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Daily GNOME image builds  are  available for all versions of Beagle and Overo.

These OMAP3 builds are based on Linux version 3.0 and GNOME version 2.32.

• Boot loaders and kernel
• Basic system preferences and configuration applets
• Web browser, email, chat, and ftp applications
• Word processor, spreadsheet, graphics, photo, and PDF viewing applications
• Media player with DVD playback
• Gnome games
• Native development tools (C and Java) and IDE
• Calculator applet
• Disk usage analyzer
• Log file viewing tools
• Command line package manager (opkg)
• English, German, French, and Spanish language support

With r13 the downloading of the image and creation of a bootable SD/microSD is handled by an easy to use script. While a 2GB card should work, a 4GB or larger card is recommended.

Download the mksdcard.sh script using the green Download button at the bottom right of this page.  Then make the script executable:

chmod +x mksdcard.sh

To use the script you will need to know what device your SD/microSD card appears as when you insert it into your development machine's card slot.

On my Ubuntu 10.04 machine, the newly inserted card shows up as /dev/sdc and that is the device name that will be used in the example below. You should substitute the proper device name for your machine. You can use the mount or df command to see where the card mounts on your machine.

WARNING: It is very important that you determine the proper device!  Do not proceed if you are not certain, since accidentally specifying your development system's root device would destroy your linux installation.

The script syntax can be viewed by typing the script name with no parameters:

$ sudo ./mksdcard.sh
./mksdcard.sh version 0.9
Usage: ./mksdcard.sh    
 drive: SD device (i.e. /dev/sdc)
 machine: target machine (default overo)
          beagleboard
          overo
 image: image name (default gnome)
          console
          gnome
          minimal
 release: release name (default current
          current (most recent build)
          build-timestamp (i.e. 201011182053)
          local (use files in current directory)

Let's use Beagleboard for an example.  After inserting your SD card and determining what device is detected (on my machine /dev/sdc), run the script to prepare a Beagleboard GNOME image:

sudo ./mksdcard.sh /dev/sdc beagleboard gnome

Note that you must use the sudo prefix (or run as root) in order to properly create a bootable SD card.  The script will indicate an error if you do not do so.

The script will then proceed to properly format the SD card, download the proper images for your board, and then write the images to the card.  When the script completes it will indicate whether the card creation was successful or not (and why).

This process can take some time and is highly dependent on the download speed of your connection.  On my system it takes about an hour.

After the script is done, remove the SD card and insert it in your board.  The first boot will take some time since it completes the installation process.  You can monitor progress using the serial console of your board.  On my system the first boot takes about 20 minutes, but depending on your brand of SD card it can take much longer, in some cases more than 2 hours!  See the article MicroSD card performance test results. Subsequent boots will be much faster.

When the installation is complete, you will be presented with a GNOME login screen.   Login as user root with password root.  If you desire, you can then use the System/Administration/Users and Groups menu item to create a normal user.

Have fun exploring!

To change your display resolution see the article How to change the display resolution.

But please read the section below first!

A few words about the U-boot environment partition

For systems with NAND, it is recommended that you erase the u-boot environment partition every time you install a new version of u-boot.  This will cause u-boot to use its default environment.

The images on this site are always matched sets - the u-boot default enviroment will be appropriate for the kernel and rootfs in the set.  You should only change the default u-boot environment if you know what you are doing.  You shouldn't normally need to change this default unless you want to use a different display resolution than the default 1024x768.

To erase the u-boot environment partition, press any key during the boot sequence when u-boot prints the following message:

Hit any key to stop autoboot:

Then, at the command prompt for Overo type:

Overo # nand erase 240000 20000

NAND erase: device 0 offset 0x240000, size 0x20000
Erasing at 0x240000 -- 100% complete.
OK
Overo # reset

For Beagle, type:

OMAP3 beagleboard.org # nand erase 260000 20000

NAND erase: device 0 offset 0x260000, size 0x20000
Erasing at 0x260000 -- 100% complete.
OK
OMAP3 beagleboard.org # reset

Your machine will now reboot and you will see confirmation thas you have successfully erased the environment partition whe u-boot prints the following message:

*** Warning - bad CRC or NAND, using default environment