Parallella Linaro Nano

How to Install Linaro nano 14.04 (minimal headless system)

This guide is only for Parallella E16/Zynq7020. Do not apply these instructions to another board.

Requirements

Ubuntu PC, SD Card, SD Card adapter, Parallella board

On the PC's terminal:

Download the files

wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/parallella/parallella-bin/raw/master/rel.14.02.06.tgz

wget http://releases.linaro.org/14.04/ubuntu/saucy-images/nano/linaro-saucy-nano-20140410-652.tar.gz

md5sum rel.14.02.06.tgz

23eb538fd58d684b5a64236e81275dc8  rel.14.02.06.tgz

md5sum linaro-saucy-nano-20140410-652.tar.gz

cded44187fb762ba7ea7b1ee092a0998  linaro-saucy-nano-20140410-652.tar.gz

Determine the device name of the SD Card

sudo parted -l

In case of a 2GB SD Card:

Model: SD/MM Reader
Disk /dev/sdX: 2042MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 49.3MB 48.2MB primary fat16
2 49.3MB 2042MB 1992MB primary ext4

"/dev/sdX" is the device name of the SD Card
(e.g. sdb, sdc, sdd, sde, mmcblk0, mmcblk1, ... and, Beware! Don't partition HDD!!!)
sdX : an example of the device name (e.g. sde, mmcblk0)
sdX1 : partition 1 of the device (e.g. sde1, mmcblk0p1)
sdX2 : partition 2 of the device (e.g. sde2, mmcblk0p2)

Partition the SD Card

Unmount the SD Card if it was automounted, then,

sudo parted -a optimal /dev/sdX

(parted) print

If there are two partitions on the SD Card,

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 99.6MB 98.6MB primary fat16 lba
2 99.6MB 2042MB 1942MB primary

Delete all existing partition

(parted) rm 2
(parted) rm 1

Make new partitions

(parted) mkpart p fat32 2048s 100m
(parted) mkpart p ext2 100m -1m
(parted) q

Check the partition

sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdX

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdX1 2048 194559 96256 c W95 FAT32 (LBA)
/dev/sdX2 194560 3987455 1896448 83 Linux

Format the partition

sudo mkfs.vfat -n BOOT /dev/sdX1
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs /dev/sdX2

Extract rootfs

sudo mkdir /tmp/mnt1 /tmp/mnt2
sudo mount /dev/sdX2 /tmp/mnt1
sudo tar --strip-components=1 -C /tmp/mnt1 -xzpf linaro-saucy-nano-20140410-652.tar.gz
sudo sync
sudo umount /tmp/mnt1

Extract BOOT partition

sudo mount -o umask=000 -t vfat /dev/sdX1 /tmp/mnt2
sudo tar -C /tmp/mnt2 -xzf rel.14.02.06.tgz

(The warning "Cannot change ownership..." can be ignored.)

sudo sync
sudo umount /tmp/mnt2

Edit some configuration files

Preventing to install unnecessary packages

sudo mount /dev/sdX2 /tmp/mnt1
sudo nano /tmp/mnt1/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/00InstallRecommends

(Edit and save.)

APT::Install-Recommends "false";

Network configuration

If your router's IP address is 192.168.0.1 and the Parallella's IP address is 192.168.0.2,

sudo nano /tmp/mnt1/etc/network/interfaces

(Edit and save.)

source-directory /etc/network/interfaces.d

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0

# static network settings
iface eth0 inet static
   address 192.168.0.2
   netmask 255.255.255.0
   gateway 192.168.0.1
   up sleep 3; mii-tool -F 1000baseT-FD

# If you prefer DHCP, comment out the above 5 lines, uncomment the below.
#iface eth0 inet dhcp
   up sleep 3; mii-tool -F 1000baseT-FD

sudo nano /tmp/mnt1/etc/resolv.conf

nameserver 192.168.0.1

sudo sync
sudo umount /tmp/mnt1

Insert the SD Card to the Parallella,
power-on,
Wait 30 seconds,
You'll see a root terminal.
If it doesn't boot, press the reset button and try again.

Install openssh-server

On the Parallella:

apt-get update
apt-get install openssh-server
sync

Now you can login the Parallella from your PC.
On the PC,

ssh linaro@192.168.0.2
password: linaro

Create device nodes

sudo mknod -m 600 /dev/ttyPS0 c 251 0
sudo chown root:tty /dev/ttyPS0

Let's see how lightweight it is

free

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:        992452      38356     954096          0       1816      13076
-/+ buffers/cache:      23464     968988
Swap:            0          0          0

The memory consumption is only 23MB !! :D

df

Filesystem     1K-blocks   Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root       30348232 311108  28472452   2% /
none               99248     68     99180   1% /run
none                5120      0      5120   0% /run/lock
none              496224      0    496224   0% /run/shm
none              102400      0    102400   0% /run/user

The disk consumption is only 304MB !!

Additional Installation

Recommended Packages

sudo apt-get install vim-tiny nano fake-hwclock wget less unzip

Epiphany SDK

sudo apt-get install build-essential man-db manpages-dev git libmpc-dev libmpc2 libgmp3-dev libmpfr-dev ca-certificates

wget http://ftp.parallella.org/esdk/esdk.5.13.09.10_linux_armv7l.tgz

md5sum esdk.5.13.09.10_linux_armv7l.tgz 

52e3b60185c882c7641115993b6a72b5  esdk.5.13.09.10_linux_armv7l.tgz

sudo mkdir -p /opt/adapteva/
sudo tar xzf esdk.5.13.09.10_linux_armv7l.tgz -C /opt/adapteva/
sudo ln -sTf /opt/adapteva/esdk.5.13.09.10 /opt/adapteva/esdk

touch ~/.nano_history
nano ~/.bashrc

(add to the bottom of the file)

EPIPHANY_HOME=/opt/adapteva/esdk
. ${EPIPHANY_HOME}/setup.sh

Disable sshd hostname look-up

(To fix slow SSH connections)

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

(add to the bottom of the file)

UseDNS no

Enable devtmpfs

(and disable serial console: they are incompatible)

sudo mknod -m 660 /dev/mmcblk0 b 179 0
sudo mknod -m 660 /dev/mmcblk0p1 b 179 1
sudo mknod -m 660 /dev/mmcblk0p2 b 179 2

sudo apt-get install device-tree-compiler

sudo mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt
cd /mnt
sudo cp devicetree.dtb devicetree.dtb.bak

sudo dtc -I dtb -O dts -o devicetree.dts devicetree.dtb

sudo nano devicetree.dts

(Search and Edit the "bootargs" line)

bootargs = "root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rw rootfstype=ext4 rootwait";

sudo dtc -I dts -O dtb -o devicetree.dtb devicetree.dts
cd /
sync
sudo reboot

That's all! Below are installation instructions of lightweight desktop environment.

How to Install lightweight X environment

Demo video: http://youtu.be/6gpM57qB-I8

Install LXDE

sudo apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils libasound2-plugins lxde x11-xserver-utils xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xserver-xorg-video-modesetting feh xinit

Disable PCManFM Desktop mode

(for faster displaying)

sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart

(Delete the line "@pcmanfm --desktop --profile LXDE" and save.)

Set a background image

Put a background image file in your home directory.
(e.g. /home/linaro/background.png)

sudo nano /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart

(Append this line to the bottom of the file)

@feh --bg-fill /home/linaro/background.png

xorg configuration

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Device"
  Identifier "Card0"
  Driver "modesetting"
  Option "ShadowFB" "True"
  Option "SWCursor" "True"
  Option "HWCursor" "False"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
  Identifier "Screen0"
  Device "Card0"
  SubSection "Display"
#---- Uncomment your preferred mode ----
    #Modes "1920x1200"
    #Modes "1920x1080"
    #Modes "1280x720"
    #Modes "640x480"
  EndSubSection
EndSection

ALSA configuration

nano ~/.asoundrc

(copy, paste and save)

pcm.!default {
 type rate
 slave {
  pcm "hw:0"
  rate 48000
 }
 converter "samplerate"
}

sync
sudo reboot

How to login as a normal user

After booting, press Ctrl+Alt+F2

login: linaro
Password: linaro

Or, (easier way)
In the root prompt,

su linaro
cd

Start X environment

startx

Install Firefox

sudo apt-get install firefox

Speed up Firefox

Launch Firefox, Type "about:config" in the URL bar, Type "browser.cache.disk.enable" in the "Search:" bar, Change the value true->false by double-clicking.

Type "mousewheel.acceleration.start" in the "Search:" bar, Double click, set [2].

Install media player

sudo apt-get install smplayer

Launch smplayer,
Options->Preferences->Video->Output driver: x11
Options->Preferences->Audio->Output driver: alsa

How to force framebuffer resolution to 1280x720

This increases desktop performance on a full-HD monitor.

Edit bootargs and update dtb file.
How to: Parallella_Linaro_Nano#Enable_devtmpfs

bootargs = "root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rw rootfstype=ext4 rootwait video=HDMI-A-1:1280x720";

Edit xorg.conf
How to: Parallella_Linaro_Nano#xorg_configuration

Modes "1280x720"
# In the Section "Screen"