Duplicating identical BeagleBone Black setups

linux embedded-linux boot beagleboard beagleboneblack
Philipp picture Philipp · Jul 24, 2013 · Viewed 32.2k times · Source

After having set-up and customized my "master" BeagleBone Black (BBB) with applications etc. on the on-board eMMC, I want to duplicate it on other BBB boards.

What is the best way to duplicate the BBB?

My understanding of options:

  1. SD-Card: Programming each board by inserting a prepared SD card containing an image and pressing the "boot" switch while powering up.
    • How should I prepare that .img file or the SD card from my master BBB?
    • The image should copy to the on-board eMMC, so that the SD-card can be removed afterwards.
  2. USB: Programming by connecting the board over USB to a (Win7) PC.
    • Is it possible to write the full on-board eMMC from the PC?
    • With which app to do the writing?
    • How to prepare the image which will be written, starting from the master BBB?
  3. Ethernet: Programming over LAN after boot-up with default angstrom distro.
    • Is it even possible over LAN?
    • How to do the writing?
    • How to prepare the image which will be written, starting from the master BBB?

Which is possible/best?

Edit: My current solution is to flash with a standard image (from the BeagleBoe website) and then have a script do all modifications as expected. This includes disabling many services I don't need, installing applications and configuring stuff etc. If there is an easier way for making a SD card with a full image on it, I'm still interested.

Answer

emorris picture emorris · Mar 22, 2016

As noted at the bottom of the eLinux article, there is a much easier way if you are running the Debian distribution:

  1. Boot master BBB with no SD card in
  2. Insert SD card
  3. Log in (e.g. with serial terminal, SSH etc.) and run sudo /opt/scripts/tools/eMMC/beaglebone-black-make-microSD-flasher-from-eMMC.sh. LEDs will flash in sequence whilst SD card is being written.
  4. When the LEDs stop and the script terminates, remove the SD card.
  5. Insert SD card into new BBB then power on.
  6. eMMC will be flashed; LEDs on new BBB will flash in sequence until complete.

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