To install Skyflash, go to the Releases link on this page and grab the file corresponding file to your OS, use the following table to figure it out:
| Operating System | You must download the one... |
|---|---|
| Windows | ...that ends with .exe |
| Linux | ...that ends with .deb |
| MacOS | ...that ends with .dmg |
Installing it and running is done by the default OS way and that is out of the scope of this user's manual, use the internet to search for the answer if in doubt.
Before looking into it you must know the workflow of the software, Skyflash will do the following tasks for you:
- Select and verify a Skybian base image, either from a local file or downloading a copy from the internet.
- Setting your particular network configuration (default Skycoin's Skyminers config is suggested)
- Build the images for a manager and how many minions you like (in actual skywire testnet only a manager and 7 minions are allowed)
- [Optionally] Burn the images to uSDCards to insert into your Orange Pi Prime SBC.
Now we will explore each option in depth
Once you run it for the first time you will be presented with a window like this:
In this windows you are presented with two choices, download or select a local Skybian base image release file.
A word of caution: if your internet is unstable, limited or slow don't try this option, the download process will pull down about 600 MB of data and has no resume option; if your download get interrupted at 99% it will start over from 0% again!
In the other hand if you have a fast and steady internet connection like more than 4 MBit/sec you are set, select this option and the app will download the image for you.
This is the alternative if the download option is not the best choice for you because the above mentioned issues.
Go to a place with a steady and fast internet connection and use whatever device you have (Cell, tablet, laptops, etc) to download the latest Skybian base image. Go to the Skybian release page pick the latest available release (it's the file ending on .tar.xz) once you get it move it to your PC and click on the "Browse" button to select the file.
Either downloading or selecting a local copy, the app will extract the compressed file and then check the integrity of the data inside, all this with feedback of the process for you:
If the app finds any problem on any of this two operations (mainly due to corrupt files) it will let you know with a error/warning dialog box. In that case the solution is to download again the Skybian release file (by the app itself of using an alternative way) and start over.
We incorporated a magic effect into Skyflash to ease your life, go & close the app at this point and re-open it... you will see it knows that it has already a Skybian base image and it will show ready for steps #2 & #3
The magic resides in the Skyflash app folder, once you run it for the first time it will create a folder named Skyflash in a specific place depending on your OS:
| Operating System | Path |
|---|---|
| Windows | My Documents\Skyflash |
| Linux | ~/Skyflash |
| MacOS | ~/Skyflash |
Please take a moment to find this folder, inside it you will find at least a Downloads folder and a file called Skyflash.log
The download folder is the place where the app put the downloaded & extracted base images plus some other files, the Skyflash.log file is just that: the log file for all operations & you will love it if you get in trouble at some point.
This folder will also be the final place for your custom Skybian images, so don't forget it.
Once you reach this point the app's window looks like this:
If you plan to run a Skyminer with the default network configuration you are set, you can jump to step #3 (if you are curious about the default network config, just un-tick the Use Skyminer's defaults box to see it on details, but remember to tick it again)
If you plan to run it on an already existent network and you need to tweak the network parameters then un-tick the Use Skyminer's defaults box to see and edit the network details. If you do that it will show it like this:
The app has some logic rules you need to obey when modifying the network settings:
- We use a
/24network segment (255.255.255.0 netmask if you prefer it on this format) - Because of that the
Manager IPaddress must need to be in the same network segment of theGateway. - We use CloudFlare/OpenDNS DNS servers instead of Google ones, if you want to use a local one put it first and keep a CloudFlare/OpenDNS DNS servers in second place.
- The minion's count refers to the minions only (7 minions + one manager), we assume you want to always config a managers node; because of this you can also specify a count of 0 minions and the app will only create a manager node image with no minions (useful for a quick test of the overall work flow)
If you manage to break some of this rules (and other trivial ones) the app will complain suggesting where the trouble is.
Once you has the network config in place it's time to generate your custom Skybian images, just hit the Build Images button and go for a soft drink/beer/coffee as this can take a while.
The process of generate the images is a HDD intensive task and depending on you PC it can take from 3 to more than 5 minutes to generate the 8 images on actual hardware. In this period your PC may looks like irresponsible at times, be patient and wait until it finish.
Also you need sufficient free space to store the images, it's like 2GB for each image, so for the 8 images you need at least 20 GB of free space. (8 images being built + the base image and the downloaded compressed file)
During the image generation you may see a windows like this to show you the process:
When this process finish you will have the images in your Skybian folder, they will have names like Skybian_your_manager.img & Skybian_your_minion-1.img and so on.
You may want to flash the image now or later, if you want to do it now then you may follow the steps below, if not we recommend BalenaEtcher a multi-platform flashing tool that will do the task once you have the images generated.
A word of warning: once you generate the images and close Skyflash you will not be able to use Skyflash to burn the same images unless you re-generate the images. For this reason we recommend to have a copy of BalenaEtcher at hand to burn the previously generated images.
The flashing process is working only on Linux OS by now, we intend to cover Windows and MacOS soon.
To start the flashing process you need to select the proper device in the combo box, but first a needed warning:
The flashing process is not reversible, please double check that the device selected on the combo box is the correct one or you may flash the Skybian Image to one of your HDDs rendering it unusable and will loss the data on it.
The process to detect the correct uSDCard device is tricky (specially on Linux with recent kernels) and we have to extend it to a few common devices, that may lead into false detection of flash thumb drives and even partitions of the HDD.
We recommend to double and triple check that the device selected is the real uSDCard on the slot.
A sample flashing in progress looks like this:
Of curse, it will ask for admin/root privileges to do the task on every burn, and will let you know how to proceed and each uSDCard is flashed in a multiple flash process.