DSlot Beta

Chapter 10

The console

The Linux console under the shelf: the touch keyboard, SSH, copying files and installing software.

On this page

DSlot is based on nibOS, a streamlined Arch Linux for the device. The console is a way into it.

Getting to the console🔗

  • Leave DSlot with Select + Start. To go back to the shelf, restart (sudo reboot). The safe mode’s Open a console leads here too.
  • Over SSH, from a computer (below).

On the DS+’s screens, the console is on the top screen and a touch keyboard on the bottom one. The buttons type too; Menu + X hides the keyboard and shows it again. Every key is in Controls.

The user is called nibos. With no password set in provision.toml, the console logs in by itself and sudo asks for nothing; with one, both ask for it.

With no password, anyone holding the DS+ has full control of it. Set one in provision.toml, or with passwd in the console, before you take it anywhere that matters.

SSH🔗

SSH is off until provision.toml gives it a public key; there is no password login over SSH. With a key given and Wi-Fi on, from a computer on the same network:

ssh nibos@nibos.local

nibos.local is the DS+’s name on the local network. If your computer doesn’t find it, use the DS+’s address instead (ip addr in the console shows it).

Wi-Fi has to be on: on a fresh card it is off unless provision.toml named a network. Turn it on in DSlot’s menu; it stays on.

Copying files🔗

With SSH, any program that speaks SFTP or SCP copies files to and from the DS+: scp in a terminal, or a file manager that connects over SFTP. Games go in /mnt/roms/Roms/<folder> (NIBOS-DATA) or /mnt/ds/Roms/<folder> (the card in TF2):

scp "My Game.gba" nibos@nibos.local:/mnt/roms/Roms/GBA/

DSlot notices them by itself.

Installing software🔗

Underneath is Arch Linux ARM, so sudo pacman -S <package> installs from Arch Linux ARM’s repositories. Worth knowing:

  • The card’s own packages (its kernel, graphics, DSlot and the emulators) are built for the DS+ and aren’t in a repository yet. Don’t replace them from Arch Linux ARM’s (mesa, for one).
  • A full system upgrade (pacman -Syu) moves you onto packages DSlot hasn’t been tested with. It usually works; if it doesn’t, write the image again (Updates).
  • An update replaces the whole system, so packages you installed with pacman, and any other change to the system’s files outside your home folder, are gone after it. Keep what you need in your home folder, which is kept, and install packages again after an update.

More🔗

For more on the system itself, see nibOS.