New to CrowPi OS (V2) - Help needed with so many problems...
Hello all,
I'm excited to share the new CorwPi-L units with my kids and get them into coding and linux but I'm having lots of problems with the CrowPi OS not behaving the same way as other Raspberry Pi operating systems. I have searched for others reporting the same problems but have not come up with anything. So I thought I would start with a general post listing the issues I have discovered on day 1 to see if these are unique to me or if others can confirm the same problems.
1. VS Code and PlatformIO will not compile any arduino projects. This is perhaps the most disappointing problem since the primary purpose of the CrowPi L is to support development. I have installed and reinstalled the operating system, vs code, and the platformIO extensions multiple times but always the same result - VS Code(and platformIO) can NOT see into the include paths for libraries or to the compiler. All of these things are present in the .platformio folder but the program can not see them to compile even a blank project.
2. Can not access removable storage. If I plug in a USB drive or SD card into a USB port - the storage will mount but it can not be opened. Navigating to the /media/pi folder produces a permission denied message.
3. Can not change time zone through raspi-config. Attempting to do so produces an error message about tzdata. Installing tz data with apt produces another error about a missing dependency. Should it be this hard to set the time? Chasing down the missing dependency, eventually I can force the time zone with tz data reconfigure - but this all seems wrong
Honestly I don't care about time zone but the inability to use VS code and platform io for arduino development is a deal breaker. This really seems like a system wide permissions error just like the removable storage issue. Perhaps the preloaded user Pi is not set to the right groups? User Pi can't see a mounted removable storage and vscode/platformio cant see it's own include paths to core libraries and the compiler ..... ?? I can post all of these "Day 1" issues individually with more specifics about what I have tried for each one but for now just want to confirm with the community if I am the only one experiencing these problems before hitting my frustration limit.
I'm excited to share the new CorwPi-L units with my kids and get them into coding and linux but I'm having lots of problems with the CrowPi OS not behaving the same way as other Raspberry Pi operating systems. I have searched for others reporting the same problems but have not come up with anything. So I thought I would start with a general post listing the issues I have discovered on day 1 to see if these are unique to me or if others can confirm the same problems.
1. VS Code and PlatformIO will not compile any arduino projects. This is perhaps the most disappointing problem since the primary purpose of the CrowPi L is to support development. I have installed and reinstalled the operating system, vs code, and the platformIO extensions multiple times but always the same result - VS Code(and platformIO) can NOT see into the include paths for libraries or to the compiler. All of these things are present in the .platformio folder but the program can not see them to compile even a blank project.
2. Can not access removable storage. If I plug in a USB drive or SD card into a USB port - the storage will mount but it can not be opened. Navigating to the /media/pi folder produces a permission denied message.
3. Can not change time zone through raspi-config. Attempting to do so produces an error message about tzdata. Installing tz data with apt produces another error about a missing dependency. Should it be this hard to set the time? Chasing down the missing dependency, eventually I can force the time zone with tz data reconfigure - but this all seems wrong
Honestly I don't care about time zone but the inability to use VS code and platform io for arduino development is a deal breaker. This really seems like a system wide permissions error just like the removable storage issue. Perhaps the preloaded user Pi is not set to the right groups? User Pi can't see a mounted removable storage and vscode/platformio cant see it's own include paths to core libraries and the compiler ..... ?? I can post all of these "Day 1" issues individually with more specifics about what I have tried for each one but for now just want to confirm with the community if I am the only one experiencing these problems before hitting my frustration limit.
Comments
HDMI: Default settings are locked in config.txt and are not supported by my tv. Should be an easy fix but even forcing common settings like group 2 mode 82 will only work if you reboot after plugging in the external tv screen. If the crow pi is booted without the hdmi plugged in - the settings are not loaded on boot and the tv says the resolution output is unsupported.
WIFI: After messing with HDMI, WIFI no longer automatically logs in on boot, and it can't be connected manually. This one may just be my router aggravated by constantly booting and rebooting the system during troubleshooting that starts denying the crow pi a connection.
SOFTWARE INCOMPATIBILITY: Careful what you install!!!! We installed LibreOffice and it crashed the whole system similar to an UPDATE/UPGRADE. Another frustrating setback and time wasted. I have seen other complain that the UPGRADE will brick your OS, but we were careful to try to install the open source office suite without doing the UPDATE/UPGRADE procedures and still got a bricked OS because we needed a word processor application.
LESCODE INSTABILITY: My son has lost countless projects just from walking away from his desk for a minute on LETSCODE. The app seems stable as long as you are using it.... but walk away and you will return to a system crash via a locked up OS. If you didn't save your work before walking away - it will be lost upon the force power off that has to be performed to get your system back up and running.
BERRYBOOT incompatibility: Our main defense to system crashes or software installs that mess things up on the RPI 4 is using the BERRYBOOT system. Loading V1 and V2 crow pi OS into berryboot returns an OS that refuses to run PIPANEL software and can't recognize that it is still on Crow Pi L hardware. This is particularly frustrating since it you run the risk of destroying the hardware just to swap out the SD card. Berryboot makes it so easy to quickly clone or revert a copy of an OS that when taking a "risk" like installing LibreOffice - it can be done on a "test copy" of the OS as a trial and then repeated on a more permanent OS copy. Without this we are constantly forcing up the gpio adapter board as we troubleshoot all these OS problems. Icing on the cake - one of the dual tf card adapters we received in our kit wont retain a sd card in one of its slots so we are even further limited. I don't expect the hardware to survive the process of troubleshooting and constantly swapping cards in order to get accurate time displayed, everyday software installed, wifi connected, and two screens working.
Battery Monitor: In the V2 Crow Pi OS - our battery monitors never update.... they just constantly show full and charging - EVEN WHEN NOT CHARGING. Switching back to a SD card with the V1 Crow Pi OS gives back a working battery emblem that responds to the charging cord and actual battery charge state.
If anyone out there is facing similar issues please chime in. I have spent at least 100 hours trying to troubleshoot these things so far and lack enough remaining patience to go into the details of everything I have tried and what has/hasn't worked. If anyone wants to engage on any of these issues, I would be happy to share more specifics about any particular shortcoming impacting you.
What I'm most interested in is leaving this Crow Pi OS behind but retaining the functionality of the Crow Pi L hardware. If anyone knows of a good post describing the anatomy of this thing - please point me in the right direction. It is most certainly more than just some i2c communication on battery status. How do we get PIPANEL and LETSCODE moved to another OS? What custom additions are made in the boot partition that get lost in an UPGRADE? How is the "Needs to run on Crow Pi L Hardware" check satisfied - so that I can repair it in another OS.
We sincerely appreciate your meticulous feedback on user experience. We have started to fix some of these problems, which will be reflected in the 64 bit operating system to be launched in the near future. Once released, I will provide you with download links in a timely manner.
Best regards
Chris