Flashing and using generic USB for PiFi install

Hello,

Is it possible to install PiFi on rpi 5 by using generic USB drive instead of a SD card?

Kind regards

It may well be possible, have yet to try it with USB boot - can give it an attempt tomorrow and let you know!

Thanks so much! I tried it but sadly no success. Still, would love to hear from you if is it currently possible.

@pifi Did you manage to get the USB to boot? Iā€™ve got a broken SD Reader on this Pi, so have been booting from USB with other images.

This seems to hang at storage and never progressesā€¦ any support would a fantastic on it!

Ok so itā€™s a little bit experimental and not fully tested so canā€™t verify if everything works

But, after flashing the image to your USB, open the USB drive in Windows Explorer/Finder and replace the contents of cmdline.txt with:

console=serial0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/sda2 rootfstype=squashfs,ext4 rootwait

When I do that to point to the USB rather than SD it seems to boot and you can see PiFi 5 Setup in WiFi Settings

Again, this approach is not fully tested. But it does seem to boot so is worth giving a try

Fantastic.

Ordered the PiFi Kit off Amazon early this morning, Iā€™ll await for it to arrive to plug the USB WiFi in and give it a whirl :slight_smile:

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Awesome, it all boots! I gave it a test before it arrived and was working a treat with Mullvad!

However, I had to reset the PIFI as it got very confused adding the USB. Got it up and working to a degree now, but it is refusing to activate my dongle!

Not sure if that is part of the usb booting or not?

Cheers,
Dave

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Scratch that. Changing from Default SSID to my own allowed me to activate afterwards!

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Glad to hear itā€™s working now!

For the next build I think Iā€™ll have it auto-detect if USB and test it more to ensure itā€™s as smooth as the SD build

If it could only be so smooth, when using a VPN connection Iā€™m getting frequent drops and stutters when streaming media with the following in the logs.

34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: Radio1 is up. No action needed.

Wed Oct 16 16:06:20 2024 kern.err kernel: [75993.463122] blk_update_request: operation not supported error, dev loop0, sector 67424 op 0x3:(DISCARD) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0

Wed Oct 16 16:06:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: true

Wed Oct 16 16:06:34 2024 daemon.err sh[2995]: mv: canā€™t rename ā€˜/etc/sysp/usbcheck/pifi_checkusb_setupā€™: No such file or directory

Wed Oct 16 16:06:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: Checking for the file at /etc/sysp/usbā€¦

Wed Oct 16 16:06:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: /etc/sysp/usb exists.

Wed Oct 16 16:06:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: The file /etc/sysp/usb does not contain ā€˜0ā€™.

Wed Oct 16 16:06:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: true

Wed Oct 16 16:06:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: Current SSID does not match expected SSID. Detected SSID: VPN

Wed Oct 16 16:06:34 2024 daemon.err sh[2995]: /etc/sysp/pifi_unconfigured: line 2:

: not found

Wed Oct 16 16:06:34 2024 daemon.err sh[2995]: /etc/sysp/pifi_unconfigured: line 11: syntax error: unexpected end of file (expecting ā€œthenā€)

Wed Oct 16 16:06:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: Path and port match. No action needed.

Wed Oct 16 16:06:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: Radio1 is up. No action needed.

Wed Oct 16 16:07:21 2024 kern.err kernel: [76053.943521] blk_update_request: operation not supported error, dev loop0, sector 67440 op 0x3:(DISCARD) flags 0x0 phys_seg 1 prio class 0

Wed Oct 16 16:07:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: true

Wed Oct 16 16:07:34 2024 daemon.err sh[2995]: mv: canā€™t rename ā€˜/etc/sysp/usbcheck/pifi_checkusb_setupā€™: No such file or directory

Wed Oct 16 16:07:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: Checking for the file at /etc/sysp/usbā€¦

Wed Oct 16 16:07:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: /etc/sysp/usb exists.

Wed Oct 16 16:07:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: The file /etc/sysp/usb does not contain ā€˜0ā€™.

Wed Oct 16 16:07:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: true

Wed Oct 16 16:07:34 2024 daemon.info sh[2995]: Current SSID does not match expected SSID. Detected SSID: VPN

Wed Oct 16 16:07:34 2024 daemon.err sh[2995]: /etc/sysp/pifi_unconfigured: line 2:

: not found

I can reset and flash to the usb again and see if that resolves it?

Thanks

Ok, Iā€™ve got a USB-boot working and also have Mullvad so maybe I can check too.

  • Mullvad (are you using WireGuard)?
  • Which Pi - Pi 4 or Pi 5?

Also please check you are using a suitable power supply too (5v3a minimum for Pi 4 and 27W 5v5a for Pi 5, this is especially importing when using two USB devices like this which have additional power draw)

Wireguard Mullvad Ireland 001
Pi4

65w Lenovo Charger :slight_smile:

I have a usb Nic adapter currently that seems to be working smoothly currently.

I had to go into luci though, couldnā€™t not get the PiFi adapter to run about 90mbps, to find out the Nic was negotiating at 100 instead of 1000! Quick cable swap fixed the issue.