[beagleboard] [Beaglebone]: What distro to choose?

Other distros are based on what, pixie dust?

No, they are based on binary packages targeted to specific architectures (i.e. ubuntu). (;-D

Jokes apart, In gentoo you download the sources and the binary is compiled in the target, so you have your software tuned for your hardware, this could be cumbersome for beagles, so I think that is better to start with ubuntu and switch to angstrom as needed.

best regards,
Pedro

Koen Kooi <koen@beagleboard.org> [12-08-07 17:54]:

>
> Hi,
> (this is my first post to this group)
>
> I ordered a beaglebone with a multimedia cape (chipsee) and the LC7 cape.
> It will arrive next week.
> In the meantime I had browsed the internet in search of a linux distro, which fits
> the beaglebone and my needs.
> Preferable the distro should be something like Gentoo: source based.

Other distros are based on what, pixie dust?

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Hi Koen,

sorry if you didnt understand my question. Pixie dust would not work.
Instead Gentoo -- you dont know Gentoo? -- is source based where other
distros install precompiled binary packages.
Please dont hesitate ask again, if you have questions concerning the package
management of distros or other questions concerning linux. Where I can
help I am happy to help. :slight_smile:

Best regards,
mcc

Pedro Ignacio Martos <pi_martos2005@yahoo.com.ar> [12-08-07 17:55]:

>
>Other distros are based on what, pixie dust?
>

No, they are based on binary packages targeted to specific
architectures (i.e. ubuntu). (;-D

Jokes apart, In gentoo you download the sources and the binary is
compiled in the target, so you have your software tuned for your
hardware, this could be cumbersome for beagles, so I think that is
better to start with ubuntu and switch to angstrom as needed.

best regards,
Pedro

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Hi,

as I have insalled a cross-compilation toolchain on my host system
(gentoo, amd64) I dont want to try to compile a complete Gentoo
on the beaglebone.
I plan to compile the sources of the distro to choose on the host
system and install the compilation result on the beaglebone.
Only minor updates/correction and of course developments will
be compiled directly on the beaglebone.

What distro should I use if the preferences outlined in my initial
email are also taken into consideration?

Best regards,
mcc

Hi Koen,

sorry if you didnt understand my question. Pixie dust would not work.
Instead Gentoo -- you dont know Gentoo? -- is source based where other
distros install precompiled binary packages.
Please dont hesitate ask again, if you have questions concerning the package
management of distros or other questions concerning linux. Where I can
help I am happy to help. :slight_smile:

Best regards,
mcc

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This may have to go up on the pin board ^^

In all seriousness though you are pretty much describing Angstrom - find out what your build error is, research it, if you're still stuck then post the errors to either this list or the Angstrom list.

Regards,
Jack.

And what are those binary packages made from? Don't answer :slight_smile: Seeing phrases like "source based" are a pet peeve of mine, in the end everything is source based, the distinction is where the space heaters are located.

Koen Kooi <koen@beagleboard.org> [12-08-07 19:48]:

> Koen Kooi <koen@beagleboard.org> [12-08-07 17:54]:
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>> (this is my first post to this group)
>>>
>>> I ordered a beaglebone with a multimedia cape (chipsee) and the LC7 cape.
>>> It will arrive next week.
>>> In the meantime I had browsed the internet in search of a linux distro, which fits
>>> the beaglebone and my needs.
>>> Preferable the distro should be something like Gentoo: source based.
>>
>> Other distros are based on what, pixie dust?
>>
>> -- To join: http://beagleboard.org/discuss
>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to:
>> beagleboard+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
>> Frequently asked questions: Frequently Asked Questions - BeagleBoard
>>
>
> Hi Koen,
>
> sorry if you didnt understand my question. Pixie dust would not work.
> Instead Gentoo -- you dont know Gentoo? -- is source based where other
> distros install precompiled binary packages.

And what are those binary packages made from? Don't answer :slight_smile: Seeing phrases like "source based" are a pet peeve of mine, in the end everything is source based, the distinction is where the space heaters are located.

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I only was a little ... hrrrmmm ... astonished to receive such an
answer.
I only was in search of an answer.
But I will try to improve my English further as in exactness as in words (I am
no native english speaker) if souch commonly used phrases are such an
annoyance to you. I am only in search of answers and
solutions...nothing more.

Best regards,
mcc

My initial experience with Angstrom was a little overwhelming as I was unfamiliar with bitbake/OpenEmbedded. Over the past few months, however, I have come to realize that Angstrom was a more integrated system than any of my previous experiences (Snapgear, buildroot, home-made, etc.). The tool chain is biult along with all the packages, and once familiar with bitbake recipes, and layers, it was relatively easy to specialize in a con-formant manner. My main complaint was that the documentation appeared somewhat sparse and out of date. This is inevitable with a dynamic development.

Just my 2 cents.

Dave.

David Lambert <dave@lambsys.com> [12-08-07 20:16]:

My initial experience with Angstrom was a little overwhelming as I was
unfamiliar with bitbake/OpenEmbedded. Over the past few months,
however, I have come to realize that Angstrom was a more integrated
system than any of my previous experiences (Snapgear, buildroot,
home-made, etc.). The tool chain is biult along with all the packages,
and once familiar with bitbake recipes, and layers, it was relatively
easy to specialize in a con-formant manner. My main complaint was that
the documentation appeared somewhat sparse and out of date. This is
inevitable with a dynamic development.

Just my 2 cents.

Dave.

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Hi Dave,

I followed the instructions here:
http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/building-angstrom

and after reading
    "Or get some inspiration from looking in conf/machine in the various layers in the sources directory"

I did a

    find . | grep image.bb

to find more recipies.
With this information I wrote the following script:

#! /bin/zsh
echo "=== CONFIGURATION ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone ./oebb.sh config beaglebone
echo "=== UPDATEING ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone ./oebb.sh update
echo "=== BUILDING KERNEL ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone ./oebb.sh bitbake virtual/kernel
echo "=== BUILDING ANGSTROM-KDE-ACTIVE-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake angstrom-kde-active-image
echo "=== BUILDING ANGSTROM-KDE-DESKTOP-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake angstrom-kde-desktop-image
echo "=== BUILDING AURORA-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake aurora-image
echo "=== BUILDING CHROOT-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake chroot-image
echo "=== BUILDING CLOUD9-GFX-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake cloud9-gfx-image
echo "=== BUILDING CLOUD9-GNOME-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake cloud9-gnome-image
echo "=== BUILDING CLOUD9-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake cloud9-image
echo "=== BUILDING CONSOLE-BASE-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake console-base-image
echo "=== BUILDING CONSOLE-E1XX-DEVEL-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake console-e1xx-devel-image
echo "=== BUILDING CONSOLE-GNURADIO-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake console-gnuradio-image
echo "=== BUILDING CONSOLE-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake console-image
echo "=== BUILDING CONSOLE-OPENBTS-DEVEL-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake console-openbts-devel-image
echo "=== BUILDING CORE-IMAGECLASS ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake core-imageclass
echo "=== BUILDING EFL-NODM-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake efl-nodm-image
echo "=== BUILDING FSO2-CONSOLE-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake fso2-console-image
echo "=== BUILDING GNOME-GNURADIO-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake gnome-gnuradio-image
echo "=== BUILDING GNOME-QT-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake gnome-qt-image
echo "=== BUILDING HARDWARE-BRINGUP-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake hardware-bringup-image
echo "=== BUILDING HOB-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake hob-image
echo "=== BUILDING HW-TEST-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake hw-test-image
echo "=== BUILDING IMAGECLASS ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake imageclass
echo "=== BUILDING INITRAMFS-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake initramfs-image
echo "=== BUILDING INITRAMFS-KEXECBOOT-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake initramfs-kexecboot-image
echo "=== BUILDING INITRAMFS-KEXECBOOT-KLIBC-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake initramfs-kexecboot-klibc-image
echo "=== BUILDING NSLU2-IMAGECLASS ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake nslu2-imageclass
echo "=== BUILDING OPIE-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake opie-image
echo "=== BUILDING OPIE-KDEPIM-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake opie-kdepim-image
echo "=== BUILDING OPIE-XQTLAUNCHER-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake opie-xqtlauncher-image
echo "=== BUILDING PLASMA-ACTIVE-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake plasma-active-image
echo "=== BUILDING PLASMA-DESKTOP-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake plasma-desktop-image
echo "=== BUILDING QT4E-DEMO-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake qt4e-demo-image
echo "=== BUILDING RPI-HWUP-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake rpi-hwup-image
echo "=== BUILDING SDCARD_IMAGECLASS ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake sdcard_imageclass
echo "=== BUILDING SELF-HOSTED-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake self-hosted-image
echo "=== BUILDING SHR-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake shr-image
echo "=== BUILDING SHR-LITE-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake shr-lite-image
echo "=== BUILDING SLUGIMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake slugimage
echo "=== BUILDING SYSTEMD-GNOME-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake systemd-gnome-image
echo "=== BUILDING SYSTEMD-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake systemd-image
echo "=== BUILDING SYSTEMD-OPENSSH-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake systemd-openssh-image
echo "=== BUILDING TASK-KDE-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake task-kde-image
echo "=== BUILDING TI-HW-BRINGUP-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake ti-hw-bringup-image
echo "=== BUILDING XFCE-GNURADIO-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake xfce-gnuradio-image
echo "=== BUILDING XFCE-NM-IMAGE ==="
MACHINE=beaglebone; ./oebb.sh bitbake xfce-nm-image

After a lot of time and 45 GByte less space on my harddisc I found
this a the result:

cd /home/user/data/pools/pool04/BEAGLEDEV/BEAGLEBONE/WORK/setup-scripts/build/tmp-angstrom_v2012_05-eglibc/deploy/images/beaglebone
ls -l
-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 30729199 2012-08-05 21:57 Angstrom-TI-hw-bringup-eglibc-ipk-v2012.05-beaglebone.rootfs.tar.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 14909232 2012-08-05 20:39 Angstrom-console-image-eglibc-ipk-v2012.05-beaglebone.rootfs.tar.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 67491101 2012-08-05 21:02 Angstrom-systemd-GNOME-image-eglibc-ipk-v2012.05-beaglebone.rootfs.tar.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 13223018 2012-08-05 21:11 Angstrom-systemd-image-eglibc-ipk-v2012.05-beaglebone.rootfs.tar.bz2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user users 26 2012-08-05 20:31 MLO -> MLO-beaglebone-2011.09+git
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user users 26 2012-08-05 20:31 MLO-beaglebone -> MLO-beaglebone-2011.09+git
-rwxr-xr-x 1 user users 85090 2012-08-05 20:31 MLO-beaglebone-2011.09+git
-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 294 2012-08-05 21:32 README_-_DO_NOT_DELETE_FILES_IN_THIS_DIRECTORY.txt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user users 68 2012-08-05 21:58 TI-hw-bringup-beaglebone.tar.bz2 -> Angstrom-TI-hw-bringup-eglibc-ipk-v2012.05-beaglebone.rootfs.tar.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 88074 2012-08-05 20:08 config-3.2.23-r14h+gitr720e07b4c1f687b61b147b31c698cb6816d72f01-beaglebone.config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user users 81 2012-08-05 20:08 config-beaglebone.config -> config-3.2.23-r14h+gitr720e07b4c1f687b61b147b31c698cb6816d72f01-beaglebone.config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user users 68 2012-08-05 20:39 console-image-beaglebone.tar.bz2 -> Angstrom-console-image-eglibc-ipk-v2012.05-beaglebone.rootfs.tar.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 7051144 2012-08-05 20:08 modules-3.2.23-r14h+gitr720e07b4c1f687b61b147b31c698cb6816d72f01-beaglebone.tgz
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user users 79 2012-08-05 20:08 modules-beaglebone.tgz -> modules-3.2.23-r14h+gitr720e07b4c1f687b61b147b31c698cb6816d72f01-beaglebone.tgz
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user users 74 2012-08-05 21:03 systemd-GNOME-image-beaglebone.tar.bz2 -> Angstrom-systemd-GNOME-image-eglibc-ipk-v2012.05-beaglebone.rootfs.tar.bz2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user users 68 2012-08-05 21:11 systemd-image-beaglebone.tar.bz2 -> Angstrom-systemd-image-eglibc-ipk-v2012.05-beaglebone.rootfs.tar.bz2
-rwxr-xr-x 1 user users 241948 2012-08-05 20:31 u-boot-beaglebone-2011.09+git-r28.img
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user users 37 2012-08-05 20:31 u-boot-beaglebone.img -> u-boot-beaglebone-2011.09+git-r28.img
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user users 37 2012-08-05 20:31 u-boot.img -> u-boot-beaglebone-2011.09+git-r28.img
-rw-r--r-- 1 user users 3318728 2012-08-05 20:08 uImage-3.2.23-r14h+gitr720e07b4c1f687b61b147b31c698cb6816d72f01-beaglebone-20120805164604.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 user users 93 2012-08-05 20:08 uImage-beaglebone.bin -> uImage-3.2.23-r14h+gitr720e07b4c1f687b61b147b31c698cb6816d72f01-beaglebone-20120805164604.bin

which gives me a little less than what I have expected.

If I did something wrong, please point me to the description, which
explains, how I can do it write (and add the link to the description,
which I used :wink:

Best regards,
mcc

What did you expect? Did you want to rebuild the distributed SD card?

It appears that you have built a kernel and several versions of systemd images, including the one including Gnome. The distributed image is cloud9-image, maybe this is what you are looking for?

Also if you look in:

/home/user/data/pools/pool04/BEAGLEDEV/BEAGLEBONE/WORK/setup-scripts/build/tmp-angstrom_v2012_05-eglibc/deploy/ipk

That should contain the individual packages.

HTH,

Dave.

David Lambert <dave@lambsys.com> [12-08-07 20:56]:

>which gives me a little less than what I have expected.
What did you expect? Did you want to rebuild the distributed SD card?

It appears that you have built a kernel and several versions of systemd
images, including the one including Gnome. The distributed image is
cloud9-image, maybe this is what you are looking for?

Also if you look in:

/home/user/data/pools/pool04/BEAGLEDEV/BEAGLEBONE/WORK/setup-scripts/build/tmp-angstrom_v2012_05-eglibc/deploy/ipk

That should contain the individual packages.

HTH,

Dave.

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Hi Dave,

my do-it-all attempt wasn't steered by the wish for something
specific. I only wanted to "check out how well it will run".

As with the Gentoo installation on my PC the system I want to have on
my beaglebone should be based on X11 and a leightweight windowmanger
(for example openbox) - no fancy gnome/KDE/XFCE/CDE/Enlightenment
stuff (*NO CRITISM*).
I want to select the packages, that should go into the image by
myself, since some are a MUST (X11 of course, vim, something to play
music and videos, an imageviewer and - if possible somehow - a synth)
and some I really dont want( I really dont need most of the eye candy stuff).

What image.bb is mostly close to what I want to build?

Best regards.
mcc

David Lambert <dave@lambsys.com> [12-08-07 20:56]:

which gives me a little less than what I have expected.

What did you expect? Did you want to rebuild the distributed SD card?

It appears that you have built a kernel and several versions of systemd
images, including the one including Gnome. The distributed image is
cloud9-image, maybe this is what you are looking for?

Also if you look in:

/home/user/data/pools/pool04/BEAGLEDEV/BEAGLEBONE/WORK/setup-scripts/build/tmp-angstrom_v2012_05-eglibc/deploy/ipk

That should contain the individual packages.

HTH,

Dave.

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Hi Dave,

my do-it-all attempt wasn't steered by the wish for something
specific. I only wanted to "check out how well it will run".

As with the Gentoo installation on my PC the system I want to have on
my beaglebone should be based on X11 and a leightweight windowmanger
(for example openbox) - no fancy gnome/KDE/XFCE/CDE/Enlightenment
stuff (*NO CRITISM*).
I want to select the packages, that should go into the image by
myself, since some are a MUST (X11 of course, vim, something to play
music and videos, an imageviewer and - if possible somehow - a synth)
and some I really dont want( I really dont need most of the eye candy stuff).

What image.bb is mostly close to what I want to build?

Best regards.
mcc

I have no experience with a GUI on the Beaglebone. Maybe there are others who can better guide you here.

I suggest you should describe your physical setup: What physical graphics setup do you have? Are you using a cape, etc.?

Regards,

Dave.

David Lambert <dave@lambsys.com> [12-08-07 21:40]:

>David Lambert <dave@lambsys.com> [12-08-07 20:56]:
>>>which gives me a little less than what I have expected.
>>What did you expect? Did you want to rebuild the distributed SD card?
>>
>>It appears that you have built a kernel and several versions of
>>systemd
>>images, including the one including Gnome. The distributed image is
>>cloud9-image, maybe this is what you are looking for?
>>
>>Also if you look in:
>>
>>/home/user/data/pools/pool04/BEAGLEDEV/BEAGLEBONE/WORK/setup-scripts/build/tmp-angstrom_v2012_05-eglibc/deploy/ipk
>>
>>That should contain the individual packages.
>>
>>
>>HTH,
>>
>>Dave.
>>
>>
>>
>>-- To join: http://beagleboard.org/discuss
>>To unsubscribe from this group, send email to:
>>beagleboard+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
>>Frequently asked questions: Frequently Asked Questions - BeagleBoard
>>
>Hi Dave,
>
>my do-it-all attempt wasn't steered by the wish for something
>specific. I only wanted to "check out how well it will run".
>
>As with the Gentoo installation on my PC the system I want to have on
>my beaglebone should be based on X11 and a leightweight windowmanger
>(for example openbox) - no fancy gnome/KDE/XFCE/CDE/Enlightenment
>stuff (*NO CRITISM*).
>I want to select the packages, that should go into the image by
>myself, since some are a MUST (X11 of course, vim, something to play
>music and videos, an imageviewer and - if possible somehow - a synth)
>and some I really dont want( I really dont need most of the eye candy
>stuff).
>
>What image.bb is mostly close to what I want to build?
>
>Best regards.
>mcc
>
>
I have no experience with a GUI on the Beaglebone. Maybe there are
others who can better guide you here.

I suggest you should describe your physical setup: What physical
graphics setup do you have? Are you using a cape, etc.?

Regards,

Dave.

>
>
>
>
>-- To join: http://beagleboard.org/discuss
>To unsubscribe from this group, send email to:
>beagleboard+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
>Frequently asked questions: Frequently Asked Questions - BeagleBoard
>

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Hi Dave,

oh damn...yes...you are right... :slight_smile:

I forgot that there are more than one solution for that...
it is no simple microcontroller anymore...luckily :slight_smile:

My bone will consist of the beaglebone, the LC7 cape and the
chipsee multimedia cape.

The LC7 is a 7" TFT LCD and has 800x480 pixel (color).

Best regards,
mcc

Doesn’t get more lightweight than http://joewing.net/programs/jwm/

No need for bb scripts, just compile it the usual way and start it instead of gem on angstrom and you’re all set