FINAL (seriously, I mean it this time) VERSION

Here's the deal, Blueman has been a pain in the butt for years and Linux Mint's Blueberry runs perfectly on the Pi. Instead of a stoopid six step wizard it takes ONE CLICK to pair a device. The Mint peeps wrote it in Python and I installed it with GDebi, just like my earlier blog post. Unfortunately it made me install Network-Manager so Wicd had to go, oh well..

The 1.89 GB file is at http://tinyurl.com/pelinux1
ZIP md5sum 24cd9266d0b65e47fbed0464646fe301
ZIP shasum ff6b3ac2abb43fecf088bee83dd5dfaf1accb745

Debian 8.6 stable (no backports, no third-party repos)
Firmware for Pi 2 and Pi 3
HDMI 1080p default
Bluetooth sound only (PulseAudio)
Blueberry manager by Linux Mint
Network-Manager for WiFi and wired NIC
*Analog audio driver disabled

Murdock Edition is still the "bleeding edge" version and the only one with LibreOffice 5.

STORAGE

I recently upgraded from a SanDisk Extreme Plus 32 gig card (SE32G) to a SanDisk Ultra Plus (SL64G) which works perfectly in the Pi 2. Walmart has them for $28. While I was there I also grabbed a $9 SanDisk Cruiser USB 2.0 thumb drive for my top secret stuff.

Kernel 3.18 has the ability to read and write many file systems (like btrfs with -o compress) but my favorite for this application is the so-called "flash friendly" file system. sudo apt install f2fs-tools then mkfs.f2fs to prepare the thumb drive. After creating and mounting use Cryptkeeper to setup your folder. First run change your preferences from Gnome's "nautilus" file manager to XFCE's file manager "thunar". That's all you need to do. The F2 file system can't be read by any other operating system and even under Linux the encrypted directory is hidden. It's kind of hard to crack something that isn't there. :D

MORE FINAL ADVICE

If you're using Bluetooth audio like me you really should comment out the analog driver in /etc/modules to avoid application lockups. You can then fire up Quod Libet and start playing a file before turning on your Bluetooth speakers. A dummy output device is created and deleted and everything switches over perfectly. I assumed PulseAudio messed up ALSA but it's possible Debian did that all by themselves somewhere between 8.2 (9-11 Edition) and 8.4 (Murdock Edition). Maybe 8.6 will fix it, maybe not. I'll uncomment it someday and give it another try. For now I just don't need the trouble. Anyways..

If you're deploying more than one of these images on a network you should also change the computer name in /etc/hostname, near the top of /etc/hosts and in your Bluetooth device preferences. If you're using a wired connection change the static IP address in /etc/network/interfaces or configure the NIC to use DHCP. Type "man interfaces" for more info.

Privacy Enhanced Linux for Pi 3 Update
HDMI 1080p Edition

http://tinyurl.com/pelinux3
(10.3 MB firmware partition ONLY, keep your data)

10278927 Aug 29 01:05 firmware.zip
md5sum f67dea931d9f4812ba155f551e4f9967

Firmware is on a FAT (old Windows) partition so just delete/replace what's there with the contents of this zip, no permission issues. The config.txt file now defaults to 1080p but you can revert back to the old behavior by commenting out two lines. This package does NOT upgrade the kernel from the very reliable 3.18 ARMv7 one you've been using. This package IS backwards compatible so if your Pi 3 goes up in a puff of smoke from lack of heatsinks just pop the card back into your trusty Pi 2. I'm still using the older Pi 2 firmware in one of mine though as it's optimized and boots a second faster. No drivers for the Pi 3's built-in WiFi and Bluetooth however, you'll have to keep whatever USB dongles you're currently using, sorry.

Time to Make a Backup

Before any potentially catastrophic operation, like updating from Debian 9 backports, it's always a good idea to make a full backup. I do so by putting my microSD card in a USB 3.0 card reader and:

sudo dd bs=512 if=/dev/sdb of=mypi.img

I get around 65 mb/sec backup speed out of my UHS card. To restore just reverse input file (if) and output file (of) parameters. The backup img file will be the same size (32 gig card = 32 gig file) so make sure you have room and a compatible file system (NTFS is OK, FAT has a max 2 GB file size).

Systemd v230 is in backports and it breaks everything with its stoopid interface names. Ian Murdock Edition users now need to:
sudo apt-mark hold systemd
sudo apt-mark hold udev
sudo apt-mark hold systemd-sysv
sudo apt-mark hold xrdp
sudo apt-mark hold audacious
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

No change for users of the 9-11 edition:
sudo apt-mark hold locales
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

UPDATING PROGRAMS MANUALLY

Eventually you'll find you're not being supported adequately by one of the hundreds of developers whose work is combined into what people think of as Linux. Streamtuner2 stopped working for me recently and it turns out the version in the repo is ancient. Even worse, the program itself hadn't been updated for over a year so there's really no excuse for the repo maintainers. It's just plain laziness. Luckily we don't have to wait for them to wake up.

First thing to do is install gdebi because it'll resolve dependencies problems automagically for us.

sudo apt install gdebi

Then find the Sourceforge page for Streamtuner2 and get the latest dot-deb package, currently:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/streamtuner2/files/streamtuner2-2.1.9.deb/download

Ordinarily you'd also need an ARMHF version of the DEB package but fortunately for us this is a Python program. So all we have to do now is right click the package and select gdebi from the list. Updating Streamtuner2 to the latest and greatest version is just one install button click away. It's as easy as playing Wintendo.

Password for the default keyring is "pi", same as the default user.

Since submitting the article the official power supply came out at MCM/Element14. It works with the Pi 2 and Pi 3 and comes with travel adapters, all for under $10, so there's really no reason to buy anything else. Only one out of ten USB cables I tested could actually handle 2 AMPs so it's nice to have a wire rated for 2.5A supplying the juice (no more flickering red light) even if you don't need all that power. Tzumi also now has a 2.4 AMP USB battery. If 2.1A is "turbo charging" then I guess this one is "super charging".. or something like that... George Orwell was an optimist.

I submitted the article last winter but better late than never. Page 23 of the Summer 2016 edition has lots of useful info I forgot to put in this blog. Buy a copy at Barnes and Noble today. It's not available online yet!