Ubuntu Wiki

This page describes how to do a network install of Ubuntu Lucid (10.04) on a Beagle C4 board.

This method will not work on a BeagleXM, as that platform requires x-loader & uboot support not available in Lucid.

Requirements

You will need;

• SD card
• USB to ethernet adapter supported by the Ubuntu kernel (asix chipset based ones are known to work well here)
• Powered USB hub.

If you want to install to a USB disk (recommended) you also need a USB disk attached to your hub (with this installation variant you can install to the SD you booted from though, in case this is preferred by you).

Downloading the installer files

Get the files from http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/lucid/main/installer-armel/current/images/omap/netboot/omap/

wget http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/lucid/main/installer-armel/current/images/omap/netboot/omap/boot.scr
wget http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/lucid/main/installer-armel/current/images/omap/netboot/omap/uImage
wget http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/lucid/main/installer-armel/current/images/omap/netboot/omap/uInitrd

Preparation work

Create a partition and format your SD card with a vfat filesystem, then copy the files onto this partition.

Attach your display and a keyboard to the beagle.

If your NAND setup is still the default that was shipped with the beagle you can just boot now.

In case your uboot setup is not able to boot a boot.scr file anymore, use the following uboot commands in a serial console to boot from the Ubuntu SD card:

OMAP3 beagleboard.org # mmc init
OMAP3 beagleboard.org # fatload mmc 0 0x82000000 boot.scr
...
OMAP3 beagleboard.org # source 0x82000000

Installing

After kernel and initramfs were loaded from the SD you will be presented with a debian-installer screen on the attached DVI display.

Just follow the installation process, at the end you will have a fully working Ubuntu installation on your beagleboard.