Beaglebone Black Image Setup for 'The App'

Below is the procedure that I follow to create an Operating System mage on which my app runs.   This assumes we are starting with a distribution image that has been flashed to the internal drive of the BBB, dd'ed off that image having booted from the external SD drive, and then having used the img copy to create a new bootable SD card.  I know, there is probably an easier way to accomplish creating a new bootable image from a distribution file!

In any case then we do the following:

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First make sure that the system date and time is accurate: 

ntpdate -b -s -u pool.ntp.org

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Then update the package indexes for both the OS and for NPM:

opkg update

npm update 

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Now install all the OS level stuff that we will be needing:

opkg install python-compiler

opkg install python-misc

opkg install python-multiprocessing

opkg install xdotool

opkg install gettext

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The version of git on the BBB needs to be updated so download the tarball with the code and then do the following:

tar -xvf git-1.8.?.tar.gz

cd git-1.8.?

./configure --without-python

make

make install

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There is a problem with npm such that it will incorrectly fail thinking that it does not have the right version of Python installed.   Fix this via the below edits:

nano /usr/lib/node_modules/npm/node_modules/node-gyp/lib/configure.js 

Change:

if (semver.gte(version, '2.5.0') && semver.lt(version, '3.0.0')) {

getNodeDir()

                    } else {

               failPythonVersion(version)

                    } 

To:

getNodeDir()

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Now all the npm packages that we need can be installed:  

npm install -g node-gyp

npm install -g i2c

npm install -g socket.io

npm install -g descriptive-statistics

npm install -g exec-sync

npm install -g zipstream  
npm install -g line-by-line
npm install -g serialport2

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Following sections, for RTC, are obsoleted by getting the date and time via the Arduino.  At this point, assuming we are wired for our I2C devices, we can set up our Real Time Clock.    This is, of course, assuming that when you run the first of the below commands you see something at address 0x68!   If there is, test it by doing the rest of the commands (get current network time, create the RTC device, write the time to the RTC, pull it off the RTC):

i2cdetect -y -r 1

ntpdate -b -s -u pool.ntp.org
echo ds3231 0x68 >/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-1/new_device

hwclock -f -w /dev/rtc  
hwclock -f -s /dev/rtc

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If all is well above (note that you need to check the device [/dev/rtc?] that was created to ensure you have the right name), create the following file “rtc” in “/etc/init.d”:

#! /bin/sh

# /etc/init.d/rtc

### BEGIN INIT INFO

# Provides:          Time sync

# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog

# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog

# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5

# Default-Stop:      0 1 6

# Short-Description: Updates time from rtc

### END INIT INFO

# If you want a command to always run, put it here

# Carry out specific functions when asked to by the system

case "$1" in

  start)

    echo "Starting time sync"

    echo ds3231 0x68 >/sys/bus/i2c/devices/i2c-1/new_device

    hwclock -f /dev/rtc -s

    ;;

  *)

    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/rtc {start}"

    exit 1

    ;;

esac

exit 0

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Make the above created file executable:

chmod +x rtc

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And have it run automatically:

update-rc.d rtc defaults

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Now make sure the board time is set, then load it to the RTC:

ntpdate -b -s -u pool.ntp.org
hwclock -f -w /dev/rtc  

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Now we can create our source directories for the application.   First create a directory named "AppNameHere", cd into it, and execute the following command:

git clone https://github.com/ThamesWill/AppNameHere.git dev

Fix for possible authentication issues:

http://derekmolloy.ie/fixing-git-and-curl-certificates-problem-on-beaglebone-blac/

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Once this has completed (note that you will need an id on github) you should execute the following script from the download:

dev/install

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The above should have created all the other directories and startup files that will be needed.   At this point you should be able to execute the command line configuration tool:

./config

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If everything is working you will see a list of default parameters.

One last change is to point the cloud9 environment at the source code we just downloaded. Do this by editting the following file replacing the "/etc/lib/cloud9" entries with the path to the dev directory created above.

nano /lib/systemd/system/cloud9.service 

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You will now need to either reboot or tell systemctl about your changes and then restart cloud9:

systemctl --system daemon-reload

systemctl restart cloud9

nano /lib/systemd/system/cloud9.service 

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Finally, make sure that you have updated the hosts file to match your server name for The App configuration

DONE!