Install Quirky Xerus

I am providing image files for an 8GB micro-SD card. The file is compressed, using 'xz' compression. To write to the SD-card, running Linux, do this:
  1. Make sure the card is inserted but not mounted.
  2. Be absolutely certain that you know the correct drive name (ex: /dev/sdb)!
  3. Execute this in a terminal, in this example /dev/sdb is the SD-card:

    > unxz --stdout quirky-pi2-sd-8gb-xerus-8.1.4.img.xz | dd of=/dev/sdb bs=4M
    > sync
Newbie notes:
Quirky, as a derivative of Puppy, is extremely easy to use. However, if you are a newbie to Linux, there might be some quite basic things that are initially confusing. Please read these notes:
  1. The above instructions are if you are already running Linux, and know how to open a terminal window. If you are running Windows or a Mac OS, there are instructions elsewhere. For example, here: http://barryk.org/news/?viewDetailed=00441
  2. The ">" shown above is not to be typed, it is the prompt that you see in the terminal.
  3. It is important the you type in the correct drive name, not a partition name -- example, /dev/sdb is a drive, /dev/sdb1 is partition number one on that drive. In some computers, your SD-card may show up as drive /dev/mmcblk0, where /dev/mmcblkop1 is a partition on that drive.
  4. If running Puppy or Quirky, type "probedisk" to verify correct drive name of SD-card.
  5. If running Puppy or Quirky, check no partitions of the SD-card are mounted (if they are, you will see a little checkbox on the desktop partition icon -- click it to unmount).
  6. If running some other variety of Linux, partitions may automount as soon as you plug in a drive -- and the drive may be assigned a very odd name. Follow the instructions for that Linux distribution to unmount and determine the correct drive name.
  7. If still confused, ask on the Puppy Forum: http://murga-linux.com/puppy/
An extra note about automounting: Puppy and derivatives do not automount partitions, as our experience is that it is more of a hassle than a help. When you plug in an SD-card or Flash stick, partition icons will appear on the desktop, and you may click on one to mount it (once mounted, you can read/write its files). You always know when a partition is mounted, by the little checkbox that appears on the desktop partition icon.

After writing the Quirky image file to the SD-card (and be sure to do that "sync" step, which flushes the filesystem buffers), unplug and then plug the micro-SD card into the Pi2 or Pi3 (not the Pi1) and power-on.

At first bootup, QuickSetup will run, which is a window that offers various configuration options. If you have written the image to an SD-card that is bigger than the "8GB" image, say a 16GB SD-card, there will be a checkbox offering to increase the filesystem to fill the drive -- it is recommended to tick it.

Usage notes:
Quirky is pretty easy to use, as you will discover. Just a couple of things to be careful about, related to using the Pi:
  1. A warning about using the Pi: never just turn off the power. Always choose to power-off from the menu. the SD-card may be corrupted if it is being written-to when the power goes off.
    Actually, Quirky will detect an abnormal shutdown and at next power-on will automatically perform a filesystem check of the card. However, it is possible the card may be permanently damaged by such sudden power loss.
  2. QuickSetup has lots of things to set, however, there are some extra settings in the config.txt file in the first partition of the SD-card, for configuring the HDMI monitor, sound, etc.
    Read docs at the Raspberry Pi website on editing this file.
    Note, it is on my to-do list to add settings of config.txt into the GUI of QuickSetup, with nice easy checkbox selections.
 

Regards,
Barry Kauler