Create a SD Card Installation Tool

Create a SD Card Installation Tool

Project Description

This is a first attempt at a basic Fedora ARM Image Installer ( Downloader / Creator / Updater ). All one has to do is first select a source image file or download option (click the refresh button first). Then select the destination (target) device drive to write to. Then just click install!

This script is written in Python (version 2 & 3 compatible) and makes use of the PyQt4 GUI module allowing it to run graphically (both Linux & Windows). The files written are block device image files containing: [MBR + Partitions + File Systems + Data]. Distributors should make sure to package some sort of first-boot setup-script to customize the root file system as there is no official installer for ARM devices yet. Hopefully this application will be able to create bootable media for almost any generalized Guruplug , Raspberry Pi , Efika , Pandaboard and Trimslice. Devices that boot off of hard drives may have to wait a bit as there is a line of code that ignores block devices that are greater than 32 Gigabytes in size (temporarily trying to protect users).

Note: The Windows version makes use of a pre-packaged dd.exe binary file to help write to device files

Project Leader(s)

Dong Sun

Project Contributor(s)

  Dong(Felix) Sun Contact with Fossjon in #seneca dot to get current installation tool Python code.  3/8/2012

Project Details

ToDo

• Testing new releases
• Windows UAC prompt
• Windows installation wizard
• Better python to exe compiler (without a dos window)
• Language support (both the program output and from input scripts) (gettext & locale & export LANG)
• More to come...

Project Plan

Tracking mechanism (bugzilla, trac, github, ...):

Key contacts:

Jon Chiappetta (fossjon in #seneca).

Goals for each release and plans for reaching those goals:

• 0.1 - Learn and understand what needs to be done, how the project should be implemented. Learn python as well as read through the source code of Fedora Live-USB installer. I plan on also reading through the sources of the UNETbootin opensource project to see how they create a bootable usb from a ISO
• 0.2 - Create a working windows shell/linux script that will write a ISO on to a bootable SD card.
• 0.3 - Finalizing, and debugging the project.

Communication

Mailing Lists

• Fedora Mailing Lists
  • secondary - For discussion of secondary architectures
  • arm - For discussion of the ARM secondary architecture

Upsteam Wiki and Web

Fedora ARM Installer https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_ARM_Installer

Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix Installation http://zenit.senecac.on.ca/wiki/index.php/Raspberry_Pi_Fedora_Remix_Installation

Links/Bugs/Tracking

https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_ARM_Installer#Comments_.2F_Questions_.2F_Feedback_.2F_Suggestions_.3F

Source Code Control

This is Link to the SD Card Installation Python source Code

http://git.fedorahosted.org/git/?p=arm.git;a=blob_plain;f=faii/source/fedora-arm-installer;hb=HEAD

Blogs

http://dsun20.wordpress.com/

Seneca Particpants

name: Dong Sun RIC ID:dsun20

Non-Seneca Participants

Jon Chiappetta (fossjon in RIC #seneca).who was one of the main developers.(Suggestion by Chris Tyler to contact him.)