Gumstix User Wiki - User contributions [en]

MicroSd

2011-07-08T16:55:33Z

Javier Arancibia Garcia: /* Creating a Basic Card Image */

It is possible to duplicate a microSD using a few simple tools in Linux. This can be useful once you have a known good image that you want to replicate for a bunch of Gumstix COMs.

The Use-Cases below assume a source card found at /dev/sourcecard and a destination card at /dev/destcard. Note, you can use 'dmesg' or 'mount' to confirm the actual mounting location; they are probably something like /dev/sde. Also, we are interested in the actual card device (e.g. /dev/sde) rather than the block devices representing any partitions it may have (e.g. /dev/sde0, /dev/sde1).

===Creating a Basic Card Image===
'''Note 1:''' before executing the commands below you will need to "umount" the partitions of the card that has been inserted in your computer (you may want to insert more than one card). For example, if your partitions are located in /dev/sde0 and /dev/sde1, the first thing you would have to do is:
sudo umount /dev/sde0
sudo umount /dev/sde1
'''Note 2:''' super user access (sudo) may be required to execute the following commands.

'''Commands to create a Basic Card Image:'''
dd if=/dev/sourcecard of=/home/user/masterimage.img bs=1M
dd if=/home/user/masterimage.img of=/dev/destcard bs=1M
Specifying a block size of 1MB should speed up the transfer.

If you happen to have two microSD slots so both cards are simultaneously available, you can do a direct copy:
dd if=/dev/sourcecard of=/dev/destcard bs=1M

For touchscreen boards, you'll redo the calibration for each board. Be sure to remove the /etc/pointercal file from the master image.

===Creating a compressed image===
You can also compress the image on disk but be warned that you need to do this as the root user.
dd if=/dev/sourcecard bs=1M | gzip -c > somefile.gz
gunzip -c somefile.gz | dd of=/dev/destcard bs=1M
To make even smaller image files, zero out all remaining space on your microSD card partitions before doing the two steps above. For example, let's say your Ext3 partition is mostly empty and is mounted at /mnt/card_ext/.
dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/card_ext/mybigfile
rm /mnt/card_ext/mybigfile

Note for large cards, it may be faster to create a script to format the card (see [http://www.gumstix.net/Setup-and-Programming/view/Overo-Setup-and-Programming/Creating-a-bootable-microSD-card/111.html] for hints) and copy over the required files.

Thanks to Dave Hylands, Ananth and Coderone for their mailing list replies and to Doug Gibbs who posed the original question. See [http://old.nabble.com/Duplicating-SD-cards-td27947599.html#a27947920|this thread] for the full discussion.

MicroSd

2011-07-08T16:54:36Z

Javier Arancibia Garcia: /* Creating a Basic Card Image */

It is possible to duplicate a microSD using a few simple tools in Linux. This can be useful once you have a known good image that you want to replicate for a bunch of Gumstix COMs.

The Use-Cases below assume a source card found at /dev/sourcecard and a destination card at /dev/destcard. Note, you can use 'dmesg' or 'mount' to confirm the actual mounting location; they are probably something like /dev/sde. Also, we are interested in the actual card device (e.g. /dev/sde) rather than the block devices representing any partitions it may have (e.g. /dev/sde0, /dev/sde1).

===Creating a Basic Card Image===
'''Note 1:''' before executing the commands below you will need to "umount" the partitions of the card that has been inserted in your computer (you may want to insert more than one card). For example, if your partitions are located in /dev/sde0 and /dev/sde1, the first thing you would have to do is:
sudo umount /dev/sde0
sudo umount /dev/sde1
'''Note 2:''' super user access (sudo) may be required to execute the following commands:
'''Commands to create a Basic Card Image:'''
dd if=/dev/sourcecard of=/home/user/masterimage.img bs=1M
dd if=/home/user/masterimage.img of=/dev/destcard bs=1M
Specifying a block size of 1MB should speed up the transfer.

If you happen to have two microSD slots so both cards are simultaneously available, you can do a direct copy:
dd if=/dev/sourcecard of=/dev/destcard bs=1M

For touchscreen boards, you'll redo the calibration for each board. Be sure to remove the /etc/pointercal file from the master image.

===Creating a compressed image===
You can also compress the image on disk but be warned that you need to do this as the root user.
dd if=/dev/sourcecard bs=1M | gzip -c > somefile.gz
gunzip -c somefile.gz | dd of=/dev/destcard bs=1M
To make even smaller image files, zero out all remaining space on your microSD card partitions before doing the two steps above. For example, let's say your Ext3 partition is mostly empty and is mounted at /mnt/card_ext/.
dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/card_ext/mybigfile
rm /mnt/card_ext/mybigfile

Note for large cards, it may be faster to create a script to format the card (see [http://www.gumstix.net/Setup-and-Programming/view/Overo-Setup-and-Programming/Creating-a-bootable-microSD-card/111.html] for hints) and copy over the required files.

Thanks to Dave Hylands, Ananth and Coderone for their mailing list replies and to Doug Gibbs who posed the original question. See [http://old.nabble.com/Duplicating-SD-cards-td27947599.html#a27947920|this thread] for the full discussion.

MicroSd

2011-07-07T23:22:00Z

Javier Arancibia Garcia: /* Creating a Basic Card Image */

It is possible to duplicate a microSD using a few simple tools in Linux. This can be useful once you have a known good image that you want to replicate for a bunch of Gumstix COMs.

The Use-Cases below assume a source card found at /dev/sourcecard and a destination card at /dev/destcard. Note, you can use 'dmesg' or 'mount' to confirm the actual mounting location; they are probably something like /dev/sde. Also, we are interested in the actual card device (e.g. /dev/sde) rather than the block devices representing any partitions it may have (e.g. /dev/sde0, /dev/sde1).

===Creating a Basic Card Image===
'''Note:''' super user access (sudo) may be required to execute the following commands:
dd if=/dev/sourcecard of=/home/user/masterimage.img bs=1M
dd if=/home/user/masterimage.img of=/dev/destcard bs=1M
Specifying a block size of 1MB should speed up the transfer.

If you happen to have two microSD slots so both cards are simultaneously available, you can do a direct copy:
dd if=/dev/sourcecard of=/dev/destcard bs=1M

For touchscreen boards, you'll redo the calibration for each board. Be sure to remove the /etc/pointercal file from the master image.

===Creating a compressed image===
You can also compress the image on disk but be warned that you need to do this as the root user.
dd if=/dev/sourcecard bs=1M | gzip -c > somefile.gz
gunzip -c somefile.gz | dd of=/dev/destcard bs=1M
To make even smaller image files, zero out all remaining space on your microSD card partitions before doing the two steps above. For example, let's say your Ext3 partition is mostly empty and is mounted at /mnt/card_ext/.
dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/card_ext/mybigfile
rm /mnt/card_ext/mybigfile

Note for large cards, it may be faster to create a script to format the card (see [http://www.gumstix.net/Setup-and-Programming/view/Overo-Setup-and-Programming/Creating-a-bootable-microSD-card/111.html] for hints) and copy over the required files.

Thanks to Dave Hylands, Ananth and Coderone for their mailing list replies and to Doug Gibbs who posed the original question. See [http://old.nabble.com/Duplicating-SD-cards-td27947599.html#a27947920|this thread] for the full discussion.

Linaro

2011-06-24T00:11:04Z

Javier Arancibia Garcia: /* Making a Card */

The Gumstix Overo COM is supported by the [http://www.linaro.org Linaro Project]. Linaro is not a distribution but really an effort to make a common framework for unleashing open-source software on embedded systems. The Linaro project is backed by Canonical (the people behind Ubuntu) among others which means this is a great place to start if you want to run Ubuntu on your Overo COM.

== Getting the Images ==
Gumstix is scheduled for inclusion in the next Linaro release due in May 2011. As of Mar 2011, an Alpha 3 release is available although you will want to use the [http://snapshots.linaro.org/11.05-daily/ daily snapshots] for the most up-to-date fixes. You'll need two components:
* an Overo-specific [http://snapshots.linaro.org/11.05-daily/linaro-hwpacks/overo/20110314/0/images/hwpack/hwpack_linaro-overo_20110314-0_armel_supported.tar.gz hardware pack]
* an image. There are [http://snapshots.linaro.org/11.05-daily/linaro-developer/20110314/0/images/tar/linaro-n-developer-tar-20110314-0.tar.gz developer] (console-only), [http://snapshots.linaro.org/11.05-daily/linaro-alip/20110314/0/images/tar/linaro-natty-alip-tar-20110314-0.tar.gz ALIP] (internet platform), or [http://snapshots.linaro.org/11.05-daily/linaro-ubuntu-desktop/20110314/0/images/tar/linaro-n-ubuntu-desktop-tar-20110314-0.tar.gz Ubuntu-desktop] versions. Pick one.

Download these two components and while you are waiting, grab a few important tools...

== Getting the Tools ==
'''linaro-media-create''' is a tool to automatically create a bootable microSD for your Overo. For those running Ubuntu Natty, apparently this will do the trick:
sudo apt-get install linaro-image-tools
For those sporting Maverick (10.10), Lucid (10.04) and maybe older versions :
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linaro-maintainers/tools
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linaro-image-tools
sudo apt-get install qemu-user-static

More details are available [https://wiki.linaro.org/Releases/MilestoneBuilds here]

== Making a Card ==
The final step is actually creating the microSD card. Navigate to the directory where you downloaded the image and the hardware pack, slip a microSD card into your machine. The general format of the command you have to enter is the following:
sudo linaro-media-create --rootfs ext3 --mmc [microSD_path] --binary [image_file] --hwpack [hwpack_file] --dev overo
An example of a command would be (your microSD_path, image_file and hwpack_file may be different):
sudo linaro-media-create --rootfs ext3 --mmc /dev/mmcblk0 --binary linaro-n-ubuntu-desktop-tar-20110314-0.tar.gz --hwpack hwpack_linaro-overo_20110314-0_armel_supported.tar.gz --dev overo

Notes:
* use ''dmesg'' to check that your SD card is actually ''/dev/mmcblk0'' before doing this

This command will take a little while to download any extra bits it needs and format your card. For me, this was about 20 minutes total and I waited a long time on the 'Populating rootfs partition' step. Once it is done, unmount the card and slide it into your Overo COM and power on as normal.

== Related Links ==
* improve Linaro by giving [https://wiki.linaro.org/Releases/1011/WeeklyTesting testing feedback]
* check out Michael Hope's [https://wiki.linaro.org/MichaelHope/Sandbox/StagecoachBringup Stagecoach build server] setup (which, I understand is used for the Linaro toolchain builds).
* another way of getting [http://snowbots.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/ubuntu-10-04-on-gumstix-overo/ Ubuntu on an Overo].

Linaro

2011-06-23T23:54:39Z

Javier Arancibia Garcia: /* Getting the Tools */

The Gumstix Overo COM is supported by the [http://www.linaro.org Linaro Project]. Linaro is not a distribution but really an effort to make a common framework for unleashing open-source software on embedded systems. The Linaro project is backed by Canonical (the people behind Ubuntu) among others which means this is a great place to start if you want to run Ubuntu on your Overo COM.

== Getting the Images ==
Gumstix is scheduled for inclusion in the next Linaro release due in May 2011. As of Mar 2011, an Alpha 3 release is available although you will want to use the [http://snapshots.linaro.org/11.05-daily/ daily snapshots] for the most up-to-date fixes. You'll need two components:
* an Overo-specific [http://snapshots.linaro.org/11.05-daily/linaro-hwpacks/overo/20110314/0/images/hwpack/hwpack_linaro-overo_20110314-0_armel_supported.tar.gz hardware pack]
* an image. There are [http://snapshots.linaro.org/11.05-daily/linaro-developer/20110314/0/images/tar/linaro-n-developer-tar-20110314-0.tar.gz developer] (console-only), [http://snapshots.linaro.org/11.05-daily/linaro-alip/20110314/0/images/tar/linaro-natty-alip-tar-20110314-0.tar.gz ALIP] (internet platform), or [http://snapshots.linaro.org/11.05-daily/linaro-ubuntu-desktop/20110314/0/images/tar/linaro-n-ubuntu-desktop-tar-20110314-0.tar.gz Ubuntu-desktop] versions. Pick one.

Download these two components and while you are waiting, grab a few important tools...

== Getting the Tools ==
'''linaro-media-create''' is a tool to automatically create a bootable microSD for your Overo. For those running Ubuntu Natty, apparently this will do the trick:
sudo apt-get install linaro-image-tools
For those sporting Maverick (10.10), Lucid (10.04) and maybe older versions :
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linaro-maintainers/tools
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linaro-image-tools
sudo apt-get install qemu-user-static

More details are available [https://wiki.linaro.org/Releases/MilestoneBuilds here]

== Making a Card ==
The final step is actually creating the microSD card. Navigate to the directory where you downloaded the image and the hardware pack, slip a microSD card into your machine, and issue a command like this:
sudo linaro-media-create --rootfs ext3 --mmc /dev/mmcblk0 --binary linaro-n-ubuntu-desktop-tar-20110314-0.tar.gz --hwpack hwpack_linaro-overo_20110314-0_armel_supported.tar.gz --dev overo

Notes:
* use ''dmesg'' to check that your SD card is actually ''/dev/mmcblk0'' before doing this
* the ''--binary'' argument will depend on which image you chose to download

This command will take a little while to download any extra bits it needs and format your card. For me, this was about 20 minutes total and I waited a long time on the 'Populating rootfs partition' step. Once it is done, unmount the card and slide it into your Overo COM and power on as normal.

== Related Links ==
* improve Linaro by giving [https://wiki.linaro.org/Releases/1011/WeeklyTesting testing feedback]
* check out Michael Hope's [https://wiki.linaro.org/MichaelHope/Sandbox/StagecoachBringup Stagecoach build server] setup (which, I understand is used for the Linaro toolchain builds).
* another way of getting [http://snowbots.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/ubuntu-10-04-on-gumstix-overo/ Ubuntu on an Overo].