Request for Feedback: Upgrading ORxPi system

Othernet Hardware Outernet Receiver (ORx)
#1

It is currently possible to update the ORxPi system simply by dropping a single update file into the first partition on the SD card. While this is pretty good, there are cases where it doesn’t quite work. Namely, the configuration folder at /opt/orx is persistent, and if the update supplies changes to these files, there are bound to be conflicts.

Example, we have a change to /opt/orx/interfaces (network config) that changes the way DHCP is handled. This file also exists on your SD cards right now. If the new one is not copied over the (possibly modified) copy on your SD card, then the DHCP feature will not be activated.

Solution for this could be to:

a) keep existing persistent configuration and save updated ones with .new extension next to them, and then you could identify it and manually copy it over the old one or copy portions of it if you have modifications
b) keep new ones, and save existing ones with .old extension, and then manually cherry-pick your mods to the new file
c) something else?

Any comments? Suggestions?

#2

branko, I have just done the drag and drop update method with zImage, looks OK to me.

Although I am not on the air yet, the GUI is working as far as I can see and my previous settings have come across.

It picked up a DHCP address OK from the server on my network, if that helps.

Getting desperate for my dish to arrive.

John

#3

DHCP fix is not yet in 0.2.4. It involves a change to /opt/orx/interfaces file. What it does is, it sends the hostname to the router so that routes that set up a domain for the LAN can allow accessing the device by name. Because it requires a change to /opt/orx/interfaces, and that whole directory is only created once the very first you boot ORxPi, we currently lack a mechanism for updating the interfaces file.

#4

Is that fix RPi acting as DHCP server ?

I picked up a DHCP address from my LAN, but it has no device name, when i look at attached devices table.

Not really sure what I am doing here, or how I can help, but the file swap worked OK.

#5

This fix is not released yet, so you’re fine.

Basically, DHCP allows the client to tell the server what name it wants to use. If you use network scanning tool on a typical network, you’ll see that some (most?) devices have a name. ORxPi does not as of 0.2.4. So the fix adds the capability to send hostname to DHCP server when connected via LAN.

#6

I see. That’s why host-name field is empty when I look at the devices attached to the DHCP server. Still, I have tied down its IP to the MAC.

#7

I moved 8 posts to a new topic: Adding content to ORxPi