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Creating Ubuntu filesystem

Among one of file systems supported by ESPRESSObin is Ubuntu file system (latest available releases are 14.04.5 LTS and 16.04.4 LTS). Here we will show you how to create Ubuntu file system for ESPRESSObin for both releases. Note that you will need a Linux machine to follow the instructions on this page.

Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS


Begin by downloading a copy of Ubuntu file system (14.04.5 LTS). Make a directory where you will download the file system (e.g. /home/espressobin/ubuntu_14.04/): 

$ mkdir -p ubuntu_14.04 && cd ubuntu_14.04
$ wget http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-base/releases/14.04.5/release/ubuntu-base-14.04.5-base-arm64.tar.gz

Make a new directory where we will extract the file system: 

$ mkdir fs && cd fs
$ sudo tar -xvf ../ubuntu-base-14.04.5-base-arm64.tar.gz

Our fs/ directory now contains the Ubuntu file system.

Now we will need to edit a few configuration files in order for the Ubuntu file system to boot properly. Open the file etc/init/rc-sysinit.conf and there set the variable DEFAULT_RUNLEVEL variable to 3: 

$ sudo vim etc/init/rc-sysinit.conf

 # Default runlevel, this may be overriden on the kernel command-line
 # or by faking an old /etc/inittab entry
 env DEFAULT_RUNLEVEL=3

Next, remove the login password for root by editing the /etc/passwd file (remove the x): 

$ sudo vim etc/passwd

root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash

Last thing needed is to create a file ttyMV0.conf in /etc/init/ directory: 

$ sudo vim etc/init/ttyMV0.conf

and in it paste the following (if this is incorrect the boot will freeze): 

start on stopped rc or RUNLEVEL=[12345]
stop on runlevel [!12345]
respawn
exec /sbin/getty -L 115200 ttyMV0 vt100 -a root

Kernel image and dtb file can be either generated manually from source by following instructions on Build from source - Kernel, or they can be downloaded at Tech Spec page, Software table under Linux kernel. Copy the kernel image and device tree file to the boot/ directory: 

$ sudo cp ~/kernel/4.4.52/arch/arm64/boot/Image boot/
$ sudo cp ~/kernel/4.4.52/arch/arm64/boot/dts/marvell/armada-3720-community.dtb boot/

Lastly, zip the folder to later extract it to a removable media: 

$ cd ..
$ sudo tar -cjvf rootfs.tar.bz2 -C fs/ .

This archive containing the Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS root file system (with kernel binary and dtb file included) can also be downloaded from our Tech Spec page, Software table under Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS.

Head over to Boot from MicroSD card/USB stick - Ubuntu to prepare your removable media for booting Ubuntu 14.04 on your ESPRESSObin board.

Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS


Begin by downloading a copy of Ubuntu OS (16.04.4. LTS) into a newly created directory (e.g. /home/user/ubuntu_16.04/): 

$ mkdir -p ubuntu_16.04 && cd ubuntu_16.04
$ wget http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/16.04.5/release/ubuntu-16.04.4-server-arm64.iso

After the iso image has been downloaded, create a new sub-directory where the iso image will be mounted: 

$ mkdir tmp
$ sudo mount -o loop ubuntu-16.04.4-server-arm64.iso tmp/

The Ubuntu file system ( filesystem.squashfs ) is located in the /install sub-directory: 

$ ls tmp/install/
filesystem.manifest  filesystem.squashfs      hwe-initrd.gz  hwe-vmlinuz  netboot
filesystem.size      filesystem.squashfs.gpg  hwe-netboot    initrd.gz    vmlinuz

Unsquash that file system into a directory named rootfs: 

$ sudo unsquashfs -d rootfs/ tmp/install/filesystem.squashfs
Parallel unsquashfs: Using 4 processors
11381 inodes (12201 blocks) to write

[=====================================================================================|] 12201/12201 100%

created 9488 files
created 1130 directories
created 1809 symlinks
created 79 devices
created 0 fifos

This directory now contains the Ubuntu file system: 

$ ls rootfs/
bin  boot  dev  etc  home  lib  media  mnt  opt  proc  root  run  sbin  srv  sys  tmp  usr  var

A few additional tweaks to the file system are needed to boot it on ESPRESSObin.

First, remove the password for root login by opening rootfs/etc/passwd file and removing the x between root: and :0 so that the line looks like this: 

$ sudo vim rootfs/etc/passwd
root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash

Next, append ttyMV0 to the end of the /etc/securetty file: 

$ sudo vim rootfs/etc/securetty
[...]
# Serial Console for MIPS Swarm
duart0
duart1

# s390 and s390x ports in LPAR mode
ttysclp0
ttyMV0

Lastly, we need to transfer the kernel binary and dtb file to the root file system. Kernel image and dtb file can be either generated manually from source by following instructions on Build from source - Kernel, or they can be downloaded at Tech Spec page, Software table under Linux kernel. Copy the kernel binary and the device tree file to the rootfs/boot/ directory: 

$ sudo cp ~/kernel/4.4.52/arch/arm64/boot/Image rootfs/boot/
$ sudo cp ~/kernel/4.4.52/arch/arm64/boot/dts/marvell/armada-3720-community.dtb rootfs/boot/

Finally, zip the folder to later extract it to a removable media: 

$ sudo tar -cjvf rootfs.tar.bz2 -C rootfs/ .

This archive containing the Ubuntu root file system (with kernel binary and dtb file included) can also be downloaded from our Tech Spec page, Software table under Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS.

Head over to Boot from MicroSD card/USB stick - Ubuntu to prepare the removable media from which you can boot Ubuntu 16.04 on your ESPRESSObin board.

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