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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image
mvader (Victron Energy) asked

Venus OS v2.72~4 available for testing

UPATE 2021-07-6: v2.72 has been officially released today


Goodmorning!

Yesterday we made a new version available for testing, v2.72~4.

I’m typing this from my phone, so please excuse me for not following the normal format.

For more details around what this post is about, as well as what changes were in the previous test release, see here: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/93185/venus-os-v2722-available-for-testing.html



Changes in v2.72~4, compared to~2:

- Fix sd-card detection for the ccgx: that was broken in the v2.71 release. Thank you to those alerting us to that.

- Add various wifi drivers, needed for future hardware

Venus OS
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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·
Hey all, v2.72 is officially released now - thank you for all the help!
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Kevin Windrem avatar image
Kevin Windrem answered ·

SC card on CCGX works now.

Wi-Fi on Raspberry Pi 4 and Cerbo work. CCGX also with one of the Victron approved Wi-Fi dongles (don't remember which and there are no labels on it).

I had difficulty connecting to a different network on the RPI 4. While connected to one network, I selected a different network that had never been used, entered a password and nothing happened. Status of both this and the previous network were "Failed". The only way to clear this was to reboot.

There was no "Connect to network?"

I could not reproduce.

Maybe there should be a Wi-Fi on/off and/or a "Disconnect from this network"

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·
yes the wifi ux could be a bit better.





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jw1971 avatar image jw1971 mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·
Would love a WiFi on/off toggle in the UI as right now need to use the VictronConnect app.


Also an option "reconnect WiFi if no connection" would be helpful for some transient issues versus rebooting the unit and loosing some data.

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ jw1971 commented ·

Hi!

wrt Wi-Fi on/off toggle: is there a purpose for that still after we fix the latest Wi-Fi issue?


wrt reconnect WiFi if no connection: I understand. But I'm not in favour of adding more complexity for something like that that needs to be real solid. A reboot is far more failsafe. And having multiple reboot/resets and combining them is also a way to introduce new bugs.

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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·
I see a Wi-Fi on/off toggle as a way to clear faults in the Wi-Fi connection. Seems like insurance against unknown issues. An on/off toggle would also save time while troubleshooting network connections (faster than a reboot).

Issues:

A connection failure appears to lock up a specific network such that you can't forget it, or attempt to connect to it.

A connection failure appears to not save the password.

There is no way to disconnect from a network. You must Forget the network.


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jw1971 avatar image jw1971 mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·
If on ethernet it's nice to be able to turn the WiFi all the way off. Right now we can turn the AP off which gets us almost there.


I also understand the restart concerns - I just come from a world where rebooting is a last resort versus something done automatically

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Mike Dorsett avatar image
Mike Dorsett answered ·

After updating to 2.72~4; I have 4 volumes on the SD card: boot,root, 5.2GB Vol and 5.4 GB Vol.

root appears to contain V2.6 which was the original image on the disk, and the 5.2 GB volume contains the updates os. the etc folder in the 5.4GB vol only contains a file called timestamp. However, the home folder in the 5.4GB volume has the install files for pip etc that were installed after the os update. Would it be possible for the update to rename the disk volumes so as the active os is always root, and the older os is renamed with its version number?

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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem commented ·
There are two root partitions. One is the active one and the other is the backup one. BUT, these two partitions swap roles each time Venus OS is updated and if you use the Firmware menu to boot from the backup Venus OS version. The active root partition is stored in hidden data on the SD card (between active partitions).


The first partition on the card is the boot partition which is what actually starts the Raspberry PI before selecting the desired root to boot from.

The fourth partition is /data. This is where all persistent data (settings, ssh keys, VRM backup data, etc.) is stored. It is undisturbed by a Venus OS update.

What you are seeing in the root home directory was what was installed by opkg or other means before a Venus OS software update. Because of the dual root update mechanism, this data won't survive a software update.

Perisitent data should be located somewhere in /data.

A script run from /data/rcS.local or /data/rc.local should reinstall any enhancements you make to Venus.

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kurtinge avatar image
kurtinge answered ·

Will this version be available for online update? By the way - when choosing "Latest release candidate" and I push the "Press to check" I get the message "Error during checking". Any tip?

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·
Hi @kurtinge , v2.72 is a


what type of GX device do you have and what firmware version is it currently running?

And what happens when you try and update to an official version rather than release candidate?


best regards, Matthijs

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kurtinge avatar image kurtinge mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·
I am sorry - forgot to mention it is a Radpberry Pi running on 2.66
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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem kurtinge commented ·
Software update does not work on the Raspberry PI until you get to v2.70. You must flash a new SD card from scratch. This wipes out all your settings unless you have a computer that can read and write ext4 file systems and can run gparted. With this tool you can copy the /data partition from your old SD card to a new one.
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kurtinge avatar image kurtinge Kevin Windrem commented ·
Hmmm......I thought the RPi-version was going to follow the rest as I could update online from 2.60 to 2.62, 2.66 and so on? Well, wiping out all the settings is not a big problem. But is it possible to keep the same VRM id when flashing a new card?

Anyway, there is no problem for me to copy the /data partion with gparted or other tools if this also fix the issue without more hacks.

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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem kurtinge commented ·
RPI now supports on-line and SD/USB updates like all other GX devices, but did not prior to v2.70. So one last update via image is necessary.


The VRM ID is based on the ethernet MAC number so it won't change by flashing a new SD card.

If you have gparted, it's a simple process to retain your settings:

  1. Flash a v2.72 image to a new SD card.
  2. Insert the card into the RPI and allow it to boot and expand the file systems. There is no clear indication of when this is complete but watching the green activity light provides a clue.
  3. Trigger a reboot and power down after the reboot just begins.
  4. Put the new and old SD card into a computer running gparted.
  5. Open the old card and select and copy the last partition on that card. This will be the /data partition.
  6. Open the new card and select the last partition. Paste will overwrite the new card's /data partition with that from the old card.
  7. Commit the changes.

You can now place the new SD card in the RPI and will have your old settings.

If gparted won't allow changes, chances are one or more of the partitions wasn't closed properly when you shut down the PI. Just use gparted to repair the partitions.

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jeroen avatar image jeroen ♦ Kevin Windrem commented ·

The Raspberrypi's did and do normally support updates. We can't reliably update the boot partition though, and that is why it is not automatically updatable. So it might happen again in the future, e.g. to support the new rpi4 models or whatever.

And do know that Victron does not actively support the rpi's, Victron just accept changes for the rpi's since Izak made it, but support for it is on a voluntary basis. So there is no timeline, no goal, but more fun, you can send patches yourself.

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Mike Dorsett avatar image
Mike Dorsett answered ·

Wifi on pi3 did not work initially. system forgot settings after a reboot. However, I found this fix by https://community.victronenergy.com/users/16340/rzaenger.html

root@raspberrypi2:~# connmanctl
Error getting VPN connections: The name net.connman.vpn was not provided by any connmanctl> enable wifi
Error wifi: Already enabled
connmanctl>

This fixed the issue, and wifi now connects.

However, the password is visible and not obscured?

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Related Resources

Victron Venus OS Open Source intro page

Venus OS GitHub (please do not post to this)