Ideas about Installing a Specific Image and then Updating the Kernel!

General Discussion
1

Hello,

Here: Debian 10.x/11.x Kernel Updates

That link says to only install one kernel at a time. Understood. What if the image has the kernel I am going to get replaced by the new kernel?

sudo apt update
sudo apt install bbb.io-kernel-4.19-ti-rt-am335x
sudo shutdown -r now

Since I had already upgraded in the console/terminal before installing this kernel, do I still just install the new kernel and disregard the older kernel that still is on the board?

Seth

2

If I understand what Robert has stated in replies to my questions when you do:

  1. apt update
    the files that are out of date are brought into the system or at least the linkages to them are updated.
  2. apt upgrade
    installs the latest files accessed by the apt update
  3. apt install bbb.io-kernel-4.19-ti-rt-am335x
    replaces the existing kernel with the new one.

For example I have a 32GB SD card with not only the basic OS but Lazarus, Samba etc. I can drag and drop files from my WIN-7 or WIN-10 system onto the network debian folder.

From devices console:

***** This version was 4.19.94-ti-r63 buster SMP PREEMPT before:
*****   sudo apt update
*****   sudo apt upgrade
*****   sudo apt install bbb.io-kernel-5.10-bone
*****   sudo reboot
uname -a
Linux beaglebone 5.10.106-bone62 #1buster SMP PREEMPT Wed Mar 23 00:33:25 UTC 2022 armv7l GNU/Linux
debian@beaglebone:~$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="10"
VERSION="10 (buster)"
VERSION_CODENAME=buster
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"
cat /etc/dogtag
BeagleBoard.org Debian Buster LXQt Image 2021-04-27
debian@beaglebone:~$

As I’m using the LXQt desktop (along with the 3.3V TTL to USB for direct console access) I have found that you can just barely fit:

debian@beaglebone:~$ uname -a
Linux beaglebone 4.14.71-ti-r80 #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Oct 5 23:50:11 UTC 2018 armv7l GNU/Linux
debian@beaglebone:~$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="9"
VERSION="9 (stretch)"
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"
debian@beaglebone:~$ cat /etc/dogtag
BeagleBoard.org Debian Image 2018-10-07

Along with Samba before the 4GB eMMC is effectively full. But plug in the SD card with the newer OS and you have a working system.

I’m going to guess that the reason we don’t see distributions with LXQt above about 4.14 is because they have become so bloated that it doesn’t fit. I’m not even sure if it’s possible to fit in 5.10 onto the 4GB eMMC. Not that it matters. Since nothing else fits the eMMC is really only useful for non-HDMI applications.

1 Like
3

Hello @jcdammeyer ,

Thank you for the quick reply. I updated the kernel to RT on the 5.10.x kernels for the am335x/BBBlue.

At first, in /boot/, I noticed some older kernels and what I changed the kernel to currently.

At first, I just updated/upgraded after rebooting to the “new kernel” and erased those other entries with rm -rf *ti-r40. The system froze on the boot. I am sure it was something I was doing to make it work or not work this way. But…I got what I wanted in the end.

  1. A 5.10.x RT kernel that works with ArduPilot
    and…
  2. Having a Planning software work on the host for use with updating the target

Seth

P.S. In between fiascos here, I must have done a rm -rf that was not supposed to be done, i.e. as the board was unbootable. All is well that ends well. Thank you again for your response.

4

Here is where I thought it was iffy b/c of the old kernels I went away from during the update of the RT kernel. I am going to boot the board again and see if those other entries are still in /boot/.

Seth

P.S. Here is the /boot/ dir:


SOC.sh                         initrd.img-5.10.100-ti-r37
System.map-5.10.100-ti-r37     initrd.img-5.10.106-ti-r41
System.map-5.10.106-ti-r41     initrd.img-5.10.106-ti-rt-r41
System.map-5.10.106-ti-rt-r41  uEnv.txt
config-5.10.100-ti-r37         uboot
config-5.10.106-ti-r41         vmlinuz-5.10.100-ti-r37
config-5.10.106-ti-rt-r41      vmlinuz-5.10.106-ti-r41
dtbs                           vmlinuz-5.10.106-ti-rt-r41

and…here is uname -r: 5.10.106-ti-rt-r41

5

I think Robert can probably provide more insight as to what can safely be removed. Looking at your list and even mine:

debian@beaglebone:/boot$ ls
config-4.19.94-ti-r62      initrd.img-5.10.106-bone62  uEnv.txt
config-4.19.94-ti-r63      SOC.sh                      vmlinuz-4.19.94-ti-r62
config-5.10.106-bone62     System.map-4.19.94-ti-r62   vmlinuz-4.19.94-ti-r63
dtbs                       System.map-4.19.94-ti-r63   vmlinuz-5.10.106-bone62
initrd.img-4.19.94-ti-r62  System.map-5.10.106-bone62
initrd.img-4.19.94-ti-r63  uboot

I’m going to guess only the 5.10.106-bone62 are important in my system. The rest could be disposed of unless there’s a file somewhere that expects to see those files in which case it would hang. Remember we do the apt install. Might have to do something like apt remove or apt install -r or some other vague command that cleans up everything correctly. And neatly.

1 Like
6

Hello @jcdammeyer ,

I think you are right. I use rm -rf *-ti-r40 instead of sudo apt remove < the install image >.

Seth

7

Although this link is a bit old with apt-get instead of apt and is for ubuntu it’s probably relevant. And note they do say rm -rf is not a good idea.
https://askubuntu.com/questions/187888/what-is-the-correct-way-to-completely-remove-an-application

1 Like
8

NAK…

sudo apt remove linux-image-4.19.94-ti-r62

Don’t randomly rm -rf…

Regards,

1 Like
9

@RobertCNelson and @jcdammeyer ,

You guys got it. No more rm -rf "random_things" Thank you for the heads up.

Seth