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"
 * Stable Kernel 2.6.33 src
 * Development Kernel src
 * 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 =

X-loader/MLO (1.4.4ss) & U-Boot (2010.03) (Zippy1 & Zippy2 Support)
 * All Bx, C2/3/4 Boards should upgrade there MLO and U-Boot versions.
 * Directions: Upgrade X-loader and U-Boot

=Demo Image=

Lucid 10.04
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://174.120.189.162/~amit/download/ubuntu-10.04-minimal-armel.tar.7z

Unpack it: (sudo apt-get install p7zip-full for 7za)

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

Lucid 10.04 Xfce4
Built with: (RootStock + lots of tweaks) --kernel-image http://rcn-ee.net/deb/lucid/v2.6.33.4-l3/linux-image-2.6.33.4-l3_1.0lucid_armel.deb

Get prebuilt image:

wget http://rcn-ee.net/deb/rootfs/ubuntu-10.04-xfce4-armel.tar.7z mirrors (will take some time to update): wget http://ynezz.ibawizard.net/beagleboard/ubuntu-10.04-xfce4-armel.tar.7z wget http://vivaphp.net/beagle/ubuntu-10.04-xfce4-armel.tar.7z

md5sum: e9be639e03c18e9b766504ab648d8993 ubuntu-10.04-xfce4-armel.tar.7z

Unpack it: (sudo apt-get install p7zip-full for 7za)

7za x ubuntu-10.04-xfce4-armel.tar.7z tar xf ubuntu-10.04-xfce4-armel.tar cd ubuntu-10.04-xfce4-armel

Quick Install script for Beagle Bx, C2/C3/C4 ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --uboot beagle --swap_file 100

Required Options Additional Options
 * --swap_file 100 (atleast 100MB's, otherwise oem-config will run out of memory and crash etc..)
 * --rootfs (ext3/ext4/btrfs)

Known Problem
 * oem-config needs swap, “–swap_file 100″
 * gdm theme doesn’t scale correctly to login: select “auto login” during user configuration
 * Network Manger loads in background but a doesn’t seem to load a xfce4 gui: “sudo nm-applet”

= NetInstall Method =

The NetInstall Method, allows you to install Ubuntu directly onto your Beagle by pre-populating a boot image that will perform the complete install.

Recommended:
 * 2GB+ SD card
 * USB Ethernet/Wifi

Script Source: https://code.launchpad.net/~beagleboard-kernel/+junk/debian-di

Install bzr sudo apt-get install bzr

Download debian-di script bzr branch lp:~beagleboard-kernel/+junk/debian-di

Discover SD/MMC Partition sudo fdisk -l

Run Script cd debian-di ./mk_mmc.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --distro lucid --firmware


 * Options:
 * --distro : lucid
 * --firmware : install firmware for WiFi devices
 * --serial-mode : force NetInstall to use 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

Place SD card into Beagle and Boot

Troubshooting: If boot fails.. nand erase 260000 20000
 * Upgrade X-loader and U-boot Upgrade X-loader and U-Boot
 * Clear U-boot's Environment Variables in nand:

NetInstall assumptions: Continue with out Kernel Modules Partition 

= 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 very-old-stable version (armv5 optimized)
 * TODO: http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntuJaunty
 * Karmic, aka Ubuntu 9.10, is the old-stable version (armv6 optimized)
 * http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntuKarmic
 * Lucid, aka Ubuntu 10.04 is the stable version (armv7 optimized)
 * TODO: http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntuLucid
 * Maverick, aka Ubuntu 10.10 is the development version. Currently listed here as 'testing'. (armv7 optimized)
 * TODO: http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntuMaverick

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 and Lucid++ experience.

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

U-Boot 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'.

fixrtc: (only uInitrd) Resets RTC based on last mount buddy=${buddy}: (both) Kernel Zippy1/2 Support

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 ro vram=12M omapfb.mode=dvi:1280x720MR-16@60 buddy=${buddy} boot

With optional uInitrd: create ubuntu.cmd: setenv bootcmd 'mmc init; fatload mmc 0:1 0x80300000 uImage; fatload mmc 0:1 0x81600000 uInitrd; bootm 0x80300000 0x81600000' setenv bootargs console=tty0 console=ttyS2,115200n8 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait ro vram=12M omapfb.mode=dvi:1280x720MR-16@60 fixrtc buddy=${buddy} 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

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: (2.6.34+ this will change..) 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: 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)

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

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

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.