Single-board-computer approach: don't make an installer, make the install?

Single-board-computer approach: don't make an installer, make the install?

[Christopher Lemmer Webber]

I looked recently at this tutorial:

  https://guix.gnu.org/blog/2017/porting-guixsd-to-armv7/

However, it strikes me: maybe there's another nice approach?  Would it
be nicer to just make an image that the user boots into directly on the
beagleboard, if it's going onto a microsd card anyway, rather than
building an installer image?

I haven't tried it yet but can't think of a good reason it wouldn't
work.  Has anyone tried that?

Side note, a RISC-V Beagleboard SoC is coming.  I suspect that might be
very good helping us start ramping up getting Guix very usable on
RISC-V:

  https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/01/seeed-and-beagleboard-team-up-to-provide-a-new-risc-v-based-linux-pc/

Re: Single-board-computer approach: don't make an installer, make the install?

[Mathieu Othacehe]

Hello Christopher,

> I haven't tried it yet but can't think of a good reason it wouldn't
> work.  Has anyone tried that?

Sure, I would advise you to read this[1], which is a sort of follow-up
of this article. You can also listen that talk[2].

I have been successfully producing ready to use disk-images for Pine64,
Danny has done the same for Novena and there are a few people trying to
do so for their Pinebook-pro.

Thanks,

Mathieu

[1]: https://othacehe.org/the-guix-system-image-api.html
[2]: https://archive.fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/ggaaattyp/

Re: Single-board-computer approach: don't make an installer, make the install?

[Christopher Lemmer Webber]

Mathieu Othacehe writes:

> Hello Christopher,
>
>> I haven't tried it yet but can't think of a good reason it wouldn't
>> work.  Has anyone tried that?
>
> Sure, I would advise you to read this[1], which is a sort of follow-up
> of this article. You can also listen that talk[2].

O-ho!  Very good!

Looking forward to watching the talk tonight. :)

> I have been successfully producing ready to use disk-images for Pine64,
> Danny has done the same for Novena and there are a few people trying to
> do so for their Pinebook-pro.

Extra, super good!

> Thanks,
>
> Mathieu
>
> [1]: https://othacehe.org/the-guix-system-image-api.html
> [2]: https://archive.fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/ggaaattyp/

Re: Single-board-computer approach: don't make an installer, make the install?

[Joshua Branson via]

Mathieu Othacehe <othacehe@gnu.org> writes:

> Mathieu
>
> [1]: https://othacehe.org/the-guix-system-image-api.html

This is really well written.  May I edit this article and reproduce it
for the guix blog and perhaps the guix manual?  If ludo's ok with me
putting it on the blog, then I intend to end the blog post with "This
article first appeared in this personal blog (link here) and is
reproduced with permission."

> [2]: https://archive.fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/ggaaattyp/
>

--
Joshua Branson
Sent from Emacs and Gnus
  https://gnucode.me
  https://video.hardlimit.com/accounts/joshua_branson/video-channels
  https://propernaming.org
  "You can have whatever you want, as long as you help

enough other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar

Re: Single-board-computer approach: don't make an installer, make the install?

[Christopher Lemmer Webber]

Joshua Branson writes:

> Mathieu Othacehe <othacehe@gnu.org> writes:
>
>> Mathieu
>>
>> [1]: https://othacehe.org/the-guix-system-image-api.html
>
> This is really well written.  May I edit this article and reproduce it
> for the guix blog and perhaps the guix manual?  If ludo's ok with me
> putting it on the blog, then I intend to end the blog post with "This
> article first appeared in this personal blog (link here) and is
> reproduced with permission."

It is good.

Maybe in the cookbook?

>> [2]: https://archive.fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/ggaaattyp/
>>

Re: Single-board-computer approach: don't make an installer, make the install?

[Mathieu Othacehe]

Hello,

> This is really well written.  May I edit this article and reproduce it
> for the guix blog and perhaps the guix manual?  If ludo's ok with me
> putting it on the blog, then I intend to end the blog post with "This
> article first appeared in this personal blog (link here) and is
> reproduced with permission."

Thanks! I would happily review it :).

There's for sure some work left on that topic. I'd like to:

* Rename "disk-image" command to "image".
* Add "docker" as a new image type.
* Find a better way to enforce system/target constraints, as discussed
here[1].

Mathieu

[1]: https://issues.guix.gnu.org/45020

Re: Single-board-computer approach: don't make an installer, make the install?

[Joshua Branson via]

Mathieu Othacehe <othacehe@gnu.org> writes:

> Hello,
>
>> This is really well written.  May I edit this article and reproduce it
>> for the guix blog and perhaps the guix manual?  If ludo's ok with me
>> putting it on the blog, then I intend to end the blog post with "This
>> article first appeared in this personal blog (link here) and is
>> reproduced with permission."
>
> Thanks! I would happily review it :).
>
> There's for sure some work left on that topic. I'd like to:
>
> * Rename "disk-image" command to "image".
> * Add "docker" as a new image type.
> * Find a better way to enforce system/target constraints, as discussed
> here[1].

I'll go ahead and try to set up a patch for the cookbook.  

>
> Mathieu
>
> [1]: https://issues.guix.gnu.org/45020

--
Joshua Branson
Sent from Emacs and Gnus
  https://gnucode.me
  https://video.hardlimit.com/accounts/joshua_branson/video-channels
  https://propernaming.org
  "You can have whatever you want, as long as you help
enough other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar