raspianoteq-ua-netinst: a (hopefully) hassle-free raspbian distribution for casual pianoteq'ing

goals:

• hassle-free installation and configuration of a raspbian distro tailored for modartt pianoteq
• fast headless boot for casual playing

method:

• installation via unattended net installation thanks to raspberrypi-ua-netinst
• configuration via distant X11 server once-for-all
• headless as regular operation

results:

• ~34mb download
• unattended 10min installation + 3min manual copying
• casual playing in less than 10s

prerequisites:

• download this file : https://github.com/conversy/raspianoteq-ua-netinst/releases/download/v2.1.0pq/raspianoteq-ua-netinst-v2.1.0.img.xz (aka as a 'system image' or 'image')
• download and install etcher, a hassle-free image-to-sdcard burner
• download and install an X11 server (e.g. XQuartz (macos, tested) or Xming (win, untested) or XSDL (android, untested)) on your PC (and not on your pi!)
• a pianoteq ARM binary e.g. the demo one over at modartt

steps:

1. burn image on sdcard with etcher
2. put sdcard in pi, plug ethernet cable, power on, and wait for ~10min for raspbian to install over the net (you might want to plug the pi hdmi output to a monitor to check progress)
3. put back sdcard on your computer, and
1. put the pianoteq binary/executable in the FAT32 partition (aka /boot)
2. create a file named X11DISPLAY in the FAT32 partition (aka /boot) containing the address of the computer that will be running the X11 server e.g. '192.168.1.49', or 'mycomputer' if it has a name (without the quotes)
4. start an X11 server on your computer and type 'xhost  +' in an X11 terminal 
5. put sdcard in pi, power on. The pianoteq GUI should appear on your machine after ~20s.
6. configure pianoteq according to your setup, try to play a few notes to make sure it's running ok.
7. et voilà !
8. (optional) if you want to run headless, put the sdcard in your computer, rename X11DISPLAY to something else e.g. NOX11DISPLAY, put the sdcard back in the pi and reboot the pi. The Aliens will let you know when pianoteq is ready (after ~10s).

caveats:

• it works with my hifimydiy usb sound card that has no gain control, hence does not require alsamixer. alsamixer is on the system in case you need to unmute your sound card.
• might work with a usb sound card only, but it can be configured differently with the sources.

troubleshooting:

• no pianoteq GUI appearing: it won't work if there is no X11 server running and if there is a X11DISPLAY defined, as Pianoteq will continuously be relaunched trying to connect to an X11 server. You can however launch an X11 server after powering on the pi, pianoteq will eventually connect to it and display something.
• no sound: your sound card might need to be unmuted.

faq:

• why no X11 server in the image? because I wanted fast installation and fast boot. Left as an exercise for the user ;-)
• why no VNC? see previous question. Besides X11 is already a client-server architecture, there is no need for another layer. Granted, vnc viewers are more widespread than X11 servers...
• where are the sources? it's planned for the near future, I need to understand again the github workflow. here: https://github.com/conversy/raspianoteq-ua-netinst

credits:

• FooDeas for raspberrypi-ua-netinst (and previoulsy debian-pi for raspbian-ua-netinst)