Ubuntu Desktop on Beaglebone Black - does it work for anyone?

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Hi there,

i’m pretty new to the Beaglebone Black and to Linux, but i’ve been reading up on it a lot and went through quite a process to get to the point i am now, just wondering if i did something wrong or if my result is the best i can get.

So here is what i did:

After multiple tries i decided to use a VM of Ubuntu to create the microSD card with the Ubuntu 13.04 files provided from rcn-ee.net and got a bootable command line linux with enough free space on the sd card to install the GUI.

I ran “sudo apt-get update” and “sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop” and waited, took about 3 hours to install all the files.

Booting after the install resulted in Ubuntu loading the desktop login screen but after logging in i got screen flickers, error messages and ultimately the system kept freezing.

Did anyone get this to work? Should i stick with 12.04 or 12.10 to do this? Any help getting the desktop to work is appreciated.

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In ubuntu, run this script to setup the ddx modesetting driver and xorg.conf..

wget https://raw.github.com/RobertCNelson/tools/master/ubuntu/setup-xorg.sh
chmod +x setup-xorg.sh
./setup-xorg.sh

Regards,

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Does this fix the issue 13.04 has been having with full Ubuntu desktop? I know in my experience after you sign on you basically just get a blank screen with 13.04.

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Sorry, I've never tested it with the unity crap..

But xorg in 13.04 needs the modesetting driver installed and xorg.conf
setup, otherwise xorg itself will cause lockups/blinking/etc.. Beyond
that with unity running, i don't know.. :wink:

Regards,

6

Personally I think it is probably better to install Debian and use LXDE. I never got why people NEED to use Ubuntu either so . …

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It's sad; recently i was in a meeting with some marketers and against
all our opinions against it, they just had to list ubuntu on the
slides:

aka; xyz supports: linux, ubuntu, android..

I asked, Well if we have to have ubuntu, why can't we stick debian on
it too.. But it wasn't a big enough "brand"... <rolls eyes>

Regards,

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Ronco Linux, Set it and forget it. . .

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I tried the modesetting script with the stock kernel your June 14th Ubuntu 13.04 image and I still get lockups/crashes randomly. I’m only trying to run Fluxbox at 1280x720@60.

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Oddly, it runs nice and solid with the Debian Wheezy image...
Something is wrong with the Ubuntu xorg stack.. Maybe it's just time
to drop my support for ubuntu images.

Regards,

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Well I’m going to go try Debian Wheezy then :slight_smile:

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Things like this is what I personally have come to expect from Ubuntu. Truly a shame really, being so close to Debian, with “cutting edge” features. Yet it never fails to disappoint when it comes down to it.

I guess Canonical only really cares about one thing, which should have been apparent when they tried putting google ads on their desktop. . .

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Turns out it was a power issue. I was running the BBB on one of those two port USB cables. Switched to my 10W adapter and no issues now. (Welp, in Debian at least)

  • Nathaniel Lewis