How to get started with a Pandaboard (Rev #14, changes)

Showing changes from revision #13 to #14: Added | Removed | Changed

Getting Going with a Pandaboard?

A Basic Guide to Setting Up RISC OS on a Pandaboard ES

Introduction

RISC OS on the Pandaboard boots from an SD card in a similar manner to RISC OS on the Raspberry Pi. The bootable SD card needs to contain two partitions; one FAT16 partition to contain the OMAP4 (Cortex A9) boot files and one RISC OS ‘filecore’ partition for all the RISC OS files. The instructions in this WiKi are intended to be used to create an SD card that boots in a Pandabaord and runs the RISC OS 5 operating system.

People’s experiences in setting up their brand new Pandaboard seem to range from simply sailing through the set-up at one end of the scale to deep frustration and struggling to get anywhere at all at the other. My initial experiences were definitely of the latter type but, with some help from the ROOL Forum, I got there in the end.

Section 2.0 of this guide is based on a Pandaboard ES, Rev B3 – please let us know through the ROOL forum if it works or doesn’t work with other revisions. This guide assumes at least a little knowledge of RISC OS – if you’re not confident in using RISC OS then this guide is a good place to start. Finally, these steps were gleaned from my own struggles and experiences – they worked for me and I hope they work for you too.

Section 3.0 of this Wiki provides an alternative method of getting RISC OS running on all versions of the Pandaboard using a modified Raspberry Pi SD12a RISC OS SD Card Image. This method is much quicker and involves fewer steps, and should be less troublesome. However, the downside is that you will ‘only’ have around 2Gbytes of your SD card available to RISC OS (as on the standard Raspberry Pi images). If you want to get RISC OS running on your Pandaboard as quickly as possible, and you’ve already got an RPi running RISC OS, then this is a good option to take.

Full Installation of RISC OS Onto a Blank SD Card

Software: Prepare the SD Card

You’ll Before need you an begin: SD please Card note that this section has been prepared and tested using Piccolo’s !SystemDisc, which will enable you to use the full capacity of at least 2GB, preferably larger than 4GB. The SD card Cards. should However, first if be you formatted don’t have this software, or would prefer to prepare the SD card by hand,RISCfollow these instructions , OS then FileCore return format. to this Wiki and go to the ‘Hardware: Connect the Pandaboard’ section below.
To give an overview, if you use !SystemDisc to prepare the SD card, what you’ll be doing is:

Firstly, You’ll need an SD Card of at least 2GB, preferably larger, and you’ll also need to download the following files (you may find it easier to unzip them all to the same folder).download the ROM image from the ROOL site.

From Firstly, the same site, you’ll also need ROOL’s download HardDisc4 the zip fileROM image . from theROOL site. Once unzipped, for our purposes you’ll just need the file named ‘RISCOS’.

Next From come the bootloader same files; site, you’ll also need ROOL’s dowload HardDisc4 this zip file . Follow the ‘Pandaboard boot firmware’ link (note: these files include u-boot.img, which you use instead of the u-boot.bin file mentioned in the SystemDisc tutorial linked to below. Please read the ReadMe file accompanying the bootloader files).

Finally Then I download found a I also needed theCMOSCMOS file from openpandora.com . file Note from that it should be copied into the bootloader partition as the same time as the other bootloader files below.openpandora.com:. It should also be copied into the bootloader partition as the same time as the other bootloader files.

Once Finally, you have downloaded all the required bootloader files files; you can start to set up your bootable SD card:download this zip file.
Unzip the directory named ‘boot’ and from this folder delete the files ‘uenv/txt’ and ‘preenv/txt’ as these files are not required. For the purposes of this exercise, you won’t need the smartreflex directory right now either.

If Next, you rename have ‘uenv_cmos/txt’ Ben to Avison’s ‘uenv/txt’. SystemDisc This follow file contains the excellent code instructions that at loads Piccolo the System’s ‘cmos’ file intoSystemDisc TutorialRISC . OS.

If At you the don’t appropriate have stage SystemDisc, of or the if !SystemDisc you’d tutorial like (linked to set below), up copy the following files into the FAT16 partition of the SD card ‘by (please hand’ note go that to these are slightly different from the ones given in the example in the tutorial):alternative set-up instructions

Before Noting you begin connecting stuff, take a look at the diagram above on files, now follow the Pandaboard !SystemDisc Connection Tutorial Guide . page (you may find things a little easier if you have this page open in a separate tab or page in your browser).

• Either A regulated 5V DC power supply, preferably of at least 2.5 amps. Anything less than 2.5 amps and you may experience problems with your keyboard and possibly unexplained random crashes. Having said that, if you use a powered HDMI USB cable hub if for you the have keyboard an and mouse then a good 2.0 amp regulated 5V power supply may well be sufficient.HDMI capable monitor

• A USB Cable to connect the Pandaboard to the powered USB hub (if used).

• USB Keyboard and USB Mouse (or equivalents).

• Ethernet cable (if required).

• Speakers and microphone (if required).

Powering Up the Pandaboard

First, double check that everything is connected to whatever it needs to connect to. Refer to the connection guide above if needs be. Now power insert up the Pandaboard; SD card into the Pandaboard and switch on the power; it’s not as fast as booting into the Raspberry Pi – it takes around 20 seconds for the first text to appear on the monitor.HDMI monitor. When the Pandaboard is powered-on the D2 ‘status2’ LED lights up immediately, even without the bootable SD card fitted. During the RISC OS boot process D1 ‘status1’ also lights up for about 16 seconds. Then both LEDs D1 and D2 go out simultaneously and then stay out whilst RISC OS is active ?

It may be that you boot straight into the RISC OS desktop first time time, but in if which not case then congratulations, don’t you’re worry all – done! the next step should help. Either way, follow the remaining steps below.

RISC OS 1024MB
Cortex-A9 Processor
Acorn SCSIFS 
No keyboard present - autobooting 
Waiting for boot device to be ready; press Escape to cancel

At This means that the time Pandaboard of is writing, trying the to boot from aRISC OS boot within the ROM image you downloaded earlier is set to boot from a SCSI device, device such instead as of a the memory SD stick card, or in removable which case your ‘cmos’ file needs to be set to use USB SDFS disc as drive. the If configured you want to boot from filing a system. Perform the following actions:SCSI device then copy the HardDisc4 files you extracted from the HardDrive4 download onto the SCSI device and connect it to the Pandaboard via USB. By the way, in order to begin the boot process you’ll still need to insert the SD card you prepared before you power up the Pandaboard. If you don’t want to boot from an SD card, go to ‘Set Up Configuration and Save Changes’ below.

If Press you <Esc> do want to boot cancel from the SD card though and you get a ‘Waiting for Boot Drive’ message then you’ll first need to copy !Boot onto a memory stick, insert it into theUSB
hub When and you temporarily get boot into from the that. desktop, press <F12> to get to theRISC OS command line and type the following:

*Configure FileSystem SDFS

Type Press <Return> twice to get back to the following desktop lines and press then Return reboot. at the end of each (each line automatically begins with an asterisk)

*Configure Your Boot Pandaboard should now boot into
RISC *Configure OS FileSystem from the SD card.SDFS

Alternative Set-Up Method Using an RPi RC12a SD Card

This method assumes that you already have an SD card that has been flashed with the Raspberry Pi SD12a image (or newer). Ideally you have tested your SD card in a Raspberry Pi first and it all works OK, although this is not mandatory. This process has been tested on a rev. A3 Pandaboard, but the u-boot file references should now be suitable to all revisions of Pandaboard including ‘ES’ variants.

Download Pandaboard Files

Download the Pandaboard u-boot suite of files from:

dowload this zip file.

Download the current Pandaboard RISC OS ROM from:

download the ROM image

Download a Pandaboard CMOS file from:

openpandora.com: note this is a different download to section 2 above

There are four boot files in this zip file. Although they are intended for the Pandora, three of these files boot OK to SDFS on the Pandaboard. None are perfect. Use file ‘cmos1_1’ and rename it to ‘cmos’ for the Pandaboard boot file required below.

Delete the Existing RPi Boot Files on SD Card

Using the computer of your choice (RPi, PC, Mac?), open the FAT16 directory on the RPi SD12a card. The following files should be seen:

BOOTCODE/BIN
config/txt
FIXUP/DAT
LICENCE/BROADCOM
START/ELF
riscos/img

We have no interest in the files as these are RPi specific. Delete all of the RPi boot files. Alternatively you could perform a quick format on this ‘drive’ using FAT16.

Prepare the Pandaboard Boot Files

Delete the Pandaboard files ‘uenv/txt’ and ‘preenv/txt’. These files are not required if an external ‘cmos’ file is to be used.

Rename ‘uenv_cmos/txt’ to ‘uenv/txt’. This file contains the code that loads the ‘cmos’ file into RISC OS.

Using the computer of your choice, copy the following files into the FAT16 partition of the RPi SD card:

cmos TBA TBA 2,052
Mlo 06/09/2014 12:00 33,064
riscos 20/09/2014 04:40 5,242,880
u-boot/img 06/09/2014 12:00 208,540
uenv/txt 17/04/2012 07:25 100 (renamed above)

Put the SD card in your Pandaboard. Ensure that your HDMI monitor is plugged into the outermost socket of your board (nearest the right-hand edge when looking at the connector end). Power up the Pandaboard, and it should start to load the RISC OS operating system. Initially one or both green LEDs should be ‘on’. When the RISC OS modules are loaded both green LEDs go ‘off’.

Depending upon the contents of your ‘cmos’ file you might be lucky and boot into SDFS first time. If so then you have completed your Pandaboard RISC OS installation.

Change Boot Settings from SCSIFS to SDFS

However, if your Pandaboard boots into RISC OS with the following message:

RISC OS 1024MB
Cortex-A9 Processor
Acorn SCSIFS <- this means that boot is not set to SD card
No keyboard present – autobooting (note:ignore this)
Waiting for boot device to be ready; press Escape to cancel

This means that your ‘cmos’ file needs to be set to use SDFS as the configured boot filing system. Perform the following actions:

Press <Cancel>

Press <F12> to get to the RISC OS command line

Type the following:

*sdfs <-not sure if this is actually required but hey…
*configure filesystem sdfs
*configure boot
*configure drive 0

Do a <CTRL> <BREAK> or press ‘reset’ to reboot the Pandaboard.

Pandaboard should now boot correctly to SDFS, and not SCSIFS.

That’s all folks…

Warning about RPi-Only Files

Closing Note: Using an RPi SD card on a Pandaboard means that you can quickly get a working copy of your RPi RISC OS set-up and running, with all the speed benefits this gives with a Pandaboard. Be aware however, that some ROMs are Raspberry Pi only. These ROMs will not run under RISC OS on the Pandaboard. For example the ‘anymode’ module that can be sometimes found in !Boot.Choices.Boot.PreDesk on the RPi will stop the Pandaboard from completing its !Boot process. Networking will then not function correctly. I’m sure there are others… be warned.

Help !

NB if you need any further help, the ROOL Forum is extremely knowledgeable and friendly.