This is a page about TI's Cortex-A8 based; BeagleBoard and BeagleBoard xM.

Availability

Boards:
BeagleBoard Cx at Digi-Key
BeagleBoard xM at Digi-Key
CircuitCo 7inch LCD at Digi-Key

Basic Requirements

Running a recent release of Debian, Fedora or Ubuntu; without OS Virtualization Software.
ARM Cross Compiler – Linaro: http://www.linaro.org
- Linaro Toolchain Binaries: http://www.linaro.org/downloads/
Bootloader
- Das U-Boot – the Universal Boot Loader: http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot
- Source: http://git.denx.de/?p=u-boot.git;a=summary
Linux Kernel
- Linus's Mainline tree: https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git
ARM based rootfs
- Debian: https://www.debian.org
- Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com

ARM Cross Compiler: GCC

This is a pre-built (64bit) version of Linaro GCC that runs on generic linux, sorry (32bit) x86 users, it's time to upgrade...
Download/Extract:

~/

wget -c https://releases.linaro.org/components/toolchain/binaries/5.2-2015.11-2/arm-linux-gnueabihf/gcc-linaro-5.2-2015.11-2-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
tar xf gcc-linaro-5.2-2015.11-2-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
export CC=`pwd`/gcc-linaro-5.2-2015.11-2-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-

Test:

~/

${CC}gcc --version
arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc (Linaro GCC 5.2-2015.11-2) 5.2.1 20151005
Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Bootloader: U-Boot

Das U-Boot – the Universal Boot Loader: http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot
eewiki.net patch archive: https://github.com/eewiki/u-boot-patches
Download:

~/

git clone https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot
cd u-boot/
git checkout v2016.03 -b tmp

Patches:

~/u-boot

wget -c https://rcn-ee.com/repos/git/u-boot-patches/v2016.03/0001-omap3_beagle-uEnv.txt-bootz-n-fixes.patch
 
patch -p1 < 0001-omap3_beagle-uEnv.txt-bootz-n-fixes.patch

Configure and Build:

~/u-boot

make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} distclean
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} omap3_beagle_defconfig
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC}

Linux Kernel

This script will build the kernel, modules, device tree binaries and copy them to the deploy directory.
Download:

~/

git clone https://github.com/RobertCNelson/armv7-multiplatform
cd armv7-multiplatform/

For v4.1.x (Longterm 4.1.x):

~/armv7-multiplatform

git checkout origin/v4.1.x -b tmp

For v4.1.x-rt (Longterm 4.1.x + Real-Time Linux):

~/armv7-multiplatform

git checkout origin/v4.1.x-rt -b tmp

For v4.4.x (Longterm 4.4.x):

~/armv7-multiplatform

git checkout origin/v4.4.x -b tmp

For v4.4.x-rt (Longterm 4.4.x + Real-Time Linux):

~/armv7-multiplatform

git checkout origin/v4.4.x-rt -b tmp

For v4.5.x (Stable):

~/armv7-multiplatform

git checkout origin/v4.5.x -b tmp

Build:

~/armv7-multiplatform/

./build_kernel.sh

Root File System

Debian 8

User	Password
debian	temppwd
root	root

Download:

~/

wget -c https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/eewiki/minfs/debian-8.3-minimal-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz

Verify:

~/

sha256sum debian-8.3-minimal-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz
086d64616d8baaee46750586cbcf9d6ee93af67902e29f70c7786297b50d6545  debian-8.3-minimal-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz

Extract:

~/

tar xf debian-8.3-minimal-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

User	Password
ubuntu	temppwd

Download:

~/

wget -c https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/eewiki/minfs/ubuntu-14.04.3-minimal-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz

Verify:

~/

sha256sum ubuntu-14.04.3-minimal-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz
8406f5a7a0192525898c0f17bd67d0a07ad6e88cb766c8722c297af5b7bd7cc1  ubuntu-14.04.3-minimal-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz

Extract:

~/

tar xf ubuntu-14.04.3-minimal-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz

Root File System (small flash)

A Root File System around 100Mb in size, for flash applications.

Debian 8 (small flash)

User	Password
debian	temppwd
root	root

Download:

~/

wget -c https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/eewiki/barefs/debian-8.3-bare-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz

Verify:

~/

sha256sum debian-8.3-bare-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz
569cea2df25d75528c3c4096f44c265f4905da2aeb40f8ef3353ebd6b20e7edc  debian-8.3-bare-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz

Extract:

~/

tar xf debian-8.3-bare-armhf-2016-01-25.tar.xz

Setup microSD card

For these instruction we are assuming, DISK=/dev/mmcblk0, lsblk is very useful for determining the device id.

export DISK=/dev/mmcblk0

Erase partition table/labels on microSD card:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=${DISK} bs=1M count=20

Create Partition Layout:
With util-linux v2.26, sfdisk was rewritten and is now based on libfdisk.

sudo sfdisk --version

sfdisk >= 2.26.x

sudo sfdisk ${DISK} <<-__EOF__
1M,12M,0xE,*
,,,-
__EOF__

sfdisk <= 2.25.x

sudo sfdisk --unit M ${DISK} <<-__EOF__
1,12,0xE,*
,,,-
__EOF__

Format Partition:

for: DISK=/dev/mmcblk0
sudo mkfs.vfat -F 16 -n BOOT ${DISK}p1
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs ${DISK}p2
 
for: DISK=/dev/sdX
sudo mkfs.vfat -F 16 -n BOOT ${DISK}1
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs ${DISK}2

Mount Partition:
On most systems these partitions may will be auto-mounted...

sudo mkdir -p /media/boot/
sudo mkdir -p /media/rootfs/
 
for: DISK=/dev/mmcblk0
sudo mount ${DISK}p1 /media/boot/
sudo mount ${DISK}p2 /media/rootfs/
 
for: DISK=/dev/sdX
sudo mount ${DISK}1 /media/boot/
sudo mount ${DISK}2 /media/rootfs/

Install Bootloader

Copy MLO/u-boot.img to the boot partition

~/

sudo cp -v ./u-boot/MLO /media/boot/
sudo cp -v ./u-boot/u-boot.img /media/boot/

Install Kernel and Root File System

To help new users, since the kernel version can change on a daily basis. The kernel building scripts listed on this page will now give you a hint of what kernel version was built.

-----------------------------
Script Complete
eewiki.net: [user@localhost:~$ export kernel_version=4.X.Y-Z]
-----------------------------

Copy and paste that "export kernel_version=4.X.Y-Z" exactly as shown in your own build/desktop environment and hit enter to create an environment variable to be used later.

export kernel_version=4.X.Y-Z

Copy Root File System

~/

sudo tar xfvp ./*-*-*-armhf-*/armhf-rootfs-*.tar -C /media/rootfs/

Set uname_r in /boot/uEnv.txt

~/

sudo sh -c "echo 'uname_r=${kernel_version}' >> /media/rootfs/boot/uEnv.txt"

Copy Kernel Image

Kernel Image:

~/

sudo cp -v ./armv7-multiplatform/deploy/${kernel_version}.zImage /media/rootfs/boot/vmlinuz-${kernel_version}

Copy Kernel Device Tree Binaries

~/

sudo mkdir -p /media/rootfs/boot/dtbs/${kernel_version}/
sudo tar xfv ./armv7-multiplatform/deploy/${kernel_version}-dtbs.tar.gz -C /media/rootfs/boot/dtbs/${kernel_version}/

Copy Kernel Modules

~/

sudo tar xfv ./armv7-multiplatform/deploy/${kernel_version}-modules.tar.gz -C /media/rootfs/

File Systems Table (/etc/fstab)

/etc/fstab

sudo sh -c "echo '/dev/mmcblk0p2  /  auto  errors=remount-ro  0  1' >> /media/rootfs/etc/fstab"
sudo sh -c "echo '/dev/mmcblk0p1  /boot/uboot  auto  defaults  0  2' >> /media/rootfs/etc/fstab"

Networking

Edit: /etc/network/interfaces

sudo nano /media/rootfs/etc/network/interfaces

Add:

/etc/network/interfaces

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
 
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

Serial Login

Ubuntu
Create new file: /etc/init/serial.conf

sudo nano /media/rootfs/etc/init/serial.conf

With this content:

/etc/init/serial.conf

start on stopped rc RUNLEVEL=[2345]
stop on runlevel [!2345]
 
respawn
exec /sbin/getty 115200 ttyO2

Remove microSD/SD card

sync
sudo umount /media/boot
sudo umount /media/rootfs

Comments

Comments, feedback, and questions can be sent to: eewiki@digikey.com
Please use the Digi-Key Forum: TechXchange Community

Page tree

BeagleBoard

Availability

Basic Requirements

ARM Cross Compiler: GCC

Bootloader: U-Boot

Linux Kernel

Root File System

Debian 8

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

Root File System (small flash)

Debian 8 (small flash)

Setup microSD card

Install Bootloader

Install Kernel and Root File System

Copy Root File System

Set uname_r in /boot/uEnv.txt

Copy Kernel Image

Copy Kernel Device Tree Binaries

Copy Kernel Modules

File Systems Table (/etc/fstab)

Networking

Serial Login

Remove microSD/SD card

Comments