EBC Exercise 04 Setup Scripts

This is a guide to the many script I've written that make getting the Bone running much easier. Do this after you have Updated the OS and used git to  get the support materials.

Some of the things listed here have to be done only once, others are done every time you reboot, or more often.

Do only once per Linux host install
The first time you set up a new Linux install on your host computer, edit the file /etc/hosts and add this at the end:

host$ sudo vi /etc/hosts 192.168.7.2	bone

Now rather than typing ssh -X 192.168.7.2 you can just enter ssh -X bone. It saves lots of typing.

Do when the bone is running a new image
If you are running an SD card that's bigger than 4G, run: host$ cd BeagleBoard/exercises/setup host$ ./grow_partition.sh This will make the partition as large as possible, and then reboots.

There are a number of files I like to have on the Bone. Rather than remember what they all are, I just put them in a script and run it on the host. Take a look at my install.sh script.

host$ vi install.sh

You'll see things like
 * Setting the Bone's date to the host's date
 * Copying the exercises to the bone rather than using git clone (much faster on a slow link).

There is a line that starts with ssh root@$BONE " that runs all the following commands, up to the closing " on the bone. These commands
 * Set up git
 * Copy over .bashrc
 * Set the timezone

and so on.

Edit install.sh to install what you want.

Every time you boot the host
Every time boot up I run:

host$ cd BeagleBoard/exercises/setup host$ ./ipMasquerade.sh eth0 

Where eth0 is the network interface you are using. If you are wireless you may use wlan0 instead. This sets up you host to take internet requests from the Bone and send them to the internet. That is, your Bone is masquerading as your host.

Do this once after the Bone boots up
The install.sh script above does many things that only have to be done once after installing an image. Here is what has to be done every time the Bone is booted up.

host$ cd BeagleBoard/exercises/setup host$ cat firstssh.sh host$ ./firstssh.sh

When you look inside firstssh.sh you'll see it sets the Domain Name Server (DNS) on the Bone so it uses the host as a gateway and it sets the correct date. Once that's done it ssh's over.

If you always use firstssh.sh the Bone will always be on the network and have the correct date.

In summary
Normally the Bone is already set up, so all I do after booting the host is

host$ cd BeagleBoard/exercises/setup host$ ./ipMasquerade.sh eth0 host$ ./firstssh.sh

and I'm logged onto the Bone and it has access to the Internet through my host.