Please refer to the README for install or upgrade instructions.
Before looking into it you must know the workflow of the software, Skyflash will do the following tasks for you:
- Select and verify a Skybian base image, either from a local file or downloading a copy from the internet.
- Setting your particular network configuration (default Skycoin's Skyminers config is suggested)
- Build the images for a manager and how many nodes you like (in actual skywire testnet only a manager and 7 nodes are allowed)
- [Optionally] Burn the images to uSDCards to insert into your Orange Pi Prime SBC.
Now we will explore each option in depth
Once you run it for the first time you will be presented with a window like this: (If you are un Windows you will see a extracting dialog first, wait until it finish)
In this windows you are presented with two choices, download or select a local Skybian base image release file.
A word of caution: if your internet is unstable, limited or slow don't try this option, read the section below; the download process will pull down about 600 MB of data and has no resume option (blame Github on that); if your download get interrupted at 99% it will start over from 0% again!
In the other hand if you have a fast and steady internet connection like more than 4 MBit/sec you are set, select this option and the app will download the image for you, as usual YMMV.
This is the alternative option if the download option is not the best choice for you because the above mentioned speed/stability issues in your internet link.
Go to a place with a steady and fast internet connection and use whatever device you have (Cell, tablet, laptops, etc) to download the latest Skybian base image. Go to the Skybian release page pick the latest available release (it's the big file ending on .tar.xz) once you get it move it to your PC and click on the "Browse" button to select the file.
Either downloading or selecting a local copy, the app will extract the compressed file and then check the integrity of the data inside, all this with feedback of the process for you:
Yes, it can take a few minutes, it's extracting a ~2GB image from a ~600MB file, and then testing every single bit to get sure you have it right.
If the app finds any problem on any of this two operations (mainly due to corrupt files during download) it will let you know with a error/warning dialog box. In any case the solution is to download again the Skybian release file (by the app itself of using an alternative way) and start over.
We incorporated a magic effect into Skyflash to ease your life, go & close the app at this point and re-open it... you will see it knows that it has already a Skybian base image and it will show ready for next steps.
The magic resides in the Skyflash app folder, once you run it for the first time it will create a folder named Skyflash in a specific place depending on your OS:
| Operating System | Path | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | My Documents\Skyflash | Default Documents Folder |
| Linux | ~/Skyflash | Inside your home directory |
| MacOS | ~/Skyflash | Inside your home directory |
Please take a moment to find this folder, inside it you will find at least this:
- A
Downloadsfolder: here will reside the downloaded Skybian image, it's extracted image and checksums - A file called
skyflash.log: this is the log of actions with debug info in case of troubles or if reporting a bug - A file called
skyflash.conf: this file holds the configurations state of the software between runs
Mac OS users may get confused as some times there is no Home directory bookmark in finder, simply search for the Documents folder in Finder and press cmd + up and that's your home folder, now you can drag it to the bookmarks; inside it you will see a Skyflash folder.
This folder will also be the default place for your custom Skybian images (you can change this later), so don't forget it.
Once you reach this point the app's window looks like this:
If you plan to run a Skyminer with the default network configuration for the testnet you are set, you can jump to step #3 (if you are curious about the default network config, just un-tick the Use Skyminer's defaults box to see it on details, but remember to tick it again)
If you plan to run it on an already existent network and you need to tweak the network parameters then un-tick the Use Skyminer's defaults box to see and edit the network details. If you do that it will show it like this:
The app has some logic rules you need to obey when modifying the network settings:
- We use a
/24network segment (255.255.255.0 netmask if you prefer it on this format) - Because of that the
Manager IPaddress must need to be in the same network segment of theGateway. - We use CloudFlare/OpenDNS DNS servers instead of Google ones, if you want to use a local one put it first and keep a CloudFlare/OpenDNS DNS servers in second place, you can put up to three nameserver IPs
- The node count refers to the nodes only (7 nodes + one manager), we assume you want to always config a managers node; because of this you can also specify a count of 0 nodes and the app will only create a manager node image with no nodes (useful for a quick test of the overall work flow, and for developing purposes)
If you manage to break some of this rules (and other trivial ones) the app will complain suggesting where the trouble is.
Once you has the network config in place it's time to generate your custom Skybian images, once you click on the Build the images button, you will be presented with a popup like this:
Here you can click Yes to use the mentioned path or decline (No) to pick another one, the No option will present you a standard folder pick dialog for you to select a new path.
A word here if you are using a laptops/PC with a SSD: usually the SSD drives are small and free space always tend to zero, if you don't has about 20 GB of free space in your system partition you may need to pick the No option and select another location
This is useful also when you have more than one Skyminer with different configs: you can keep two or more sets of images in different folders
After completing this step just hit the Build Images button and go for a soft drink/beer/coffee as this can take a while.
The process of generate the images is a HDD intensive task and depending on you PC it can take from 3 to more than 5 minutes to generate the 8 images on actual hardware. In this period your PC may looks like irresponsible at times, be patient and wait until it finish.
During the image generation you may see a windows like this to show you the process:
When this process finish you will have the images in your selected Skybian folder, they will have names like Skybian-manager.img & Skybian-node-1.img and so on.
The flash process can be done now or later, simply close the app and re-open it, it will pick up where it left.
But a word of warning here: if you build more than one set of images with different configs (for example for two different miners with different network configs) Skyflash will only remember the las one used. if it's your case we recommend to have a copy of BalenaEtcher at hand to burn the generated images not remembered by skyflash
To start the flashing process you need to select the proper device, and image in the combo boxes, but first a needed warning:
The flashing process is not reversible, please double check that the device selected on the combo box is the correct one or you may flash the Skybian Image to one of your USB Flash drives, rendering it unusable and will loss the data on it
The process to detect the correct uSDCard device is tricky and we have to extend it to a few common devices, that may lead into false detection of flash thumb drives.
We recommend to only have the card inserted at this step, please disconnect any other USB storage device before picking the correct device; at the end double and triple check that the device selected is the real SD card on the slot
After this you can click on the Start flashing button, a sample flashing in progress looks like this:
Once the flashing of that device ends a popup dialog will explain that you can now remove the SD card from the PC and insert another one to continue the flashing, wait a few moments for the card to be detected, select the next image from the drop down menu and hit the Start flashing button again; repeat this until you end flashing all the images
The flash process time depends on the speed of your SD card & hardware, using Class 10 or higher uSD cards is mandatory or you will risk your data with a failed card due to wear out or experience low performance, also some cheap USB uSD card adapters are prone to have low speeds
The status bar shows you the write speed and the estimate time left (check the image above) the example image is taken while flashing a card via a USB-C hub from Lenovo with a A-DATA Class 10 uSD card, top hardware speed is reached as you can see, as usual you experience may vary
Flashing one card can take about 2 to 6 minutes depending on flash class & hardware specs, again the speed limit is always set by the hardware used
Flashing an image to a uSD Card is a privileged operation and Skyflash has built a mechanism to get that privileges at some point
Depending on your operating system you will see a credential asking box sooner or later, in Windows the privilege asking happens at the start of the app, on Linux/osx on the start of each flash operation