Chapter 9
Updates
Updating from DSlot or the console, what an update keeps, going back to the previous version, and writing a new image instead.
On this page
DSlot updates itself from its releases on GitHub, over Wi-Fi. An update replaces the whole system in one piece (DSlot, the emulators and the Linux system underneath); your games, saves and settings stay.
How an update works🔗
The card holds two copies of the system, A and B. One runs; the other is spare.
- An update is downloaded and written into the spare copy, while you carry on using the DS+. The running copy is never touched, so a power cut or a dropped connection can’t break anything.
- Every piece is checked against the release’s signed list, as it is written and again after, and an update that isn’t signed with nibOS’s key is refused before anything is written.
- You restart into the new version. If it reaches its shelf (or the console) and is still running 30 seconds later, it is kept.
- If it doesn’t start three times running, or lands in the safe mode, the DS+ goes back to the version it came from, by itself.
An update needs Wi-Fi, and the battery at 30% or more (or the charger in).
What an update keeps🔗
| Kept | Not kept |
|---|---|
| Games, BIOS files and saves (NIBOS-DATA) | Packages you installed with pacman |
Your home folder: DSlot’s and the emulators’ settings, play times, ratings, ~/.ssh | Any other change to the system’s files outside your home folder |
| Wi-Fi networks (also those joined in DSlot), Bluetooth pairings, and the radios on or off | |
The SSH keys from provision.toml, and the device’s own SSH host keys | |
| Brightness, the lid setting, battery protect, an imported speaker tuning | |
Your password, set with passwd or in provision.toml |
From DSlot🔗
Press X for the menu and go to System, then its Update section (the last one). It shows the version running, and the channel (Stable or Beta).
- Update checks for a newer version. If there is one, the row reads Download (N MB) and the line above says which version; What’s new shows its notes.
- The download runs in the background: the shelf and games carry on. A pauses it and resumes it.
- When it is in, Restart to update (A, then A again) restarts into it.
- After the update, DSlot opens on System → Update once, saying “Updated to nibOS …”, or, if the new version didn’t start and the DS+ went back, which version it is on.
- Go back to the previous version (A twice) is offered while the other copy holds a good one.
A problem (no network, the battery low, a damaged download) is said on the page, and Try again repeats the step. “No updates published yet” means you’re on the latest.
Writing a new image instead🔗
You can also update by writing the newer image to the card, as you did to
install. On a card set up by 0.1.0-alpha1 or later this keeps
the NIBOS-DATA partition, so your games and saves stay, and from 0.1.0-alpha6 your settings,
play times and favourites too: the card keeps a copy of them on NIBOS-DATA (nibos/settings/) and
puts it back the first time the new card starts. Reset are the Wi-Fi networks you joined, your
paired Bluetooth devices, your RetroAchievements sign-in (sign in again) and what
provision.toml set. To start with default settings, delete nibos/settings/ on the
NIBOS-DATA drive before writing the image. If you used a provision.toml (for an SSH key), put it on the NIBOS drive
again.
Going back by hand🔗
DSlot’s Go back to the previous version (System → Update) starts the other copy again, as long as it holds a version that ran well.