element14: User Manual for BB View - An LCD Expansion Cape for BeagleBone Boards

Vladimir's post has helped my LCD7 set up on BBB. Now I get a login dialog but can't type anything in.... plus the cursor is all over the place as there's no calibration. Had to rebuild the kernel as per Rebert Nelson's instructions.

I want to eventually "hopefully" run a QT application on the LCD.... Long shot eh? :-)

This is from Robert Nelson on the BeagleBone board forum:

>bb-view is supported on 8.4, with the 4.4.x:

>

>from /boot/uEnv.txt

>

>dtb=am335x-boneblack-overlay.dtb

>cape_enable=bone_capemgr.enable_partno=BB-VIEW-LCD4-01

>

>then:

>

>sudo sed -i -e 's:16:24:g' /etc/X11/xorg.conf

>

>as it's a 24bit lcd.

So, you need to modify three lines in two files on the Debian 8.4 distribution. You can get the distribution from https://beagleboard.org/latest-images . Burn the image to a micro-SD card. Boot BeagleBone from the internal eMMC using the Linux that it shipped with. Connect as root with the Ethernet-over-USB interface. Then insert the SD card into BeagleBone's slot and mount the partition:

mkdir /sdcard/

mount /dev/mmcblk1p1 /sdcard/

You will need to edit two files:

in /sdcard/boot/uEnv.txt,

(1) uncomment dtb=am335x-boneblack-overlay.dtb (remove # as first character)

(this is the line that follows ##BeagleBone Black: HDMI (Audio/Video)/eMMC disabled:)

(2) add BB-VIEW-LCD4-01 at the end of cape_enable=bone_capemgr.enable_partno=

(this line is in the ##Example v4.1.x paragraph; remove the # before cape_enable)

in /sdcard/etc/X11/xorg.conf,

DefaultDepth: replace 16 with 24

(in Section "Screen", it should say DefaultDepth 24. This is the only instance of 16 in xorg.conf)

Then say reboot without removing the SD card; it will boot off the SD card and bring up KDE desktop. At least on my board, it does.

Vladimir Gusiatnikov wrote:

 

only some configuration file changes are required. But, this information is not part of any FAQ or manual that is posted publicly

 

Hi Vladimir,

Could you please post the information here, to help those that come across this user manual?

Thanks.

1. This cape does not work out of the box. User Manual V3 is obsolete. Instructions provided by element14 for patching a Debian image that is supplied with BeagleBone Black are incomplete, misleading, and obsolete. The farthest I personally managed to get was an empty desktop with a lonely cursor, no KDE desktop.

2. element14 does not provide support for this cape on its forums.

3. It is possible to get some support on BeagleBone forums. For example, Robert Nelson advised me that the cape is supported without patching in Debian 8.4/kernel 4.4.x; only some configuration file changes are required. But, this information is not part of any FAQ or manual that is posted publicly. It took me a week to come across this information.

4. If you value development time, do not use this cape with BeagleBone. Use something else.

New to this starter kit and Linux and facing the same problems as other using the BB view with the current release of Debian

Element14: a starter kit is supposed to be ready to run/experiment out of the box.

Troubleshooting shouldn’t be a part of this experience.

Unboxing my BB View 7” kit starts with troubleshooting because the Debian image has been updated and your instruction hasn’t (User manual V3).

Please provide the correct instruction for patching the current official Debian release from BeagleBoard.org

Errors on page 24 needs addressing:

Wrong device name and directory don’t exist.

Also place a remark and link to the Debian release used in your description.

I have tried to use your instruction for Debian 01-03-2015 and 03-11-2015 Not working (boots fine, no backlight on LCD, bb view LED ok)

Google this issue and I can see I’m not the only one having this problem.

Please provide a step by step instruction how to patch the current image version and make it boot to LCD.

My Setup:

BBB with different Debian releases flashed to eMMC.

BB View 7”

External 5V

PuTTY through USB

Thanks

Bjarke