A suggestion for helping non-risc owners for beagleboard installations.

Hi, I was just reading the BeagleBoard documentation (I don’t have a BB/alt atm due to lack of funds) and came across the section for formatting your harddrive (usb key) and applying the HardDisc4 files. The problem is that the method relies on your having a RiscOS based computer handy for you to do these things to get your BB’s new harddrive all up and running, but perhaps not everyone will have a RiscOS machine anymore. Therefore I would like to put forward the idea that someone with both a RiscOS machine and a PC (any x86 based computer) could do the following:

Taking a blank USB key, format it on the Risc machine. Extract the HardDisc4 files to it.

Now while several options would be open to the following, I would suggest that while slightly less easy to use than other programs, the freely available SystemRescueCD would be the best choice due to its only requiring an x86 based computer and thus not reliant on the Operating System of said x86 machine (Good documentation over the method would make it seem relatively easy at any rate).

Basically the SRCD contains PartImage which reads block-for-block (and thus doesn’t care what filesystem a harddrive uses) the contents of a HardDrive to a compressed image file.

Once done this file would be hosted on the ROOL downloads section for people without a RiscOS based machine to use. This would be done by using their x86 based machine to boot up their own downloaded/burnt version of SRCD, launching partimage (with the usb key plugged in of course) and then applying the compressed image file to the usb key.

Once done they can take it out, plug it into their beagleboard and job done.

Now what I don’t know is whether these days you can expand ADFS partition sizes, if you can then the compressed file would only have to be the size of a basic HDD with the required files (which means a small download) and then end users would expand out the file system to that of their usb keys storage capacity.

Otherwise it would involve an image for each size of usb key capacity out there ranging from 512mb all the way up to 16gb and while these would be compressed it would still be an awful lot of space on ROOLs ftp space being taken up.

Chief. :)

But you don’t need a RISC OS computer at all to get started with RISC OS on OMAP. You only need two USB sticks. You can expand the HardDisc4 self expanding archive on a fat formatted disc. Then simply run scsiform on the other stick and voila:You will have a bootable “Harddrive” to copy the HardDisc4 files on).

On: https://www.riscosopen.org/wiki/documentation/pages/How+to+get+started+with+a+BeagleBoard

It only says the following for the HDD:

“Format the USB memory stick as ADFS using !SCSIForm, which you should have on your existing RISC OS computer.” and: “Once you’ve installed UnTarBZ2 on your exising RISC OS computer, you can uncompress HardDisc4, and copy it to the USB memory stick. Don’t forget to dismount it before you unplug it.”

Absolutely no mention of any other method that doesn’t require a RISC OS computer, so it looks when you read the wiki as though you have to have a risc os computer for doing the formatting on. I take it then I’ve mised seeing a download of a scsiform which doesn’t require riscos (or are you saying ROOL can read fat outright, and then you convert to adfs?).

Well that is how I did it! See my instructions in this thread: http://www.riscosopen.org/forum/forums/5/topics/303?page=2#posts-2591

I don’t update the wiki myself,because my english isn’t that good!

Ah interesting (and easier than my proposed method ;)).

I too thought I’d have this problem because I have neither an Iyonix nor a USB card for my RiscPC. But what a pleasant surprise it was to find a FAT32 USB stick being recognised by RISC OS! Anyway – hope you get to try out some new hardware yourself soon, chief… either your own (when you can afford it) or perhaps at a RISC OS show!