Debian on Minnowboard

[Chris Connaker]

Has anyone successfully installed Debian on the Minnowboard? I tried following the instructions (HERE) but had no luck. 

I was also disappointed to see statements like, "(more information needed here on proper fstab settings)", Boot Loader - (Not working yet.), SSH and Remote Access - (Needs fixing).

Is it possible to get an image we can just DD to an SD card to run Debian?

[Darren Hart]

It certainly is possible. While most distributions do not directly
support 32bit EFI booting, I thought Debian was either working on or
actually did support it.

There will be some gaps in driver support from their stock kernel as
upstream MinnowBoard support landed in 3.12, and that still lacks any
real graphics support (you could use FB dev of course) or run headless.

Have you tried installing debian? Where did it fail?

--
Darren Hart
Intel Open Source Technology Center
Yocto Project - Linux Kernel

[Blibbet]

[...]

> I thought Debian was either working on or actually did support it.

[...]

This appears to be Debian's status, as of August:

Plan of action for Secure Boot support
https://lists.debian.org/debian-cd/2013/08/msg00001.html

It would be very nice to Securely Boot Debian on a Minnow!

[Bryan Smith]

Hey Chris,

That wiki page is just copied from somewhere evidently. I have Debian running but accessing the system isn't as easy as telling people what to do(you need another kernel or a usb nic or usb-rs232 adapter).  Up until the debootstrap part is correct, but there are no minnowboard specific instructions. There is no serial console or ethernet when using a Debian kernel so how can you actually interact with the system :oO

I've included a pic of my temporary solution of using a usb nic to ssh into the rootfs with a preconfigured network for the nic.

Bryan

[Chris Connaker]

Thanks Bryan!

Chris Connaker

Founder
Computer Audiophile

[Bryan Smith]

Chris,

There is a bit more that needs to be done to achieve a bootable system...nothing too crazy though. I'll devote some time to putting things together for the wiki. 

The biggest thing I struggled with on Wheezy was ethernet(still not working) and the console. I can get the module to load(pch_uart) but there is an issue with the uart clock that causes it to not behave as it should. I tried forcing it behave correctly by passing this to the kernel:

user_uartclk=50000000

Darren Hart actually submitted a patch for this that was slated for 3.10 stable so if you have a Debian kernel that is 3.10.X then the serial console indeed works.

So you have to use sid not Wheezy and you'll have console access and you can use a usb wifi nic or a usb nic until we have our beloved gigabit ethernet working.  

I'll write it up so that all the Debian/Ubuntu guys aren't hitting a wall due to that wiki 

Bryan

[Scott Garman]

Bryan,

Your help in this area is deeply appreciated! I keep getting pre-empted
with other urgent matters, and have been meaning to work on this myself.
I can look into Fedora if you can handle Debian/Ubuntu.

Scott

> <http://elinux.org/Minnowboard:Debian_Bare_Minimum_Bootstrapping>)

> but had no luck.
>
> I was also disappointed to see statements like, "(more
> information needed here on proper fstab settings)", Boot
> Loader - (Not working yet.), SSH and Remote Access - (Needs
> fixing).
>
> Is it possible to get an image we can just DD to an SD card
> to run Debian?
>
>

--
Scott Garman
Embedded Linux Engineer - Yocto Project

[Bryan Smith]

Hey Scott,

I'm doing a fresh install now just to make sure that I can follow my own instructions! I should have something ready for the weekend and perhaps tomorrow if I'm feeling perky enough. Stay tuned.

Bryan

[francisco jose torcal milla]

Hi Brian, 

I am new in this forum but, have you achieved to run debian directly from the sd card?

Thank you and good luck!

Fran

[Bryan Smith]

Hey Francisco,

Yes I am successfully running Debian from SD, USB and SATA.

I have updated the wiki page below with the appropriate instructions:

http://elinux.org/Minnowboard:Debian_Bare_Minimum_Bootstrapping

Let us know if you have any issues.

Bryan

[Bryan Smith]

Hello again Francisco,

Here is a video of Debian running on the Minnowboard with X, sound and ethernet working.

http://youtu.be/epuJ988QNiE

Bryan

On Wednesday, October 16, 2013 11:53:54 AM UTC-4, francisco jose torcal milla wrote:

[cha...@gmail.com]

Hi Bryan:

Will the GPIO and other peripherals work too? :D

[Hart, Darren]

On Thu, 2013-10-17 at 18:59 -0700, cha...@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi Bryan:
>
> Will the GPIO and other peripherals work too? :D

There are some patches to improve support of the GPIO lines, see
upstream commits by me to the mpc/lpc_sch and gpio/gpio-sch for core
functionality. The minnow-gpio/keys/leds drivers are not strictly needed
to make use of the GPIO lines as you can manually export those lines via
the sys interface, or use them properly in your own kernel driver via
gpiolib.

Happy to help if people have questions on how to go about that, but
first, please read the Linux gpio docs in Documentation/.

Thanks,

Darren

[cha...@gmail.com]

Hi Bryan:

Bryan, I am trying to follow the tutorial. I am having troubles at the "Configuring" chapter. When I execute "MAKEDEV generic", the following line is shown several times:

/sbin/MAKEDEV: warning: can't read /proc/devices

If I continue to install the kernel, some other errors occur (I have attached the process output).

I hope that you could provide me with some directions.

[Bryan Smith]

Hey,

MAKEDEV generates errors and the kernel installation will generate errors but they can be ignored. They actually have no effect on the chrooted system or the system when it runs on the minnow. 

You can make all of those errors go away by mounting /dev/ /proc /sys and copying /proc/mounts to the rootfs.

You can actually get away without doing any of this doing and the system will come up fine. You said you got errors but you didn't say that the board didn't boot into Debian. Did you not attempt to keep going...I'm sure it will boot and behave as best it can currently.

If you just want to make your rootfs happy for the short span of time before you boot into Debian you can do the following:

First exit your chroot environment then

mount --bind /dev/pts /media/debian/dev/pts
mount --bind /proc /media/debian/proc

mount --bind /sys /media/debian/sys

cat /proc/mounts > /media/etc/mtab

chroot /media/debian

No you will have no errors but as I said...those errors are harmless and can be ignored. I contemplating putting an error warning in the wiki, but I decided not, perhaps it's useful.

Bryan

[cha...@gmail.com]

Hi Bryan,

Actually I tried to boot the board, and I was asked for Debian login. I used "root" but (embarrassingly) could not guess the password.

:D

[Marlow Weston]

Hello (likely Bryan),

I'm new here, but I have a working Debian (hooray).

Installing wpasupplicant, wherein I am trying to use the raspberrypi edimax which works with angstrom, errors out with error 2.  I have no idea what that means.

I'm installing from the chroot environment.

I've tried the above error eating, but to no avail. 

Help?  Any advice?  Is there a way to start building packages from source for this system (because it looks like we might need to)?  Does linux-headers work?  Have you tried any ssds with this configuration to see how they run with the SATA and debian?

Best wishes,
--Marlow

[Bryan Smith]

Hey,

Seems you forgot to run passwd before you exited the chroot.

So you should remove your boot media from the minnowboad and mount it again chroot to the mount point and then run passwd.

Set your password and you're off to go...no need to guess the pass. You set it yourself.

Bryan

[Bryan Smith]

Marlow,

There should be no need to build that driver. It's included in the kernel for sure.

https://wiki.debian.org/rtl819x

Just change your sources.list and append non-free to it and 

'apt-get update; apt-get install firmware-realtek'

From that point on you can just setup your wpa_supplicant as usual by hand in the chroot then boot the system and you should have your wireless nic up and going.

Bryan

[Marlow Weston]

So I did that, and update-initramfs started failing.  Rebuilt the card.  Three.  Times.  Following your directions, including reformatting.  Not even using a fancy kernel-just the regular one.  The darn thing will not come up.  It gets to the point where the actual kernel and such will be loaded, and then... nothing happens.  As in I get a blank screen and it just sits there.

Any ideas on what to do?

I have no idea what is going on.  Terminal gives no clues and the screen is just blank... because errors might actually give me hints.



Best wishes,
--Marlow

[Marlow Weston]

Oh, and to be extra clear, this is without the wifi drivers.  Debian was working and now it just isn't.  :-(

[Patrik Jakobsson]

On Mon, Nov 11, 2013 at 12:44 AM, Marlow Weston <catb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Oh, and to be extra clear, this is without the wifi drivers. Debian was
> working and now it just isn't. :-(

I didn't read the entire thread, but is it possible that you're
loading the gma500_gfx module?
It turns the screen black since we don't speak SDVO on pipe b. This
should be fixed and
patches are going into 3.13-rc1.

Thanks
Patrik

[Marlow Weston]

Gah, it didn't reply all.  My apologies.

It is completely possible I'm loading that module.  Does it come automatically on with the regular debian?  How do I turn the thing off?

[Patrik Jakobsson]

On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 4:49 PM, Marlow Weston <catb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Gah, it didn't reply all. My apologies.
>
> It is completely possible I'm loading that module. Does it come
> automatically on with the regular debian? How do I turn the thing off?

Often It's loaded by default and you can blacklist it with the kernel parameter:
gma500_gfx.blacklist=yes

You can also modify /etc/modules.d/blacklist.conf and add the line:
blacklist gma500_gfx

Cheers
Patrik

[Bryan Smith]

Hey Marlow,

Did you install X or something while you were trying to install your wifi module? You are saying that the screen is blank, but have you checked the serial console to see if you get a prompt or not? If Debian ever worked for you the screen should have always been blank once the machine booted for the reasons Patrik stated. This doesn't mean that Debian isn't "working" you just have a small frame buffer issue.

I have plans to update the Debian howto so that you guys can use newer Debian kernels that will allow you to use the builtin ethernet. So at least this way you can ssh into the box and attempt to install your wireless module natively outside of a chroot, even though installing it in the chroot should work.

Bryan

[Marlow Weston]

The serial console does not appear to be responsive, but I've never had it up.

I did not install anything, even the wifi module, in this build.  I just went off of your website.

I'm pretty sure that the wifi worked because the card lit up.  But no screen.  And a completely clean install (including reformatting the drive) did not get debian up.  I'm not certain I had it up to begin with now because the card boots the angstrom kernel first before attempting the debian side.  Does this seem right?

[Bryan Smith]

Marlow,

There should be a logical explanation for all of this. Make sure that you connect the serial console and hit enter a few times when the system seems up for about 1-2 minutes. I'm sure the instructions work because I've tested them and various others have successfully used them to install Debian on the Minnow.

I don't quite know what you mean when you say that it attempts the angstrom kernel first before trying Debian. Are you saying that you have Angstrom on SD and Debian on a SATA drive and it attempts to boot the sd first? Can you explain this a little better for me. 

By the way elinux.org is not my site. I just contributed a chunk of info to that wiki page that actually made Debian work.

I'll have the page updated tomorrow so you can use built in ethernet...it's a very minor change but at least you can set a static ip and ping it to know that it's alive then ssh in. 

Bryan

[Bryan Smith]

Hey Marlow,

I updated the wiki page to include a newer kernel. Please give that a try. For all of those who already have a running Debian system you can install this kernel below and it will give you working ethernel out of the box. Please make sure to update your grub.cfg in your UEFI boot partition so that you actually boot into the kernel with the initramfs.

Kernel:

http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/linux/linux-image-3.12-rc7-686-pae_3.12~rc7-1~exp1_i386.deb

Wiki page:

http://elinux.org/Minnowboard:Debian_Bare_Minimum_Bootstrapping

Bryan