Beagleboard:Desktops On Ubuntu/Debian

This page describes how to load full desktops onto your BeagleBone Black. These options are not supported by Beagleboard.org or Circuitco.

Setup
This page is for installing full desktops such as Ubuntu-desktop and GNOME-desktop. All of the options listed on this page require more space than is available on the eMMC of the BeagleBone Black and any micro SD card less than 4 GB in size. For best results, it is recommended you use a micro SD card of size 8 GB or greater in order to have plenty of room in your file system. There are 3 basic, overall steps to installing these desktops: All of these steps will be described in more detail below. All of the options below also require the same set of materials.
 * 1) Boot from a certain micro SD image described on  Ubuntu On BeagleBoard Black or  Debian On BeagleBoard Black
 * 2) Expand the file system partition on your micro SD as explained  Expanding File System Partition on a MicroSD.
 * 3) Install the desktop


 * BeagleBone Black
 * Display to connect BeagleBone Black to
 * Mouse and Keyboard (as well as a USB hub if they have separate dongles/cables)
 * Micro SD card 4 GB or more in size (8 GB is recommended but not neccessary)
 * Ethernet cable with working connection
 * Separate computer with internet connection to download and flash an image to micro SD

Ubuntu Precise On A microSD With Ubuntu Desktop
This section is for users who want to use full Ubuntu Desktop on their BeagleBone Black.

1. Follow the procedure pertaining to Ubuntu Precise on Ubuntu Precise On MicroSD 2. After you have successfully installed Ubuntu Precise on a micro SD, make sure your software is updated by running this command sudo apt-get update And then run sudo apt-get upgrade 3. Now it is time to re-partition the micro SD. The process of how to do this is explained on Expanding File System Partition On A MicroSD 4. Install the desktop by executing the following command from the command line sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop 5. When the installation finished you will be returned to the command line. Reboot the computer using the command "sudo reboot" (without the quotes). 6. The reboot will take a few minutes and after it is done you will be brought to the log-in screen for Ubuntu Desktop. The feault user is ubuntu and the default password is ubuntu.
 * Read the Ubuntu Precise section carefully and be sure to complete the [[Beagleboard:Ubuntu_On_BeagleBone_Black#Main_Process | main process] at the top of that page first.
 * This will require that you have an internet connection on your BeagleBone Black
 * If you are asked for a password the default is ubuntu
 * You may be prompted to confirm that the process with take up an extra XXX MB of space. Just type y and hit enter if this happens
 * This will take upwards of an hour to complete. It will download, extract, and install all of the needed packages for Ubuntu Desktop
 * The start up should take a few minutes. If it has been more than 10 minutes without showing the Ubuntu Desktop log-in then remove the power from the BeagleBone Black and re-apply it.

If this desktop seems to heavy or slow on your BeagleBone Black you may try the less strenuous LXDE version. A tutorial and how to install LXDE for Ubuntu Precise can be found LXDE On A MicroSD with Precise. Note: you will not have to re-partition your microSD for LXDE but it is still an option.

Ubuntu Raring On A microSD With Ubuntu Desktop
This section is for users who want to use full Ubuntu Desktop on their BeagleBone Black.

1. Follow the procedure pertaining to Ubuntu Raring on Ubuntu Raring On MicroSD 2. After you have successfully installed Ubuntu Raring on a micro SD, make sure your software is updated by running this command sudo apt-get update And then run sudo apt-get upgrade 3. Now it is time to re-partition the micro SD. The process of how to do this is explained on Expanding File System Partition On A MicroSD 4. Install the desktop by executing the following command from the command line sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop 5. When the installation finished you will be returned to the command line. Reboot the computer using the command "sudo reboot" (without the quotes). 6. The reboot will take a few minutes and after it is done you will be brought to the log-in screen for Ubuntu Desktop. The default user is ubuntu and the default password is ubuntu.
 * Read the Ubuntu Raring section carefully and be sure to complete the main process at the top of that page first.
 * Also, be sure you are following the micro SD version tutorial, not the tutorial for flashing to the eMMC at the bottom of the page
 * This will require that you have an internet connection on your BeagleBone Black
 * If you are asked for a password the default is ubuntu
 * You may be prompted to confirm that the process with take up an extra XXX MB of space. Just type y and hit enter if this happens
 * This will take upwards of an hour to complete. It will download, extract, and install all of the needed packages for Ubuntu Desktop
 * The start up should take a few minutes. If it has been more than 10 minutes without showing the Ubuntu Desktop log-in then remove the power from the BeagleBone Black and re-apply it.

Note: There are a few issues with Ubuntu Desktop running on this version of Ubuntu. You may not get passed the log-in screen. A more successful version of Ubuntu with working desktop is [[Beagleboard:Desktops_On_Ubuntu/Debian#Ubuntu_Precise_On_A_microSD_With_Ubuntu_Desktop | Ubuntu Precise] described in the section above.

If this desktop seems to heavy or slow on your BeagleBone Black you may try the less strenuous (although, still buggy) LXDE version. A tutorial and how to install LXDE for Ubuntu Raring can be found LXDE On A MicroSD with Ubuntu Raring. Note: you will not have to re-partition your microSD for LXDE.

Debian Wheezy On A microSD With Gnome Desktop
This section is for users who want to use full Debian Gnome Desktop on their BeagleBone Black.

1. Follow the procedure pertaining to Debian Wheezy on Debian Wheezy On MicroSD 2. After you have successfully installed Debian Wheezy on a micro SD, make sure your software is updated by running this command sudo apt-get update And then run sudo apt-get upgrade 3. Now it is time to re-partition the micro SD. The process of how to do this is explained on Expanding File System Partition On A MicroSD 4. Install tasksel and aptitude sudo apt-get install aptitude tasksel 5. Install the desktop by executing the following command from the command line sudo tasksel install gnome-desktop --new-install 6. When the installation finished you will be returned to the command line. Reboot the computer using the command "sudo reboot" (without the quotes). 7. The reboot will take a few minutes and after it is done you will be brought to the log-in screen for Ubuntu Desktop. The default user is debian and the default password is debian.
 * Read the Debian Wheezy section carefully and be sure to complete the main process at the top of that page first.
 * This will require that you have an internet connection on your BeagleBone Black
 * If you are asked for a password the default is debian
 * You may be prompted to confirm that the process with take up an extra XXX MB of space. Just type y and hit enter if this happens
 * This will take you to a blue screen and it will take upwards of an hour to complete. It will download, extract, and install all of the needed packages for Gnome Desktop
 * The start up should take a few minutes. If it has been more than 10 minutes without showing the Gnome Desktop log-in then remove the power from the BeagleBone Black and re-apply it.

If this desktop seems to heavy or slow on your BeagleBone Black you may try the less strenuous LXDE version. A tutorial and how to install LXDE for Debian can be found LXDE With Debian Wheezy. Note: you will not have to re-partition your microSD for LXDE.

Other Options
Ubuntu Desktop and Gnome Dekstop aren't the only desktop options available. As mentioned in the previous sections, you can see Installing LXDE about LXDE. For Ubuntu you have several potential alternatives To install one of these desktops you would just enter sudo apt-get install xxxxxx-desktop instead of sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop in the instructions above.
 * xubuntu-desktop
 * kubuntu-desktop
 * lubuntu-desktop

You can also see this page for other options for desktops on Debian.

To be clear, none of these are supported by Beagleboard.org or Circuitco. These options are just here as an alternative to Angstrom that comes loaded on the BeagleBone Black.