[feature] Modify Raspberry Pi Firmware

[idlezombie]

Problem Description

I need to add a few lines to my R.Pis running in the cluster. Cluster was deployed using Omni from the web GUI downloading the R.Pi disk image and flashing directly to the devices.

I could have missed something in the documentation and if so I am happy to be directed to the right solution to have a go at it but I am primairy considering Omni as a paid solution in order to make my life easier and save time which the custom image build/overlay process does not really do for me.

Solution

The ability to add simple strings as extra lines to the config.txt file on nodes managed by Omni via any of the options that the platform already presents to manage devices e.g.

1. Could have an extension that allows addition of a config file to merge?
2. Could have an extra input box like the kernal command args to all appending strings to firmware?

There has been talk of a custom extension to this end but it was shutdown with the the response of use the supported builld overlay process.

Alternative Solutions

I have looked through a bunch of the threads under the Talos repo and can see there is an 'official' method for editing config.txt which in short seems to be build a custom image with an overlay. I haven't dug into that in great detail yet as I've not used any of those tools before but upon initial investigations I'm finding it hard to figure out based on the documentation of Omni and Talos both how to make the Talos build process fit properly into the node deployment process when using Omni from the GUI.

Notes

So far experience with Omni has been very very positive. Has been very easy to just download an image flash a Pi and get a cluster up in a few clicks. But now for what should be a very simple tweak to a key firmware file it feels like I have to invest a whole bunch of time into figuring out how to make images and/or overlays and use Talos CLI tools rather than spending that time on messing with the app deployments in the cluster.

I think this issue under Talos has the most relevant responses regarding this and the image process I am refering to. https://github.com/siderolabs/talos/issues/5688