BeagleBoardUbuntu

This page is about running a (ARM EABI) Ubuntu distribution at BeagleBoard. BeagleBoard will boot the (ARM EABI) Ubuntu distribution from SD card.

Note: for the best experience, make sure you have an LCD attached to the HDMI port, 2GB/4GB/8GB SD card, and a known good usb2.0 hub with mouse and keyboard.

= Help =

If you need any help:


 * Kernel related help:
 * Email Beagleboard user group *Recommended method
 * #beagle: Beagle irc on freenode, accessible also by web interface (logs)
 * Launchpad Project "Beagleboard Kernel"
 * Launchpad Stable Kernel 2.6.32 src
 * Launchpad Development Kernel 2.6.33 src
 * Launchpad Mainline Kernel git src
 * Unless you know what your doing, do NOT use the 2.6-mainline branch...
 * Kernel Testing Results


 * Ubuntu related help:
 * #ubuntu-arm: Ubuntu's arm irc on freenode (logs -> year -> month -> day -> #ubuntu-arm.html)


 * When asking for help, please provide some debugging information:
 * U-Boot Version installed on board
 * Kernel Version: uname -a
 * pastebin dmesg
 * Copy from serial port or use "dmesg | pastebinit" (sudo apt-get install pastebinit)

= Recommended Beagle Software =
 * Recent x-loader/MLO (1.4.4ss)
 * All Bx C2/3/4 Boards should upgrade there MLO from here: Upgrade X-loader and U-boot


 * Recent U-Boot (2010.03-rc1)
 * u-boot.bin from here: http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/beagleboard-demo-image-available
 * Or this one I've archived: Upgrade X-loader and U-boot
 * Version 2009.01 (factory installed on C2/3's) and earlier will not work with this guide
 * Version 2009.11-rc1-00601-g3aa4b51 (factory installed on C4's) should be upgraded
 * 'mmc init' change

=Demo Image=

Karmic 9.10
Built with:

sudo ./rootstock --fqdn beagleboard --login ubuntu --password temppwd --imagesize 2G \ --seed wget,nano,linux-firmware,wireless-tools,usbutils --dist karmic --serial ttyS2 \ --kernel-image http://rcn-ee.net/deb/kernel/beagle/karmic/v2.6.32.11-x13/linux-image-2.6.32.11-x13_1.0karmic_armel.deb

Get prebuilt image:

wget http://rcn-ee.net/deb/rootfs/ubuntu-9.10.2-minimal-armel.tar.7z mirrors: wget http://ynezz.ibawizard.net/beagleboard/ubuntu-9.10.2-minimal-armel.tar.7z wget http://vivaphp.net/beagle/ubuntu-9.10.2-minimal-armel.tar.7z

Unpack it:

7za x ubuntu-9.10.2-minimal-armel.tar.7z tar xf ubuntu-9.10.2-minimal-armel.tar cd ubuntu-9.10.2-minimal-armel

Quick Install script ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --ignore_md5sum
 * Bug: --ignore_md5sum is needed


 * Additional Options
 * --rootfs
 * --swap_file 

md5sum: 0bf198beac0a0358bc2c0097c6dddec7 ubuntu-9.10.2-minimal-armel.tar.7z

Lucid 10.04
Lucid Bug Tracker

Built with: sudo ./rootstock --fqdn beagleboard --login ubuntu --password temppwd --imagesize 2G \ --seed wget,nano,linux-firmware,wireless-tools,usbutils --dist lucid --serial ttyS2 \ --script fixup.sh --components "main universe multiverse" \ --kernel-image http://rcn-ee.net/deb/kernel/beagle/lucid/v2.6.32.11-l13/linux-image-2.6.32.11-l13_1.0lucid_armel.deb

Get prebuilt image:

wget http://rcn-ee.net/deb/rootfs/ubuntu-10.04-minimal-armel.tar.7z mirrors (updating): wget http://ynezz.ibawizard.net/beagleboard/ubuntu-10.04-minimal-armel.tar.7z wget http://vivaphp.net/beagle/ubuntu-10.04-minimal-armel.tar.7z wget http://amitkarpe.com/download/ubuntu-10.04-minimal-armel.tar.7z

Unpack it:

7za x ubuntu-10.04-minimal-armel.tar.7z tar xf ubuntu-10.04-minimal-armel.tar cd ubuntu-10.04-minimal-armel

Quick Install script for Beagle Bx, C2 & C3 ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --uboot beagle

Quick Install script for Beagle C4 (forces 720Mhz) ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --uboot beagle_c4

wget http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~beagleboard-kernel/+junk/image-builder/download/head:/setup_sdcard.sh-20100409005705-0qmm36b13opq2x2z-1/setup_sdcard.sh
 * Hotfix for users with cards that are mounted as "/dev/mmcblk0p1" that will be included in the next upload (most netbooks with integrated mmc card..)


 * Additional Options
 * --rootfs
 * --swap_file 

md5sum: 71c9f2372283752a7f410075001c1d76 ubuntu-10.04-minimal-armel.tar.7z

= NetInstall Method =

This is a new section for Lucid, slated for release April 29th

Note: Rootstock in Lucid is broken.. Bug 532733 so the NetInstall is going to be the perfered method for anything over a minimal image.

Known Bugs:

Bug 566639: omap install ends up with security.ubuntu.com urls in sources.list after install

Official Ubuntu Kernel
Directions: BeagleNetInstall

Community Kernel
https://code.launchpad.net/~beagleboard-kernel/+junk/debian-di bzr branch lp:~beagleboard-kernel/+junk/debian-di cd debian-di ./mk_mmc.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --distro lucid --firmware


 * Options:
 * --distro : squeeze, lucid
 * --firmware : installs firmware
 * --serial-mode : debian-installer uses Serial Port

Note: The default options work for most people, but if you'd like to tweak boot settings, edit these before running the script. NetInstall boot Settings: gedit ./debian-di/scripts/dvi.cmd gedit ./debian-di/scripts/serial.cmd Normal Boot Settings: gedit ./debian-di/scripts/dvi-normal-lucid.cmd gedit ./debian-di/scripts/serial-normal-lucid.cmd

Assumptions: Continue with out Kernel Modules Partition 

Status: As of bzr revision 10: The install completes successfully and it'll reboot into your new image..

Todo: Limit the number of times nand erase is called... (Currently when ubuntu's NetInstall see's "OMAP3 Beagle Board" thru /proc/cpuinfo it overwrites the nand flash, I've worked around that with this script...  But I'd like to find a way to only erase nand right before reboot.. --RobertCNelson 01:25, 23 April 2010 (UTC))

= RootStock: Build an Ubuntu root file system =

Ubuntu Version's
This guide only covers the latest Ubuntu stable (lucid) release and notes for the testing (lucid+1) dists. Notes for older release's can be found here:


 * Jaunty, aka Ubuntu 9.04, is the old-stable version (armv5 optimized)
 * TODO: http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntuJaunty
 * Karmic, aka Ubuntu 9.10, is the recent stable version (armv6 optimized)
 * TODO: http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntuKarmic
 * Lucid, aka Ubuntu 10.04 is the upcoming Ubuntu version, not released yet (April 28 2010). Currently listed here as 'testing'. (armv7 optimized)

Install RootStock
This is based off Ubuntu's RootStock Project; RootStock script.

Debian Squeeze (unsupported as tested on 4/28/2010, qemu segfaults)

Karmic (9.10) sudo apt-get install (FIXME: rootstock minimum requirements) bzr branch lp:project-rootstock cd project-rootstock bzr revert -r 94 (Commit 95, isn't supported by Karmic's QEMU)
 * qemu: unknown parameter 'aio' in 'file=/tmp/tmp.QxNNQAxEyv/qemu-armel-201004221701.img,aio=native,cache=none'

Lucid (10.04) sudo apt-get install rootstock

RootStock: Useful seed Packages
Useful Packages: linux-firmware,wireless-tools :wifi adapters.. ntpdate :sync real time clock from network

GUI's (broken bug: FIXME) xfce4: xfce4,gdm,xubuntu-gdm-theme,xubuntu-artwork

RootStock: Running
Rootstock Command line: sudo ./rootstock --fqdn --login --password --imagesize \ --seed --dist  --serial  --kernel-image

Basic Lucid (10.04) Beagleboard minimal image: sudo ./rootstock --fqdn beagleboard --login ubuntu --password temppwd --imagesize 2G \ --seed wget,nano,linux-firmware,wireless-tools,usbutils --dist lucid --serial ttyS2 \ --components "main universe multiverse" \ --kernel-image http://rcn-ee.net/deb/kernel/beagle/lucid/v2.6.32.11-l13/linux-image-2.6.32.11-l13_1.0lucid_armel.deb

Upon Completion, you should have: armel-rootfs- .tgz -> Root file System, dump to ext2/3 partition of SD card vmlinuz-2.6. -> Boot Image, use mkimage to create uImage and dump to the first fat16 partition of SD card initrd.img-2.6. -> Boot initramfs, use mkimage to create uInitrd and dump to the first fat16 partition of SD card

Partition SD Card
You will need a 1GB SD card or greater. Standard Console System : ~286MB + Desktop environment (lxde,gdm) : ~479MB

Starting with an empty SD card and using gparted, create: 50 MiB Primary Partition, fat16/fat32 Rest as ext2/ext3/ext4/btrfs

Gparted Example: http://nishanthmenon.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-boot-beagle.html

For Reference: Disk /dev/sdd: 2038 MB, 2038431744 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 247 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0008e471 Device Boot     Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/sdd1              1           6       48163+   6  FAT16 /dev/sdd2              7         247     1935832+  83  Linux

Copy Root File System to SD Card
Mount your SD card's larger root file system partition (assuming /dev/sdX2) and 'untar' the rootfs into it.

mkdir -p ./tmp sudo mount /dev/sdX2 ./tmp sudo tar xfp armel-rootfs-*.tgz -C ./tmp sudo umount ./tmp

Boot Partition
Requirements:

sudo apt-get install uboot-mkimage

U-Boot uImage
U-Boot needs a compatible kernel image to boot. To do this, we are using mkimage from (uboot-mkimage) to create an image from the vmlinuz kernel file.

mkimage -A arm -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0x80008000 -e 0x80008000 -n "Linux" -d ./vmlinuz-* ./uImage

U-Boot uInitrd
This step is Optional, but it helps with the lucid experience.

mkimage -A arm -O linux -T ramdisk -C none -a 0 -e 0 -n initramfs -d ./initrd.img-* ./uInitrd

Boot Scripts
The version of U-Boot installed or recommended to install uses boot scripts by default. This allows users to easily switch between multiple SD cards with different OS's with different parameters installed. Ubuntu/Debian requires a slight modification to the bootargs line vs. Angstrom, 'ro' vs 'rw'.

add/create ubuntu.cmd setenv bootcmd 'mmc init; fatload mmc 0:1 0x80300000 uImage; bootm 0x80300000' setenv bootargs 'console=tty0 console=ttyS2,115200n8 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait rootfstype=ext3 ro vram=12M omapfb.mode=dvi:1280x720MR-16@60' boot FIXME: rootfstype shouldn't be needed anymore...

With Optional uInitrd: create ubuntu.cmd: setenv bootcmd 'mmc init; fatload mmc 0:1 0x80000000 uImage; fatload mmc 0:1 0x81600000 uInitrd; bootm 0x80000000 0x81600000' setenv bootargs 'console=tty0 console=ttyS2,115200n8 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait ro vram=12M omapfb.mode=dvi:1280x720MR-16@60' boot

Use mkimage create to actual *.scr file for U-Boot:

mkimage -A arm -O linux -T script -C none -a 0 -e 0 -n "Ubuntu 10.04" -d ./ubuntu.cmd ./ubuntu.scr

Copy to Boot Partition
Mount your SD card fat16/fat32 partition (assuming /dev/sdX1) and copy the uImage, boot.scr, and optional uInitrd to the first partition.

mkdir -p ./tmp sudo mount /dev/sdX1 ./tmp sudo cp ./uImage ./tmp/uImage sudo cp ./uInitrd ./tmp/uImage Beagle: sudo cp ./ubuntu.scr ./tmp/boot.scr IGEPv2: sudo cp ./ubuntu.scr ./tmp/boot.ini sudo umount ./tmp

Ubuntu Bugs & Tweaks
= Ubuntu Rootfs Install = This section describes how you create a Ubuntu root file system for your BeagleBoard.

Note:
 * Jaunty, aka Ubuntu 9.04, is the old-stable version (armv5 optimized)
 * Karmic, aka Ubuntu 9.10, is the recent stable version (armv6 optimized)
 * Lucid, aka Ubuntu 10.04 is the upcoming Ubuntu version, not released yet (in Feb 2010). Therefore it is listed here as 'testing'. (armv7 optimized)

Build Image
rootstock is Ubuntu's new name for Oliver's depreciated build-arm-rootfs script.

Note: Lucid & Proxy Support is currently in bzr trunk and will release with lucid...

rootstock installation
Note: Use latest debootstrap, if the one posted here is no longer available.

Building Jaunty or Karmic rootfs
Jaunty (9.04) and Debian: sudo apt-get install qemu wget http://ports.ubuntu.com/pool/main/d/debootstrap/debootstrap_1.0.20~jaunty1_all.deb sudo dpkg -i debootstrap_1.0.20~jaunty1_all.deb wget http://launchpad.net/project-rootstock/trunk/0.1/+download/rootstock-0.1.3.tar.gz tar xf rootstock-0.1.3.tar.gz cd rootstock-0.1.3

Karmic (9.10) and Lucid (10.04): sudo apt-get install rootstock

Building Lucid rootfs
Karmic (9.10) bzr branch lp:project-rootstock cd project-rootstock bzr revert -r 94 (Commit 95, isn't supported by Karmic's QEMU)
 * qemu: unknown parameter 'aio' in 'file=/tmp/tmp.QxNNQAxEyv/qemu-armel-201004221701.img,aio=native,cache=none'

Lucid (10.04) sudo apt-get install rootstock

rootstock seed package hints
Useful Packages: linux-firmware,wireless-tools :wifi adapters.. ntpdate :sync real time clock from network

GUI's xfce4: xfce4,gdm,xubuntu-gdm-theme,xubuntu-artwork

WiFi Hints: http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntuNetwork

running rootstock
Rootstock Command line: sudo ./rootstock --fqdn --login --password --imagesize \ --seed --dist  --serial  --kernel-image

Basic Karmic (9.10) Beagleboard xfce4 image: sudo ./rootstock --fqdn beagleboard --login ubuntu --password temppwd --imagesize 2G --dist karmic \ --serial ttyS2 --seed xfce4,gdm,xubuntu-gdm-theme,xubuntu-artwork \ --kernel-image http://rcn-ee.net/deb/kernel/beagle/karmic/v2.6.32.7-x7.1/linux-image-2.6.32.7-x7.1_1.0karmic_armel.deb

Upon Completion, you should have: armel-rootfs- .tgz -> Root file System, dump to ext2/3 partition of SD card vmlinuz-2.6. -> Boot Image, use mkimage to create uImage and dump to the first fat16 partition of SD card

Lucid (10.04) Testing:

Major Changes:

gcc-4.4: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/+source/gcc-4.4 gcc -v: --with-arch=armv7-a --with-tune=cortex-a8 --with-float=softfp --with-fpu=vfpv3-d16

Basic Lucid (10.04) Beagleboard image: sudo ./rootstock --fqdn beagleboard --login ubuntu --password temppwd --imagesize 2G --dist lucid \ --script fixup.sh --serial ttyS2 \ --kernel-image http://rcn-ee.net/deb/kernel/beagle/lucid/v2.6.32.7-l7.1/linux-image-2.6.32.7-l7.1_1.0lucid_armel.deb
 * latest rootstock: bzr branch lp:project-rootstock
 * fixup script: wget http://rcn-ee.net/deb/tools/fixup.sh && sudo chmod +x fixup.sh
 * Kernel: http://rcn-ee.net/deb/kernel/beagle/lucid/v2.6.32.7-l7.1/linux-image-2.6.32.7-l7.1_1.0lucid_armel.deb

Development PC: Format SD Card
You will need a 1GB SD card or greater. Standard Console System : ~286MB + Desktop environment (lxde,gdm) : ~479MB

Starting with an empty SD card and using gparted, create: 50 MiB Primary Partition, fat16/fat32 Rest as ext2/ext3

Gparted Example: http://nishanthmenon.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-boot-beagle.html

For Reference: Disk /dev/sdd: 2038 MB, 2038431744 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 247 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x0008e471 Device Boot     Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/sdd1              1           6       48163+   6  FAT16 /dev/sdd2              7         247     1935832+  83  Linux

Development PC: Setup SD Partition's
Requirements:

sudo apt-get install uboot-mkimage

Create uImage for U-Boot
U-Boot needs a compatible kernel image to boot. To do this, we are using mkimage from (uboot-mkimage) to create an image from the vmlinuz kernel file.

mkimage -A arm -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0x80008000 -e 0x80008000 -n "Linux" -d ./vmlinuz-* ./uImage

Create U-Boot boot image
The version of U-Boot installed or recommended to install uses boot scripts by default. This allows users to easily switch between multiple SD cards with different OS's with different parameters installed. Ubuntu/Debian requires a slight modification to the bootargs line vs. Angstrom, 'ro' vs 'rw'.

Add/Edit ubuntu.cmd setenv bootcmd 'mmc init; fatload mmc 0:1 0x80300000 uImage; bootm 0x80300000' setenv bootargs 'console=ttyS2,115200n8 console=tty0 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait rootfstype=ext3 ro vram=12M omapfb.mode=dvi:1280x720MR-16@60' boot

Note: If you created an ext2 root filesystem then change "ext3" above to "ext2"

Use mkimage create to actual *.scr file for U-Boot:

mkimage -A arm -O linux -T script -C none -a 0 -e 0 -n "Ubuntu 9.10" -d ./ubuntu.cmd ./ubuntu.scr

Copy uImage and boot.scr
Mount your SD card fat32 partition (assuming /dev/sdX1) and copy the uImage and boot.scr to the first partition.

Note: if your system automounts the mmc card, just issue "sudo umount /dev/sdX1 && sudo umount /dev/sdX2"

mkdir -p ./tmp sudo mount /dev/sdX1 ./tmp sudo cp ./uImage ./tmp/uImage Beagle: sudo cp ./ubuntu.scr ./tmp/boot.scr IGEPv2: sudo cp ./ubuntu.scr ./tmp/boot.ini sudo umount ./tmp

Copy the Ubuntu rootfs
Mount your SD card's ext3 partition (assuming /dev/sdX2) and 'untar' the rootfs into it.

mkdir -p ./tmp sudo mount /dev/sdX2 ./tmp sudo tar xfp armel-rootfs-*.tgz -C ./tmp sudo umount ./tmp

Karmic: (9.10) boot fixup
util-linux-ng 2.16 causes this

Edit /etc/fstab mkdir -p ./tmp sudo mount /dev/sdX2 ./tmp sudo gedit ./tmp/etc/fstab add: /dev/mmcblk0p2  /   ext3   errors=remount-ro   0   1

Note change the above "ext3" to "ext2" if the root filesystem is ext2

Add/Edit /etc/e2fsck.conf sudo gedit ./tmp/etc/e2fsck.conf

[problems] 0x000031 = { preen_ok = true preen_nomessage = true } 0x000032 = { preen_ok = true preen_nomessage = true }
 * 1) Superblock last mount time is in the future (PR_0_FUTURE_SB_LAST_MOUNT).
 * 1) Superblock last write time is in the future (PR_0_FUTURE_SB_LAST_WRITE).

Add karmic updates to /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo gedit ./tmp/etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports karmic-updates main universe

Finally cd ./tmp sync cd .. sudo umount ./tmp

You can now place the SD card into the BeagleBoard and start up the BeagleBoard.

Please be patient as the first boot can take a couple of minutes.

You should be presented with a x-window login screen. If you logged into X windows but do not get a full desktop with window management then execute the command "x-session-manager" at the terminal.

Enable Network Access
Modify /etc/network/interfaces auto eth0 iface eth0 inet dhcp

Manual: From the Command line sudo ifconfig eth0 up sudo dhclient eth0

or: sudo ifconfig -a sudo dhclient ethX

Additional Network Setup Information can be found HERE

= Advanced =

Script File
Every Kernel upload going further on rcn-ee.net will now have an 'install-me.sh' file in the same directory..

example: http://www.rcn-ee.net/deb/kernel/beagle/karmic/v2.6.32.7-x7.1/ wget http://rcn-ee.net/deb/kernel/beagle/karmic/v2.6.32.7-x7.1/install-me.sh sudo /bin/bash install-me.sh

Note: vmlinuz symbolic link (yes  no)...

Reboot with your new uImage

Upgrade X-loader and U-boot
Compatible with Bx,C2/3/4

Requires MMC card..

bzr branch lp:~beagleboard-kernel/+junk/omap-flasher cd omap-flasher ./mk_mmc.sh --mmc /dev/sdX

1: Place MMC card in Beagle 2: Push/Hold User Button 3: Apply Power 4: After U-boot loads, let off User Button 5: Wait for Flashing to end 6: Power down, remove/edit boot.scr from MMC card

Depending on what's in NAND, you might still have to stop and do this:

nand erase 260000 20000 reset

What the script does: fatload mmc 0:1 0x80200000 x-load.bin.ift nandecc hw nand erase 0 80000 nand write 0x80200000 0 20000 nand write 0x80200000 20000 20000 nand write 0x80200000 40000 20000 nand write 0x80200000 60000 20000 fatload mmc 0:1 0x80300000 u-boot.bin nandecc sw nand erase 80000 160000 nand write 0x80300000 80000 160000 nand erase 260000 20000 reset

SGX Video Acceleration
Use a "corporate email" and download the latest (3.01.00.02): http://software-dl.ti.com/dsps/dsps_public_sw/sdo_sb/targetcontent/gfxsdk/latest/index_FDS.html

Kernel Modules
An older version of these instructions was adapted for the IGEPv2 platform - if you are following this tutorial and have an IGEPv2, consider using http://wiki.jmaustin.org/wiki/IgepSGXUbuntu instead

Use the "build_sgx_module.sh" script in 2.6-stable, module source is now in the *.bin

https://code.launchpad.net/~beagleboard-kernel/+junk/2.6-stable

Directions: bzr branch lp:~beagleboard-kernel/+junk/2.6-stable cd 2.6-stable . build_kernel.sh . build_sgx_modules.sh

Copy the *.uImage and extract the matching *.modules.tar.gz from the deploy directory to your SD card.

Copy the GFX_Linux_SDK.tar.gz examples to either your SD card or another media (large file) then boot your omap board.

Run depmod: sudo depmod -a omaplfb

Tweak System Libraries: sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6.0.0 /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.0 sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/libXau.so.6.0.0 /usr/lib/libXau.so.0

Startup Script
For 3.01.00.02

Copy /opt/pvr/pvr script:

Jaunty: sudo cp /opt/pvr/pvr /etc/rcS.d/S60pvr.sh sudo chmod +x /etc/rcS.d/S60pvr.sh

Karmic/Lucid: sudo cp /opt/pvr/pvr /etc/init.d/pvr sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/pvr sudo update-rc.d pvr defaults

Note, if your updating.. cat /opt/pvr/pvr | sudo tee /etc/init.d/pvr > /dev/null

Test SGX with a DEMO
In GFX_Linux_SDK: cd OGLES/SDKPackage/Binaries/CommonX11/Demos/ChameleonMan ./OGLESChameleonMan

Trouble Shooting
sudo rm /etc/powervr-esrev sudo depmod -a omaplfb sudo /etc/init.d/pvr restart

DSP
This is still a major work in progress...

Xorg omapfb Drivers
By default Ubuntu will try to use the FBDEV video driver, however for the beagleboard we can take advantage of a more software optimized driver (still not using the sgx video hardware) using the NEON extensions of the Cortex-A8 core.

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep FBDEV (II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev (II) FBDEV(0): using default device (II) FBDEV(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section (==) FBDEV(0): Depth 16, (==) framebuffer bpp 16 (==) FBDEV(0): RGB weight 565

Login into Ubuntu and open a new terminal, xorg has to be running..

xvinfo -display :0.0 X-Video Extension version 2.2 screen #0 no adaptors present

Drivers
Note: Backport from Karmic

Note: These are built with neon optimizations: http://git.debian.org/?p=collab-maint/xf86-video-omapfb.git;a=blob;f=debian/rules;h=c2f0d5391c96c5abb60b1e691ad86bb27e0c17d8;hb=HEAD (line 48/49)

Jaunty: wget -c http://rcn-ee.homeip.net:81/dl/deb-sbuild/jaunty/xorg-drivers/xserver-xorg-video-omap3_0.1.1-2_armel.deb sudo dpkg -i xserver-xorg-video-omap3_0.1.1-2_armel.deb

Karmic: sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-omap3

xorg.conf
Only Jaunty and Karmic:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Monitor" Identifier "Configured Monitor" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Default Screen" Device "Configured Video Device" #Limited by SGX? DefaultDepth 16 EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Configured Video Device" Driver "omapfb" Option "fb" "/dev/fb0" EndSection

To verify it was correctly installed, reboot and:

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep omapfb (II) LoadModule: "omapfb" (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//omapfb_drv.so (II) Module omapfb: vendor="X.Org Foundation" (II) omapfb: Driver for OMAP framebuffer (omapfb) and external LCD controllers: (WW) Error opening /sys/devices/platform/omapfb/ctrl/name: No such file or directory (II) omapfb(0): VideoRAM: 1800KiB (SDRAM) (II) omapfb(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section (**) omapfb(0): Depth 16, (--) framebuffer bpp 16 (==) omapfb(0): RGB weight 565 (==) omapfb(0): Default visual is TrueColor (--) omapfb(0): Virtual size is 1280x720 (pitch 1280) (**) omapfb(0): Built-in mode "current" (==) omapfb(0): DPI set to (96, 96) (II) omapfb(0): DPMS enabled (II) omapfb(0): Video plane capabilities: (II) omapfb(0): Video plane supports the following image formats: (II) omapfb(0): XVideo extension initialized

Login into Ubuntu and open a new terminal, xorg has to be running..

xvinfo -display :0.0 X-Video Extension version 2.2 screen #0 Adaptor #0: "OMAP XV adaptor" number of ports: 1 port base: 56 operations supported: PutImage supported visuals: depth 16, visualID 0x21 number of attributes: 1 etc..

S-Video
Sorry I don't have an S-Video TV, and this is documented in the source, so it would be really great if someone could fill this section in... --RobertCNelson 21:32, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

NTSC
Please use v2.6.29-oer44.1:

PAL
Please use v2.6.29-oer44.1:

Building Kernel
https://launchpad.net/~beagleboard-kernel

Register on launchpad.net, install bzr sudo apt-get install bzr

Download SRC bzr branch lp:~beagleboard-kernel/+junk/2.6-stable (2.6.32) bzr branch lp:~beagleboard-kernel/+junk/2.6-dev (2.6.32)

Build Kernel . build_kernel.sh

Build SGX Modules . build_sgx_modules.sh

Build Deb File . build_deb.sh

= Bugs & Workarounds =

Karmic
Root on external USB, fsck always errors's on boot, fsck.ext3 never fixes it, and no real time clock on board (Rev Bx and C2 (C3 has backup battery hookup))

mount -o remount,rw /

Script found here:

nano /etc/e2fsck.conf [problems] 0x000031 = { preen_ok = true preen_nomessage = true } 0x000032 = { preen_ok = true preen_nomessage = true }
 * 1) Superblock last mount time is in the future (PR_0_FUTURE_SB_LAST_MOUNT).
 * 1) Superblock last write time is in the future (PR_0_FUTURE_SB_LAST_WRITE).

= Ubuntu Software =

Midori
Given that the BeagleBoard has fewer resources than a desktop a light weight browser is more responsive. Midori is a light weight browser that still supports flash etc It is available from the standard repositories. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midori_%28web_browser%29

Motion
If you have a video source (webcam, IP cam etc) which appears as /dev/video0 etc then you can use the Linux Surveillance software "motion" to monitor the video stream and record periods of activity.

Motion is also available from the standard repositories. http://www.debian-administration.org/article/An_Introduction_to_Video_Surveillance_with_%27Motion%27 Using a 960x720 resolution webcam with 15 fps rate under the UVC driver the Rev C BeagleBoard under Xubuntu reports ~60% CPU utilisation.

To make the BeagleBoard automatically start recording on boot do the following:


 * Auto Login - run "gdmsetup" from a terminal and select a user to automatically login
 * Sessions - make sure you don't save any previous xwindows sessions so that it doesn't prompt you for which one you want
 * motion.conf - amend /etc/motion/motion.conf to the settings you want (ie video output directory, record only video, record in mpeg4, set frame rate etc). Do this with "sudo medit /etc/motion/motion.conf" at a prompt.
 * Boot script - create a new script in /etc/rc2.d called "S65motion_client" and set permissions appropriately ("sudo chmod 777 /etc/rc2.d/S65motion_client"). Then edit the file so it has the following text in it:

/usr/bin/motion -c /etc/motion/motion.conf
 * 1) ! /bin/sh

This will now launch the motion client as root when you boot up.

Also note that unless your BeagleBoard can remember the time (battery backed up clock installed) the timestamps will not be correct until you update the time. If your BeagleBoard has an Internet Connection this can be achieved with the ntpdate app.