Hi Howard,
Yes I would use the rachel_pi_kolibri_10_30_18 image with Kolibri for a raspberry pi. Do you want the Laptops to act as RACHEL wifi hotspots or to just have the content on them? If you just want the content accessible on the Iaptop I think you can download the OER2GO modules and make direct links to the index pages for most of them.
James
Hi James,
Thanks for the reply. I am connecting the laptops to older routers to act as wifi hotspots. I donât know how to make the laptop a hotspot, if you could point me in the right direction I could try.
I would like to be able to load the OER2GO content onto laptops from say a 500 GB external USB, I can do this with Colibri content because itâs automated 
Is this something you could point me in the direction of? All of the schools we work with are remote and have no access to the internet.
Thanks very much for your help and advice.
Kind Regards
Howard
Hi Howard,
There is a lot involved in making them RACHEL servers with attached storage as I donât think the installation script for the pi will work for the desktop version of Raspbian. It would also require some work to make sure the storage is mounted and available to the connected users. To set up rachel on them youâd need a web server like apache with the correct modules and configuration to serve rachel content, a dhcp server, hostapd for the hotspot configured for the laptopâs hardware, and then youâd need to create a symbolic link or add another path within the rachel content files to add them directly. Some of the commands within the RACHEL content shell are specific to the pi as well. Desktop is something I will work on once Iâm done with the pi but I think itâs going to be a big task to give it all of the same features.
Your best bet is to set up your laptops as simple file servers or use the routers with the raspberry piâs to get better coverage and then set up the extra storage with the pis.
James
Thanks James, I think Kolibri will have to do for the laptops for now. I managed to get fantastic phonice running by setting up apache as you sugested but this was easy as itâs all in one place.
I might try things like africanstorybooks next
Howard
Hi JamesK. I have helped maintain the build scripts at https://github.com/rachelproject/rachelpiOS. I am interested in seeing what you have done to improve the install process. Would it be possible to get a copy of your scripts? The link to the scripts at the top of this message is broken.
I have started modifying the rachelpiOS scripts to create a RACHEL build on top of the latest Raspbian image (2018-11-13). The existing scripts mostly still work. The main change I had to make was upgrading the scripts from php5 to php 7.0. Upgrading the scripts to php 7.0 was straight forward. However, I am concerned that the php code in contentshell has been written for php 5 and may have incompatibilities. Does your script use php 7.0? Jeremy, do you know if contentshell works properly with php 7.0? I have not found any issues in my initial quick tests, but it would be easy to miss something given the number of modules that could be affected.
Thank you so much for your help.
Hi Rich,
I took down the script from my google drive as it was outdated but havenât been able to edit this post to put up a new link ( Iâm not sure why that happened ). I will clean up my latest script and upload it but it might take me a bit to make sure it works with the existing content shell on the git. I have been updating the content shell, fixing bugs and adding features. There were a lot of bugs along the way to getting things running in both the script and the content shell. I have a list somewhere that Iâll look for.
I have also made new Raspbian Stretch images that are here if you want to see it operational in the meantime.
James
Hello Jamesk, it is an excellent work that you are doing, I am starting to perform tests to install RACHEL, I still do not have a RB Pi, hoping to get a 3B, 3B + or 4 model with which I would like to try.
In ways I am already investigating and I was wondering if versions of the script and files needed to test an installation are still available soon.
I appreciate your contribution and the dedicated work you are doing for this community.
a hug
Hi @lucianodlf. Thank you for the kind words. The best and easiest way to install RACHEL for a Raspberry Pi is by using an image from this post. It has links to images that are premade and ready to go. They just need to be flashed to a USB drive or a MicroSD. There are some links to instruction documents as well.
For the latest Raspberry Pi, the 4b, I have a temporary image available at this link.. I will release new official images to the pinned post in the next few weeks when I get a Pi4.
If youâre interested in the installer scripts I can share my latest version with you if youâd like.
James
Thank you very much @jamesk for your prompt response. If I was observing the assembly through the images already assembled that you tell me and I have already downloaded the corresponding ones with which I want to try. Anyway I am interested in researching how to perform an installation through the script you have been developing.
I am really looking forward to trying a raspbian emulation, I donât know if it could work to test, what can you tell me about it? You have tried to mount Rachel Pi with an emulation via QEMU or VirtualBox?
a hug
Youâre welcome @lucianodlf. I have been maintaining a Raspbian install script at git hub. Currently itâs only up to date for Raspbian Stretch. I will add a Raspbian Buster branch when I make the new Buster images to be sure that everything is working for the pi 4. I am still waiting to get one. This installer should be the one I used to make the temporary Buster image thatâs available. I havenât tried it for a few weeks so some things might need to be updated to work now. You should be able to put that in /var/tmp and then run âsudo python installer.pyâ with the available options.
There are some issues with emulation that have made me avoid it including networking. I prefer installers to directly install to a machine with Ubuntu for instance. This installer was made for a local Ubuntu installation without networking that I made for a user. I didnât hear back if it worked for them but it worked for me. Using a direct Ubuntu installation or an Ubuntu Image is the approach I would take instead of using Raspbian Desktop or trying to emulate ARM Raspbian. Itâs much easier to make images for the Raspberry Pi because the hardware never changes so the settings can always be the same but with laptops or desktop PCs the settings may have to be unique to the hardware. The installers have to be tailored directly to the OS and the package versions as well. One file, stem.so, has to be compiled for each architecture and updated when php changes versions. Itâs hard to automate. Premade images is much easier so it would be nice to figure something similar out for Desktop.
To start, I would first try installing RACHEL on an Ubuntu LTS installation using that ubuntu_local installer. Then I would try running that in a VM and see what happens. If that works I can help you introduce networking with another installer and go from there.
James
Thanks again for your reply @jamesk. At the moment I do not have more computers available for laboratory tests, due to life circumstances I only have this donated notebook from which I write 
Thatâs why I take the only alternative that is to play emulating. I try to get other hardware to be able to expand the experimental laboratory and better yet, directly a Raspberry Pi!
I will try to try what I can and we will keep in touch.
a hug
Youâre welcome @lucianodlf.You might want to look at the Raspberry Pi Zero W to start out with a small setup. If you have any questions in the future Iâd be happy to answer .
James