config.txt is ignored

snickerdoodle getting-started
1

Hi all,

I am in the process of reactivating my snickerdoodle black, that I got from Crowd Supply. I have a FAT16-formatted SDcard, with the r2p1 image (Ubuntu 16.04) on it.

my config.txt has following form:

#### Wireless access point (AP) configuration ##################################

# Set the wireless access point SSID
ap_ssid=Snickerdoodle

# Set the wireless access point WPA passphrase
ap_passphrase=supersecretpassphrase

# Set the access point IP address (also sets DHCP subnet)
ap_address=10.0.110.3

#### Wireless station configuration ############################################

# Set wireless network mode
#sta_mode=wpa

# Set wireless network SSID
#sta_ssid=OstZone

# Set wireless network key
#sta_key=the_correct_passphrase

#### User configuration ########################################################

# Update user passwords with a comma delimited list of "user:password"
update_users=admin:admin,root:root

Unfortunately none of the settings get applied. The unit boots, SSID appears as snickerdoodle-7284e1, I can connect with the phrase ‘snickerdoodle’ and the router address is 10.0.110.2. Any attempt to ssh in failed so far. (I don’t seem to find a micro-USB data cable to connect to my iMac, so no serial).

What could be the reason for ignoring the config.txt? Permissions? Line endings? Special chars? From cursory examination, these look the same as the rest:

$ ls -l /Volumes/BOOT total 10952 -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 ggreif staff 550948 25 Apr 2018 boot.bin -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 ggreif staff 828 1 Mai 02:28 config.txt -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 ggreif staff 16035 25 Apr 2018 devicetree.dtb -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 ggreif staff 408 21 Okt 2018 uEnv.txt -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 ggreif staff 5031640 25 Apr 2018 uImage -rwxrwxrwx@ 1 ggreif staff 750 25 Apr 2018 uboot.scr
Looks like the unit has only its initial defaults applied. So there must be a default ssh password. Or maybe not, and login is only possible via serial?

I tried the r3p0 image too, but there no SSID shows up at all.

Cheers, and thanks in advance!

2

I’ve got the suspicion, that the second partition (Linux /?) already contains a config, and thus config.txt is not considered. I have created this SDcard a few years ago. Now its time to research a bit to figure out how to wipe and recreate the root partition form the SDCard (I am on MacOS X).

3

Looks like I’ve cracked it:

  • Mounted the SDcard (dev/disk1) and the r3p0 image (dev/disk2)
  • Copied over the Linux partition: sudo dd if=/dev/disk2s2 of=/dev/disk1s2 bs=1m
  • Arranged the BOOT partition as described in the README.
The snickerdoodle now boots and works as expected.

Sorry for the noise!

4

Glad you were able to get this resolved @ggrief. Thanks for sharing your experience and please feel free to post again if you have any other questions.

-Ryan

5

It looks like the ‘solution’ you found depends on you having a reference image that you could write to the new card. Did you ever figure out what the problem was in the first place?

My problem was slightly different, but I found this post while trying to debug.

There are the following lines in config.txt:

#### User configuration ########################################################

Update user passwords with a comma delimited list of “user:password”

#update_users=user1:password1,user2:password2


I was trying to use this line to remove the login password, but when rebooting, that line was never used. What I didn’t realize (at the time) was that there was a change to the way the snickerdoodle boot worked when it came to ‘clear text’ passwords, and that this line no longer has any use.

So, for future users who find this post - I had no problem using the config.txt file to change the IP addresses, but it can not be used to change the passwords.

6

If you mean you were trying to create a user with no login password, you’re correct - this is not allowed. If you’re having issues creating usernames and passwords via config.txt, make sure you’re uncommenting the “update_users” line (still shows as commented in your snippet). After initial boot, it may be easier to manage users, passwords, etc. via the Linux command line than updating the config file and rebooting every time. Just a thought, but glad you were able to get it sorted out.