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. *Note, img files with the words "eMMC-flasher" already had this enabled...*

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_2016.04.24~bpo70+20160424+1_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i rcn-ee-archive-keyring_*_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

Adding bb.org-overlays to jessie console image

Currently by default, the console image doesn't include the *.dtbo overlays.

Install build requirements: (add's 145Mb to the console image)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential git-core device-tree-compiler

Clone bb.org-overlays repo:

git clone https://github.com/beagleboard/bb.org-overlays/
cd ./bb.org-overlays/
./install.sh

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

BeagleBoard-X15 weekly

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

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

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-08-14/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb*
ecb76f5388a8b96c90df37b39e6a1c14440f9a70f17ad66530fb2ee02d13edb3  bbx15-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Debian Image Testing Snapshots

Historical Archive mirror (not as fast as rcn-ee.com (linode))

https://rcn-ee.online/rootfs/bb.org/testing/

2016-08-14

BBW/BBB (All Revs) Machinekit

microSD/Standalone: (machinekit) Classic

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-07-18/machinekit/bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2016-07-18-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2016-07-18-4gb*
e29691d5909b2c3007a1432989f9d0fcfdf374aeb1bab4771273f1b42721925f  bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2016-07-18-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2016-07-18-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (machinekit) Based on Debian Jessie (new)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-07-18/machinekit/bone-debian-8.5-machinekit-armhf-2016-07-18-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.5-machinekit-armhf-2016-07-18-4gb*
bf0c4adc3678d562ecd8fbd94cbd6f8094ac7472304da79a1f901e951766cd5a  bone-debian-8.5-machinekit-armhf-2016-07-18-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.5-machinekit-armhf-2016-07-18-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Jessie Snapshot lxqt

2016-08-14 notes

* U-Boot: v2016.03
* Kernel: 4.4.16-ti-r38

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

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-08-14/lxqt-4gb/BBB-blank-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum BBB-blank-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb*
8c638c0a70dd663425c74c91471cb30bc1ba670fdf8c2d3263bdda4276bc79db  BBB-blank-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat BBB-blank-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

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

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-08-14/lxqt-4gb/bone-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb*
ad805a6046c2808fdbaed97fa92b630f6004253f2c585b460d10cbc144b97892  bone-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

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

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-08-14/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-blank-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-blank-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb*
41c2354eb3557755bca210572d11bac97b92f08073bbfc7d90c164584a4516a7  bbx15-blank-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-blank-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

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

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-08-14/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb*
ecb76f5388a8b96c90df37b39e6a1c14440f9a70f17ad66530fb2ee02d13edb3  bbx15-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-8.5-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-2gb) (BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBone Green)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-08-14/lxqt-2gb/bone-debian-8.5-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.5-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb*
1e0570681ab5947cf7f5165138bd9a68fc28da2ba116d34eedd978ffbbe5c8d9  bone-debian-8.5-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.5-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Jessie Snapshot iot

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

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-08-14/iot/BBB-blank-debian-8.5-iot-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum BBB-blank-debian-8.5-iot-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb*
46fbe7675a29d01eba349fadbfba778f2fafa513b60411cb38eb68e0f4ba4c10  BBB-blank-debian-8.5-iot-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat BBB-blank-debian-8.5-iot-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

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

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-08-14/iot/bone-debian-8.5-iot-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.5-iot-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb*
3bb8be31270f0d6250a341c3be0a7c37c197a051c913581121e9912adb899be2  bone-debian-8.5-iot-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.5-iot-armhf-2016-08-14-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Jessie Snapshot console

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

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-08-14/console/BBB-blank-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum BBB-blank-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb*
ec5aca0d669f8f290e73f938019a10a211480ded89fc1dd65ab718651ccac39c  BBB-blank-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat BBB-blank-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

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

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-08-14/console/bone-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb*
31409aa2d598aa0bec212f775be7c390fd39527cb3b6de804de237a616249d1d  bone-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

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

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2016-08-14/console/bbx15-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb*
b76e7eee1e36d3e1b0b66cbfbee9bee1c56e706e202aed0f85be6f487ee20ef3  bbx15-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-8.5-console-armhf-2016-08-14-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

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

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-rt-linux-4.1.y

4.1.x-ti BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBoard-X15
--ti-channel --lts-4_1

4.1.x-ti BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBoard-X15 + RT
--ti-rt-channel --lts-4_1

4.4.x-ti

beagleboard.org patchset: https://github.com/beagleboard/linux/tree/4.4
Based on: http://git.ti.com/gitweb/?p=ti-linux-kernel/ti-linux-kernel.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/ti-rt-linux-4.4.y

4.4.x-ti BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBoard-X15
--ti-channel --lts-4_4

4.4.x-ti BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black/BeagleBoard-X15 + RT
--ti-rt-channel --lts-4_4

Mainline (4.1.x lts)

4.1.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black
--bone-kernel --lts-4_1

4.1.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black + RT
--bone-rt-kernel --lts-4_1

Mainline (4.4.x lts)

4.4.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black
--bone-kernel --lts-4_4

4.4.x BeagleBone/BeagleBone Black + RT
--bone-rt-kernel --lts-4_4

Debian 8: jessie

sudo apt-get install linux-image-armmp