Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack Debian

This page is about running the armhf port of Debian distribution at BeagleBoard. The latest release beagleboard.org image can be found at: http://beagleboard.org/latest-images

Checking The Debian Image Version

You should check the version of the image on the microSD/eMMC by opening the ID.txt file in the FAT partition.

root@beaglebone:~# cat /etc/dogtag
BeagleBoard.org BeagleBone Debian Image 2014-03-19

This file can also be accessed via a PC (Windows/Mac/Linux) via either mounting the FAT partition directly off the microSD card or via the usb interface (flash drive).

Installing

Oracle Java 8

Information:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html

Install:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer

Verify:

debian@beaglebone:~$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_60"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_60-b27)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 25.60-b23, mixed mode)

TI PRU Code Generation Tools

http://software-dl.ti.com/codegen/non-esd/downloads/download.htm#PRU

Install:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ti-pru-cgt-installer

Older rootfs (when above package doesn't exist):

wget http://downloads.ti.com/codegen/esd/cgt_public_sw/PRU/2.1.1/ti_cgt_pru_2.1.1_armlinuxa8hf_busybox_installer.sh
chmod +x ti_cgt_pru_2.1.1_armlinuxa8hf_busybox_installer.sh
sudo ./ti_cgt_pru_2.1.1_armlinuxa8hf_busybox_installer.sh

FAQ

Expanding File System Partition On A microSD

By default the microSD image is only about 2GB in size, to fully expand the partition to the full size of your microSD card simple run.

cd /opt/scripts/tools/
git pull
sudo ./grow_partition.sh
sudo reboot

On the next reboot, [df -h] should show the full microSD card size.

Flashing eMMC

To set up the standalone microSD image to automatically flash the eMMC on powerup. *Note, img files with the words "eMMC-flasher" already had this enabled...*

In /boot/uEnv.txt:

##enable BBB: eMMC Flasher:
#cmdline=init=/opt/scripts/tools/eMMC/init-eMMC-flasher-v3.sh

Change to:

##enable BBB: eMMC Flasher:
cmdline=init=/opt/scripts/tools/eMMC/init-eMMC-flasher-v3.sh

Optional, update Flasher Scripts:

cd /opt/scripts/
git pull

and reboot the system, it'll flash the eMMC on the next bootup. (make sure to remove the microSD after flashing is complete)

Kernel Upgrade

We can't ship support for everything on release day, so we push out new kernels as fixes, support for new capes, etc are posted on the beagleboard.org mainline list.

cd /opt/scripts/tools/
git pull
sudo ./update_kernel.sh
sudo reboot

Installing kernel headers

If you want to build a kernel module natively, you'll need to install the correct kernel headers.

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`

In a Makefile, perform:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(shell uname -r)

Loading custom capes

Due to limitations in debian wheezy's userspace, the use of an initramfs, and having firmware builtin to the kernel. It is currently not possible to load "custom" capes via: capemgr.enable_partno=xyz. Instead an init script has been set up to load the cape/capes as soon as possible.

Built-in Cape:

capemgr.enable_partno=BB-SPIDEV1

slot #7: Requesting part number/version based 'BB-SPIDEV1-00A0.dtbo
slot #7: Requesting firmware 'BB-SPIDEV1-00A0.dtbo' for board-name 'Override Board Name', version '00A0'
slot #7: dtbo 'BB-SPIDEV1-00A0.dtbo' loaded; converting to live tree

Custom External Cape:

capemgr.enable_partno=BB-SPI1-01

slot #7: Requesting part number/version based 'BB-SPI1-01-00A0.dtbo
slot #7: Requesting firmware 'BB-SPI1-01-00A0.dtbo' for board-name 'Override Board Name', version '00A0'
failed to load firmware 'BB-SPI1-01-00A0.dtbo'
loader: failed to load slot-7 BB-SPI1-01:00A0 (prio 0)

Workaround:

add "CAPE=BB-SPI1-01" to /etc/default/capemgr

Privileged echo

As a normal user, you can not "sudo echo 'something' >> /etc/privilegedfile"

echo 'something' | sudo tee /etc/privilegedfile

Timezone

By default this image is set up to display time in utc mode. If you would like to change this to your local region.

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

or:

echo "Europe/Zurich" > /etc/timezone 
dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive tzdata

Jessie Timezone

List of available timezones:

timedatectl list-timezones

Set timezone:

sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/North_Dakota/Center

W: GPG error: http://debian.beagleboard.org wheezy-bbb

W: GPG error: http://debian.beagleboard.org wheezy-bbb Release:
The following signatures were invalid:
KEYEXPIRED 1418840246 KEYEXPIRED 1418840304 KEYEXPIRED 1418840246 KEYEXPIRED 1418840246 KEYEXPIRED 1418840304

Note this directions are version dependent, so double check your version:

debian@beaglebone:~$ cat /etc/dogtag 
BeagleBoard.org BeagleBone Debian Image 2014-05-14

2014-05-14 GPG error: Disable: http://debian.beagleboard.org repo:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Change:

deb [arch=armhf] http://debian.beagleboard.org/packages wheezy-bbb main
#deb-src [arch=armhf] http://debian.beagleboard.org/packages wheezy-bbb main

To:

#deb [arch=armhf] http://debian.beagleboard.org/packages wheezy-bbb main
#deb-src [arch=armhf] http://debian.beagleboard.org/packages wheezy-bbb main

sudo apt-get update

2014-05-14 GPG error: Optional enable: http://repos.rcn-ee.com/

Download archive-keyring:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/repos/debian/pool/main/r/rcn-ee-archive-keyring/rcn-ee-archive-keyring_2016.04.24~bpo70+20160424+1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i rcn-ee-archive-keyring_*_all.deb

Add repo to /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo sh -c "echo 'deb [arch=armhf] http://repos.rcn-ee.com/debian wheezy main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"
sudo sh -c "echo '#deb-src [arch=armhf] http://repos.rcn-ee.com/debian wheezy main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"

Update packages:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install npm c9-core-installer --reinstall

Adding bb.org-overlays to jessie console image

Currently by default, the console image doesn't include the *.dtbo overlays.

Install build requirements: (add's 145Mb to the console image)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential git-core device-tree-compiler

Clone bb.org-overlays repo:

git clone https://github.com/beagleboard/bb.org-overlays/
cd ./bb.org-overlays/
./install.sh

Debian Build Instructions

You'll want a fairly beefy ARM system to run this script.

git clone git://github.com/beagleboard/image-builder.git
cd image-builder
./beagleboard.org_image.sh

Output of the autobuilder can be found at http://builds.beagleboard.org.

Debian Releases

http://beagleboard.org/latest-images

BeagleBoard-X15 weekly

Bug tracker: http://bugs.elinux.org/projects/beagleboard-x15

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-4gb) (BeagleBoard-X15) Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb*
a5fd1e4e90f174736fdf192c2b2096e15d59b10fbe8b03dbb662c5a574b79277  bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Debian Image Testing Snapshots

2017-01-15

BBW/BBB (All Revs) Machinekit

microSD/Standalone: (machinekit) Classic

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/machinekit/bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb*
d02ce7c8d9f5caf915be05191ffebab0b6ae13f4eb16de59bcf6c1b4d60c3a41  bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (machinekit) Based on Debian Jessie (new)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/machinekit/bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb*
fefe2e047c90ce67ec3c15c9e1370e41feef869c3e60ac7fec5befaaf4204d6d  bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Jessie Snapshot lxqt

2017-01-15 notes

* U-Boot: v2017.01
* Kernel: 4.4.41-ti-r82

Flasher: (lxqt-4gb) (All BeagleBone Variants with a 4GB eMMC)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/lxqt-4gb/BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb*
ed5bd3ca376930e0a8a0820a9c04979aa9aeee91ffc203a87a481b5d6d9fd1da  BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-4gb) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/lxqt-4gb/bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb*
64b476976b3fd128206a6effee944ef1417e31e0236e6fe74a7df12f5491729b  bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-4gb) (BeagleBoard-X15)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb*
a5fd1e4e90f174736fdf192c2b2096e15d59b10fbe8b03dbb662c5a574b79277  bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-2gb) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/lxqt-2gb/bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb*
7bd0ce121c965378142362684e32f98ae779a0caa9de6a77db3ac3e59f180373  bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-xm-4gb) (BeagleBoard xM)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/lxqt-xm-4gb/bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb*
76604efe4a6b5275b584ed83c48c679f996df595c8d8cc7f8327db29ce90282a  bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Jessie Snapshot iot

Flasher: (iot) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/iot/BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb*
b490380088d311eb7140f210a8f99b63b733c24d2041984ac2f23daae1beaeaf  BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (iot) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/iot/bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb*
cd599a448d2efb87f1818933b71ee8a941e4de331bd4e6fa358177881342cfdb  bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Jessie Snapshot console

microSD/Standalone: (console) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/console/bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb*
ec61298c4937f14796cbb302c78ac5e4d8279c4f823899c97af3db698bef0c78  bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (console) (BeagleBoard-X15)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/console/bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb*
41764a30a67ab2121403fbea8b3730e812f470170806e4a7580f55ec3c1173e1  bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-15-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Stretch testing

https://wiki.debian.org/DebianStretch

2017-01-15 notes

* U-Boot: v2017.01
* Kernel: 4.9.0-ti-r13

microSD/Standalone: (testing) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/stretch-iot/bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb*
177da5ccc763f4f22a02cd4f2e9d0a7ce9ef97a7a7ef6bc01a4793bd4e40b06d  bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (testing) (BeagleBoard-X15)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-15/stretch-iot/bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb*
477b01f2b00bd62373012277b09d57de5094e515ac191ab1f3829e3b7a03e495  bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-15-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Kernel Options

General apt syntax for searching and installing a specific kernel:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-cache search linux-image | grep <branch>
sudo apt-get install linux-image-<specific version>
sudo reboot

Latest kernel script

cd /opt/scripts/tools/
git pull
sudo ./update_kernel.sh <OPTIONS>

3.8.x

This is the first beagleboard.org long term kernel tree with capemanager support, it's been the default install for Debian Wheezy

beagleboard.org patchset: https://github.com/beagleboard/linux/tree/3.8

3.8.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black FULL Cape Support
--bone-channel --stable

3.8.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black FULL Cape Support + Xenomai
--bone-xenomai-channel --stable

4.4.x-ti

beagleboard.org patchset: https://github.com/beagleboard/linux/tree/4.4
Based on: http://git.ti.com/gitweb/?p=ti-linux-kernel/ti-linux-kernel.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/ti-rt-linux-4.4.y

4.4.x-ti All BeagleBone Variants and BeagleBoard-X15
--ti-channel --lts-4_4

4.4.x-ti All BeagleBone Variants and BeagleBoard-X15 + RT
--ti-rt-channel --lts-4_4

4.4.x-ti All BeagleBone Variants and BeagleBoard-X15 + Xenomai
--ti-xenomai-channel --lts-4_4

4.9.x-ti

beagleboard.org patchset: https://github.com/beagleboard/linux/tree/4.9

4.9.x-ti All BeagleBone Variants and BeagleBoard-X15
--ti-channel --lts-4_9

Mainline (4.4.x lts)

4.4.x All BeagleBone Variants
--bone-kernel --lts-4_4

4.4.x All BeagleBone Variants + RT
--bone-rt-kernel --lts-4_4

Mainline (4.9.x lts)

4.9.x All BeagleBone Variants
--bone-kernel --lts-4_9

Debian 8: jessie

sudo apt-get install linux-image-armmp