3TB Storage on a Raspberry Pi 2 (Doze Version)

I catch some flack sometimes. Mostly when I forget to do what I say I would. Today I'm making good on a 9 month old promise to you, the reader. This is how to have {as much hard drive space as your computer's body has room for} space for RetroPie and the Raspberry Pi for you, the Windows user.
I had my hot wife help me with this one. She knows more about Doze stuff than I do. I've been out of the Windows game at home at at work for years now. Special thanks to her for the screenshots.

Step 1: Create a Directory

Put it on the drive where you will store the juicy payload for the Pi.

For illustration purposes, a Documents folder will do. Probably not for you though

Step 2: Copy roms/BIOS or other folders (RetroPie only)

In your Explorer sidebar, click network and root around a bit until you find your Raspberry Pi. Find the roms and other directories that are shared by the Pi and copy the contents to the directory created in Step 1.

Dem Games

It's important to note that if you want to do this with more than one directory that is already on the Pi, you will have to repeat steps 1 and 2 as many times as you have folders you want to share from your bad ass rig.

Step 3: Delete the contents of the folders on the Pi

This might be painful if you have quite the collection of games and sundries. Relax. You just backed them up in Step 2. Should anything go sideways, you can always restore!

Go back to that network share you copied all the stuff from in Step 2 and delete EVERYTHING. This is important as future steps will not work without the directory being absolutely devoid of anything resembling a file.

Oh Damn! She got Zork!

Step 4: Share your badass file source

Let's take a minute and disclaim that this is what is considered by the paranoid who don't want their links to pornhub or /r/gonewild exposed on the interwebs to be insane or insecure. I beg to differ as far as the paranoia goes in terms of network security. This tutorial is just for a simple share.

Right click the folder you created in Step 1 -> Sharing

For least possible sadness and greatest possible happiness, select the "Everyone" user to share with.

Everyone is getting into my private stash now

It's important to give the "Everyone" user Read/Write access if you want things to be saved like game state, configs, or other important things.

Step 5: Save share and take note of the directory

That greyed-out mess is important

In this example, everything after \\LADY-PC\ is relevant. Be sure to copy it to something or leave the confirmation window open for reference.

Step 6: Acquire Software on the Pi

Uhhhh wait.. who is writing this? The Pi already has everything ready to go for this with Windows. Take a break. Have a beer and a smoke if you're inclined and enjoy what you've accomplished so far.

Step 7: Configure the Pi to map the share

This step is the same as the most previous post with some variation. SSH into the Pi and open /etc/fstab in an editor of your choice (nano, vi, vim, emacs, your choice). Open with sudo for least possible rage.

Add a new line with something like

//HostIPAddress/Path/To/Your/Share /place/to/share/on/pi cifs guest,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8 0 0
Parts in red are pretty much mandatory for this sort of open setup. Parts in black are up to you and what you want to do with it. Replace spaces with \040 since you use Windows and can't help but put spaces in directory paths. This is your punishment.

Save and quit your editor.

Step 8: mount -a

Put "sudo mount -a" in the console and hit enter. If it doesn't bitch at you, congrats, you win. Type in "sudo init 6" for a restart and you should be off to the races!

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DIY DVD Duplicator (Project DVD Toaster)

So my buddy over at Forshee Media was asking me the other day if I could build him a DVD duplicator on the cheap. I said “Challenge Accepted”. Here's how I did it.

The Hardware

Being a guy that works in the IT field, I get a lot of junk or old systems donated to me. I had plenty of parts sitting around to build a decently running, purpose built appliance like this, but I wouldn't want to use systems with their specs for a main desktop. Here are the specs:

• Pentium 4 processor
• 512MB PC2-3200
• 1 – 80GB PATA Drive for the OS
• Motherboard with 4 SATA ports
• 2 PATA connectors
• Case with at least 4-5.25” drive bays

Sounds pretty simple right? I also had a few DVD burners sitting around that I could use to test the software. I didn't have the 4 burners that he wanted but the software would scale.

The Software

I installed Ubuntu 10.10 Server Edition on it because it takes up very few resources. This device will have nothing but a power cord and a network cable hooked to it. As such, it will be remotely controlled via ssh.

The network card has everything statically assigned. I got some of my buddy's network specs ahead of time. How this can be accomplished is edit /etc/network/interfaces and here is what I added to his configuration:

iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.200
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1

Pretty simple. With an “apt-get install ssh”, I unhooked all of the peripherals and ran this thing like the headless drone it is supposed to be.

Up next was finding out what DVD drives are being recognized. This is important as the dev assignments are statically coded into the coming scripts. To find out what drives are available “udisks --enumerate | grep sr”. Normally optical drives are specified with an sr#. Your distro might vary.

The Code

Now we're getting to the good part. The meat and potatoes of this operation. Here is a script that works for me with 4 drives:

#!/bin/bash

dvd1=/dev/sr0
dvd2=/dev/sr1
dvd3=/dev/sr2
dvd4=/dev/sr3

dvd_prep(){
    local dvd_to_load=$1
    local state=$2
    dvd_load=0
    sleep 2
    while [ $dvd_load -eq 0 ]
    do
        dvd_load=`udisks --show-info $dvd_to_load | grep -c "blank: *$state"`
    done
}

echo "Load DVD into top tray"
eject $dvd1
dvd_prep $dvd1 0
echo "Copying DVD to image"
dd if=$dvd1 of=dvdimage.iso bs=512
eject $dvd1

echo "How many copies?"
read copies
count=1
while [ $count -le $copies ]
do
    remaining=0
    if [ $copies -gt 1 ]
    then
        remaining=$((copies-count))
    fi

    if [ $copies -eq 1 -o $remaining -eq 0 ]
    then
        dvd_prep $dvd1 1
        echo "Number $count"
        eject $dvd1
        growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd1=dvdimage.iso > duplicator_log 
        eject $dvd1
        let "count+=1"

    elif [ $copies -eq 2 -o $remaining -eq 1 ]
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
       
        dvd_prep $dvd1 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd2 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"
        growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd1=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log  && eject $dvd1 & growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd2=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd2 

    elif [ $copies -eq 3 -o $remaining -eq 2 ]
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
        eject $dvd3
       
        dvd_prep $dvd1 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd2 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd3 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd1=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log  && eject $dvd1 & growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd2=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd3 & growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd3=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd3    
    else
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
        eject $dvd3
        eject $dvd4
       
        dvd_prep $dvd1 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd2 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd3 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd4 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd1=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log  && eject $dvd1 & growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd2=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd3 & growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd3=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd3  & growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd4=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd4 
    fi
done
echo "Done"
rm dvdimage.iso


All This does is copy DVDs. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing overkill. That being said...

LightScribe

Since the drives I bought for this project are LightScribe compatible, I decided to write a bit more in this script in order to turn this not only into a DVD toaster, but also make mass LightScribe operations possible. Doing more than, say, 5 of the same LS label is tedious.

Get this label here

I found that you need to have the LightScribe System software installed as well as the Lacie LS Utilities (because they have a scriptable CLI implementation). It is a bit of a process to get this working, but worth it.

How this works is when the DVD is done being written, the user is prompted to turn the DVD over to etch a bitmap label on the top. The LightScribe bits of this code are activated when the script is fed an argument of an image name without an extension (ex. "./duplicator label" not "./duplicator label.bmp")

Le Code in red is what was changed from the previous code:


#!/bin/bash

LS=$1
dvd1=/dev/sr0
dvd2=/dev/sr1
dvd3=/dev/sr2
dvd4=/dev/sr3

dvd_prep(){
    local dvd_to_load=$1
    local state=$2
    dvd_load=0
    sleep 2
    while [ $dvd_load -eq 0 ]
    do
        dvd_load=`udisks --show-info $dvd_to_load | grep -c "blank: *$state"`
    done
}

ls_prep(){
    local dvd_to_load=$1
    dvd_load=0
    sleep 2
    while [ $dvd_load -eq 0 ]
    do
        dvd_load=`4L-cli mediainfo $dvd_to_load | grep Oriented | cut -d' ' -f4`
    done
}


echo "Load DVD into top tray"
eject $dvd1
dvd_prep $dvd1 0
echo "Copying DVD to image"
dd if=$dvd1 of=dvdimage.iso bs=512
eject $dvd1

echo "How many copies?"
read copies
count=1
while [ $count -le $copies ]
do
    remaining=0
    if [ $copies -gt 1 ]
    then
        remaining=$((copies-count))
    fi

    if [ $copies -eq 1 -o $remaining -eq 0 ]
    then
        dvd_prep $dvd1 1
        echo "Number $count"
        eject $dvd1
        growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd1=dvdimage.iso > duplicator_log

    if [ $LS ]
    then    
        eject $dvd1
        echo "Flip the DVD over and close the drive tray."
        ls_prep $dvd1
        4L-cli print $dvd1 labels/$LS.bmp
    fi

        eject $dvd1
        let "count+=1"

    elif [ $copies -eq 2 -o $remaining -eq 1 ]
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
     
        dvd_prep $dvd1 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd2 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"
        growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd1=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log  && eject $dvd1 &
    growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd2=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd2
  
if [ $LS ]
    then    
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
        echo "Flip the DVDs over and close the drive trays."
        
        ls_prep $dvd1
        ls_prep $dvd2

        4L-cli print $dvd1 labels/$LS.bmp &
        4L-cli print $dvd2 labels/$LS.bmp
    fi

    elif [ $copies -eq 3 -o $remaining -eq 2 ]
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
        eject $dvd3
     
        dvd_prep $dvd1 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd2 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd3 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd1=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log  && eject $dvd1 &
    growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd2=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd3 &
    growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd3=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd3  

    if [ $LS ]
    then    
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
        eject $dvd3
        echo "Flip the DVDs over and close the drive trays."
        
        ls_prep $dvd1
        ls_prep $dvd2
        ls_prep $dvd3

        4L-cli print $dvd1 labels/$LS.bmp &
        4L-cli print $dvd2 labels/$LS.bmp &
        4L-cli print $dvd3 labels/$LS.bmp
    fi

    else
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
        eject $dvd3
        eject $dvd4
     
        dvd_prep $dvd1 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd2 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd3 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        dvd_prep $dvd4 1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd1=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log  && eject $dvd1 &
    growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd2=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd2 &
    growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd3=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd3
    & growisofs -dvd-compat -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m -use-the-force-luke=notray -Z $dvd4=dvdimage.iso  > duplicator_log && eject $dvd4

    if [ $LS ]
    then    
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
        eject $dvd3
        eject $dvd4
        echo "Flip the DVDs over and close the drive trays."
        
        ls_prep $dvd1
        ls_prep $dvd2
        ls_prep $dvd3
        ls_prep $dvd4

        4L-cli print $dvd1 labels/$LS.bmp &
        4L-cli print $dvd2 labels/$LS.bmp &
        4L-cli print $dvd3 labels/$LS.bmp &
        4L-cli print $dvd4 labels/$LS.bmp
    fi
    fi
done
echo "Done"
rm dvdimage.iso

If you just want a script that will handle Lightscribe and nothing else:

#!/bin/bash

LS=$1
dvd1=/dev/sr0
dvd2=/dev/sr2
dvd3=/dev/sr1
dvd4=/dev/sr3

ls_prep(){
    local dvd_to_load=$1
    media_ready=0
    while [ $media_ready -eq 0 ]   
    do
        media_ready=`4L-cli mediainfo $dvd_to_load | grep media | cut -d' ' -f3`
    done
}

echo "How many copies?"
read copies
count=1
while [ $count -le $copies ]
do
    remaining=0
    if [ $copies -gt 1 ]
    then
        remaining=$((copies-count))
    fi

    if [ $copies -eq 1 -o $remaining -eq 0 ]
    then
        eject $dvd1
        ls_prep $dvd1
        4L-cli print -q best $dvd1 "/home/ftp/$LS.bmp" && eject $dvd1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

    elif [ $copies -eq 2 -o $remaining -eq 1 ]
    then
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
        ls_prep $dvd1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"
        ls_prep $dvd2
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"
        4L-cli print -q best $dvd1 "/home/ftp/$LS.bmp" && eject $dvd1 &
        4L-cli print -q best $dvd2 "/home/ftp/$LS.bmp" && eject $dvd2

    elif [ $copies -eq 3 -o $remaining -eq 2 ]
    then
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
        eject $dvd3
        ls_prep $dvd1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"
        ls_prep $dvd2
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"
        ls_prep $dvd3
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"
        4L-cli print -q best $dvd1 "/home/ftp/$LS.bmp" && eject $dvd1 &
        4L-cli print -q best $dvd2 "/home/ftp/$LS.bmp" && eject $dvd2 &
        4L-cli print -q best $dvd3 "/home/ftp/$LS.bmp" && eject $dvd3

    else
        eject $dvd1
        eject $dvd2
        eject $dvd3
        eject $dvd4

        ls_prep $dvd1
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"
        ls_prep $dvd2
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"
        ls_prep $dvd3
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"
        ls_prep $dvd4
        echo "Number $count"
        let "count+=1"

        4L-cli print -q best $dvd1 "/home/ftp/$LS.bmp" && eject $dvd1 &
        4L-cli print -q best $dvd2 "/home/ftp/$LS.bmp" && eject $dvd2 &
        4L-cli print -q best $dvd3 "/home/ftp/$LS.bmp" && eject $dvd3 &
        4L-cli print -q best $dvd4 "/home/ftp/$LS.bmp" && eject $dvd4

    fi
done





Notes

• For maximum possible happiness, run the script with Lightscribe as root. 4L-cli is unnecessarily root bound for printing.
• Remember to "chmod 777 duplicator_script" or "chmod a+x duplicator_script" for maximum possible happiness
• This is a multi threaded application. Remember the rule of thumb: max 2 threads per processor core... for maximum possible happiness.

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