femtofox/foxbuntu_install.md

Foxbuntu Installation Guide

Requirements for installing Foxbuntu

To install Foxbuntu, you'll need the following:

1. microSD card. You can select one from supported hardware, but any card over 8gb and supporting UHS-I should work
2. microSD card reader for your computer
3. A method to configure the Fox:
   • With any model, a USB OTG adapter (USB-C to USB-A) and a USB flash drive, OR
   • With a Femtofox Pro, a USB-C cable to connect the Fox to your computer, OR
   • With any model, a USB UART seral adapter to plug into UART2 (serial debug pins), OR
   • With any model with an ethernet port, an ethernet cable
4. A Femtofox (duh!)

Installation instructions

1. Download the latest stable Foxbuntu release. At the bottom of the release, click the .7z file to download.

2. Flash the image your MicroSD card using Balena Etcher or your favorite flashing program. You will likely get a warning that the image appears to be invalid or has no partition table. This is normal.

3. Insert the microSD card into the Luckfox Pico Mini. The microSD slot is on the back of the board.

4. Configure the Femtofox: a. For USB config, following the instructions on the USB Configuration Tool page, prepare your USB flash drive with your desired settings. Using a USB OTG adapter, plug the USB flash drive into the data USB port (the port on the Luckfox.

   !TIP

   Optional: attach a USB to serial adapter to the Femtofox via the TX2 and RX2 pins for debug console. Remember to bridge the grounds! Optional: plug an RJ45 cable in to the ethernet port, if you have one installed.

   b. On Femtofox Pro, connect the Power USB-C port to your PC with a cable, and open a serial console application such as PuTTY for windows. Select your the Femtofox's COM port (find the correct COM port in Windows hitting [WIN]+R and entering cmd /k wmic path Win32_SerialPort get DeviceID, Description && pause

5. Connect the Femtofox to power, either via the power USB-C port (Pro model only, on the same side as the ethernet port) or via the power-in JST power plug.

6. The Femtofox will perform its first boot. This can take up to 5 minutes (subsequent boots ~40 seconds). When boot is complete, the USR LED will blink 5 times, 1/2 a second each. At this point, Meshtastic should be running and if you plug in a wifi adapter it should work.

7. To connect to your Femtofox via SSH, open PuTTY or your favorite SSH client and connect to your Femtofox via femtofox.local or its IP (check your router).

   • Username: femto
   • Password: fox