PandaBoard Perfomance

[Benyamin Christian]

Hi everyone, thanks for allowing me to join the Group,

i'm quite new to Pandaboards, the one i'm using for my final project/thesis is a PandaBoard 4460 Rev B.. however, my Pandaboard is not functioning well even though it runs well..
the Serial Port is broken from the first time i get it(since the beginning it never shows Texas Instruments etc during first time it runs, unlike another board beagleboard that also given to me, so its not the minicom or the usb to serial, used 115200 8N1), and the next thing is HDMI port is also now broken(it used to be working but with some bugs).. with some luck it still able to give out images but in very bad quality, distorted green screen.. luckily i've managed to install the ubuntu 12.04 desktop-preinstalled image through the green screen and some luck.. and finally able to setup it sucessfully, so now i can access the board up and running well via ssh or vnc.. and i've installed the realtime patch from hbrobotics wiki..

i'm going to develop a maze learning robot with a realtime requirement, so i guess i need as much as perfomance i can get from the pandaboard.. my question is, how do I increase my pandaboard perfomance by some instances such as :
1. disable swap etc/fstab  => done
2. remove the GUI ==> not done, unsure, afraid unable to access the board later for modifying through gedit, or accessing(log in) wi-fi networks..
3. remove unnecessary programs ==> done some (thunderbird).. or is there any unused program that i can delete?

however, one of my main concern is, i must still be able to access the board (running cross compiled programs in it) and do things i need via network LAN or WLAN only, because serial or hdmi is not an option anymore.. that's why i'm not using server image.. no serial port = can't install server image.. or is it my lack of knowledge that i'm unable to install server image without serial console(i've tried it when the HDMI port is still good, nothing comes out to the screen unless i press ctrl + alt + f2, but it doesnt complete the setup)..

best regards,
Benny.

[Bob Smith]

Benny
I gave my Pandabaord away a couple of years ago and can not
help with any of your questions below. I think using the server
edition would help a lot. Maybe you could switch to a Beagle
Bone Black that has the console on a header. I could help with
that.

Bob Smith

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[Benyamin Christian]

Hi Bob Smith.

Thanks for the reply,
currently my thesis mentor is ordering a beaglebone black, however, to my consent, it seems that Pandaboard 4460 have better processor than beaglebone black (Cortex A9 vs Cortex A8)?

that's why i tend to use the pandaboard despite it's bugs and other interface problems than the beaglebone black.

Regards
Benny

[Osman Eralp]

Benny,

This group is no longer active. You probably won't get many replies.

I have three comments:

1. The serial port is extremely useful. I would try hard to get it to work. It's possible that the console boot parameter passed by the boot-loader to the kernel is incorrect. See this page for more info: http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Kernel_-_Common_Problems_Booting_Linux. Make sure that the minicom settings match what you are using in the boot parameter.

2. I think you will not be able to achieve real time performance using the desktop version of Linux. You should use the server version. (Why do you need real time preformance?)

3. For the best real-time control of your robot, you should use a microcontroller or fpga (something not running an operating system) to control the low level functions, such as motor control and sensor input. The PandaBoard can then be used for the high level behavior control. The arduino and raspberry pi is a good combination.

Osman

ozbotz.org

[Moh'd Sameer]

I'd follow the following approach:

1) Disable the GUI (Instructions below)

2) Setup a Ethernet cross-wire connection (Google might be of help)

3) Access via Putty or ssh

For disabling the GUI, you can try this. [Server edition is good but it should work with desktop version as well]

Change (edit) in /etc/default/grub file:

From:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

To:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text"

Now you must update the grub configs:

sudo update-grub

And its done! After reboot, to start the gui just login and type:

startx

Regards,
Shameer

--

[Benyamin Christian]

Thanks for the reply Mr. Osman, 

1. The serial port is extremely useful. I would try hard to get it to work. It's possible that the console boot parameter passed by the boot-loader to the kernel is incorrect. See this page for more info: http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Kernel_-_Common_Problems_Booting_Linux. Make sure that the minicom settings match what you are using in the boot parameter.

ok. will check the config/u-boot logs.
 

2. I think you will not be able to achieve real time performance using the desktop version of Linux. You should use the server version. (Why do you need real time preformance?)

 
because it's part of a thesis topic, that we should use real time OS to control multiple ultrasonic sensors and robot movement.. it's a must for using RTOS even though creating this kind of robot maybe not necessarily using RTOS.

i've patched with RT-Kernel from Hbrobitcs.. btw.. does anyone know that the RT patches based on? maybe based on RTAI/RTLinux or other?

 

3. For the best real-time control of your robot, you should use a microcontroller or fpga (something not running an operating system) to control the low level functions, such as motor control and sensor input. The PandaBoard can then be used for the high level behavior control. The arduino and raspberry pi is a good combination.

Osman

ozbotz.org

thanks for the info, my thesis mentor already prepare that as a secondary plan in case using pandaboard GPIO still failed to meet the realtime requirement.

==================================================
Thanks for the reply Mr. Sameer..

I'd follow the following approach:

1) Disable the GUI (Instructions below)

2) Setup a Ethernet cross-wire connection (Google might be of help)

3) Access via Putty or ssh

For disabling the GUI, you can try this. [Server edition is good but it should work with desktop version as well]

Change (edit) in /etc/default/grub file:

From:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

To:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text"

Now you must update the grub configs:

sudo update-grub

And its done! After reboot, to start the gui just login and type:

startx

number 2 & 3 i've already done that..

for number 1.. i think i've tried them before, as i remembered it, i think there's no grub file in Pandaboard because it's using u-boot?
however, i'll check them again..