Linux Installations. Distributions and their pit falls

General
1

Hi

I recently had a difficult experience setting up OctoPrint on Knoppix 8.1
It was a lot of joy (sarcasm) to setup, but in the end it worked. Still scratching my head how?

So I was wondering how the installation procedure fared on some other Linux Distros I have on bootable SDHCs. Here is how they fared. (for informational purposes only)

Puppy Linux version 7.5
To different. Don't even bother, unless you know your way around Puppy and have plenty of time.
I was unable to access "sudo" or "su" or even the package management.

Ubuntu version 16.04.3
The following Packages are NOT recognized.
python-pip
python-virtualenv
The above issue would need to be resolved before you could install those packages and continue.

PC-Linux version 2017-11
Similar to Ubuntu, the following Packages are NOT recognized.
python-dev
libyaml-dev
build-essential
The above issue would need to be resolved before you could install those packages and continue.
NOTE: Improvisation was necessary as PC-Linux did not offer the "sudo" command.

Linux Mint version 18.3 (Python Ate My Pearl? I believe had success with Mint)
For this to work I had to add the following to the instructions:
sudo apt-get install virtualenv
Octoprint then installed, however I could not connect to it.
Another component "pybonjour" was also required and needs installing.
This problem occurred during my Knoppix install as well.
Manual install of pybonjour worked for Knoppix, but failed to install for Mint!
pybonjour manual installation hangs on the final command.

Elementary OS version 0.4.1
Octoprint installed, however I could not connect to it.
The same problem as with Mint, "pybonjour" was also required.
Manual installation of pybonjour had the same result, hanging on the final command.

In short, Octoprint is probably best installed as intended, i.e. OctoPi on Pi.

Michael B.

2

generally the 'missing packages' are just packages with slightly different names. But I just brought up ubuntu 16.04 (on Docker) and found python-pip and python-virtualenv; perhaps you didn't run apt-get update?

The advantage of Octopi is that it is turnkey. That's helpful for those who don't have Linux experience and those who don't want their OctoPrint installation administration to be a hobby.

3

Hi Tedder42

sudo apt-get update is part of the install procedure. It was run.
I included the versions of each distro, as I expect each revision will have its little quirks.

For instance I know OctoPrint installs on Mint, however not so successful with the version I attempted.

Does quirkiness make Linux distros fun or frustrating? That's the question.

Michael B.
P.S
There could also be differences in how the Linux distro is installed.
These tests were done on Live USB (SDHC) installs with persistence.

4

Don't even get me started on the billions of various distros of Linux. And the worst of it is, just as you've found, each one wants to do the same things differently. Yes, I understand why people develop different distros but you'd THINK they could make all the basics the same! /rant off.

Since SD cards are so cheap now, might be easiest just to dedicate one to the default octopi load and add utilities to it as needed. That's how I did it. And when I want that RPi to do something completely different, I just pop in a different SD card and/or get another RPi. I plan to have an RPi dedicated to each 3D printer once I get it figured out (experienced.) :slight_smile:

Good luck to you.