BeagleBone® Enhanced Developer Tutorial

BeagleBone® Enhanced Software Update

How to Download & Update the Software Image in 3 Simple Steps

1. Download the Software Image

Grab the latest software image from the Beagleboard.org site : Latest Images

2. Unpack the Software Image

The img.xz file can be decompressed by a number of programs:

Windows

WinRAR

7-ZIP

Linux

tar supports .xz from version 1.22 onwards:

# tar -xvf downloaded.img.xz

Note where the img file has been decompressed to.

3. Write the Software Image

To flash the software image to your microSD card, ensure the card is inserted into a microSD to USB adapter or appropriate card reader. You need to make note of the drive letter or device node that is created for the card :

Windows

Download the imaging software Win32 Disk Imager to allow the image to be written to the microSD card. Download from: Win32 Disk Imager

Once installed open and select the extracted image file and device (microSD card) you would like to write to:

Once you are ready select the Write button:

The progress bar will move as it progresses through the image. Once the image has been written successfully a popup will appear for you to acknowledge.

The card is now ready to either boot from or prepare to flash the eMMC (Flasher Image). To turn into an sMMC flasher image, please refer to the ‘Flasher image’ instructions below.

Linux

# sudo dd if=extracted.img of=/dev/sdx

/dev/sdx is the device that is the microSD card e.g. /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc. Make sure you use the correct one for the microSD card. CAUTION: Using the incorrect /dev/sd will result in loss of data!

Once dd has completed, the card is now ready to either boot from or prepare to flash the eMMC.To turn into an sMMC flasher image, please refer to the ‘Flasher image’ instructions below.

Performing Imaging Software Updates

To perform software image updates, just repeat the above three steps. Any existing software images will be overwritten.

Flasher Image

To turn the image into eMMC flasher images, edit the /boot/uEnv.txt file on the Linux partition on the microSD card and remove the ‘#’ on the line with ‘cmdline=init=/opt/scripts/tools/eMMC/init-eMMC-flasher-v3.sh’.

CAUTION : Enabling this will cause booting the microSD card to flash the eMMC.

Force Boot from SD Card

If there is already an image in eMMC the system will attempt to boot with that first and ignore the image on the SD card. To force the board to boot from the SD card the BOOT button needs to be pressed before and during the powering up of the board (applying power to the DC input jack or mini-usb connector).