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:
 * 1) enable BBB: eMMC Flasher:
 * 2) cmdline=init=/opt/scripts/tools/eMMC/init-eMMC-flasher-v3.sh

Change to: cmdline=init=/opt/scripts/tools/eMMC/init-eMMC-flasher-v3.sh
 * 1) enable BBB: eMMC Flasher:

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

To:
 * 1) deb [arch=armhf] http://debian.beagleboard.org/packages wheezy-bbb main
 * 2) 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

i take full responsibility for knowing my beagle is now insecure
as of 2017-02-19, BeagleBoard images now longer enable these insecure options by default, you are free to recreate them as you wish.

remove root password
root_password=$(cat /etc/shadow | grep root | awk -F ':' '{print $2}') sed -i -e 's:'$root_password'::g' /etc/shadow

ssh root@beaglebone.local
sed -i -e 's:PermitEmptyPasswords no:PermitEmptyPasswords yes:g' /etc/ssh/sshd_config sed -i -e 's:UsePAM yes:UsePAM no:g' /etc/ssh/sshd_config sed -i -e 's:PermitRootLogin without-password:PermitRootLogin yes:g' /etc/ssh/sshd_config

sudo no password required
echo "debian ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL" >>/etc/sudoers

U-Boot Overlays
Check via serial U-Boot SPL 2017.03-rc3-00002-g16d7481d17 (Mar 09 2017 - 14:55:03) Trying to boot from MMC2 U-Boot 2017.03-rc3-00002-g16d7481d17 (Mar 09 2017 - 14:55:03 -0600), Build: jenkins-github_Bootloader-Builder-529

Check via system debian@test-bbb-1:~$ cd /opt/scripts/tools/ debian@test-bbb-1:/opt/scripts/tools$ git pull debian@test-bbb-1:/opt/scripts/tools$ sudo ./version.sh | grep bootloader bootloader:[/dev/mmcblk1]:[U-Boot 2017.03-rc3-00002-g16d748]

To upgrade your version of U-Boot: debian@beaglebone:~$ cd /opt/scripts/tools/developers/ debian@beaglebone:/opt/scripts/tools/developers$ sudo ./update_bootloader.sh debian@beaglebone:/opt/scripts/tools/developers$ sudo reboot

U-Boot /boot/uEnv.txt configuration
/boot/uEnv.txt: enable_uboot_overlays=1

U-Boot Disable on-board devices
To Disable eMMC: disable_uboot_overlay_emmc=1

To Disable HDMI VIDEO & AUDIO: disable_uboot_overlay_video=1

To Disable HDMI AUDIO: (first added in: 2017.03-rc1-00003-gb401af09b2 Build 515) disable_uboot_overlay_audio=1

To Disable WL1835: disable_uboot_overlay_wireless=1

U-Boot Override external capes
Cape device tree overlays: https://github.com/beagleboard/bb.org-overlays/

uboot_overlay_addr0=/lib/firmware/ .dtbo uboot_overlay_addr1=/lib/firmware/ .dtbo uboot_overlay_addr2=/lib/firmware/ .dtbo uboot_overlay_addr3=/lib/firmware/ .dtbo

Plus one custom cape: dtb_overlay=/lib/firmware/ .dtbo

U-Boot Cape Universal
Utilize https://github.com/cdsteinkuehler/beaglebone-universal-io config-pin.

To enable, in /boot/uEnv.txt add: (first added in: 2017.03-rc1-00003-g15396d3873 Build 516) enable_uboot_cape_universal=1

= 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/2017-03-19/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb* 120e021769d9c0c29eb74a19b8d774aae8ebe411a8de46ad228d2eb8131d1f62 bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

= Debian Image Testing Snapshots =

microSD/Standalone: (machinekit) Based on Debian Jessie
Get prebuilt image: wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-02-12/machinekit/bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-02-12-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-02-12-4gb* 18361e0426715974b5a0e7f014ff1bf26db2421cbf8d61622efd2856cd8c6214 bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-02-12-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-02-12-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Jessie Snapshot lxqt
2017-03-19 notes * U-Boot: v2017.03 * Kernel: 4.4.54-ti-r93

Flasher: (lxqt-4gb) (All BeagleBone Variants with a 4GB eMMC)
Get prebuilt image: wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-03-19/lxqt-4gb/BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb* 74d885ae508d86b6c24714c908ebcbf5731914dd97cc716dbe8fcfbadee62aa2 BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.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/2017-03-19/lxqt-4gb/bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb* cb8a97714c6b0a4113429fc4e9ef8d28babc88de96a40ae80cf927a343d816e5 bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.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/2017-03-19/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb* 120e021769d9c0c29eb74a19b8d774aae8ebe411a8de46ad228d2eb8131d1f62 bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.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/2017-03-19/lxqt-2gb/bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb* 5b8e865b77144433dee05ebb0f6f629fbebbc54033249206feed3cdadebe3ea5 bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb.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/2017-03-19/lxqt-xm-4gb/bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb* f179978b95e802d7d503f9df357c2a9ddae4e7a182d189f4cff5961335898a91 bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

U-Boot Overlay Flasher: (lxqt-4gb) (All BeagleBone Variants with a 4GB eMMC)
Get prebuilt image: wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-03-19/lxqt-4gb/BBB-blank-uboot-overlay-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum BBB-blank-uboot-overlay-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb* 95505c61068c080eb44ce180f9c87914f96399d3a4ca9996e2e5ad73f71615d4 BBB-blank-uboot-overlay-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat BBB-blank-uboot-overlay-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Flasher: (iot) (All BeagleBone Variants)
Get prebuilt image: wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-03-19/iot/BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb* 2872fcb46c3f8af0d8ef70904f94d2b7fb76c92067dd45f10597e6857f7eecd9 BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.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/2017-03-19/iot/bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb* f709035e9d9470fa0aa9b778e4d369ba914f5acc7a5fecd6713facbe52cc9285 bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (console) (All BeagleBone Variants)
Get prebuilt image: wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-03-19/console/bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb* dac94d9191532bd81105c669f57f9ad0e8617619478e348594cfd5c55adf4752 bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (console) (BeagleBoard-X15)
Get prebuilt image: wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-03-19/console/bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb* ae10c033b514e8a4b36ce08712be2d586ddef0b9d1e5dddb911783c47180a865 bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-03-19-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Stretch testing
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianStretch

2017-03-19 notes * U-Boot: v2017.03 * Kernel: 4.9.13-ti-r25

microSD/Standalone: (testing) (All BeagleBone Variants)
Get prebuilt image: wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-03-19/stretch-iot/bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb* b115ba6462e914a31c3ca254e5e856b574a571dc84bb754338c28386b6b158af bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (testing) (BeagleBoard-X15)
Get prebuilt image: wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-03-19/stretch-iot/bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with: sha256sum bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb* e961a5694f5eb595af872f0c81755f618dc5ff00be78699098a6b71e604d9858 bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd) xzcat bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.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 sudo apt-get install linux-image- sudo reboot

Latest kernel script cd /opt/scripts/tools/ git pull sudo ./update_kernel.sh 

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