View source for Running Ubuntu Core

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=Introduction=

[http://www.canonical.com/ Canonical], the company behind the well-known [http://www.ubuntu.com Ubuntu] GNU/Linux distribution, is now sharing a minimal filesystem for ARM architecture called '''Ubuntu Core'''. This basic root file system works perfectly with platforms based on the Sitara processors, as Naon and Lizard. It contains the APT software so the file system can be easily customized installing additional packages.

== References ==

* Ubuntu Core project page: [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Core https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Core]

* Ubuntu Core installation instructions: [http://omappedia.org/wiki/OMAP_Ubuntu_Core Ubuntu Core page on Omappedia]

* Root file system image: [http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-core/precise/daily/current/precise-core-armhf.tar.gz Ubuntu Core 12.04 "Precise Pangolin" tar.gz archive]

* Ubuntu OMAP Desktop: [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/OmapDesktopInstall Ubuntu Omap Desktop Installation Instructions]

= Ubuntu Core - Quick Guide =

Please follow these steps to run Ubuntu Core:

* Download the compressed archive containing the RFS
* Uncompress the archive to a folder on your disk
* Share the folder via NFS
* Configure the bootloader to boot from network, with RFS pointing to the Ubuntu Core NFS share
* Boot the system

== Enabling the serial console ==

The following instructions show how to enable the serial console (eg: ttyO0)

* Create the /etc/init/serial-auto-detect-console.conf file with the following contents:

<pre>
# serial-auto-detect-console - starts getty on serial console
#
# This service starts a getty on the serial port given in the 'console' kernel argument.
#

start on runlevel [23]
stop on runlevel [!23]

respawn

exec /bin/sh /bin/serial-console

</pre>

* Create the /bin/serial-console file with the following contents:

<pre>
for arg in $(cat /proc/cmdline)
do
    case $arg in
        console=*)
            tty=${arg#console=}
            tty=${tty#/dev/}
 
            case $tty in
                tty[a-zA-Z]* )
                    PORT=${tty%%,*}
 
                    # check for service which do something on this port
                    if [ -f /etc/init/$PORT.conf ];then continue;fi 
 
                    tmp=${tty##$PORT,}
                    SPEED=${tmp%%n*}
                    BITS=${tmp##${SPEED}n}
 
                    # 8bit serial is default
                    [ -z $BITS ] && BITS=8
                    [ 8 -eq $BITS ] && GETTY_ARGS="$GETTY_ARGS -8 "
 
                    [ -z $SPEED ] && SPEED='115200,57600,38400,19200,9600'
 
                    GETTY_ARGS="$GETTY_ARGS $SPEED $PORT"
                    exec /sbin/getty $GETTY_ARGS
            esac
    esac
done
</pre>

* Create the /etc/init/ttyO0.conf file with the following contents:

<pre>
# ttyO0 - getty
#
# This service maintains a getty on ttyO0 from the point the system is
# started until it is shut down again.

start on runlevel [23] and (
            not-container or
            container CONTAINER=lxc or
            container CONTAINER=lxc-libvirt)

stop on runlevel [!23]

respawn
exec /sbin/getty -8 115200 ttyO0
</pre>

== Networking ==

=== Setting the DNS ===

Assuming that network interface is properly configured, to set the DNS enter the following command:

<pre>
echo "nameserver [dns ip address]" > /etc/resolv.conf
</pre>

== How to fix UpStart error at boot ==

* Reference: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/upstart/+bug/980917 Upstart fix]

<pre>
rdate ntp.inrim.it
wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/upstart/1.5-0ubuntu8/+build/3710339/+files/upstart_1.5-0ubuntu8_armhf.deb --no-check-certificate
dpkg -i upstart_1.5-0ubuntu8_armhf.deb
reboot
</pre>

= Cross-compile custom components =

If you need to add custom components (applications, frameworks, ..) which are not provided by the Ubuntu repositories, you must build from the sources using the proper toolchain. In particular, the toolchain used to build the Ubuntu Core 12.04 LST armhf is the '''gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf'''. On '''Ubuntu server 12.04 LST (x86 o amd64)''', you can install this toolchain using the package manager (e.g. apt-get).

The toolchain files can be found in '''/usr/arm-linux-gnueabihf'''. This path should be used to configure the build tools (SDKs, Makefiles, ..) for cross-compilation.


== Useful packages ==

The following is a list of useful packages which can be easily installed with apt-get:

* openssh-server
* wpasupplicant
* bluez
* bluez-tools
* obexpushd
* obexftp
* nano
* apt-utils
* python-software-properties
* ping
* rdate

== Searching available packages ==

Please refer to [https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/precise/armhf Ubuntu Precise for armhf search page]

=== Adding the TI PPA ===

[https://launchpad.net/~tiomap-dev/+archive/release PPA TI]

[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/pandaboard/vUZO9NWFcT0/VmV2955uEEgJ PPA TI install]

<pre>
rdate ntp.inrim.it
add-apt-repository ppa:tiomap-dev/release
apt-get update
</pre>