Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr) installed easily

Stan Sieler

Hi, I wanted to report that the install of Ubuntu 14 went easily.

I downloaded Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr) (see https://up-community.org/wiki/Ubuntu),
copied the iso to a thumb drive, and booted my Up board from it (pressing f7 (or esc?) during initial power on sequence,
and telling the BIOS to change the boot order to make the thumb drive first)

After you say "yes, do it", you'll get a blank screen for 10 to 30 seconds ... don't panic

Then you'll get a few GUI screens that ask you a few questions (e.g., language, timezone) ... after a minute or two
you can go away and it will do the rest (at least, it did for me...I mostly chose defaults early on).
Somewhere around 15 to 20 minutes later, the system is ready for use.

I found that unlike Ubilinux, for me:

- wired network worked out of the box, no changes needed

- the TP-Link Wi-Fi USB adapter (provided as part of an optional Kickstarter add-on)
worked (and Ubuntu recognized it, and let me choose a Wi-Fi network (2.4 GHz only))

I haven't tried any of the packages mentioned/linked-to on the wiki page.

I did do: apt-get update / apt-get upgrade
and that went quickly.

I've compiled hundreds of my own programs on it so far, and it's pretty zippy.

Stan

Javier Arteaga

Hi sieler,

Thanks for sharing!

sieler wrote:

copied the iso to a thumb drive, and booted my Up board from it (pressing f7 (or esc?)

(For anyone following these steps: F7 accesses the quick boot menu. Both can be used though.)

sieler wrote:

I found that unlike Ubilinux, for me:

- wired network worked out of the box, no changes needed

That's strange, we never had issues with the wired network. Do you remember what the issue was, and which changes you needed to make?

sieler wrote:

- the TP-Link Wi-Fi USB adapter (provided as part of an optional Kickstarter add-on)
worked (and Ubuntu recognized it, and let me choose a Wi-Fi network (2.4 GHz only))

The wireless dongle should also be recognised out of the box. The dongle shortcomings from 3.0RC3 that we do know about are:
[ul]
[li]The Wicd connection manager may not select wlan0 (usually the dongle interface name) as a wireless interface by itself, requiring users to configure it on the settings interface. In that case, it wouldn't show available networks by default. We will address this on the final release.[/li]
[li]The mainline driver for these Realtek dongles introduces connection stability issues (workaround), [/li]
[li]AP mode is not supported out of the box (workaround), [/li]
[/ul]
The two last points may be an issue on Ubuntu as well.

sieler wrote:

I haven't tried any of the packages mentioned/linked-to on the wiki page.

The patched Ubuntu kernel is only necessary if you need specific board features (GPIO header and associated devices). The kernels for ubilinux and Yocto additionally offer HDMI audio support. If you don't need any of these, you should be able to use many distributions without modification.

Regards

Stan Sieler

Re:

> > wired network worked out of the box, no changes needed
> That's strange, we never had issues with the wired network.
> Do you remember what the issue was, and which changes you needed to make?

thanks for asking...I'd forgotten that when I installed ubilinux, the wired cable was plugged into a switch, and the switch was
plugged into .... nothing. I discovered that later and fixed it, but that was after the install/setup
of ubilinux. I could never manage to get the network going afterwards. Network config is a weakness for me,
and I usually rely on correct sensing/setup being done by the installation package
I think some Linux distros have a GUI network adapter config tool that I've used with success in the past,
but I couldn't find anything like that for ubilinux.

By the time I decided to try Ubuntu, the switch was plugged in

Vincent Bloemen

I tried to install the latest 'ubuntu-14.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso' on my UP. But i can't get it to install.
Ubilinux installed without any problem.
This is what i did for the Ubuntu installation:
1. Created a bootable USB stick from the iso with Rufus on Windows (used UEFI mode and dd image as explained in the WIKI page)
2. inserted the stick into the up board and booted from that (f7)
3. I get a window with installation options (try, install, oem install, check for defects)
4. When i choose 'install Ubuntu' i get the following on my screen for about 1second, then a blank screen (forever):
[0.000000] efi: requested map not found
[0.000000] esrt: ESRT header is not in the memory map
[12.00000] i8042: Can't read CTR while initializing i0042

when i try the option 'Check for defects' the same thing happens, and a reboots occurs after a minute.
The messages also appeared when I installed ubilinux, But it will not halt and setup resumes.

I just downloaded Ubuntu 16.04 and this version installed without any problem. It still shows the messages above.
Is the up-kernel patch compatible with Ubuntu 16.04? probably not?

Javier Arteaga

Hi Vinzzb,

The patched Ubuntu kernel is not yet provided for 16.04, but will be in the near future. You can still install and use the distro, but the GPIO header won't be available.

The 14.04 install should work, however. Those kernel messages you're seeing are harmless (and unrelated to the issue). Did you use the same USB stick for all three installations (Trusty, Xenial, ubilinux)? Have you experienced any freezes or crashes otherwise while the system is up and running?

Regards

Vincent Bloemen

I've used the 16gb USB stick that came along with the UP (credit-card format). The ISO's were burnt with Rufus (in UEFI mode and DD write)
This worked perfectly for Ubuntu 16.4. But not for 14.4 (both x64 desktop)
The up has been up and running for more than a day now without any hick-ups. I did not encounter any freezes with Ubuntu 16.4. The device i quite hot, but within the limits. My heatgun measured 40° on the bottom and 55° Celsius on the top (heatsink)

I use the Up with the 10' screen i got for my pledge on KS.. Could that be the reason?
I'm going to try Windows 10 later this day. and i will post the results afterwards..

Javier Arteaga

Vinzzb wrote:

I use the Up with the 10' screen i got for my pledge on KS.. Could that be the reason?

Actually, yes, it could be! Linux support is still pending for the KS panels.

Would you mind trying 14.04 on either HDMI or serial output, after disabling the BIOS option for panel support? That should work for now.

Unknown

I have the exact same problem :-(
however i´m just using an hdmi display and a keyboard.

at the first try i came to the installation and then it suddenly restarts,
but after that the up board always restarts when i try to install ubuntu 14.04.05

Javier Arteaga

Hi 3Diy,

3Diy wrote:

I have the exact same problem :-(
however i´m just using an hdmi display and a keyboard.

Just to be sure, could you please confirm it these are true?
[ol]
[li]You are experiencing reboots during the Ubuntu installation[/li]
[li]The MIPI-DSI panel support options in the BIOS weren't changed[/li]
[li]The same issue doesn't happen when installing ubilinux instead[/li]
[/ol]

3Diy wrote:

at the first try i came to the installation and then it suddenly restarts,
but after that the up board always restarts when i try to install ubuntu 14.04.05

Although this isn't directly related to your issue, thought I'd clarify that kernel support for Ubuntu 14.04.5 and 16.04.1 hasn't been officially released for the UP yet (but will be soon). Only 14.04.4 is supported at the moment.

Unknown

thank you for your help!
i figured out, that my power supply could only deliver 2 amps. I did expect that would be enough.
however after switching to a 3amp supply everthing worked great.