On the right track? - BB-xM

A new experience for me, setting up a BB-xM for RISC OS. I haven’t got all the bits yet but decided to set up the microSD while I wait. I’m hoping I’ve got it right but would like to check. I’m using a mix of Mac & RPC.
I gathered MLO, u-boot from Beagleboard validation & rom-iyo.5.16 from this site and used SDCreate on the RPC to create an image file. I then transferred the image to the Mac & used the Linux method advised here to copy to the microSD.
I now have on the SD named RISC OS the following taking 8225280 bytes; BOOT.SCR, CMOS, MLO, RISCOS, U-BOOT.BIN, UENV.TXT
Does that seem OK? I wasn’t sure which RISC OS ROM to use.

It’s no use putting in an Iyonix ROM to a BB-xM; you need a BeagleBoard image. Other than that, you’re OK.

I discovered another thing very recently: if the first partition is not marked as Active, the board will not boot at all – it won’t get as far as RISC OS. I need to write a little BASIC programme to check the state and allow it to be marked as Active.

The key observation is whether the screen goes yellow for a few seconds; if it doesn’t, then the board isn’t booting.

Just a quick plug/reminder (since I purposely haven’t announced it elsewhere on this forum) that we (R-Comp) offer the Beagleboard Support Scheme. This would provide Fred with lots of help, additional software, formal ROM versions, easy upgrades (no need to remove your sd card), OS licence, cmos tools, video/usb enhancements, high res monitor defintions, some commercial apps, and all sorts of bits and pieces. So far, people who have joined seem happy.

Andrew, is there a list of what you include in the scheme anywhere ?
E.G a list of included apps..

Cheers

To be honest, it is large and growing, so any list would be a bit of a mislead… You’re essentially getting all the stuff that would normally be supplied with an ARMini (probably about 50-70ukp of commercial software, plus lots of other stuff – thre’s well over 600Mb on the ARMini, although it isn’t all online yet) plus OS licence, lots of bonus items (eg. unicode-compliant typefaces went up last week, unlocking foreign character display when browsing the web), periodic free gifts (we gave Grapevine away free to ARMini owners for a period during the summer), discounts against products/services and so on. That’s not to mention technical support, a mailing list/user group and so on. It is probably best if someone who has signed up makes comment as to whether they feel they’re getting value, but so far we’ve had very positive feedback.

Also, we’re well aware that people have been burned in the past with subscription schemes (to be honest, most people just go for the “life” option, for ease), which is why we’ve tried to “front load” it with lots of stuff ready to go right now. As you’re probably aware, we also provide extensive phone/email support to real people every day.

Essentially, the point of the scheme is that beagleboard DIY-ers get all the perks and advantages of being an ARMini owner (and the online feedback on other forums should tell you that we go out of our way to look after customers) including access to the same software, updates and so on. There may be some instances where things are ARMini only because of licenses, or hardware specific, in which case we’ll try and make up for it in other ways. As an example, we had a bit of a cock-up at launch with some of the zips becoming corrupted during upload, so we made up for it by uploading a whole load of extra stuff :)

Dave H: Ah. I take it that the ROM I need is the rom-omap 5.17 one. Think I was sidetracked by the work in progress tags. Thanks for that.
Andrew R: I may well be in touch but I’d like to try to get something working first. As I say, I haven’t got all the bits together yet. (Esp. power supply).

Thanks. Sorry for the late response. Been away.

Wahey! Received the ROOL USB stick today – thanks. We have ignition.

My first attempt the other day with the SD card failed. I noticed that the link given on the ROOL site points to files dated August (?) 2010 whereas the MLO & U-Boot files that came with my BB are dated April 2011. Using the latter gave me a successful boot to the supervisor & the USB stick to the desktop.

I’m glad you’re up and running, Fred. You have many enjoyable hours ahead.

the ROOL site points to files dated August (?) 2010

Preparing the flash on your BeagleBoard still points to those same files of that date. It looks as if this BeagleboardRevC3Validation is the current one.

Dave H: Thank you kindly.

Trevor J: I should probably emphasise that I have a BB xM rev.C.

• BeagleboardRevCValidation states “xM validation procedure is still under development”
• Maybe these files for Angstrom would work
• elinux.org refers to these, which are even older – and to the community versions, if they’re of any use to people

If someone more clued-up than me can throw a bit more light on things, then the wiki page can be updated.

Is there somewhere I can find out about drive formats…
Sorted

Networking: Resolved