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BBB eMMC Flashing

In this section we will explore:

  1. Updating (re-flashing) the eMMC memory with the latest Debian OS image in Ubuntu host.

  2. BBB networking configurations in Ubuntu host.

To check the Debian OS version your BBB board is running lsb_release -da.

Latest release of BBB Debian OS: https://beagleboard.org/latest-images.

Here, to sync with the lecture I used, bone-debian-8.7-lxqt-4gb-armhf-2017-03-19-4gb.img.

 

Introduction

bbb-memory-components

 

 

BBB eMMC Update

Procedure

  1. Download the latest Debian OS

  2. Write the bootable image to the SD card

    • Use dmesg to identify the SD card on your system.

    • Use xz -d <filename.xz> to decompress the file.

    • Use sudo dd if=<filenae>.img of=/dev/<sdx> to write the image to the SD card. This may take 10 - 15 mins.

      When writing is done, run sync command to force an immediate write of all cached data to disk.

      (About sync: https://www.computerhope.com/unix/sync.htm)

      If this doesn't work, right click the image file Open With Disk Image Writer do the image writing here!

    • roofs/boot/uEnv.txt Uncomment the last line:

      This will automatically run the eMMC flasher during the boot process.

  3. Boot the board from SD card

  4. eMMC flasher script located in the SD card as a part of the image we downloaded will flash all the contents of the SD card onto the eMMC memory automatically (because of the uncommented line of uEnv.txt file from the previous step!

    It partitions the eMMC memory and flashes all the required data (e.g., boot images, applications, root file system, etc.) onto the eMMC. Flashing usually takes 5 - 10 mins. Wait until everything is done and the board powers off by itself!

  5. Remove the SD card. The board should be able to boot from eMMC.

 

emmc-flasher

 

 

References

Nayak, K. (2022). Embedded Linux Step by Step Using Beaglebone Black [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.udemy.com/course/embedded-linux-step-by-step-using-beaglebone/