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 set up 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

Optional, update Flasher Scripts:

cd /opt/scripts/
git pull

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 set up 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"

echo 'something' | sudo tee /etc/privilegedfile

Timezone

By default this image is set up 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/2017-01-22/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb*
b124e8adbf04a945a75edaa24634dab4e4c9c997b2849a59257c02d7cc4afe76  bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Debian Image Testing Snapshots

2017-01-22

BBW/BBB (All Revs) Machinekit

microSD/Standalone: (machinekit) Classic

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-22/machinekit/bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb*
57357935c96eb2619e7d56d16be3d8107520eebfe3ca3edb004c3c5d11bdfaba  bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-7.11-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.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/2017-01-22/machinekit/bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb*
8bb30e557524e8e8e65bba0551cd0bf9070f6b05b8943345a69b883acdce96dc  bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.7-machinekit-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Jessie Snapshot lxqt

2017-01-22 notes

* U-Boot: v2017.01
* Kernel: 4.4.43-ti-r84

Flasher: (lxqt-4gb) (All BeagleBone Variants with a 4GB eMMC)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-22/lxqt-4gb/BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb*
d59256be62b94d86e3ae264e7952b86f3d3c175aa157b19161dcdf03493872f6  BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat BBB-blank-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-4gb) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-22/lxqt-4gb/bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb*
76003608d78115ec7348dc1cf349b71fefc677b2e8749597ac5d500338c5ba74  bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.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/2017-01-22/lxqt-4gb/bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb*
b124e8adbf04a945a75edaa24634dab4e4c9c997b2849a59257c02d7cc4afe76  bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-2gb) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-22/lxqt-2gb/bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb*
e759d7d1565cb781272a6ddd0d6364dc6448c1c2eaa66341a7ff2ae14b1dfcae  bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-2gb-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (lxqt-xm-4gb) (BeagleBoard xM)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-22/lxqt-xm-4gb/bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb*
22d7a42e2a8f9f15bb2aee969c7eeb99ebac13b31e5ab7eb2b5a5c5ef37975c3  bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbxm-debian-8.7-lxqt-xm-4gb-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Jessie Snapshot iot

Flasher: (iot) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-22/iot/BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb*
02fca37fc648cd8c6f03eb4458eb60aec225a9ab986ba6141ac40c4b1c69c6e6  BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat BBB-blank-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

microSD/Standalone: (iot) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-22/iot/bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb*
73b942648adb9f89dec6f1f20dd278bb2c4820468b37035ee8423cc41de56fcd  bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.7-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Jessie Snapshot console

microSD/Standalone: (console) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-22/console/bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb*
7f8fc88ecad58c88b0a2f6e30564a7b0692809bc3a22af6c87020aefa8efbc3a  bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

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

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-22/console/bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb*
e3cbfe7ef5e042923ee8392e166c1842d380fff61cf099c3dea2b1c97975dc1c  bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-8.7-console-armhf-2017-01-22-2gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

Stretch testing

https://wiki.debian.org/DebianStretch

2017-01-22 notes

* U-Boot: v2017.01
* Kernel: 4.9.4-ti-r15

microSD/Standalone: (testing) (All BeagleBone Variants)

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-22/stretch-iot/bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb*
664e28609a88467b1ab2adc193838ef5628ab71f082421e7873e7e9f74f9e0df  bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bone-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX

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

Get prebuilt image:

wget https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/bb.org/testing/2017-01-22/stretch-iot/bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Verify Image with:

sha256sum bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb*
11d5f68214b27078cc3e2e95a0a33adcf7d8cdb02d8a729bae91d1f5da7f6e4c  bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.img.xz

Windows/Mac/Linux gui

http://etcher.io

Linux: (dd)

xzcat bbx15-debian-stretch-iot-armhf-2017-01-22-4gb.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

4.4.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 All BeagleBone Variants and BeagleBoard-X15
--ti-channel --lts-4_4

4.4.x-ti All BeagleBone Variants and BeagleBoard-X15 + RT
--ti-rt-channel --lts-4_4

4.4.x-ti All BeagleBone Variants and BeagleBoard-X15 + Xenomai
--ti-xenomai-channel --lts-4_4

4.9.x-ti

beagleboard.org patchset: https://github.com/beagleboard/linux/tree/4.9

4.9.x-ti All BeagleBone Variants and BeagleBoard-X15
--ti-channel --lts-4_9

Mainline (4.4.x lts)

4.4.x All BeagleBone Variants
--bone-kernel --lts-4_4

4.4.x All BeagleBone Variants + RT
--bone-rt-kernel --lts-4_4

Mainline (4.9.x lts)

4.9.x All BeagleBone Variants
--bone-kernel --lts-4_9

Debian 8: jessie

sudo apt-get install linux-image-armmp