Pi 400

Ian

Greetings. I am looking at the Pi 400 as an option in remote settings however, I am not sure how to run the moodlebox on the unit - I can run it from the unit and access Moodle via wifi but cannot seem to access Moodle on the screen. Any guidelines please?

Ratna

Ian Pi 400 is indeed supported since MoodleBox 3.10.0 https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/238-new-release-version-3100-increases-the-number-of-wifi-devices-to-30-devices. @Nicolas https://moodlebox.net/en/what-is-moodlebox/ doen't mention that yet.

Your problem is that MoodleBox is meant for a (headless) server, i.e. the client part, a (graphical) browser is missing because there is no "desktop" (window manager in Unix jargon). Of course you can add all that (and more) starting from the CLI. The next problem will be which WM, there are simply too many.

Changing the URL of the Moodle in MoodleBox to http://localhost is not a problem. Then really the person operating the keyboard of the Pi 400 will be able to interact with Moodle.

Ian

Ratna Thanks Ratna. I am aware of the headless nature of the image but I have found that many in our poorer communities do not have wifi enabled devices (even phones). What I want is to have both headless (for those who have wifi enabled devices) and a static unit setup to allow those who don't have devices to also participate,. I do appreciate that it will mean only one "desktop" per site which will have to be shared but that is more than they have at present.
So, basically, I want to have my cake and eat it too!
Any help on how to achieve that would be appreciated - remember I am more of a teacher than a software guru.

Nicolas

Indeed, Pi 400 is supported, meaning that a recent MoodleBox image works correctly on a Pi 400.

However, as mentionned by Ratna, since MoodleBox is intended to be used as a headless server, Pi 400 is IMHO not optimally used if running a MoodleBox image, since you won't have any "desktop" displayed, but only a command line interface, and that's the intended behaviour.

Ian Any help on how to achieve that would be appreciated

It is possible to install a desktop on a MoodleBox image. I must admit that I didn't test it, but this quite extensive guide will help you!

Ian

Nicolas Thanks.
So, if I understand this correctly, I would need to run a moodlebox as normal, and then run one or more pi400 as stand alone desktop accessing the moodlebox via wifi.
This will still be a cheaper option than desktop/laptop computers plus I can run it off a 12v solar system (with a 12v monitor) but not as cost effective as I had hoped.
Thank you both for the advice.

Nicolas

Ian So, if I understand this correctly, I would need to run a moodlebox as normal, and then run one or more pi400 as stand alone desktop accessing the moodlebox via wifi.

Yes, this is a possibility:

one MoodleBox (e.g. RPi 3B or 4B) as a headless server, and
several RPi 400's as WiFi clients.

Note that you could use any other devices as clients, RPi 400's are not required. And you don't need a monitor for the headless system (you can access it via SSH, I do it all the time, I never attach any monitor to my MoodleBox's).

Ratna

Ian I know that you know MoodleBox very well: https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/243-update-and-fleet-management/4
;-)

Still to make sure that we don't make a mistake in planning: You will have a "normal Pi" (3A, 3B, 3B+ or 4B) running as the MoodleBox, i.e. a (headless) web server with built-in wireless hot-spot, and a number of Pi 400 as (graphical) clients, correct?

If so, there are better choices for the Pi 400 than starting with MoodleBox (Raspbian Lite) and adding the "Desktop" on your own. The "official" one is https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/raspberry-pi-desktop/ is the first one. But many Linux distributions come up with their own RPi flavours. A beautiful one I saw is a script which turns an Ubuntu Linux Server (no desktop) for RPi in to a stunning desktop, running Manjaro Linux (from memory).

So you are back to the famous problem in the Linux world, too many flavours!

Ian

Nicolas Note that you could use any other devices as clients, RPi 400's are not required

Agreed. I am running moodlebox in areas that have only intermittent electrical power thus I run off solar. The pi technology means that I don't need expense of inverters and batteries for pc use.

Ian

Nicolas you don't need a monitor for the headless system

Again agreed. The monitor is for pi400 so students can log in to courses on moodle

krause

Nicolas

Hi Ian,
in my opinion the setting with one headless MoodleBox server and one or more clients will be the best. If you configure a Pi 400 as a workstation with an integrated server then you can’t migrate your MoodleBox to newer versions and you can’t use different sd cards with different Moodle content.

Using a separate MoodleBox server you can setup a new Moodle with new courses on every Raspberry Pi 3B, 3B+ or 4B. You copy the image to a new sd card. You start the MoodleBox, you setup new plugins and import your user list. You‘re ready to start with a fresh platform.

Using the workstation/server combination you must install the Xserver, the desktop and all the desktop Apps you need. And you must do this every time when you want to install a fresh platform.

Ralf

Ratna

Ian I'm not informed in the device market. I think economy tablets - not iPad😉 - are strong contenders for the client device.

Ian

Ratna Thank you for the information. It looks like I will be spending some time looking at this.
I appreciate all the help