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 setup the standalone microSD image to automatically flash the eMMC on powerup.

In /boot/uEnv.txt:

##enable BBB: eMMC Flasher:
#cmdline=init=/opt/scripts/tools/eMMC/init-eMMC-flasher-v3.sh

Change to:

##enable BBB: eMMC Flasher:
cmdline=init=/opt/scripts/tools/eMMC/init-eMMC-flasher-v3.sh

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 setup 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"

sudo sh -c "echo 'something' >> /etc/privilegedfile"

Timezone

By default this image is setup 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
#deb-src [arch=armhf] http://debian.beagleboard.org/packages wheezy-bbb main

To:

#deb [arch=armhf] http://debian.beagleboard.org/packages wheezy-bbb main
#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_2015.10.22~bpo70+20151022+1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i rcn-ee-archive-keyring_2015.10.22~bpo70+20151022+1_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

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

2015-11-03

2015-11-03 Release Notes

* Windows 10 Signed Drivers!
* BeagleBone Green
* U-Boot: v2015.10
** U-Boot UMS (USB Mass Storage) enabled [ums 0 mmc 1]
* Kernel: 3.8.13-bone79

BBB Rev C/BBG (4GB eMMC)

Flasher: (lxde-4gb)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/release/2015-11-03/lxde-4gb/BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-7.9-lxde-4gb-armhf-2015-11-03-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 4984e0d51cfaf408db83904a8c57acb6b3d0522c0b924a3b2e8a4af48cc1034b

BBB/BBG (All Revs) eMMC Flashers

Flasher: (lxde)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/release/2015-11-03/lxde/BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-7.9-lxde-armhf-2015-11-03-2gb.img.xz
sha256sum: a2b847cb23aec849656e853056db1a7f1ab58b869de7a6b712362b0e99314bad

Flasher: (console)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/release/2015-11-03/console/BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-7.9-console-armhf-2015-11-03-2gb.img.xz
sha256sum: ebdd2938253e179a36a1b9b1f1def2a04595f9e0ee94776988c490ea317e97bc

BBW/BBB/BBG (All Revs)

microSD/Standalone: (lxde)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/release/2015-11-03/lxde-4gb/bone-debian-7.9-lxde-4gb-armhf-2015-11-03-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 0f27fb05bca2c64e89abc20f54e35bef7fbdbd391ec38c2ea9d56c6356be5fab

microSD/Standalone: (console)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/release/2015-11-03/console/bone-debian-7.9-console-armhf-2015-11-03-2gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 63e78f417db62737804877c056c4632173d2b970eed1cf1c59b2b99e9752ef0e

BeagleBoard-X15 weekly

Bug tracker: http://bugs.elinux.org/projects/beagleboard-x15

Flasher: (lxqt-4gb) (BeagleBoard-X15)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-06/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-eMMC-flasher-debian-8.2-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2015-12-06-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 49b5fba1a729f3184aa9e530fd055ce814cfbb9a1acd28b06acfbc87b792dd64

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-4gb) (BeagleBoard-X15)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-06/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-debian-8.2-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2015-12-06-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 20d3431304e3bb040fb7b917754288f3e9860fde448c8e30e6f513b643fbbcad

Debian Image Testing Snapshots

2015-12-07

BBW/BBB (All Revs) Machinekit

microSD/Standalone: (machinekit)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/machinekit/bone-debian-7.9-machinekit-armhf-2015-12-07-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 9799162249442188cd3f8bd11d64bfce03c35e59af58a65879a88663df7aedba

Jessie Snapshot lxqt

2015-12-07 notes

* U-Boot: v2015.10
* Kernel: 4.1.13-ti-r35

Flasher: (lxqt-4gb) (BeagleBone Black/Green 4GB eMMC)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/lxqt-4gb/BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-8.2-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2015-12-07-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 5ba611a76a74e3e5a9c9999622f47af1f3c7be871246adf9f7829654622190a2

Flasher: (lxqt-2gb) (BeagleBone Black 2GB eMMC)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/lxqt-2gb/BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-8.2-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2015-12-07-2gb.img.xz
sha256sum: a154926e2da9231c207f3112104c899acbdffcd516c06da4b6acf3196e1faab1

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-4gb) (BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBone Green)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/lxqt-4gb/bone-debian-8.2-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2015-12-07-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 0375d6de4cc21b2e5d5473bd8ad5d52a7087b98c51b13c3102a09c5315842569

Flasher: (lxqt-4gb) (BeagleBoard-X15)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-eMMC-flasher-debian-8.2-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2015-12-07-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 8e180c5220c0d88a6e5c76db8f6f09f270a813266ee81d7010a748f37eaaa80c

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-4gb) (BeagleBoard-X15)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-debian-8.2-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2015-12-07-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: d75d36049966977dd4ddf8df96e949de839a2e047fc659619f70935324af7c3b

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-4gb) (omap5-uevm)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/lxqt-4gb/omap5-uevm-debian-8.2-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2015-12-07-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 9c637508353e9b6c585dc3000ecced272928e1bf8a4ddd3ebe753b0c825105e0

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-4gb) (tre)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/lxqt-4gb/tre-debian-8.2-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2015-12-07-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: a741dd3e7c4b594cfc7ce7b77db0773ceaca74171dec93501c5245a01f213f34

Jessie Snapshot console

Flasher: (console) (BeagleBone Black/Green eMMC)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/console/BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-8.2-console-armhf-2015-12-07-2gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 8a884cd2e430a045277a1a5a42f445343bec3f73a279587f1e14c47fd5585c4e

microSD/Standalone: (console) (BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBone Green)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/console/bone-debian-8.2-console-armhf-2015-12-07-2gb.img.xz
sha256sum: aff91e8efcafe45db60a0678433e97461c1e34ff730a8a4622dc377f1067f244

Flasher: (console) (BeagleBoard-X15)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/console/bbx15-eMMC-flasher-debian-8.2-console-armhf-2015-12-07-4gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 037464a50730d0231cbf6f10c42890c93597724f362f87b6473928eb3446bf11

microSD/Standalone: (console) (BeagleBoard-X15)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/console/bbx15-debian-8.2-console-armhf-2015-12-07-2gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 3ab1b00bd49dd4415a7a9a13f22c268106b3e37815484f8112c554add7c89139

microSD/Standalone: (console) (omap5-uevm)

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2015-12-07/console/omap5-uevm-debian-8.2-console-armhf-2015-12-07-2gb.img.xz
sha256sum: 29f55e96bf246585c022071eeb8691cf7739fd72bb7b63a0e029d752eed60df3

Kernel Options

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

4.1.x-ti

This is slated to replace the v3.8.x tree in Debian Jessie, cape manager support is enabled.

beagleboard.org patchset: https://github.com/beagleboard/linux/tree/4.1
Based on: http://git.ti.com/gitweb/?p=ti-linux-kernel/ti-linux-kernel.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/ti-linux-4.1.y

4.1.x-ti BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBoard-X15
--ti-channel --stable

4.1.x-ti BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBoard-X15 + RT
--ti-rt-channel --stable

Mainline (lts)

4.1.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black
--bone-kernel --lts

4.1.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black + RT
--bone-rt-kernel --lts

Mainline

4.3.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black
--bone-kernel --testing

Debian 8: jessie

sudo apt-get install linux-image-armmp