Ubuntu Wiki

This page collects the specifics for running Ubuntu on a C series Beagleboard

Installation Images

Different images and installation variants are described on the following pages:

BeagleNetbookInstall - Follow this link to install Ubuntu on a Beagleboard using the ubiquity installer under X. This installation needs a USB disk to load the operating system onto.

BeagleServerInstall - Install an Ubuntu Server system (uses the debian-installer in text mode, needs a USB disk/key to install to. See below for installation over serial console)

BeagleNetInstall - Install a minimal system with USB NIC attached (this installation variant is the most flexible one and also allows installation to SD card without pre-partitioning, uses debian-installer in text mode. See below for installation over serial console)

Enabling a Serial console and adjusting boot options

The debian-installer based images (server and netinstall) are capable of doing an installation over serial console.

Follow the BeagleEditBootscr page to set the right bootoptions

Reporting Bugs, discussion with Developers

To make sure reported bugs are seen by the armel porters, make sure you subscribe (not assign) the ubuntu-armel team to bugs you report and also set the armel tag.

If you want to discuss the images or issues you see, join #ubuntu-arm on irc.freenode.net

Known issues

Indeed the Beagle has only 256M of RAM so if you use the Netbook image, dont expect a lot of speed, the system will likely swap.

Getting a serial connection

Connect the serial connector to the board, if you have a non-wired pin in the connector then the opposite corner is pin 1, otherwise one corner should be wired with a red wire, and in that case that is pin 1. The board should have markings indicating pin 1.

Connect this to your computer with a USB-serial connector, and you should then have a /dev/ttyUSB0 node, if not then check for /dev/ttyUSB1 etc.

Now power on the board.

If you run

screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

then you should be connected to xboot on the board and can start to control it.