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I have come across the RPi Advanced Setup but there are incomplete steps. For example, where can I find mkcard.txt from the Advanced SD card setup section? Do I just reuse the one from the BeagleBone demo site? Then there is an important steps section under Finally booting GNU/Linux that only contains the text "to be completed".

Does anybody know what additional things need to be done to boot into a Debian release for example?

tlhIngan
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Joe
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2 Answers2

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The content of RPi Advanced Setup states that it is based on BeagleBoardBeginners and mkcard.txt is a script that formats and partitions an SD card. It appears that this script could be used for systems other than BeagleBoard but I am guessing that the Advanced Setup authors want to figure out what customizations, if any, may make sense for the RPi.

@AlexChamberlain pointed out and some research confirms the the VFAT partition is important for booting a Linux system from flash like that used with the RPi.

If you do not require instructions that generate an empty (but partitioned) filesystem on your SD card, you can download a pre-made image and setup an SD card more easily; see How do I install an OS image onto an SD card?.

Community
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deaks
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  • The FAT partition is absolutely required for the bootloader on the RPi. – Alex Chamberlain Jul 04 '12 at 07:30
  • @deaks +1 Thanks for the info, I was quite certain that was the correct file. I was hoping that this question would result in an answer that detailed the steps on creating your own build or that wiki getting completed. – Joe Jul 10 '12 at 14:45
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It is not clear what makecard is supposed to do. I guess it partitions the SD card - use fdisk - and copies the image on - download from the website and use dd.

Alex Chamberlain
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