UbuntuOnPandaboard

PANDABOARD IS STILL WORK IN PROGRESS, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS NOW

How to install Amahi on Pandaboard

If you want to install Amahi on Pandaboard it is highly recommended to use a USB hard disk. If not, you should go for a fast SDHC card of at least 4GB (better 8GB). If you want to install on an USB hard disk an SD card of at least 2GB is needed. Other thing needed is a serial cable for console access to the pandaboard.

The following steps are needed to get Amahi going.

Install Ubuntu 12.04 on Pandaboard

Detailed information can be found at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/OMAP, http://www.omappedia.org/wiki/OMAP_Ubuntu_Main and http://www.omappedia.org/wiki/PandaBoard_Ubuntu_Pre-built_Binaries_Guide

In brief:

• on a Linux PC fetch the ubuntu 12.04 arm server image:

wget http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/12.04/release/ubuntu-12.04-preinstalled-server-armhf+omap4.img.gz

• prepare your sd card, for <device name> use the name of your sd card (not a partition) sudo sh -c 'zcat ubuntu-12.04-preinstalled-server-armhf+omap4.img.gz >/dev/<device name>;sync'}}
• remove the SD card from your PC, insert it into the pandaboard and hook up a serial cable (or a USB to serial cable).
• start a terminal emulator on your PC. I have used cu as minicom was horrible with the graphics of the installer.
  

Make sure you configure it properly (115200 8N1) and use the proper line (in my case /dev/ttyUSB0, but this depends on your actual hardware). With cu and ttyUSB0 the command line reads:

cu -l /dev/ttyUSB0 -s 115200

If cu claims the line is busy you might try doing this:

sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB0

• power the board; your panda will now boot; and start resizing the partition, after that the board will reboot.
• you will now get into the ubuntu installation dialog. I've tested with English, but feel free to try other languages.
• choose location, timezone etc. Keyboard does only matter if you plan on adding a local keyboard, but most likely you won't.
• choose a username and password, make sure not to forget these
• for primary interface best use eth0 (using wlan0 should not probably be no problem but will be slower). This was all tested with fixed network.
• for hostname just keep localhost; we'll rename later
• IMPORTANT: when it comes to selecting what software to install choose both Basic Ubuntu Server and OpenSSH Server. Select no other items.
• the packages will now install. This takes some time. A good moment to get some coffee or a beer ;-)

Optional: move Ubuntu to a USB hard disk

Info is to be found here: http://omappedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_on_OMAP_FAQ#I_want_to_install_Ubuntu_on_external_USB_hard_disk_instead_of_sluggish_SD_card

Install Amahi

Follow the instructions for installing Amahi on i386 starting at the third instruction ("start a terminal").

Install time will depend on your network, but both the install.11.10 step and the amahi installer took around 10 minutes for me (using an USB hard disk). Of course this also depends on your network speed and on speed of the servers. On SD card this will take substantially more time.

Install Ubuntu on BeagleBoard/BeagleBoard XM/BeagleBone

This is not tested by me but probably possible following the instructions for Pandaboard. BThere is (as far as I know) one deviation. As ubuntu image you need to download http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/11.10/release/ubuntu-11.10-preinstalled-server-armel+omap.img.gz instead of the omap4 image.

And of course for BeagleBoard you need to add some USB Ethernet adapter.

If you manage to get Amahi running on any of these boards, feel free to update this page and please mail the Amahi mailing list.

Install Amahi on other ARMv7 boards

This is probably feasible. If you have Ubuntu running on it just start at step 3 of the i386 instructions. Please report successes to the mailing list and feel free to add a note to this page.