Plans for MoodleBox: Bullseye and 64 bit

Nicolas

As Debian version 11 "Bullseye" will soon be released and thus, a few weeks later, an image of the Raspberry Pi OS with this version, it is time to explain here the short term plans I have for MoodleBox.

The release of Debian 11 "Bullseye" is scheduled for August 14, 2021. If all goes well, and although RasPi OS releases are never announced in advance, it is very likely that a few weeks later, a Bullseye-based version of RasPi OS will be released. I have planned an update of the MoodleBox image which will then follow very quickly.

It is also likely that the official RasPi OS images will be provided in 64-bit. If this is the case, MoodleBox will also be released in 64-bit, as it is recommended that Moodle uses a 64-bit architecture (even if it runs fine on 32-bit).

In summary, an image of MoodleBox based on Debian Bullseye is expected to be released in the next few months, hopefully in 64-bit.

Stay tuned!

Ratna

Nicolas Oh yes, a shiny Raspberry Pi OS "bullseye" in 64 bit would be a big boost for the MoodleBox. I believe, hope, the "few months" are not long enough to bring Moodle 4.0 too, which is scheduled for November.

Pl. keep an eye on the low wi-fi devices issue https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/36-low-number-of-wi-fi-concurrent-connected-users/70 too.

methot

Hello,
Really interesting!
I guess the responsiveness will be even better?
For me there is no hurry before my spring 2022 version.
If "Dieu me prête vie" as we say at home!
Daniel

Nicolas

Ratna Moodle 4.0 in MoodleBox image will effectively depend on Raspberry Pi OS image release date. So cannot make promises.

Regarding the low number of WiFi clients, there are good news 💓 . A firmware specially cut to enable a max number of clients is in development, and could be released with the next Raspberry Pi OS image. A test version is available since a couple of days. If you want to test it, I'd be glad to read your results.

Ratna

Nicolas I'm afraid, I don't have enough wi-fi devices in my home - and I don't conduct big enough face-to-face classes. Do you have an idea what the size of the wi-fi army needs to be?

In case somebody wants to test, the procedure is: Get the latest MoodleBox, replace the firmware with the one here https://github.com/iiab/iiab/issues/2853#issuecomment-900328119. That's it, right?

And the Pi: Do you expect differences amoung 3 B, 3 B+ and 4 B?

Nicolas

Ratna Do you have an idea what the size of the wi-fi army needs to be?

The new firmware should handle correctly more than 20 devices.

Ratna In case somebody wants to test, the procedure is: Get the latest MoodleBox, replace the firmware with the one here https://github.com/iiab/iiab/issues/2853#issuecomment-900328119. That's it, right?

That's it, and no differences are expected between models.

Warning: If you want to replace the firmware in the current MoodleBox image, you should release the security I implemented to prevent firmware replacement during apt updates, with

sudo chattr -i /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43455-sdio.bin

You should also revert file /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43455-sdio.clm_blob to its original, that you'll find saved and renamed in the same directory. This one is also protected, so launch the same command to unprotect it.

Good luck!

krause

Hi Nicolas,
do you have a test image with your MoodleBox updated to Bullseye? Is the wifi test firmware already installed. It would be great and very useful if all testers will use the same image.
Ralf

Nicolas

krause Here is a test image (32bit, bullseye updated from buster).

Notes:

This is a test image. Expect issues and don't use it in production
32bit bullseye (no 64bit image for now)
New minimal Wi-Fi firmware installed

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Edit: A 64bit bullseye test image is now available!

Nicolas

krause As stated

Nicolas 32bit bullseye (no 64bit image for now)

(just above).

krause (...) you wanted to update to php 7.4 and mariadb 10.5.

Not me: PHP7.4 and MariaDB 10.5 are standard in bullseye.

Ratna

Nicolas Booted from the test image on a Pi 3 B+.
Raspberry Pi OS version Raspbian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) Kernel version Linux 5.10.52-v7+ armv7l MoodleBox version 3.13.0-dev-1 (2021-08-21) MoodleBox plugin version 2.10.0 (2021072700) Moodle version 3.11.2+ (Build: 20210820)

As feared I don't have enough wi-fi devices around. So far got 7 connected, which include a non-smart mobile phone and a printer!
Client IP address and name 10.0.0.163 (*) Client IP address and name 10.0.0.162 (z...) Client IP address and name 10.0.0.80 (X...) Client IP address and name 10.0.0.215 (android-...) Client IP address and name 10.0.0.42 (Samsung-...) Client IP address and name 10.0.0.194 (*) Client IP address and name 10.0.0.65 (x..)

Might be able to get 2-3 more, but not 20 in the near future!

Do you want anything else tested, for example Moodle performance with 5 clients?

Nicolas

Nicolas Edit: A 64bit bullseye test image is now available!

This was maybe unnoticed 😅

krause

Thank you very much. I will try it as soon as possible. The download is already started.

krause

Hi Nicolas.
is the new version still running with 32 Bits? I found armv7l in the version string
Linux moodlebox 5.10.52-v7l+ #1441 SMP Tue Aug 3 18:11:56 BST 2021 armv7l

And I read that you wanted to update to php 7.4 and mariadb 10.5.
https://github.com/moodlebox/moodlebox/issues/213#issuecomment-899024005

Ralf

Nicolas

Thanks for this feedback.

Ratna Do you want anything else tested, for example Moodle performance with 5 clients?

Moodle performance won't be an issue (long ago I did a load test on a RPi 3B with 200 clients without problem), and is not really impacted by the network connection: the real bottleneck is the number of connected wifi clients.

Anyway, please post on Github any bug/issue with this image.

krause

Hi Nicolas,
I tested to install all the content from my older MoodleBox to the new test version 3.13.0-dev.
You can look at https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/253-upgrade-to-moodlebox-3110-from-390/5 for this.

Everything works fine with Moodle 3.11.2+, PHP 7.4 and MariaDB 10.5 .... and also my locally installed URL Shortener YOURLS.

But my RTC DS3231 currently does not work. It seem to be a software change in Bullseye. I installed the i2c-tools but I can't get in contact with the RTC.

Ralf

Nicolas

Thank you for this feedback. Did you test several simultaneous wifi connections?

krause But my RTC DS3231 currently does not work. It seem to be a software change in Bullseye. I installed the i2c-tools but I can't get in contact with the RTC.

This is typically what can be expected with an unsupported bullseye system. I'll give it myself a try however.

krause

I found the solution.
The former package python-smbus does not exist in Bullseye. I need to get python3-smbus.

moodlebox@moodlebox:~ $ sudo apt install python3-smbus i2c-tools
....

moodlebox@moodlebox:~ $ sudo i2cdetect -y 1
     0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f
00:                         -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
10: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
20: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
30: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
40: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
50: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
60: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- UU -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 
70: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --                         

moodlebox@moodlebox:~ $ sudo hwclock -r
2021-08-23 13:37:23.367225+02:00
moodlebox@moodlebox:~ $

krause

The wifi seems to be really stable on my Raspberry Pi 4B. Currently there are 6 devices connected with the Moodlebox wifi but I will search for some devices more.

I wonder that the Android tablet shows the wifi regulatory country CH while the MoodleBox dashboard shows DE.

Nicolas

krause I wonder that the Android tablet shows the wifi regulatory country CH while the MoodleBox dashboard shows DE.

This is not normal. MoodleBox dashboard should reflect the correct regulatory country. I'll check for the real release. Thanks for the feedback.

krause

Nicolas
I found the definition for Switzerland in the file /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf.

krause

Hi Nicolas,
I connected up to 10 digital devices to the MoodleBox 3.13.0.-dev-1. The last one had some problems to connect. So I think that this could be the current limit.

In order to make massive demands on the Moodlebox, I made numerous updates. The iOS devices have loaded several apps via the MoodleBox and its ethernet cable. The other devices are Linux notebooks, for whose Puavo operating system an update with 1.5 GB was pending. So within a short period of time, 7 GB were distributed via the MoodleBox.

The Android tablet is also connected to the MoodleBox and has not registered any interruptions over the entire period of 3 hours. It's a great improvement already, but hopefully it gets even better as development continues.

Ralf