FPP 7.3 is released!

[dkulp]

FPP 7.3 is released!

This is mostly a collection of fixes/enhancements that were collected while running our Halloween shows as well as support for some newer hardware. (No, not Pi 5 yet)
NOTE: The OS level has changed. To get all of the updates, you will need to use the fppos upgrade method or use a new image.

Enhancements

• Add some Realtek WIFI 6 drivers based on 8852bu and 8852au chips (OS update required)
• Update rpi_ws281x to support newer Raspberry Pi 3B+ hardware
• Don't keep eeprom mounted as a file to prevent any overwriting of the file
• Allow FPP to be added to the home screen as a progressive web app
• BBB Support for 80x40 10scan Outdoor P4 panels
• Update testing.php to default to RGB Cycle

Bug Fixes

• Give Pi Zero W 2 devices more GPU memory (OS update required)
• Set a max requests for php-fpm children to all periodic cleanup of processes and memory (OS update required)
• Preserve unicode character for media information sent to plugins
• Make sure the "Expand media" banner is visible if media has significant unallocated space
• Add a bunch of missing API to help docs
• Fix long-distance preview of Odd/Even schedule entries
• css tweak to fix issue with some browsers causing incorrect display of hidden items
• Delay warning of MQTT disconnect for 10 seconds to see if it reconnects automatically
• Display all eth* interfaces in troubleshooting

Installation Instructions

If you have a system running 7.x, you can go to the FPP about page (about.php) and click on the "Manual Update" button. At that point, a big green "Upgrade" bar should appear on the main status page. Click on that to start the update process. It may take a long time to upgrade. Likely 5-10 minutes. You will need to reboot after the upgrade is complete to finish the upgrade process.

For users of FPP 6.x or older, it is strongly recommended to do a full "OS Level" upgrade or re-image instead of attempting to upgrade directly from any older FPP version. There are several new features that will not work if an OS level upgrade is not done. There are two ways to do so:

• Re-image - you can backup your 5.x/6.x configuration, create a new image, and restore the configuration.
• In-place upgrade - this requires you to have FPP 5.5 and all the updates for 5.5 or FPP 6.3 already running on the device. Download the appropriate "fppos" file to your computer. Make sure the file extension is still fppos (some browsers will rename it). Upload it to the "File Manager" on the FPP instance. Then go to the about page. Under the normal "Manual Upgrade", a new Upgrade OS button should appear. Click it and wait a LONG time. When done, it should reboot into 7.3. At that point, go to the Uploads tab of the FPP File Manager and delete the fppos file. An alternate method to do an in-place upgrade if you are only upgrading one device AND the device has internet connectivity, is to select the 7.3 fppos (download) file and then click on the Upgrade OS button. This will download the fppos file and then install it as mentioned above. This will still take a LONG time and if you are doing this on more than one device, you will essentially be downloading the same file multiple times so is probably not the best way.

NOTE: In SOME cases, the reboot will fail due to library replacement. In that case, a power cycle may be required to get it back up and running.

SELECTING AN IMAGE
For Raspberry Pi series including Pi B, Pi B+, Pi 3, Pi 3+, Pi 4 and Pi Zero use this image

• https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/download/7.3/FPP-v7.3-Pi.img.zip

For Beaglebone Black, Beaglebone Green, PocketBeagle, and Beaglebone Green Gateway use this image

• https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/releases/download/7.3/FPP-v7.3-BBB.img.zip

[JonD]

Upgraded no known issues.  Did have to manually power cycle all Pi devices after the OS upgrade.

Thanks for your hard work! 

[TheMinionHouse]

Hey,  I know we can see the % of memory usage for the RAM, would it be possible to show the physical Ram size and usage?

I ask because I am running nearly 20 FPP instances on multiple pi's.  GPIO relay control.   I have pi zeros that turn off my 12vdc power supplies and pi 3 and 4s that control banks of relays for controlling the fans and lights in a bunch of inflatables. 
Having the memory size available would make things easier to help identify my devices. 

[Poporacer]

Having the memory size available would make things easier to help identify my devices

Wouldn't it be easier to identify them by host names? Those are far more accessible.

[k6ccc]

Having the memory size available would make things easier to help identify my devices

Wouldn't it be easier to identify them by host names? Those are far more accessible.

Agreed.  I only have two FPP instances and they are named.

[JonD]

Update to 7.3.1. was not very smooth for me.  After updating time manually and rebooting a couple of times started working.   

7.3 and 7.3.1 is breaking NTP service.  I can update time manually, but is it no longer pulling time from my time server.  Pi still requires manual power cycle after OS upgrade.

Update:  I was able to change the date within 5 minutes of real time, and it did eventually update to the correct time.  Maybe the update frequency is long, or possibly the force command is not used when the time differences are too far off.

Remotes are not updating after upgrading to 7.3.1

Noticed was getting below error on master player, but did not notice any issues.  (Now the K8Pis just loop the below error over and over)
Pulling in updates...
sudo: unable to resolve host FPP-XMas: Name or service not known
sudo: unable to resolve host FPP-XMas: Name or service not known
Upgrading git revision from branch master
sudo: unable to resolve host FPP-XMas: Name or service not known
Already up to date.
sudo: unable to resolve host FPP-XMas: Name or service not known
sudo: unable to resolve host FPP-XMas: Name or service not known
sudo: unable to resolve host FPP-XMas: Name or service not known
Synchronizing submodule url for 'external/RF24'
Synchronizing submodule url for 'external/rpi-rgb-led-matrix'
Synchronizing submodule url for 'external/rpi_ws281x'
Synchronizing submodule url for 'external/spixels'
sudo: unable to resolve host FPP-XMas: Name or service not known
Submodule path 'external/spixels': checked out 'e638a71970cd3d77ca7901fcc654ea1559792aa0'
sudo: unable to resolve host FPP-XMas: Name or service not known
Submodule path 'external/spixels': checked out 'cb2d70642c38d27b424a87524fcf8a361e589e8d'
sudo: unable to resolve host FPP-XMas: Name or service not known

Pulling in updates...
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
Upgrading git revision from branch v7.3
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
Already up to date.
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution
sudo: unable to resolve host K8-Spare1: Temporary failure in name resolution

[k6ccc]

I updated both of my PocketBeagle FPP instances from 7.1 to 7.3.1 via fppos.  Each update took less than 5 minutes.  After the reboot, pings started working in less than 1 minute, but the GUI would not respond.  Waited about 15 minutes and then power cycled both PocketBeagles.  After another minute or so, the GUI started working normally on both instances.
Test patterns look fine on both matricies both from FPP and the LOR Control Panel via E1.31

I tried to duplicate JonD's NTP issue.  Both instances were displaying the correct time after the upgrade.  I manually set one of the FPP instances to just over 24 hour off and then rebooted.  Time came up correct after the reboot.  According to my NTP server, the two FPP instances are requesting time slightly more often than once per minute.

[JonD]

I am seeing this message in logs.  Not sure if it has anything to do with this issue.

RPi/bcm2835.c: In function 'bcm2835_init':
RPi/bcm2835.c:1288:5: warning: this 'if' clause does not guard... [-Wmisleading-indentation]
 1288 |     if (!ok)
      |     ^~
RPi/bcm2835.c:1291:2: note: ...this statement, but the latter is misleadingly indented as if it were guarded by the 'if'
 1291 |  gettimeofday (&tv, NULL) ;

[JonD]

Completed 7.2 OS upgrade, went back to development master, and time is working now, no more errors.  Plan on staying here for now. 

[bpos]

Have a dumb question.
Is there any easy way to set this latest version to stand alone mode?
Trying to set the eth0 to not connect to the local host is a headache.

The network settings are confusing enough without adding more settings to figure out? ip forwarding, route metric,etc...
Way back on version 2.0 it was as easy as hitting the stand alone button?

UPDATE: Turns out it has something to do with latest OS.
Something has changed from 7.2 to 7.3 with the interface settings. (sorry I dont have the logs)
I reloaded 7.3 about 50 times with the same result. (file not corrupt) Same eth0 settings on both.
No data output on the interface on 7.3. Went back and reloaded 7.2 and works everytime. Change pi players and 7.3 still did nothing. Physically watching the data transfer lights on wiznet shows to be flickering correctly but nothing happens..

Thats all i got...
Using Pi3 b+

[Poporacer]

Is there any easy way to set this latest version to stand alone mode?

Stand Alone mode was renamed to Player since that made more sense as to what it is really doing.

Trying to set the eth0 to not connect to the local host is a headache.

I am not sure what you mean by this? Could you elaborate?

The network settings are confusing enough without adding more settings to figure out? ip forwarding, route metric,etc...

That is because there are a lot of people that overly complicate their network and those thing are needed to make them work. If you use a simple network, then the defaults usually work.

Way back on version 2.0 it was as easy as hitting the stand alone button?

And now it is as simple as setting it to Player.

No data output on the interface on 7.3

How about some more info on your netwoking scheme and screenshots of your network interfaces?

[bpos]

Thanks for the responses.
I have eth0 set as static with no gateway
The part that becomes confusing is the way to set wlan0. I work on this player and settings at home localhost.
So I set the wlan0 to DCHP since I just want to connect by phone using localhost wifi settings in case something needs adjustments.
The real problem is that I do not use this player on localhost network at home. It is stand alone with a completely different subnet at a remote location. Home=192.168.1  Remote location=192.168.0
The reason I say stand alone and subnet is because I still would like the ablility to connect at remote location by phone to make adjustments since I dont have many resources to work with? (no computer or laptop?)
Problem is that once I set ssid in the beginning to local host (home) it is difficult to connect to the new subnet at the remote location and different ssid.

I think i know what you might say/ "Why not just change subnet and ssid before leaving for remote location?" Answer: I have had times where ssid was wrong or something did not match. Now you are fubarred if it does not work first time out. Obviously an error between keyboard and FPP player.

I did not want to add another wifi adapter if not needed.
I have fought this setup for years and usually just hope that everything is correct before I leave for remote location.

BTW.
I updated to 7.3.1 and wifi issue is resolved.
Thanks

[tbone321]

Now that I have upgraded to 7.3, FPP has become a complete disaster.  Nothing works correctly and it is too damn close to the Christmas season to release something as buggy as this.  Is there any easy way to revert back to a working version or do I have to backup all the settings and files and re-image the card?  I am not trying to sound unappreciative of all the hard work that so many have done because it really is impressive but this 7.3 release is really bad.  Now the response to the interface is as slow as can be, the FPP daemon keeps shutting down and every day, it drops the schedule and says nothing scheduled when there is stuff that is.  If I click the save button in the scheduler, it sets the schedule back up but within a few minutes, the FPPD daemon shuts down and is reported as stopped.  I can restart it and everything looks good and the next playlist scheduled shows on the home screen and does run as scheduled but the next day, it is back to "nothing scheduled" and I have to start the process all over again.  I installed the 7.3.1 upgrade hoping that would fix it but it did not. 

[bpos]

Had the same problem up until reinstall #21.
7.3 needs some love to work. Have you tried clean install? or upgrade?
I did clean install then upgraded to latest 7.3.1. Save backup and reinstall again. Do all updates and upgrades.
I noticed sometimes if I made changes to network interface while on 7.3 before upgrade it might corrupt the update?
Also check your OS build. You might still be on an older version.
Hope this helps.

[JonD]

I ended up installing a new 7.2 image to discover the restore process is not working well either.  Restore did not keep old IP information, and other settings were missing.  You might want to take some print screens to be safe.  It did seem to keep proxy, playlists, schedules, and other information.