Hi, I’m new, just getting used to how things are done around here.
Regarding the images page:
I’ve tried to download an SD card image to run on my Beaglebone Black.
However, after writing the latest ‘IoT’ images (I’ve tried both the ‘SD Card’ and 'Flasher versions) to my 8GB SD Card using the recommended Etcher utility, it seems only the rootfs partition is written. There doesn’t seem to be a boot partition. Should there be one?
When I then try to boot the Beaglebone Black with the SD card inserted, D2, D3 and D4 all light up solid blue, and there doesn’t seem to be any further activity. I’ve tried holding down the boot button just before inserting the USB cable for power, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference.
If I remove the SD card and boot from the internal eMMC, it seems to work as expected. However it does have the old, original factory image on it, so the ‘GateOne’ ssh doesn’t work with my modern browser as the minimimum TLS1.2 isn’t supported and so https fails. And I can’t ssh to it from the console as I get a ‘connection reset by peer’ error, probably because the old version of ssh on the board can’t handle the more modern security requirements of the ssh client on my Ubuntu 22.04 development host machine.
Can someone please suggest a way to run a modern version of Debian on my Beaglebone Black?
To keep things simple, it can just run off the SD card, no need to update the internal eMMC.
There must be some basic detail I’m missing. Any help would be most appreciated!
Hm, I’m new too, so I can share your frustration but I’m not sure I can help. I am running with BBBlue at the moment, which is as near to BBBlack as you can get, but I have not experienced any of the problems you describe.
I’ve already flashed scores of images with Balena, including the latest Buster, Bullseye and Bookworm and the latest Ubuntu 22.04. If I run them without the flasher enabled, they just boot up off the SD card (yes, rootfs is all you need) and if the flasher line is enabled (uncommented) they install on the emmc. I used a 16Gb card - good luck finding a 4gb these days - but that also seems to have the advantage that you get the extra memory to work with if you choose not to flash. Any work you do is preserved into the next boot, of course.
I am trying to think what your problem could be. A bad flash? A bad SD card? I am assuming you are using one of the latest provided images. Are you certain you are using the correct one for a 335 chip? I.e. not a 57x one? It sounds like it’s trying to boot; all the blue lights on signifies the start of the booting process as far as I can tell.
Use image from here: Latest Software Images - BeagleBoard
Incidentally, you should be able to SSH to the original installation via the usb cable and 192.168.7.2.
If you can’t there may be something wrong with the board. Once you’re in you can set the proper WiFi up with connmanctl and operate as normal (w/o usb cable)
Also, if you flash Bullseye then connmanctl has been replaced by wpa_cli or if you use Bookworm or Ubuntu by iwctl! These changes are not documented, you have to search this board, the answer is always there somewhere - just not too obvious - so I hope this helps.
PS. Ah, yes, also be aware that the latest of the old Buster 10.3 release Debian 10.x (Buster) - Monthly Snapshot - 2023-07-01 - (FINAL) may still be best if you need access to the PWM, there seem to be some irregularities in the configuration of the device tree that messes up access in Debian 11 & 12, I’m still exploring that so I don’t want to say the wrong thing, hopefully it won’t be too hard to fix.
@dan7@Alex_Gian
for the sdcard not booting with the latest image, where your not seeing a boot partition.
most likely cause is that your u-boot in emmc is too old for the latest image.
you have two chooses, erase the emmc or hold the S2 button when booting from the sdcard. (not 100% sure about the S2 button function, seems have changed over the years)
the latest image has the boot as part of the rootfs. if you mount out sdcard and look at the rootfs partition, there should be a boot folder with all the stuff
Debian Bookworm IoT Image 2023-10-07 is the one i just looked at
Ah, I wonder…
When I first got my board, I did the first couple of flashes (over the “factory” settings) holding down the boot button.
Then I noticed I didn’t have to any more, so I stopped.
That could explain it, I’d be curious to hear from @dan7 if that made any difference.
but I’m not sure I can help. I am running with BBBlue at the moment, which is as near to BBBlack as you can get, but I have not experienced any of the problems you describe.