | A | B | |
Performance/Responsiveness | B | A | A | A | |
Software | |||||
Apps/Add-ons Availability | B | A | A | BN | |
Automatic Updates |
B | C | A | ||
Default Browser | Chromium | Firefox | n/a (headless) | ||
N See Notes below
2 Home Network (samba, mac + win workgroup)
2018 Test Notes (Part 1)
Honeeepi
- Overall: Great way to experiment with a variety of Honeypots - I'll keep mine running for a while
- Project is a little stale (older OS & tools), no changes since 2016
If/when I deploy a honeypot, I'll probably build one with latest/greatest version of selected tools - There is more here than doc describes - found a number of additional tools (see list below)
- Moved mine to a RPI v1 Model B w/ edimax wifi adapter, works fine
- Motivation: Have had a Honeypot on ToDo list for a very long time - curious, interested in learning more
- Notes - singing along @ https://redmine.honeynet.org/projects/honeeepi/wiki
- Image didn't boot on PI Zero (of course) ... worked fine on RPI 3 via ethernet
- Switched to RPI 1 Model B, works fine with USB WiFi (edimax adapter)
- dhcp and ssh (@ port 9002) on by default
- Hmmm? Had to
sudo apt-get install raspi-config
... Doc mentioned it, but it wasn't there - Had a couple of unscheduled reboots - may have been my impatience on RPI 1
- 32g SD is probably an overkill for testing/playing, I re-imaged with a 16g SD for my purposes
- Apps/Addons appear to come from raspbian repo (jesse), I found what I needed to play
- Commandline WiFi setup (I forgot) @ https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/wireless/wireless-cli.md
- Honeypot playtime - quite a few preinstalled tools - even some that were not in doc
- Glastopf v3.1.3-dev: Web App HoneyPot - project is winding down, glastopf.org -> mushmush.org
- Came right up on Honeeepi ... Played a little, may revisit
- Marked as 'Maintenance' status on mushmush.org
- Know Your Tool paper is interesting - how it works
- Github project @ https://github.com/mushorg/glastopf
- Looks like snare is new web app honeypot used in conjunction with tanner ('the brains')
- Conpot v0.5.1: Industrial Controls Honeypot - very interesting - more @ http://conpot.org/
- Honeeepi includes a number of ICS templates - meter, ipmi, tank monitor, etc
- Seemed to fire up and run, but I need to learn MUCH more
- Github project @ https://github.com/mushorg/conpot - seems to be active/current
- Dionaea v0.1.0: Captures attack payloads and malware. Looks interesting (for IoT?), but will take effort
- Seemed to run initially, but aborted on subsequent attempts - need to play more
- Project may have changed hands - https://www.honeynet.org/project/Dionaea, but lots-o broken links
- This doc looks pretty good - https://dionaea.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
- Github project @ https://github.com/DinoTools/dionaea
- Cowrie v2016/08/22 : Telnet and SSH (and more?) Honeypot.
- Seems to run right out the box, some research and fiddling to do. I trapped myself accidentally!
- Homepage & Doc @ http://www.micheloosterhof.com/cowrie/
- Github project @ https://github.com/micheloosterhof/cowrie
- Kippo: Bruteforce SSH Honeypot
- Was in doc, but no sign of Kippo on honeeepi I downloaded
- Github project @ https://github.com/desaster/kippo
- Did not attempt to install yet
- Amun v0.1.1: A Python Honeypot - Looks like an old project (last update 2014)
- HowTo not in Honeeepi doc - worked off of files in /honeeepi/amum and got it running - no testing
- Start w/ instructions in INSTALL file - will take some poking to really play
- Project appears to be @ https://sourceforge.net/projects/amunhoney/
- Honeyd v1.6d: Honeypot Daemon - virtual hosts w/ various personalities (OS, apps, etc)
- Was not listed in Honeepi doc, but installed and seems to work
- Start @ /honeepi/honeyd/README and/or
man honeyd
- Old project - circa 2007 - website is alive @ http://www.honeyd.org
- Snort v2.9.7.0 GRE (Build 149) - Intrusion Detection
- Noted in honeeepi doc but no instructions - it does seem to be installed and functional
- A long road, but start @ snort.org there is a lot to this one
- Right/wrong or not knowing any better, here's what I ran to test
sudo snort -d -h 192.168.1.0/24 -l /home/pi/log -c /etc/snort/snort.conf
- ntopng v2.5.160924 - Traffic Analysis (nice)
- Also noted in honeepi project notes but no instructions - it also DOES seem to be there & work!
- Looks like a trial license - runs for a few minutes? Mine ran beyond expiration
- Doc @ https://www.ntop.org/support/documentation/documentation/
- To get it rolling
- Start the service via
sudo service ntopng start
- point browser to http://<honeeepi-ip>:3000
- login as admin/admin
- Stop via
sudo service ntopng stop
(of course) - <Still sniffing around ... quite a bit on here ... possibly more to come>
- Odds-N-ends
- Nice list of Honeypots @ https://github.com/paralax/awesome-honeypots
Mozilla Things Gateway
- Overall: In Process, but looks VERY promising!
- Gateway is still under development (Experimental), but definitely worth following this project
- I'll keep my IoT gateway alive and continue playing as the project matures
- Gateway Remote Access appears to be well thought out - has been a DIY obstacle for me
- I need zigbee & z-wave for my smart world - wonder if there is a combo USB
- Experimental - Announced in Feb 2018
- Motivation: Ongoing attempt to tame our 'Smart Home' - too many hubs & apps and untrusted cloud collectors/controllers
- Notes as I go - https://iot.mozilla.org/gateway/
- Quick/Small download and painless sd create via etcher
- Booted right up
- It's headless, OS access not intended - no login or ssh or GUI by default
- You can add file called 'ssh' to boot partition if you really need to poke around
- I initially logged in via Ethernet cable, but looks like I should have connected to its WiFi Hostspot
- Accessed via http://gateway.local
- Created https://<myhub>.mozilla-iot.org during initial setup (bookmark/remember it)
- RPI V2 w/ EDIMAX WiFi adapter seemed to work fine ... but I'll redo on RPI3 for bluetooth
- RPI3 redo - this time following the instructions(!) and a WeMo Switch to see how this thing works
- Setup via phone by connecting to "Mozilla IOT Gateway" SSID
- Did an update just to get the witches out - updated to 0.3.1
- RPI3 redo AGAIN - this time I WILL REALLY follow instructions
- Etcher.io is really nice! It even burns sd using zipped image
- Didn't forget to update - back to 0.3.1
- Reclaimed my domain from previous install - that took a while
- Odd behavior on macbook via chrome (coudnt access menu) - switched to linux desktop, chrome worked fine.
- Crap! No WeMo! Current hardware support @ github.com/mozilla-iot/wiki/wiki/Supported-Hardware
- Installed GPIO adapter for time being
- how2 @ github.com/mozilla-iot/wiki/wiki/Configuring-GPIO-for-use-with-the-gpio-adapter
- Hooked upped my breadboard, will play with gateway like this for a while
DietPi
- Overall on DietPi: Works GREAT! I think it may be my new starting point for Raspbian PI projects!
- Working on a couple of server-like projects, DietPi seems like a great quick-start - Looks nice!
- Lightweight/Optimized OS: "Give your single-board computer lightweight justice."
- Interesting comparison to Rasbian Lite
- Install guide @ http://dietpi.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9#p9
- Versions for a wide variety of Single Board Computers - some very interesting alternatives on web site
- Notes
- Very small/quick download (like 80M zip file) contains image, hash and readme
- Booted up and dropped me right into install menu, quite nice- EVEN via SSH!
- Appeared to expand FS automatically, looks like much will be done
- username/pw: root/dietpi
- DietPi-Config is quite nice - quick setup/customization. Notes
- Display - GPU/RAM memory split is nice + LCD Panel addon (but not mine)
- Audio - Quite a few soundcards preset
- Performance tune is nice - Overclock profiles!
- Network/NAS setup in config seems handy
- Tools/Benchmarks in config: great idea for tweaking!
- Software installs
- Nice collection of 'Optimized' software - Desktops, Remote access, etc
- Additional software in menu appears to be subset of Raspbian repository
- I installed favorite loose-ends manually using sudo apt-get
- Some VERY interesting optimized software - actually distracted me from initial project
- RPi-Monitor: web interface system stats. More info rpi-experiences.blogspot.fr/p/rpi-monitor.html
- Shairport-sync preinstalled *and* functional! Huge time saver for HomePi and CutiePi updates
- MotionEye: web interface & surveillance for your camera - DietPi Notes
- Home Assistant: open-source home automation platform
- CloudPrint: print server for google cloud print - It's CUPS!
- Remot3.it: (Weaved) access your device over the internet (one of my favs)
- <there are A LOT of great packages in here - Full Details & Doc HERE>
- Notes from testing
- Audio - use dietpi-config to change soundcard/output options (e.g. hdmi to 3.5mm)
- Little bump w/wifi - seemed to have dropped connection, re-ran install while wired ... will revisit
- Network shares - Little fumbling to turn on ... samba appears to be option in dietpi-config
- Multiple GUI desktops offered, I used LXDE, worked great on RPI v2
- Still no sign of power management (DPMS, specifically)
- Rebooted my test SD (8g) on a PI Zero just for the heck of it ... quite impressive
- RPi-Monitor, MotionEye (w/camera), Home Assistant and Remot3.it installed and running
- Idles around 2%-10% CPU (not counting htop)
- Running approx 15% CPU with MotionEye (streaming video)
- Shairportsync wouldn't run - blew-up (illegal Inst) - I didn't mess with it
- Simply a quick little test, but performance looked very promising
Raspbian Stretch
- Overall on Stretch: Time to Upgrade. Looks REALLY good. Raspbian is coming along nicely!
- Current release of RPI official OS, played w/ this a few months ago - time to revisit and upgrade!
- Notes
- Decided to start via NOOBS. Wanted to see other OSes offered up during install - Nothing of interest
- Install is VERY EASY via NOOBS
- Hardware/peripherals worked right out of the box - even a bluetooth speaker
- Noticed FTP feature in GUI file manager - VERY Handy feature!
- Stumbled upon a nice jessie to stretch update HowTo, seemed to work well
Parrot OS
- Overall on Parrot: Looked GOOD on RPI 2! A little light on preinstalled tools, will revisit again
- I will Redo this one with a larger SD (8g was tight) and test using a RPI 3
- listed as 'experimental' on downloads page ... https://www.parrotsec.org/download-other.fx
- Still digging around for readme/release notes, etc - https://cdimage.parrotsec.org/parrot/iso/arm/rpi/
- Parrot Security Project @ https://www.parrotsec.org/index.php
"... GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian designed with Security, Development and Privacy in mind." - I've been waiting for this one! Switched to Parrot for security testing a while ago on my netbook.
- nice selection of security tools - better than Kali, IMHO
- Install notes
- Initial tests on RPI2 w/ Edimax Wifi adapter and 8g SD, will redo on PI 3 if I decide to keep it around
- Automatically expanded filesystem on initial boot
- Firefox kept rolling over (crash) when it first came up
- upgraded to see if FF would settle (apt-get upgrade) - Took hours!
- Firefox still crashing, installed FF ESR (atp-get install firefox-esr)
- Firefox settled down after reboot - not sure if reboot or ESR install or combination fixed it
- Updates/Software
- Had to set a root password - strange authentication errors during AutoUpdate & some app startups
(sudo passwd root). Default password supposed to be toor, but I had to set it
- Strange warning when software installed, supposedly simply an FYI sort of warning
W: http: aptMethod::Configuration: could not load seccomp policy: Invalid argument
- Looks like a well stocked software repository - Synaptic Software MGR is easy
- No sound via hdmi or 3.5mm jack - didn't fiddle with it, but noticed that alsa stuff was installed
- Performance was respectable - even on RPI V2! Very responsive/usable
- One little glitch/hang that forced a reboot late in install - when futzing with Firefoxes. No details
- Pretty tight on 8g SD card! I'd say 16g minimum if you are planning on capturing traffic
- Apps
- Appears to be subset of tools that normally come pre-installed w/ Parrot ... will dig more
- Rats! No OpenVAS vulnerability scanner, it was nice to have it preinstalled on Parrot
- Quick test of a few apps that would be handy on this thing
- Wireshark seemed to work. Watched net traffic on ethernet and wifi (edimax usb)
- Nmap/Zenmap worked fine
- Etherape OK
- many more to test here
2017 Tests
December 2017
- RPI w/ Touch Screen
- Adafuit's PiTFT 3.5 Kernel image - OS worked great. A few notes, will be using for Touch Screen development environment
- Re4son's Kali-PI. Preconfigured image that includes TFT Touchscreen interface to Kali Security Tools. See notes: Twas a struggle, aborted for now (using touch screen for another project).
- Played with Retropie 4.3 - retro gaming for xmas. Not for me, but it did work fine with considerable fiddling
- New Activity, page setup in process
- Q4OS tested - Works great on RPI3! A few notes.
Excellent potential for another RPI project (Desktop replacement) - Kali Linux on a RPI 2. Security/Pen Testing tool, works VERY well!
Built a Pi based KRACK test gizmo, but tested a number of Kali tools too
Ratings: A=Perfect (out of box), B=Little Tweak, C=Big Tweak, D=Works/Flaky, F=Total Fail |
|
StickyFingers Kali-PI |
Q4OS | Retropie | |
General | Very Usable on RPI 2! |
Aborted | VERY NICE Works great |
Worked fine
|
Works fine |
Distro Source/Vendor | Kali.org | Kali-PI via Re4son | q4os.org | retropie.org.uk | Raspbian via Adafruit |
Ongoing Evolution/Support | Good Community forums.kali.org |
- Active Project - Forums |
- Active Project - User Forum - Tweetering |
- Active - User Forum - Reddit Chatter |
- FAQ/How2s Forum Chatter - Adafruit forums - RPI Forums |
Reviews/Reputation | DistroWatch | DistroWatch | |||
Cost/$$$ | Free | Free | Free/Donation | Free/Donation | Free |
Download | kali-2017.2-rpi3-nexmon | |
q4os-rpi-1809.zip (unsigned) |
retropie-4.3-rpi1_zero.img.gz | 2016-11-08-pitft-35r.img |
Image Size | 903.3 MB compressed | |
350 MB zipped | 641 MB zipped disk image |
1.7g zipped
disk image
|
Release info (from /etc/os-release) |
Kali upgrade |
||||
Name | Kali GNU/Linux |
Kali GNU/Linux | Raspbian GNU/Linux |
Raspbian GNU/Linux | Raspbian GNU/Linux |
Version | 2017.2 | 2017.3 | 8 (jessie) | 8 (jessie) | 8 (jessie) |
ID_Like | debian | debian | debian | debian | debian |
uname -a |
Linux kali 4.4.50-v7+ #1 SMP Wed Aug 30 11:08:41 CDT 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux | Linux kali 4.4.50-v7+ #1 SMP Wed Aug 30 11:08:41 CDT 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux | Linux raspberrypi 4.9.35-v7+ #1014 SMP Fri Jun 30 14:47:43 BST 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux |
Linux retropi 4.9.35+ #1014 Fri Jun 30 14:34:49 BST 2017 armv6l GNU/Linux | Linux raspberrypi 4.4.27-v7+ #2 SMP Wed Oct 26 19:09:12 UTC 2016 armv7l GNU/Linux |
Hardware | |||||
RPI Model used for tests | RPI 2 Model B* | RPI 3 Model B* | RPI 3 Model B* | RPI Zero W* | RPI 3 Model B* |
3.5" TFT TouchScreen* | skipped |
n/a | n/a | B | |
Edimax Wi-Fi USB Adapter* |
A | n/a |
n/a (built-in) | n/a (built-in) | n/a (built-in) |
USB | A | A | A | ||
Audio output (HDMI) | F | A | A | A | |
Audio output (3.5mm Jack) | BN | n/a | A | ||
Ethernet | BN | A | n/a | A | |
Built-in WiFi | n/a (RPI 2) | A |
A
|
B | |
Built-in Bluetooth | n/a (RPI 2) | BN | C | BN | |
HDMI | A | A | A | A | |
Power Management | F | DN | C | ||
Usage/Usability |
|||||
General usability | B | A | C | C | |
Install effort | B | A | C | B | |
Documentation/Help | A | A | B | C | |
SD Used for testing | Samsung 16g EVO* |
||||
SD - Disk Available |
10g after FS expandN | 28g after FS expand |
13g after
FS expandN
|
11g after
FS expand
|
|
GUI/X | XFCEN (tweaked) |
Trinity (Nice!) |
Retropie
Game Console
|
RPI Pixel (LXDE/Openbox) |
|
Network Participant2 | F | A | A | A | |
Stability | B | B | B | B | |
Performance/Responsiveness | B | BN | A | B | |
Software | |||||
Apps/Add-ons Availability | B | A | C | B | |
Automatic Updates |
Manual |
A | Manual? | C | |
N See Notes below
2 Home Network (samba, mac + win workgroup)
2017 Test Notes
Kali
- Overall on Kali: Works great, very usable, even on RPIV2!
- Tested 2017.2 and 2017.3 releases
- Kali is a Security (Pen testing) distro with many useful security tools
- My Project-at-hand: A test device that can be plugged into local net to check our IoT 'things' for KRACK vulnerability.
- Initial plan - RPI 2 w/ TFT touchscreen - aborted, See StickyFingers Kali-PI below
- More @ https://github.com/vanhoefm/krackattacks-test-ap-ft.
- Simply testing Kali on RPI as I work thru this project
- Random observations/notes
- Performance on RPI2 is remarkably good - testing via GUI, browser with 3-4 tabs and 2 terminal windows. Very responsive
- Have used Kali (PKA Backtrack) in the past, excellent pentesting/security distro.
- Image Name = Kali Raspberry PI w/TFT: Tried twice and failed to get it to boot - Aborted
- Image Name = RaspberryPi 2 / 3: retried with kali-2017.2-rpi3-nexmon.img image
- Much better! It Booted! It works!
- Default U/P=root/toor, using default config
- Singing along with https://docs.kali.org/kali-on-arm/install-kali-linux-arm-raspberry-pi:
- Remember to reset root password - passwd
- reset ssh host keys:
root
@
kali:~
rm
/
etc
/
ssh
/
ssh_host_
*
root
@
kali:~ dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server
root
@
kali:~ service
ssh
restart
- Important: apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
- Goofy situation after reboots: All windows restored (Filemanager, wireshark, term, etc), but no menu bar
- To get panel working again:
- <alt>F2 to get to application finder, then run "Panel"
- Settings in Menu
- Session and Startup, Session Tab -> Clear Saved Sessions
- Royal pain in the butt
- Expand Partition to fill SD @ https://whitedome.com.au/re4son/sticky-fingers-kali-pi/#fdisk
- Network
- WiFi worked right out of the box
- Ethernet: I had to set up a connection (Settings->Network Connection)
- Software:
- update/upgrade added quite a few kali tools
- Wireshark works!
StickyFingers Kali-PI
- Overall on Kali-PI: Aborted
- Originally attempted using pre-installed-image, failed after a couple of attempts, strange TFT display
- Decided to upgrade my Kali rather than using the image, failed again
- Objective: "Kali Linux on Raspberry Pi 1/2/3/Zero with 3.5″ or 2.8″ Touch Screen and touch optimized interface"
- Project page @ https://whitedome.com.au/re4son/kali-pi/
- Install @ https://whitedome.com.au/re4son/kali-pi/#Installation
- Updated my Kaili to 2017.3 (apt-get update && apt-get upgrade) - took a while on RPI 2
- Switched to RPI 3 for this project, RPI 2 seems a little sluggish, also interested in bluetooth!
- Didn't get very far on RPI 2 or RPI 3. After a number of attempts decided to take a step back and test the touchscreen using Adafriut image. Worked fine, will revisit this one.
- Sister project, DV-PI added to my ToDo List. "Damn Vulnerable Raspberry Pi runs on all Pi’s
The touch friendly “driving range” for IoT penetration testing with your Kali-Pi." - Will play more with this at a later date ... TFT display is now part of another project
Q4OS
- Overall on Q4OS: VERY NICE! I like it A LOT .....
- Tagline from q4os.org - "Q4OS Raspberry Pi port is a free operating system based on Raspbian distribution, optimized for the Raspberry Pi family hardware, the series of credit card-sized single-board ARM computers. Q4OS is now one of a few distributions offering the full desktop environment on the ARM architecture."
- My project: Replace desktops (XP and/or Linux/Lubuntu) for aging parents/friends w/ a Desktop PI
- Install/Setup Instructions @ http://www.q4os.org/dqa010.html
- SD setup using Disk Image Writer, DD would work fine too
- Very Smooth install!
- Forces PI password change
- Automatically expands file system to fill SD
- Offers a couple of software 'profiles' that install base set of applications
- Very little tweaking to get hardware/software working
- Network - WiFi, Ethernet, even samba shares worked right out of the gate
- Power MGT - flaky, but may be raspbian/PI. Can't seem to get monitor to power off or full suspend
- Little hiccup trying to change audio source from HDMI to 3.5mm Jack - had to reboot
- Switched Audio using raspi-config / Advanced Options, worked fine
- Bluetooth seemed OK, but I had to install blueman to test.
- Performance/stability is VERY good .... but ....
- RPI 3 was heating up (temp warning) with couple browser tabs open+terminal activity+youtube
- Odd startup error periodically - "Sound server fatal error: cpu overload, aborting"
- Automatic check for updates!
Retropie
- Overall on Retropie: It works fine, little rough to configure, but it was fun one
- Tagline from retropie.org: "Retropie allows you to turn your Raspberry Pi or PC into a retro-gaming machine"
- Holiday project - had an extra sd card laying around ...
- Not for me tho - not much of a gamer now, easier to hookup the old N64 for xmas funtime
- Tested mostly with PI Zero, seemed pretty responsive and workable. PI 3 seemed to be working too
- Official install guide was pretty good - easy to sing-a-long
- Attempt #2 due to PI Contention: Switched to a PI Zero, should be plenty of power for old games!
- Had to re-download, pi 0/1 image is different - Starting from scratch ....
- Came up fine ... but not what I expected - no standard interface, it's a game console (of course!).
- Need to configure a controller when first boot - I had only a keyboard
- REMEMBER how you map up/down and A/B buttons! Used to navigate UI!
- Use "A" button to select, use "B" to go back
- My keyboard was a little confusing due to mappings and in/out of textmode config screens
- Stumbled my way to raspi-config and changed PI password & enabled SSH!
- Doing as much config/setup via SSH as possible
- Needed better controller - Keyboard is clumsy. Started with a Wiimote, because I had one here
- If the gizmo is fun, usb controllers are pretty cheap ... alternatives I will explore
- Amazon.com search for "retropie controller" got a hit*
- We have N64 controllers too, looks like an adventure, but may be fun. Mayflash Adapter*
- In meantime: ssh'ed in and started working through https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Wiimote-Controller/
- I set locales and keyboard to US via raspi-config - was en-GB (not sure it will matter)
- Update was special (see writeup): updated via RetroPie-Setup/retropie_setup.sh script
- Took a loong time ... appears to do raspbian apt-get update too
- Wiimote setup was breathtaking - got it to work, but struggled with button assignments
(also very confusing if you start with keyboard controller as I did) - You CAN skip button assignments during wii controller setup using keyboard arrow keys
- Back to official install (almost forgot where I was!) - Transferring ROMS
- Lots of legal issues - I mistakenly thought I'd easily find freeware games to load
- Wikipedia has list of commercial games released as freeware
- Retropi Forum: Where to (legally) acquire content to play on RetroPie
- Used smb share to transfer ROM - worked great right out of the gate!
- My standard PI Tests
- Audio worked out of the box
- Usability - simply not what I had expected. I now understand default GUI - slowly growing on me!
- I ended up using ssh to configure as much as possible, lots of struggles w/ native UI. probably would have been better if I had a real game controller
- Bluetooth itself worked fine, I fumbled because of my Wiimote controller, which DID work!
- Pretty solid/stable - one odd ssh issue - could not connect - but I may have overused ssh (seemed easier)
Adafruit PiTFT
- Overall: Adafruit TFT image (Jesse w/ custom kernel) came up fine, will work great for TFT development
- My objective: Step back to make sure my 3.5 TFT screen works due to chronic struggles w/ Kali-PI
- Random install notes
- Preliminary tests on RPI 2 - seemed to work fine, switch to RPI 3 for my testing
- SSH was enabled, making initial tweaks a bit easier
- Had to create /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-fbdev.conf & boot to switch to HDMI screen
- Some sort of hiccup with mouse when initially switched to HDMI, had to touch screen to navigate
(I THINK this was fixed via reboot) - Networking worked right out of box, but had to manually enable wifi when I unplugged Ethernet
- TFT appears to power save! Turns off - wish I could get HDMI monitors to do that!
- Helpful hints @ https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pitft-3-dot-5-touch-screen-for-raspberry-pi/faq
- From FAQ: Created /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-fbdev.conf to GUI on hdmi (used to use FRAMEBUFFER)
- DON'T 'apt-get upgrade' or 'rpi-update' - it will blow away custom kenel
- Will be using this one for Touch Screen development, will try to note additional observations as I go
Test Templates
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