EBC Exercise 08 Installing Development Tools 3.8

Embedded Linux Class by Mark A. Yoder

See EBC Exercise 08 Installing Development Tools 3.2 if you are working with the 3.2 kernel.

Early in the class most of the exercises we will do will all run on the BeagleBoard. You'll be able to edit (gedit), compile (gcc) and run all on the Beagle. Later, when we start compiling the kernel [1] or the boot loader, (U-boot) you will need to cross compile on a Linux machine and copy the results to the Beagle.

The purpose of this exercise is to install all the tools needed for compiling on your host so they will be ready when you need them.

Instructions for building Ångström are given here; however there are a few changes you have to make. Here's what I did.

Tip: Run this exercise using a wired connection if you can. The Ubuntu wireless driver can be finicky, and if it stops working you'll have to restart some of this.

The 3.8 Kernel

3.8 Kernel

Make sure you installed the cross compiler (EBC Exercise 08a Cross-Compiling) before doing this exercise.

Note taken from Beaglebone: Adding USB Wi-Fi & Building a Linux Kernel starting around 4 minutes and ending around 21 minutes. Uses kernel from Robert C. Nelson's BeagleBone page.

host$ git clone git://github.com/RobertCNelson/linux-dev.git
host$ git git checkout origin/am33x-v3.8 -b am33x-v3.8
host$ time git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git  (21 minutes)
host$ cp system.sh.sample system.sh.sample
host$ diff system.sh*
15c15
< CC=arm-linux-gnueabi-
---
> #CC=arm-linux-gnueabi-
21c21
< LINUX_GIT=~/BeagleBoard/linux-stable/
---
> #LINUX_GIT=/home/user/linux-stable/
31c31
< ZRELADDR=0x80008000
---
> #ZRELADDR=0x80008000

Now get some more tools.

host$ sudo apt-get install -y uboot-tools ccache libncurses5-dev
host$ sudo apt-get install build-essential
host$ sudo apt-get install device-tree-compiler lzop u-boot-tools ia32-libs

Then build the kernel.

host$ ./build_kernel.sh
+ Detected build host [Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS]
Debian/Ubuntu/Mint: missing dependicies, please install:
-----------------------------
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev 
-----------------------------
* Failed dependency check

I fixed this error by editing linux-dev/tools/host_det.sh and commenting out the line:

#	dpkg -l | grep libncurses5-dev | grep ${deb_arch} >/dev/null || deb_pkgs="${deb_pkgs}libncurses5-dev "

It was looking for amd64 in the dpkg -l listing and it wasn't appearing.

Now install by inserting the SD to be installed on into your host machine and run:

host$ ./tools/install_kernel.sh

Mine failed because there wasn't enough space on the VFAT partition for uImage, however uImage isn't needed there, so I just editted install_kernel.sh and commented out line 160

#			mmc_partition_discover

This keeps it from installing on the VFAT partition.

Minimal Ubuntu Build

(The video says rcn-ee.net/deb/rootfs/oneiric, but it isn't there.)

host$ wget http://rcn-ee.net/deb/rootfs/raring/ubuntu-raring-console-armhf-2013-03-28.tar.xz
host$ xz -d ubuntu-raring-console-armhf-2013-03-28.tar.xz
host$ tar -xf ubuntu-raring-console-armhf-2013-03-28.tar

Put the SD card in a reader for your host and...

host$ ./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdc --uboot bone

Ians notes: The builds are being updated constantly, so go to http://rcn-ee.net/deb/rootfs/raring/ and find the latest build.

DAS U-boot

These instructions came from Robert C Nelson's eewiki.net.

download

While we're at it, let's get the boot loader we'll be using. It takes some 40 seconds.

host$ cd ~/BeagleBoard
host$ git clone git://git.denx.de/u-boot.git
host$ cd u-boot/
host$ git checkout v2013.04 -b tmp

U-Boot Patches

host$ wget https://raw.github.com/eewiki/u-boot-patches/master/v2013.04/0001-am335x_evm-uEnv.txt-bootz-n-fixes.patch
host$ patch -p1 < 0001-am335x_evm-uEnv.txt-bootz-n-fixes.patch

compile

Now configure and build. The first time takes some 1.5 minutes. After that it's only 5 seconds or so.

host$ source ~/crossCompileEnv.sh 
host$ make distclean
host$ make am335x_evm_config
host$ make

install

host$ scp u-boot.img root@beagle:.
beagle$ mkdir /media/mmcblk0p1
beagle$ mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /media/mmcblk0p1
beagle$ cd /media/mmcblk0p1
beagle$ mv u-boot.img u-boot.img.orig  # Save the working u-boot
beagle$ cp ~/u-boot.img u-boot.img.new
beagle$ cp u-boot.img.new u-boot.img

Once installed you are ready for u-boot work.

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Embedded Linux Class by Mark A. Yoder