dpkg-reconfigure dash → select no.
Dennis, just so you know, you should be able to google “debian” + whatever keyword you need to know something about to find an answer. We’re talking basic Linux / Debian stuff here. For example.
google → howto change debian timezone, and you will very likely find what i asked about last night “dpkg-reconfigure tzdata”.
I did that and ended up at Wayback Machine which suggested the tzselect command (which in turn suggested adding a TZ environment variable, which in turn led to me seeing that my .profile wasn’t being executed, etc).
I also saw the page at TimeZoneChanges - Debian Wiki but the text at the top of that page and the titles of the other sections made it seem more about checking and adapting the system to changes in the dates of daylight saving etc. I just wanted to set my timezone. The section where “dpkg-reconfigure tzdata” is mentioned has the title “Check Configured Timezone”, and the text of the command itself didn’t lead me to conclude it would change my timezone. Had I read in more detail I would have seem what it did, but I was skimming for something that said “this is how to change your timezone” as on the page above.
Anyway, dont feel as though I am putting you down by saying this. quite the contrary actually.
No problem, no offence taken. I just want to point out that not all google searches (or searchers) lead to the best answer.
Dennis Cote
I have very seldom run into a situation where google did not give me a correct answer. Sometimes the first hit is not always right / succinct either. It takes experience googling to know what to look for, and this does not always work either.
Anyway, answers linked on debian.org, and superuser are typically succinct and correct. Also, as I had not reconfigured time zone, and dash before, or in a while i did google searches on these myself not but a few months ago.
Regardless, this is all part of the learning process for everyone.
Here you go:
xinput_calibrator.log pastebin.com/EZ4uSu4W
xinput.txt pastebin.com/ZBDXGkt3
lsusb.txt pastebin.com/0UthnPqZ
Okay, quick update on this as i have the same K120 keyboard. I'm
seeing this same issue on 3.8/3.13/3.14 so I just blacklisted this
device.
Just run:
cd /opt/scripts
git pull
to update the xinput script..
Regards,
Robert,
I did this update and then undid the workaround (i.e. I uncommented the display-setup-script line in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf).
Now I no longer get the calibration screen on startup and logout of LXDE, however I lose my mouse pointer when I logout. The mouse pointer works on reboot, but if I logout of LXDE I have no visible pointer on the login screen or in LXDE after I log back in. The mouse does work and I can see where it is because some items like the LXDE menu icons highlight when I hover the mouse over them, but there is no onscreen pointer visible. Clicking the mouse buttons work as expected when I can figure out where it is pointing.
Is there anything else I can do to help pinpoint the problem?
Previously we were making the mouse pointer viable by a custom xorg.conf.
However it works better if you add it via xset/xsetroot:
root@beaglebone:~# cat /home/debian/.xsessionrc
#!/bin/sh
xset -dpms
xset s off
xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr
and just remove the [Option "SWCursor" "true"] line
from /etc/X11/xorg.conf
So for me, right now the mouse cursor works between logout/logins.
Regards,
Robert,
My .xsessionrc file looks identical to yours, and I did not have “SWCursor” anywhere in my xorg.conf file, so there was nothing to remove.
My mouse pointer definitely becomes invisible when I logout.
Any other ideas?
okay, so when i switch back to v3.8, i see this now too.. Weird, as
v3.13.x it works. Might just have to go back to the xorg.conf
workaround.
Regards,
Robert,
I have done some more testing. I have discovered that I do have a mouse pointer on the login screen after the first logout after a reboot, and I have a mouse pointer when I log in again. If I log out again, I have no visible mouse pointer on the login screen, and no mouse pointer after I log back in. It remains the same on subsequent logout/logins until I reboot again. Then I can logout and back in one more time before I lose my mouse pointer.
Any ideas?
Robert,
More test results.
I googled and found many references to adding ‘Option “HWCursor” “off”’ to the device section of xorg.conf as a fix for the disappearing mouse cursor issue in Debian/Ubuntu/Mint etc. These all seemed to be for PC based systems thought. I tried it and it did not work. I lost my mouse cursor on every logout.
I added the line you suggested to remove earlier ‘Option “SWCursor” “true”’ to the device section of my xorg.conf. This appears to have fixed the problem. I can logout and back in many times in a row, and haven’t lost my mouse cursor since.
HTH
Dennis Cote
OH Fun! 
I've had reports that xorg.conf change was causing lockup's when
moving icons around, hence we changed it to the .xsessonrc workaround
in the last week.
Regards,
Robert,
I have just noticed now that my BBB is no longer blanking the HDMI output after a period of inactivity.
Prior to these changes the display would blank after some period of inactivity, and I would have to move my mouse to get it to start sending video again. It has been sitting unused for an hour or more now (there is an ssh session open), and it has not blanked the screen.
I googled Debian screen blanking and discovered what I think your .xsessionrc commands are doing.
xset s off # don't activate screensaver
xset -dpms # disable DPMS (Energy Star) features.
xset s noblank # don't blank the video device
I suspect you have disabled the DPMS features that were shutting down the HDMI video output.
I don't need a screen saver, but I would like the video to blank after a while. So I executed an xset +dpms command and then an xset q to check the current settings and verify that DPMS was enabled. With DPMS enabled I waited for 600 seconds (10 minutes), and my display blanked as I wanted.
I see that many people are searching for a way to disable screen blanking, so I think this is one of those things that should be added to your FAQ for simple ways to accomplish basic setup changes. I think the display should blank by default out of the box both for the energy savings (135,000 BBB boards could be preventing their monitors from going to low power mode) and to provide a similar experience to what one gets using a Mac or PC. The FAQ should explain how to change it, both to blank or not blank.
Is there any other reason you are disabling DPMS?
How can I make the microSD image to not copy the image to the eMMC of my Beaglebone Black?
That is, by default, when I insert the SD card with this Debian image, and then power the BBB, it will automatically start flashing the Debian image to the BBB internal disk (eMMC). I notice it because after some time the 4 leds stay lit, meaning it has completed the process.
I don’t want it to happen because I want to use Debian directly from the bootable SD card, and keep the eMMC intact.
(probably I just need to delete the script that flashes the image to the eMMC, but where is it?)
How can I make the microSD image to not copy the image to the eMMC of my Beaglebone Black?
That is, by default, when I insert the SD card with this Debian image, and then power the BBB, it will automatically start flashing the Debian image to the BBB internal disk (eMMC). I notice it because after some time the 4 leds stay lit, meaning it has completed the process.
I don’t want it to happen because I want to use Debian directly from the bootable SD card, and keep the eMMC intact.(probably I just need to delete the script that flashes the image to the eMMC, but where is it?)
That’s why there are two separate downloads. To convert the flasher image to not flash. Just remove the flash-emmc text file from the fat partition.
I really like the 2014-03-19 image. It solves most of the problems I was having with Ubuntu and Angstrom. I am now able to connect wirelessly to WPA secured networks using Adafruit’s dongle while tethered via a USB cable! This will make developing and debugging an autonomous robot that uses computer vision infinitely easier.
I do have a few ideas for making the image slightly better.
First, any chance you can install xrdp? This would allow my students to remote into the BeagleBone without having to access the Internet?
Second, if I remember correctly it looks like the version designed to run from the SD card lists wlan0 within Wicd, but the eMMC version does not. IAny chance you can list wlan0 within Wicd for both versions?
Third, I had to input the passphrase into Wicd, generate the PSK using wpa_passphrase, and then add the PSK into Wicd. Not sure why. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but I suspect it’s some sort of glitch with Wicd.
Sad to say that I had my wifi dongle working yesterday, but despite hours of effort today, I was unable to get it working.
I see a 2014-03-26 image has appeared. Unfortunately when I flash [1] and boot from it, it appears to never leave u-boot. Just 3 LEDs light and it just hangs.
I try this on two SD cards and both had the same behavior.
–Mark
[1] http://rcn-ee.net/deb/testing/2014-03-26/bone-debian-7.4-2014-03-26-2gb.img.xz
I see a 2014-03-26 image has appeared. Unfortunately when I flash [1] and
boot from it, it appears to never leave u-boot. Just 3 LEDs light and it
just hangs.
Humm, that means "uenvcmd" wasn't defined in uEnv.txt.. I wonder how
that happened (1). Does it help if you hold down the boot button?
What do you have flashed to the eMMC? (i have it setup to be
compatible with atleast Angstrom's 2013.06.20 u-boot)
1: image-builder/target/boot/beagleboard.org.txt at master · beagleboard/image-builder · GitHub
I try this on two SD cards and both had the same behavior.
--Mark
[1]
http://rcn-ee.net/deb/testing/2014-03-26/bone-debian-7.4-2014-03-26-2gb.img.xz
Testing now too..
Regards,
Okay tested, and i see the issue.. To save bandwidth i mirror the
kernel *.deb locally, which runs/updates at midnight, so the kernel
never got installed. So i just need to add that error condition and
just rerun the script again..
Thanks for testing, sorry for the error!
Thanks Robert. I’ll watch for the update.
–Mark