BBB Booting Without (Volatile) Memory Loss? - For UAV

Ladies, Gents,

Bit of a newbie here, so i’ve got a rather basic question: I’m currently building a UAV flight controller for my masters thesis, with the BBB serving as the core computer. I’ve managed to boot with Ubuntu via the micro SD card (eMMC has not been flashed and still runs the original Angstrom Linux OS). I spent the last day or so configuring the Ubuntu OS and installing software (eg. NTP server, setting nameserver, installing g++, xVNC etc.) All of this is obviously lost once the BBB is powered down. My (fairly basic) question is: Is there an automated way to load/install all configuration changes/programs automatically on boot, to prevent doing this over and over? Some form of boot file? Does this behaviour change if the eMMC is flashed with the Ubuntu OS?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks for your time!

RDK

Unless you run in a ramdisk, everything you install and configure will be written to your sdcard. Are you running in a ramdisk? and if so why?

Hi PLyttle,

Thanks for your response. I apologize, I’m very much new to the BBB and Linux, what exactly do you mean by “RamDisk”? I’ve currently booted from my microSD card with Ubuntu 13.10. I installed several programs and made several configuration changes that were lost when I powered down my BBB and then rebooted from the microSD card again. I half expected these changes to be saved on the microSD card but this unfortunately wasn’t the case. Must I flash the eMMC with Ubuntu and then configure my microSD card to run as a RamDisk? Could you possible point me in the direction of some documentation on how exactly to do this?

Cheers!

RDK

You are pulling my leg, right? You know how to find this forum, but fail to locate beagleboard.org? Delete /Community/Forums from the current URL and follow the links to
http://beagleboard.org/Getting%20Started.

You are currently building a UAV flight controller for your masters thesis It is your masters degree. You do the research! There are very few matters more documented on the web than linux

if you want to know what a ramdisk is, use google or wiki.

success with your project

LP

You are pulling my leg, right? You know how to find this forum, but fail to locate beagleboard.org? Delete /Community/Forums from the current URL and follow the links to
http://beagleboard.org/Getting%20Started.

You are currently building a UAV flight controller for your masters thesis It is your masters degree. You do the research! There are very few matters more documented on the web than linux

if you want to know what a ramdisk is, use google or wiki.

That was a little bit harsh. Dustin already said he was new to BBB and Linux so cut him a little slack. We all started out like Dustin and there were people along the way that had the patience to answer our questions. I’m sure your e-mail was well meaning but it did come across as quite critical and really personal.

You think so?
I don’t think that somebody, preparing for a masters degree in engineering, is a rank beginner. At least he should know how to use the internet. I’m sorry if he felt offended, but this is what a formal studies is all about. Finding things out yourself, not being told how to.
Yes I was a bit harsh, I meant to be, but unfair? I don’t think so.

LP