Is there any reason why the graphical (GUI) GParted
partition editor can’t be used to create SD cards
for the Beagleboard?
Any pitfalls or caveats using it, that I should know
about?
At first glance it appears to do everything I might
need. ‘fdisk’ command is a pain, and it looks like
the ‘fdisk’ command-line utility supplied with my
late-model (nearly new) Ubuntu is incompatible with
many of the scripts I find on the web.
/Rafe
Rafe,
There shouldn't be any reason that gparted wouldn't be able to create
a reasonable partition setup on an SD card for use with a BB.
Just make sure the first partition is fat32 and has the "boot" flag
set (right click and "Manage Flags"), the second partition should be
ext3. Both primary. Make sure you mount the partitions before trying
to copy files to them (easy way is to remove and reinsert the SD card,
Ubuntu should automagically mount it).
Then copy your MLO (x-loader or SPL) onto the fat partition first,
before any other files. Follow that with the u-boot files and kernel
onto the fat partition. Put your root file system onto the second,
ext3, partition. The copy operations may need to be done by root,
using sudo or similar. Then give it a boot.
I just made an SD card, that boots my BeagleBone correctly, using
gparted. My laptop is Debian 6, so I probably have an older version
of gparted than you, but that shouldn't matter.
-Andrew