First Boot Wizard - how to redo without reflash?


Macguyver

Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2006
Messages
114
Hi folks, I finally got around to flashing the newest V6 firmware but I did something incorrect when I was running the first boot wizard. The user name and password I did just fine, but then by accident when it asked for the name of my unit, without thinking I wrote "my pandora" with a space.


I ended up with the error "could not look up internet address for my pandora", and I'm guessing that this is due to the space in the name of my unit, rather than a reflashing issue.


Is there not a way to run the first boot wizard without reflashing? I searched hard and could not find a way.


One last question, I couldn't figure out a way to adjust the clock from 24 hour display to 12 hour (am/pm).


Thanks for any suggestions.


MacGuyver
 
If this is really caused by the wrong hostname like you assume, then you can try if the following already works:


- open a terminal (as long as your system starts up to a point where you can do that)


- enter



Code:
sudo su

- when asked for a password enter your user-password

- enter:

Code:
echo "<new_hostname>" > /etc/hostname


don't forget the quotes, but replace <new_hostname> with a name that you want to use like: mcdora ;)


ps: maybe it's of interest to you what the above command does. "echo" is a command to print a string to standard-output. By using the ">" this string is not send to standard-output but redirected to a file - in this case "/etc/hostname". Note that everything else in this file will be overwritten, but as /etc/hostname contains nothing but your sole hostname, it's safe to do this (unless you mistype anything in the command-line).
 
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And about the clock: I'm not sure if I am using the default clock that comes with a fresh install, but mine is called "Orage Clock". If you didn't change the settings of your nubs, then you should be able to get into it's properties by moving the mouse-pointer on the clock-applet in the lower-right corner and moving the right nub to the right (this does a right-click). A menu should pop up. Select "Properties" there.


Side-note: The properties window unfortunately is too large to fit the Pandora screen. You will often have this issue. My favorite way of moving these over-sized windows around is to press the key "Fn" once, then hold "start/alt" and press "7" once. This is the combination for alt+F7, which enables a mode where you can move a window around with the dpad. Once you moved the window to the place you wanted to, press enter. In this situation you can find some additional information if you move the window up quite a bit.


Back to setting the clock: To set up 12-hour-display, you have to enter a certain string-combination. Follow this link for what seems to be the full documentation of all variables: http://php.net/manua...on.strftime.php If i'm not mistaken, then you just have to replace the "%H" by "%I" (large "i" !). You also might want to add a "%p" or "%P" somewhere (see link).
 
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Wow Lomaxx, that was sure nice of you to carefully explain all of that!


Sure enough, I was able to eliminate the "could not look up internet address" error upon booting, by eliminating the space in the name of the unit. Did not have to reflash. Interestingly enough, when I tried to type this in the first time, and replaced "new_hostname" with the new hostname as you suggested, it didn't seem to work. However, when I both replaced "new_hostname" AND replaced "/etc/hostname" with "/etc/My Pandora" which was my ACTUAL host name, THEN it seemed to work. Not sure if I made sense there.


Also thanks very much for the info on Orage clock. I keep forgetting that their may be portions of windows not visible on the Pandora screen. Now it looks exactly like I wanted. Awesome.


I gotta say, this Pandora is the best little device I've ever owned by far. What a cool unit. All the tweaks / CLI / learning you have to do reminds me so much of my computing time in the mid 80s with the c64 and Amiga. A very different experience from the packaged computing experience you get on the typical PC / Mac.
 
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It's nice to read that it worked.

Not sure if I made sense there.

To be honest: No, you didn't make full sense. :) At least not to me. On the other hand it's in the morning here and maybe I'm just not fully awaken yet. Since it's working, we could just ignore the confusion, but I feel like quickly pointing this out: In the directory "/etc/" the file named "hostname" contains the actual hostname of your Linux-machine. No matter what the actual hostname is, the file must always be named "hostname".


Here is an example of my machine: "cat" is a command to show the content of a file. When i write



Code:
cat /etc/hostname



on my Pandora, then it shows "lompado", because I set this as name of my Pandora before. So the filename is "/etc/hostname" and my actual hostname is "lompado".

If i would want to change it to the hostname "panbox" , then i would use the following command as root-user:





Code:
echo "panbox" > /etc/hostname


As explained earlier this overwrites the content of the file "/etc/hostname" with the string "panbox" and thus setting the new hostname to "panbox". The file itself would still be named "/etc/hostname" (or to be more precise "hostname in the "/etc/"-directory).


I'm not completely sure, but you might have to restart (or at least log out and in) for the change to take effect. I would assume that it works without though.


From what you wrote, it sounds to me like you also created a file named "/etc/My Pandora" or something like that, which is not what you want. Though this wouldn't be a problem at all, you might want to clean things up a bit. First you could check with "cat /etc/hostname" if this file contains the wanted hostname, then you could log in as root ("sudo su"), change the directory to /etc/ by typing "cd /etc/" and list the content of the directory with the command "ls". If you see a file named "My", "Pandora" or "My Pandora" you can safely delete it. I checked my /etc/ and none of these files exist normally. Just a directory "pandora" (with a small "p" at the beginning), which you MUST NOT delete! ;) Deleting files can be done with the command "rm" (remove). Be careful though: Once deleted in this way, a file can not be restored! Here are the examples (make sure you are in the directory "/etc/"): "rm My", "rm Pandora", "rm My\ Pandora" (the "\" is needed for the space).


Or you simply forget about it. :)
 
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Hehe. Ok, like I said I did it both ways, your way and the way where I thought I was supposed to also replace "hostname", and sure enough, I did create an extra text file in the /etc directory. The file was called "my", presumably because I left a space. No "pandora" file. Interestingly enough, it won't let me delete the "my" file. Says I don't have permission. But no matter, because I did it both ways, your method solved the problem.


Sometimes I'm trying to be too clever for my own good.


OK, read your post again, figured that I need to be in root mode (sudo su)to delete, this is all new to me. Then I deleted the file "My" using the rm command (case sensitive on the file name). Cool.


Thanks for persevering with the detailed instructions. I wanted to learn correctly, no way I was going to forget about it, even though it was working.


Now I'm onto installing Daphne. This is fun! Also, big props to milkshake & the PND repository. Talk about slick. Hope they sell 10,000 more units so the community gets even larger. It's exciting logging on every few days and seeing what's been uploaded / upgraded.
 
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