This page is about running a (ARM EABIhf) Debian distribution at BeagleBoard. BeagleBoard will boot the (ARM EABIhf) Debian distribution from SD card. Debian's NetInstall will be used to install Debian onto your Beagle.

1 Help
2 Official BeagleBoard.org Images for shipping with BeagleBone Black
3 Recommended Beagle Software
4 Debian NetInstall
- 4.1 Debian 9 (stretch)
5 Demo Image
- 5.1 Debian (stretch)
- 5.2 Debian Testing (buster)
6 Flasher
- 6.1 eMMC: All BeagleBone Varients with eMMC
- 6.2 eMMC: BeagleBoard-X15
7 raw microSD img
8 Debian Configuration
9 Building Kernel
10 Upgrading from Debian 5 to Debian 6
11 Upgrading from Debian 6 (Squeeze) to Debian 7 (Wheezy)

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)
- Kernel Trees

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)

Official BeagleBoard.org Images for shipping with BeagleBone Black

http://beagleboard.org/source

Recommended Beagle Software

Mainline U-Boot:

All old Ax, Bx, Cx and Dx boards are required to upgrade to at least these U-Boot versions.
XM Boards have no NAND, so MLO/u-boot.img is always required on the first partition
Directions: Upgrade X-loader and U-Boot

Debian NetInstall

Scripts:

git clone https://github.com/RobertCNelson/netinstall.git
cd netinstall

Device Options:

BeagleBoard --dtb omap3-beagle
BeagleBoard-xM --dtb omap3-beagle-xm
BeagleBoard-X15 --dtb am57xx-beagle-x15
BeagleBone (serial) --dtb am335x-bone-serial
BeagleBone (video via cape) --dtb am335x-bone-video
BeagleBone Black --dtb am335x-boneblack
PandaBoard (A1->A3) --dtb omap4-panda
PandaBoard (A4->Ax) --dtb omap4-panda-a4
PandaBoard ES  --dtb omap4-panda-es

You will need a 1GB SD card or greater.

Standard System : ~455MB

Debian 9 (stretch)

Quick Install script for "board"

sudo ./mk_mmc.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --dtb "board" --distro stretch

So For the BeagleBoard xM:

sudo ./mk_mmc.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --dtb omap3-beagle-xm --distro stretch

Options:
- --firmware : installs firmware
- --serial-mode : debian-installer uses Serial Port

Demo Image

Advanced Users only: BeagleBoard xM: Kernel source, used in these demo images: https://github.com/RobertCNelson/armv7-multiplatform

git clone https://github.com/RobertCNelson/armv7-multiplatform.git
cd armv7-multiplatform
git checkout origin/v4.17.x -b tmp
./build_kernel.sh

Advanced Users only: BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/PocketBeagle: Kernel v4.14.x source, used in these demo images: https://github.com/RobertCNelson/ti-linux-kernel-dev/tree/ti-linux-4.14.y

git clone https://github.com/RobertCNelson/ti-linux-kernel-dev.git
cd ti-linux-kernel-dev
git checkout origin/ti-linux-4.14.y -b tmp
./build_kernel.sh

Debian (stretch)

Default username/password:

username: debian
password: temppwd

Image Updated:

2018-08-10
- BeagleBoard xM: v4.17.12-armv7-x12 kernel
- All BeagleBone Varients and PocketBeagle: v4.14.62-ti-r69 kernel
- OMAP5432 uEVM: v4.14.62-ti-r69 kernel
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.62-ti-r69 kernel
2018-07-14
- BeagleBoard xM: v4.17.6-armv7-x7 kernel
- All BeagleBone Varients and PocketBeagle: v4.14.54-ti-r63 kernel
- OMAP5432 uEVM: v4.14.54-ti-r63 kernel
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.54-ti-r63 kernel
2018-06-08
- BeagleBoard xM: v4.16.14-armv7-x0 kernel
- All BeagleBone Varients and PocketBeagle: v4.14.44-ti-r51 kernel
- OMAP5432 uEVM: v4.14.44-ti-r51 kernel
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.44-ti-r51 kernel

Services Active:

Note: Depending on your internal network these may work out of the box
Apache, Port 80: http://arm.local/ (Bone: via usb) (Windows/Linux) http://192.168.7.2, (Mac/Linux) http://192.168.6.2
SSH, Port 22: ssh debian@arm.local (Bone: via usb) (Windows/Linux) debian@192.168.7.2, (Mac/Linux) debian@192.168.6.2
Getty, Serial Port

Default user: debian pass: temppwd

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/2018-08-10/elinux/debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10.tar.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10.tar.xz
416668b8fb85ba3d59a85701793a1c49299693ee08a2edba75ef2696ea823dbb  debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10.tar.xz

Unpack Image:

tar xf debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10.tar.xz
cd debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10

If you don't know the location of your SD card:

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --probe-mmc

You should see something like:

Are you sure? I don't see [/dev/idontknow], here is what I do see...

fdisk -l:
Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes <- x86 Root Drive
Disk /dev/sdd: 3957 MB, 3957325824 bytes <- MMC/SD card

lsblk:
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 465.8G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0 446.9G  0 part /  <- x86 Root Partition
├─sda2   8:2    0     1K  0 part 
└─sda5   8:5    0  18.9G  0 part [SWAP]
sdd      8:48   1   3.7G  0 disk 
├─sdd1   8:49   1    64M  0 part 
└─sdd2   8:50   1   3.6G  0 part

In this example, we can see via mount, /dev/sda1 is the x86 rootfs, therefore /dev/sdd is the other drive in the system, which is the MMC/SD card that was inserted and should be used by ./setup_sdcard.sh...

Install Image:

Quick install script for [board]

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --dtb board

board options:

BeagleBoard Ax/Bx/Cx/Dx - omap3-beagle
BeagleBoard xM - omap3-beagle-xm
All BeagleBone Varients - beaglebone
OMAP5432 uEVM - omap5-uevm
BeagleBoard-X15 - am57xx-beagle-x15

So for the BeagleBoard xM:

sudo ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --dtb omap3-beagle-xm

Advanced: Build Image:

git clone https://github.com/RobertCNelson/omap-image-builder.git
cd omap-image-builder
git checkout v2018.08 -b tmp

Stable:

./RootStock-NG.sh -c rcn-ee_console_debian_stretch_armhf

Testing:

./RootStock-NG.sh -c rcn-ee_console_debian_buster_armhf

Debian Testing (buster)

Image Updated:

2018-08-10
- BeagleBoard xM: v4.17.12-armv7-x12 kernel
- All BeagleBone Varients and PocketBeagle: v4.14.62-ti-r69 kernel
- OMAP5432 uEVM: v4.14.62-ti-r69 kernel
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.62-ti-r69 kernel
2018-07-14
- BeagleBoard xM: v4.17.6-armv7-x7 kernel
- All BeagleBone Varients and PocketBeagle: v4.14.54-ti-r63 kernel
- OMAP5432 uEVM: v4.14.54-ti-r63 kernel
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.54-ti-r63 kernel
2018-06-08
- BeagleBoard xM: v4.16.14-armv7-x0 kernel
- All BeagleBone Varients and PocketBeagle: v4.14.44-ti-r51 kernel
- OMAP5432 uEVM: v4.14.44-ti-r51 kernel
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.44-ti-r51 kernel

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/2018-08-10/elinux/debian-buster-console-armhf-2018-08-10.tar.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum debian-buster-console-armhf-2018-08-10.tar.xz
41f70a16e6961b7bfd5edbc59daa45a9bc8f6eb7959619efb377099fc94fc1e0  debian-buster-console-armhf-2018-08-10.tar.xz

Unpack image:

tar xf debian-buster-console-armhf-2018-08-10.tar.xz
cd debian-buster-console-armhf-2018-08-10

Then follow the directions shown above with the other images...

Flasher

eMMC: All BeagleBone Varients with eMMC

This image can be written to a 2GB (or larger) microSD card, via 'dd' on linux or on Windows/Mac/Linux: https://etcher.io First press and hold the boot select button (next to the microSD card), then apply power. On bootup the board should indicate it has started the flashing procedure visually via a Cylon Sweep pattern shown on the 4 LED's next to the ethernet jack. Progress is reported on both the serial debug and hdmi connectors, once completed all 4 LED's should be full ON. Simply remove power, remove the microSD card and Debian will now boot directly from eMMC.

Script for reference: (this is the script that writes to the eMMC)

https://github.com/RobertCNelson/boot-scripts/blob/master/tools/eMMC/init-eMMC-flasher-v3.sh

This script will only take about 5-6 Minutes after power on.

Notes:

If only two LED's stay lit and nothing happens, the board has crashed due to lack of power. Retry with a 5Volt DC power supply connected.
If the 4 LED's blink a constant pattern, the eMMC write has failed. First REMOVE ALL capes, then retry again.

User: debian pass: temppwd

Image Updated:

2018-08-10
- All BeagleBone Varients with eMMC: v4.14.62-ti-r69 kernel
2018-07-14
- All BeagleBone Varients with eMMC: v4.14.54-ti-r63 kernel
2018-06-08
- All BeagleBone Varients with eMMC: v4.14.44-ti-r51 kernel

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/2018-08-10/flasher/BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb*
aadf1bdcc27c9e3b6f3a536011000804a071fc1e645eee6078c80522e9e433ea  BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

eMMC: BeagleBoard-X15

This image can be written to a 2GB (or larger) microSD card, via 'dd' on linux or on Windows/Mac/Linux: https://etcher.io First press and hold the boot select button (next to the microSD card), then apply power. On bootup the board should indicate it has started the flashing procedure visually via a Cylon Sweep pattern shown on the 4 LED's next to the ethernet jack. Progress is reported on both the serial debug and hdmi connectors, once completed all 4 LED's should be full ON. Simply remove power, remove the microSD card and Debian will now boot directly from eMMC.

Script for reference: (this is the script that writes to the eMMC)

https://github.com/RobertCNelson/boot-scripts/blob/master/tools/eMMC/init-eMMC-flasher-v3.sh

This script will only take about 5-6 Minutes after power on.

Notes:

If only two LED's stay lit and nothing happens, the board has crashed due to lack of power. Retry with a 5Volt DC power supply connected.
If the 4 LED's blink a constant pattern, the eMMC write has failed. First REMOVE ALL capes, then retry again.

User: debian pass: temppwd

Image Updated:

2018-08-10
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.62-ti-r69 kernel
2018-07-14
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.54-ti-r63 kernel
2018-06-08
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.44-ti-r51 kernel

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/2018-08-10/flasher/bbx15-eMMC-flasher-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-eMMC-flasher-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb*
1974226f48c563b6e6601d98271cbf3a42d1cf6a099d0ac431bbce0f76d2bdd6  bbx15-eMMC-flasher-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-eMMC-flasher-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

raw microSD img

BeagleBoard xM

This image can be written to a 2GB (or larger) microSD card, via 'dd' on linux or on Windows/Mac/Linux: https://etcher.io

User: debian pass: temppwd

Auto partition resize:

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

Image Updated:

2018-08-10
- BeagleBoard xM: v4.17.12-armv7-x12 kernel
2018-07-14
- BeagleBoard xM: v4.17.6-armv7-x7 kernel
2018-06-08
- BeagleBoard xM: v4.16.14-armv7-x0 kernel

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/2018-08-10/microsd/bbxm-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbxm-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb*
c202f710f3fce4e03f110689f2cdce2bcc4aaa74ad8daad74e226bfd7cf1d440  bbxm-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbxm-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

All BeagleBone Varients and PocketBeagle

This image can be written to a 2GB (or larger) microSD card, via 'dd' on linux or on Windows/Mac/Linux: https://etcher.io

User: debian pass: temppwd

Auto partition resize:

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

Image Updated:

2018-08-10
- All BeagleBone Varients and PocketBeagle: v4.14.62-ti-r69 kernel
2018-07-14
- All BeagleBone Varients and PocketBeagle: v4.14.54-ti-r63 kernel
2018-06-08
- All BeagleBone Varients and PocketBeagle: v4.14.44-ti-r51 kernel

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/2018-08-10/microsd/bone-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb*
656e63d2fb79d810962f7e6c2d0932fb62d18891542acc81125b0cbb6a786335  bone-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

OMAP5432 uEVM

This image can be written to a 2GB (or larger) microSD card, via 'dd' on linux or on Windows/Mac/Linux: https://etcher.io

User: debian pass: temppwd

Auto partition resize:

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

Image Updated:

2018-08-10
- OMAP5432 uEVM: v4.14.62-ti-r69 kernel
2018-07-14
- OMAP5432 uEVM: v4.14.54-ti-r63 kernel
2018-06-08
- OMAP5432 uEVM: v4.14.44-ti-r51 kernel

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/2018-08-10/microsd/omap5-uevm-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum omap5-uevm-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb*
6eaf2eae0e50ef509059ac14cfa601c2223eb86f02b0c5fbb43f745b5ffdca87  omap5-uevm-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat omap5-uevm-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

BeagleBoard-X15

This image can be written to a 2GB (or larger) microSD card, via 'dd' on linux or on Windows/Mac/Linux: https://etcher.io

User: debian pass: temppwd

Auto partition resize:

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

Image Updated:

2018-08-10
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.62-ti-r69 kernel
2018-07-14
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.54-ti-r63 kernel
2018-06-08
- BeagleBoard-X15: v4.14.44-ti-r51 kernel

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/2018-08-10/microsd/bbx15-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb*
628bc850d8eb62898194067b12c2f10840ebff052b42c2b156965594525a66c4  bbx15-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-9.5-console-armhf-2018-08-10-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Debian Configuration

Install Latest Kernel Image

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

4.9.x-ti

beagleboard.org patchset: https://github.com/beagleboard/linux/tree/4.9
Based on: http://git.ti.com/gitweb/?p=ti-linux-kernel/ti-linux-kernel.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/ti-linux-4.9.y

4.9.x-ti BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBoard-X15
--ti-channel --lts-4_9

4.9.x-ti BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBoard-X15 + RT
--ti-rt-channel --lts-4_9

4.9.x-ti BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBoard-X15 + Xenomai
--ti-xenomai-channel --lts-4_9

4.14.x-ti

beagleboard.org patchset: https://github.com/beagleboard/linux/tree/4.14
Based on: http://git.ti.com/gitweb/?p=ti-linux-kernel/ti-linux-kernel.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/ti-linux-4.14.y

4.14.x-ti BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBoard-X15
--ti-channel --lts-4_14

4.14.x-ti BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBoard-X15 + RT
--ti-rt-channel --lts-4_14

Mainline (4.9.x lts)

4.9.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black
--bone-kernel --lts-4_9

4.9.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black + RT
--bone-rt-kernel --lts-4_9

Mainline (4.14.x lts)

4.14.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black
--bone-kernel --lts-4_14

4.14.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black + RT
--bone-rt-kernel --lts-4_14

Debian 9: stretch

sudo apt-get install linux-image-armmp

Reboot with your new Kernel Image.

Xorg Drivers

Script:

cd /opt/scripts/tools/
git pull

BeagleBoard/PandaBoard:

cd /opt/scripts/tools/graphics/
./ti-omapdrm.sh

BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black:

cd /opt/scripts/tools/graphics/
./ti-tilcdc.sh

SGX Drivers

SGX BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black

Note, these are FBDEV only, no xorg/x11/etc...

Install the "4.4.x" lts/bone kernel: http://elinux.org/BeagleBoardDebian#Mainline_.284.4.x_lts.29

Build SGX userspace for 4.4.x (must be done on an x86, due to the TI 5.01.01.02 blob extractor)

git clone https://github.com/RobertCNelson/bb-kernel.git
cd bb-kernel/
git checkout origin/am33x-v4.4 -b tmp-sgx
./sgx_create_package.sh

Copy ./deploy/GFX_5.01.01.02_es8.x.tar.gz to BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black and install

sudo tar xfv GFX_5.01.01.02_es8.x.tar.gz -C /
cd /opt/gfxinstall/
sudo ./sgx-install.sh
sudo reboot

Verify omaplfb & pvrsrvkm loaded

debian@arm:~$ lsmod | grep omaplfb
omaplfb                12065  0 
pvrsrvkm              178782  1 omaplfb

Building Kernel

Note, this section use to have a lot of details, but maintenance of the two wiki's became a pain, so for now on we will just link to my other pages:

Beagle/Beagle xM

http://eewiki.net/display/linuxonarm/BeagleBoard

BeagleBone

http://eewiki.net/display/linuxonarm/BeagleBone

BeagleBone Black

http://eewiki.net/display/linuxonarm/BeagleBone+Black

Panda/Panda ES

http://eewiki.net/display/linuxonarm/PandaBoard

Upgrading from Debian 5 to Debian 6

Upgrading from Debian 5 to Debian 6 report and tutorial.

Upgrading from Debian 6 (Squeeze) to Debian 7 (Wheezy)

Note, this only goes over "armel" -> "armel"... For users wishing to switch from "armel" -> "armhf" just re-install...

sudo apt-get update ; sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo sed -i -e "s/squeeze/wheezy/g" /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt-get update ; sudo apt-get install -y apt aptitude udev dpkg
sudo aptitude update ; sudo aptitude -y safe-upgrade ; sudo aptitude -y dist-upgrade

BeagleBoardDebian

Contents

Help

Official BeagleBoard.org Images for shipping with BeagleBone Black

Recommended Beagle Software

Debian NetInstall

Debian 9 (stretch)

Demo Image

Debian (stretch)

Debian Testing (buster)

Flasher

eMMC: All BeagleBone Varients with eMMC

eMMC: BeagleBoard-X15

raw microSD img

BeagleBoard xM

All BeagleBone Varients and PocketBeagle

OMAP5432 uEVM

BeagleBoard-X15

Debian Configuration

Install Latest Kernel Image

3.8.x

4.9.x-ti

4.14.x-ti

Mainline (4.9.x lts)

Mainline (4.14.x lts)

Debian 9: stretch

Xorg Drivers

SGX Drivers

SGX BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black

Building Kernel

Beagle/Beagle xM

BeagleBone

BeagleBone Black

Panda/Panda ES

Upgrading from Debian 5 to Debian 6

Upgrading from Debian 6 (Squeeze) to Debian 7 (Wheezy)

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