Ubuntu on Newport

This page is dedicated details regarding running Ubuntu on an Gateworks Newport Board.

See also:

• the Gateworks Ventana third party linux page for more details on how to use other linux distro on Ventana.
• Gateworks Ubuntu Page for general notes

See also:

• Gateworks Ubuntu page

Root filesystem

A popular way to create an Ubuntu root filesystem is to use the deboostrap utility on a Debian or Ubuntu host. This tool provides a 2-stage install where the second stage is within a chroot environment using qemu.

Requirements:

• Linux Ubuntu or Debian System with network connection and sudo permissions

Important notes:

• we set and use target and distro env variables in step 2 and use those env variables in the remaining steps to make this tutorial more version-agnostic. Please be aware of this and do not deviate from the steps unless or until you completely understand what you are doing.

Steps:

1. Install pre-requisites:

   sudo apt-get install qemu-user-static debootstrap binfmt-support
   

2. Perform first stage install of minimal filesystem for arm64 architecture:

   target=rootfs
   distro=xenial
   sudo debootstrap --arch=arm64 --foreign $distro $target
   # copy qemu-arm-static binary for the binfmt packages to find it and copy in resolv.conf from host
   sudo cp /usr/bin/qemu-aarch64-static $target/usr/bin
   

   • See ​http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports/dists/ for a list of current Ubuntu releases: 16.10=yakkety (latest), 16.04=xenial (latest LTS), 15.04=vivid, 14.10=utopic (LTS), 14.04=trusty (LTS), 12.04=precise (LTS), 10.04=lucid (LTS).
   • this minimal rootfs can be considered about the same as an Ubuntu-core downloaded rootfs however it is still missing some core packages and configuration before it can be booted. These steps are taken care of in a 2nd stage install within a chroot shell
   • the chroot shell below will provide network support (inherited from the host)

3. we now have a minimal Ubuntu rootfs - chroot to it and perform the 2nd stage install:

   sudo chroot $target
   # now we are in the chroot
   distro=xenial
   export LANG=C
   # setup second stage
   /debootstrap/debootstrap --second-stage
   

   • this is the most minimal rootfs we would recommend

4. (optional) add additional apt package repos:

   cat <<EOT > /etc/apt/sources.list
   deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports $distro main restricted universe multiverse
   deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports $distro-updates main restricted universe multiverse
   deb http://ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports $distro-security main restricted universe multiverse
   EOT
   

   • you may want to customize the above list, depending on your needs. See below for more detail on Ubuntu package feeds

5. (optional) update package database and setup locales (do not skip this step if you are needing to install any packages for the steps below or otherwise)

   apt-get update
   apt-get -f install # fixup missing package dependencies
   apt-get install locales dialog
   dpkg-reconfigure locales
   

6. set hostname:

   echo ${distro}-$(uname -m) > /etc/hostname
   

7. set a root passwd so you can login

   passwd
   

   • or consider adding a user via adduser:

     adduser myuser
     usermod -a -G tty myuser # add to tty group for tty access
     usermod -a -G dialout myuser # add to dialout group for UART access
     usermod -a -G sudo myuser # add to sudo group for root access
     

8. (optional) configure networking:
   • wired ethernet with DHCP on eth0

     cat <<EOF >> /etc/network/interfaces
     allow-hotplug eth0
     auto eth0
     iface eth0 inet dhcp
     
     EOF
     

   • or static IP:

     cat <<EOF >> /etc/network/interfaces
     allow-hotplug eth0
     auto eth0
     iface eth0 inet static
     address 192.168.1.1
     netmask 255.255.255.0
     gateway 192.168.1.254
     
     EOF
     

   • or wireless (requires ~3MB of additional packages):

     apt-get install wpasupplicant iw
     cat << EOF >> /etc/network/interfaces
     # Wireless interface
     auto wlan0
     iface wlan0 inet dhcp
             wireless_mode managed
             wireless_essid any
             wpa-driver nl80211
             wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
     
     EOF
     wpa_passphrase <myssid> <mypass> >> /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
     

9. (optional) install some useful packages

   apt-get install openssh-server # ssh server for remote access
   apt-get install can-utils i2c-tools usbutils pciutils # cmdline tools for various hardware support
   

   • Note that by default root ssh access is disabled for security. See below for info on enabling it

10. install Gateworks pre-built kernel:

    apt-get install wget
    cd /
    wget http://svn.gateworks.com/newport/images/gateworks-linux-arm64-4.14.tar.bz2
    tar -xvf gateworks-linux-arm64-4.14.tar.bz2
    

11. exit the chroot shell and remove files we no longer need

    exit
    sudo rm $target/usr/bin/qemu-arm-static
    

12. install to bootable media:
    • For a removable block storage device supported by your board such as a USB Mass Storage device, a microSD, an mSATA SSD the example below will create a single ext4 rootfs partition on a removable block storage device. Ensure you set DEVICE properly for your system. We use the 'udisks' application for mount/unmount so that the mount-point is obvious - if you know what your doing you could use standard mount/unmount as well:

      DEVICE=/dev/sdc
      # unmount all auto-mounted partitions for this device
      sudo umount ${DEVICE}?
      # partition disk - single ext partition
      printf ",,L,,\n" | sudo sfdisk -uS ${DEVICE}
      sync
      sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs ${DEVICE}1
      # mount partition (will mount to /media/rootfs/)
      sudo udisks --mount ${DEVICE}1
      # copy the root filesystem
      sudo cp -rupv $target/*  /media/rootfs/
      # unmount the disk
      sudo udisks --unmount ${DEVICE}1