nilinuxrt-tools

Shell configuration, nano setup, and a guided install script for NI Linux RT systems such as the CompactRIO (cRIO).

NI Linux RT is a stripped-back, real-time Linux distribution. It ships with a minimal toolset and no locale configuration by default. This project makes the shell and editor experience significantly more comfortable and demonstrates that the cRIO is, at its heart, a capable Linux computer.

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What's included

File	Description
.bashrc	Sets locale (C.UTF-8), colour prompt, tab completion improvements, history search, and common aliases
.nanorc	Enables line numbers, auto-indent, 4-space tabs, cursor position memory, and syntax highlighting for Python, YAML, XML, C, shell, JSON, and more
install.sh	Interactive install script — presents a checkbox menu to selectively deploy config files and install recommended packages

Packages offered by the install script

Package	Description
nano	Terminal text editor with syntax highlighting and auto-indent
geany	Lightweight graphical IDE with a built-in terminal, pairs well with XFCE
screen	Terminal multiplexer — keeps sessions alive after SSH disconnect
rsync	Fast file sync, transfers only changed bytes over the network
tmux	Modern multiplexer with split panes, windows, and persistent sessions
mc	Midnight Commander — dual-pane terminal file manager
htop	Interactive process and resource monitor with colour display
python3-pip	Python package manager — install Python libraries directly on the cRIO

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Installation

Quick start (curl — recommended for cRIO)

Run the following on the cRIO to download all files into a local directory and launch the install script:

mkdir -p ~/nilinuxrt-tools && cd ~/nilinuxrt-tools && \
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NISystemsEngineering/nilinuxrt-tools/main/.bashrc -o .bashrc && \
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NISystemsEngineering/nilinuxrt-tools/main/.nanorc -o .nanorc && \
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NISystemsEngineering/nilinuxrt-tools/main/install.sh -o install.sh && \
chmod +x install.sh && source ./install.sh

Note: The script is run with source so that the updated .bashrc takes effect in your current session immediately. If you run it as ./install.sh instead, open a new terminal after it completes.

Alternative: git clone

git clone https://github.com/NISystemsEngineering/nilinuxrt-tools.git
cd nilinuxrt-tools
source ./install.sh

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Usage

When install.sh runs it presents an interactive menu:

========================================
 Setup — Config Files and Packages
========================================

 Press a number to toggle. Items already
 installed/up to date are pre-deselected.

 --- Config files ---

  1) [x] .bashrc     — Locale, colour prompt, tab completion improvements...
  2) [x] .nanorc     — Line numbers, auto-indent, 4-space tabs...

 --- Packages ---

  3) [x] nano        — Terminal text editor with syntax highlighting...
  ...

  i + Enter — install selected
  q + Enter — quit without changes

• Press a number key to instantly toggle that item on or off
• Press i then Enter to install everything selected
• Press q then Enter to quit without making changes
• Items already installed or up to date are pre-deselected automatically
• Existing config files are backed up to ~/.bashrc.bak / ~/.nanorc.bak before being replaced

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Requirements

• NI Linux RT (tested on cRIO)
• curl for downloading files (included in NI Linux RT)
• opkg for package installation (included in NI Linux RT)
• bash 4.0 or later
• nano 2.7 or later for line numbers; 4.0 or later for cursor position memory