OS setup

We started with the Ubuntu Saucy image for Arm. On that image, we installed the necessary tools and provided the appropriate framework required for Drone's Mission Control. The entire thing is available as a image file which can be burnt directly to a 32GB Micro SD card and attached to a BeagleBone Black.

Steps for burning existing master image to plain SD card

Step 1: Download the latest master image from the attachment: beaglebone_master_v0.3_03_31_2014.img.gz​
Step 2: From a linux system, burn the image to a SD card using the following command:

Note: sdX in the command should be appropriate device file for MMC/SD card. also, the existing data in the SD card will be lost by this process.

gzip -dc beaglebone_master_v0.3_03_31_2014.img.gz | dd of=/dev/sdX bs=8M

Now the SD card is ready to be plugged into BeagleBone Black. It is significant that the BBBK will boot from the SD card. Verify the same with the LEDs. If unsuccessful, repeat Step 2.

Steps for building master image

Note: 1. If you wish to start from Ubuntu as your base image, start from Step 1. 
      2. If you wish to start from other master images as your base image, start from Step 7.

Step 1: Get the cross-compiled version of Ubuntu Saucy image

wget https://rcn-ee.net/deb/rootfs/saucy/ubuntu-13.10-console-armhf-2013-11-15.tar.xz

The same image can also be retrived from the attachment below: ubuntu-13.10-console-armhf-2013-11-15.tar.xz​

Step 2: Ensure the image is right by checking its hash.

md5sum ubuntu-13.10-console-armhf-2013-11-15.tar.xz
8de42541ee3687d6a167878d4f873481  ubuntu-13.10-console-armhf-2013-11-15.tar.xz

Step 3: Extract the image and navigate to that extracted folder

tar xJf ubuntu-13.10-console-armhf-2013-11-15.tar.xz
cd ubuntu-13.10-console-armhf-2013-11-15

Step 4: Get the root privileges

sudo su

Step 5: Install necessary tools

apt-get install dosfstools git-core kpartx u-boot-tools wget parted

Step 6: Burn the Ubuntu base image to SD card Note: sdX in the command should be appropriate device file for MMC/SD card. also, the existing data in the SD card will be lost by this process.

./setup_sdcard.sh --mmc /dev/sdX --uboot bone

Step 7: Connect the SD card containing the image to the Beagle Bone black. Connect the Beagle Bone black to your computer. SSH into the beagle-bone black. If its a new image, follow the startup script readme to setup MAVLink and wireless cards. If its an existing master image for which you need to make your changes, then just only apply your changes. After all changes are complete, shutdown the beagle-bone black. Disconnect the SD card and connect it to the laptop in order to make an image out of it.

Image can be made out of the SD card using the dd command as illustrated below:

Note: sdX in the command should be appropriate device file for MMC/SD card.

dd if=/dev/sdX bs=8M |gzip -c > beaglebone_master_v0.3_03_31_2014.img.gz

You should be able to see a file in the local directory by the name of "beaglebone_master_v0.3_03_31_2014.img.gz". You can use this image to make further copies.