Ubuntu Overlays Enhance Development, Deployment
Also in this issue:
This month, Tibbo is pleased to unveil a new tool to aid you in creating products based on the Size 3 Linux Tibbo Project PCB (LTPP3), Gen. 2. Version 0.5.1of Tibbo’s Ubuntu-based distribution introduces union mounting, enabling you to overlay read/write partitions over a read-only master partition holding your base installation.
For example, you can store your application’s temporary data in an overlay partition. Resetting or power-cycling the device clears the overlay, leaving the application in its initial configuration. This capability facilitates reliably and effortlessly returning your device to a working state, providing you with peace of mind regardless of whether you are developing or deploying.
Our Docker container has been updated with an interactive script — tb_overlayfs.sh — to help you implement overlays. This script assists you in preconfiguring the sizes of the master and additional partitions. You can configure multiple overlays and persistent storage partitions, helping to maximize the potential of the increased storage available on our new 8GB eMMC revision of the LTPP3(G2).
New IO Ninja Features and Color Themes
Improve Your Experience
Version 5.2.0 of IO Ninja is now available for download. This release includes several features that our users have requested, as well as other improvements and bug fixes. Below are some of the highlights (for a complete list of updates, see the IO Ninja website):
If you’ve ever worked with multiple serial adapters connected to your computer, you know that it’s sometimes challenging to figure out which COM port represents which adapter. Now you can hover over a COM port in IO Ninja for additional information — including path, manufacturer, model, hardware ID, driver, and location — to help you identify the device.
IO Ninja V5.2.0 introduces several updates to the terminal experience, particularly significant improvements in xterm compatibility. The most eye-catching enhancement is the addition of color themes. While IO Ninja previously allowed you to tweak individual ANSI colors in the terminal emulator, it was an inconvenient process. IO Ninja now features several popular terminal color schemes, such as those of xterm, PuTTY, and the Tango Desktop Project.
This release introduces a feature many of you have requested: a dark UI theme. Over the past several years, the adoption of “dark mode” has grown, and it can be found in many popular applications. If you count yourself among the people who prefer dark mode, IO Ninja now has a light-on-dark theme in macOS and Linux (when using KDE Plasma) — support for other platforms will be added in the future.
Revamped Docs Facilitate Product Development
As you know, Tibbo’s mission is to simplify and speed up the development of IoT devices. One crucial part of achieving that goal is great documentation. That is why we’re proud to announce our new Tibbo Docs platform.
Tibbo Docs was built from the ground up to make it easier for you and your customers to use our documentation. We started by merging, reorganizing, and refining the content of our existing hardware and software manuals. Then we created a responsive design that is focused on the content, is easier to read and navigate, loads quickly, and works just as well on your smartphone as on a high-resolution computer screen — or even printed!
Of course, good documentation is never finished, and neither is our work to improve Tibbo Docs. In the near future, it will incorporate the manuals for our Serial-over-IP and Modbus Gateway solutions, as well as expanded Linux documentation.
The online versions of our earlier hardware and software manuals will be taken down early next year, but will always be available in their “final” versions as downloadable PDFs. To ensure you’re always working with the most up-to-date documentation, start using Tibbo Docs now and update your bookmarks. And, as always, we appreciate feedback about your experience.
Courtesy of Tibbo
