Skip to content

6.0
Compare
Choose a tag to compare
@dkulp dkulp released this 26 Jul 23:43
· 983 commits to master since this release
6.0
This tag was signed with the committer’s verified signature.
dkulp Daniel Kulp
GPG key ID: 858FC4C4F43856A3
Learn about vigilant mode.
6633abd
This commit was signed with the committer’s verified signature.
dkulp Daniel Kulp
GPG key ID: 858FC4C4F43856A3
Learn about vigilant mode.

FPP 6.0

Enhancements

  • Upgraded from Debian Buster (10.x) to Debian Bullseye (11.x). This is an entire new version of the underlying Linux Operating System
  • Security
    • To comply with various laws targeting security in IOT devices, on first boot, FPP will now require you to choose to use a UI Password or not and to set an OS level password. You can choose insecure settings to match previous versions of FPP, but that is your choice.
    • Advanced UI level setting to allow uploading SSH public keys
    • Samba, Rsyncd, and ftpd services are disabled by default. If you require these services, you must enable them on the System page in settings. (Advanced UI level)
  • Cape/Hat Selection - If the Cape/Hat does not have a valid physical eeprom for FPP to pull information from, Cape/Hat selection is now done via virtual eeproms which can provide enhanced functionality and information. On the initial setup, you can select an appropriate virtual eeprom for your cape.
  • Audio - for sound produced directly by FPP's sound code (not via VLC's which is used to play videos to HDMI), there is now configurable support for multichannel sound instead of just stereo. This does require USB sound device that can support multichannel output.
  • Networking - the change to Debian Bullseye has allowed for some new features:
    • Enable DHCP Server to provide IP addresses to other devices. Includes reserved DHCP leases.
    • Configuration of IP Masquerade/NAT to allow devices to access the internet more securely/easily
    • Route metric configuration
  • Display Testing
    • The display testing functionality has been completely re-written to use FPP Command. This does provide a Command that can be invoked via Big Buttons plugin or scripts or similar. As an FPP command, it can also be multisynced out to all remotes allowing testing of the entire display.
    • Certain outputs (LED Panels, BBB String outputs) now have a "Test Pattern" button on the output configuration page to enable a specific test pattern for that output to help diagnose issues specific to that type of output. For example, the LED Panels will put the Output/Panel number on each panel. The BBB Strings will light up the first number of pixels white equal to the port number.
  • Pixel Overlay Model/Framebuffer updates
    • Overlay models can now be sub-divided into smaller models which can allow effects to run on just a part of the model.
    • Framebuffer devices will now be configured as Pixel Overlay Models and users of framebuffers (Virtual Display, etc...) will then operated against the model. This will allow the HDMI monitor to be divided into areas that can display different content.
  • Channel Outputs
    • Raspberry Pi - DPI Pixel Output - new pixel driver for the Raspberry Pi that allows up to 24 strings.
    • Twinkly Channel Output to control Twinkly lights over WiFi
    • LED Panels Config UI - add "Auto Layout" button to make initial setup easier
    • Pixel Strings Page - show warnings when channels overlap, allow viewing of GPIO/Pin the string is assigned to
  • Scheduler
    • Added ability to adjust start/end times of future scheduled playlists when extending a running playlist's end time.
    • Added button to status UI to start next scheduled playlist now.
    • Added setting to display more than two weeks in advance for the schedule preview.

Major Changes/Incompatibilities

  • Licensing -Some multi-string pixel capes will need a license key applied to continue to use the multi-string pixel channel output code on the BeagleBone and Raspberry Pi. License key vouchers are available for all existing BBB and Pi capes with more than 2 WS2821X pixel string outputs. Visit https://shop.falconplayer.com/faqs/ and https://shop.falconplayer.com/key-announcement/ for more info.
  • Image Playlist Entry now displays the image on an Overlay Model instead of directly to the Linux framebuffer.
  • The Virtual Display has been changed from writing to a framebuffer device to writing to a PixelOverlayModel. Any existing Virtual Display channel output must be recreated. This does not affect the HTTPVirtualDisplay, only the framebuffer Virtual Display is affected. The X11VirtualDisplay has been removed.
  • The Virtual Matrix has been converted to display to a Pixel Overlay Model. Any existing Virtual Matrices will need to be recreated after creating a Pixel Overlay Model for the desired video output device.
  • Removed old PlaylistEntryVolume and PlaylistEntryMQTT playlist entry types. These were deprecated a long time ago and should have been moved to using FPP Commands, but if some ancient playlists still exist that use these, they may break.

Other updates/changes

  • Crash Reporting - HOPEFULLY you won't experience this. However, if FPP crashes, it should produce a crash report on a new "Crash Reports" tab in the file manager. If you see these, please let us know.

Upgrade Instructions

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 configuration, create a new image, and restore the configuration.
  • In-place upgrade - this is new and requires you to have the latest FPP 5.5 and all updates 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 6.0. At that point, go to the Uploads tab of the FPP File Manager and delete the fppos file. 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

  • FPP-v6.0.2-Pi.img.zip

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

  • FPP-v6.0.2-BBB.img.zip

Additional new features not part of the Pi/BBB Images

  • FPP can now run natively on MacOS. It's not a simple image and must be "installed" from source. More details will come later, but you would need to download the https://raw.githubusercontent.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/master/SD/FPP_Install_Mac.sh file and run it to get all the pieces working.
  • FPP can now be installed on pretty much any Armbian based Single Board Computer. Devices like Orange Pi's, Banana Pi's, Nano Pi's Libre SBC's, etc... can now run FPP. Unfortunately, every single Armbian distribution is tied directly to the device it is designed for so we cannot provide images for all of them. There would be 10's or 100's of them which would be too time consuming. However, installing FPP is not hard. See the README.Armbian: https://github.com/FalconChristmas/fpp/blob/master/SD/README.Armbian
Assets 10