**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Sun Jan 20 02:59:57 2019 Jan 20 05:02:14 Hey guys, just starting with the beagle bone. Quick question: Any good reason not to delete the default debian user? Jan 20 05:04:35 I root it right off then change the default debian password. Why delete that user? Jan 20 05:08:32 Idk, it bugs me when there is a default user name on any machine that isn't root. Jan 20 05:20:44 the default account is useless to me too. hadn't considered deleting it though Jan 20 09:29:00 gsisko[m]: the default user exists to avoid burdening newbies with creating a user account and endowing it with all the right privileges to do the things you want to do on a beaglebone Jan 20 09:29:22 Snert: why "useless" ? Jan 20 09:32:47 gsisko[m]: also, on the iot image where a heap of stuff is installed, I wouldn't exclude the possibility that the debian user account is referenced by stuff Jan 20 09:33:49 if you're starting with a console image then feel free to delete it and create your own user if you want Jan 20 09:43:09 note that newly created users of course won't be in the ton of groups that debian is in that makes it able to do the things you often want to do on an embedded system (e.g. i2c, spi, gpio, pwm, eqep, audio, video) Jan 20 09:46:05 oh I forgot dialout (for uarts) Jan 20 09:46:41 and of course it's pretty handy to be in adm, netdev, and (if you use it) bluetooth Jan 20 09:49:06 mawk: btw, I just learned the "admin" group having sudo rights is apparently not non-standard Jan 20 09:49:12 https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Privileges#Administer_the_system Jan 20 09:49:19 "Users in the "admin" group can use sudo to gain administrative privileges" Jan 20 14:46:27 wow, this confused the heck out of me for a bit.... https://pastebin.com/tNhA84d7 Jan 20 14:47:53 TIL that doing type-punning in C++ by using a C-style cast to a reference type is... slightly hazardous Jan 20 19:08:04 zmatt, I never use the default account. Everything I do requires root so I just get there and not look back Jan 20 20:18:38 Are other people using the Windows driver and are you having success or failure? Jan 20 21:20:19 Snert: what on earth are you doing that "everything" you do requires root? Jan 20 21:20:46 normally, almost nothing requires root, and working as root by default is generally a bad idea Jan 20 21:22:28 (since root doesn't merely have the option of ignoring privileges, but unconditionally bypasses them, i.e. you can't protect a file from accidental changes by doing chmod a-w on it) Jan 20 21:23:30 RD_: as far as I know the beaglebone should just work plug & play Jan 20 21:23:35 nowadays Jan 20 21:23:44 but I don't use windows myself Jan 21 00:09:04 Hi. To flash the eMMC on the BBBrevC, I just load an image to the SD card with the editted uEnv file, turn it on, and wait? Jan 21 00:10:14 Hello! Jan 21 00:10:51 rawf: There is a section in that file that you need to uncomment. Jan 21 00:11:03 yes, I have Jan 21 00:11:05 Please hold. I will get the info. for you. Jan 21 00:11:33 Oh, you already uncommented that section? Jan 21 00:11:36 yup Jan 21 00:11:41 Cool! Now, reboot! Jan 21 00:11:47 Wait! Jan 21 00:12:12 Did you get those listed dep. installed? Jan 21 00:12:29 yes, they were already installed Jan 21 00:13:04 Good. Now, I am pretty sure you just reboot. That board, the BBB, should update the image to the eMMC. Jan 21 00:13:18 But... Jan 21 00:13:29 it's been over an hour Jan 21 00:13:38 An hour for what? Jan 21 00:13:42 since I rebooted Jan 21 00:13:45 Oh! Jan 21 00:13:53 What do your LEDs look like? Jan 21 00:13:58 All lit? Jan 21 00:14:00 All off? Jan 21 00:14:03 there is one lit by the 5V Jan 21 00:14:10 and one lit by the micro usb Jan 21 00:14:19 How are you powering on your board? Jan 21 00:14:22 5V Jan 21 00:14:36 Okay. So, not just a USB or are you using USB and 5v? Jan 21 00:14:48 I'm using the 5V only Jan 21 00:15:01 in the spot with 4 LEDs, only one is lit Jan 21 00:15:14 Okay. Try to press your power button until all LEDs are off and remove power. Jan 21 00:15:23 It definitely does not take an hour. Jan 21 00:16:33 Oh and rawf: https://elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack_Debian#Debian_9_.28Stretch.29_-_Weekly. Jan 21 00:17:03 There are some flasher images on that page. So, if you get the image on SD Card, all you need to do is wait until the power goes off on the BBB. Jan 21 00:17:22 That is after the image has been installed. Jan 21 00:17:42 ... Jan 21 00:18:50 rawf: What image are you using? How are you planning on SSH'ing to your board? Jan 21 00:20:16 I'm trying to use this older image: https://debian.beagleboard.org/images/bone-debian-7.8-lxde-4gb-armhf-2015-03-01-4gb.img.xz Jan 21 00:20:53 Oh. Jan 21 00:21:14 I think people will tell you to update just like I am about to do. Please update your image. Jan 21 00:21:28 debian wheezy is really obsolete Jan 21 00:22:00 rawf: 5.0.x is about to be a thing now. Jan 21 00:22:17 I think the procedure to flash was similar back then, but who knows... 2015 was a long time ago Jan 21 00:22:39 set_: you're now talking about kernel version rather than debian version, and 5.x is not going to be relevant on the beaglebone for quite a while Jan 21 00:23:04 I know the procedure was similar. I just do not know what can update and what can work b/c it was so long ago. Jan 21 00:23:31 Oh. zmatt: Okay. Jan 21 00:24:29 rawf: Good luck w/ updating your board w/ that older software. It may be harder to get things working b/c of the lack of updates on those images. Jan 21 00:24:47 I am pretty sure they ceased. Jan 21 00:25:00 in fact there's a real risk that that ancient kernel won't be able to recognize a new eMMC due to unsupported eMMC version Jan 21 00:26:10 for instance, bootloaders that we all now support? Jan 21 00:26:11 oh wait, your board doesn't even boot at all from the sd card? Jan 21 00:26:18 you sure you flashed the sd card right? Jan 21 00:26:51 oh wait, two leds? Jan 21 00:27:02 with "micro usb" you meant "mini usb" I assume? Jan 21 00:27:30 zmatt: rawf said that it had been over an hour since she/he rebooted. Jan 21 00:27:49 well you can wait forever if it's not even booting Jan 21 00:28:07 one user led is unusual though Jan 21 00:28:29 zmatt: What exactly is the end result when rebooting once the uEnv.txt file has been altered, i.e. LEDs are all on or all off? Jan 21 00:28:42 all off, right/ Jan 21 00:29:12 Or...it just boots! Jan 21 00:29:48 while flashing the leds are in a repeating back-and-forth pattern (0 1 2 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 2 1 0 etc), if flashing failed then all leds are blinking simultaneously, if flashing was successful then either all leds are solild on, or the board powers itself off, depending on flasher version I think Jan 21 00:30:51 rawf: is the one user led turning on the first thing that happens after power on, or is there other led activity first? Jan 21 00:31:24 you may want to power on while holding down the S2 button (button closest to the microsd card slot) -- you can let go once the power led turns on Jan 21 00:31:54 this bypasses the bootloader on eMMC, which may be too new to boot a prehistoric image Jan 21 00:32:38 zmatt kerberos/ ldap / dns / dhcp / ntp / change network settings / all that stuff is what I use a bbb for. Network services. Jan 21 00:33:34 not sure how much of that needs root privileges as such, but okay you're using the beaglebone in a rather atypical way Jan 21 00:34:31 yes, and since sudo is going to let me do wnat I'm going to do anyways, then typing sudo becimes superflourous. Jan 21 00:34:44 hmmmm not quite Jan 21 00:34:52 it is to me. Jan 21 00:35:17 like, once you get in the habit of working as root you typically end up doing a lot of stuff that has no reason to be done as root, like downloading and compiling shit Jan 21 00:37:09 and if you need root privileges for a frequent task, then it may be time to ponder a moment why it needs that and whether that can be fixed. for example on my laptop I used an udev rule to give me read/write access to block devices belonging to sd cards, since I Jan 21 00:37:17 typically use sd cards for embedded systems Jan 21 00:37:40 this way 1. I don't need to elevate myself 2. I ensure that I can't accidently demolish internal storage Jan 21 00:44:17 rawf? Jan 21 00:44:25 one's threat surface as well as threat level is certainly a factor too. But here on my homenet my threat surface and level is rather minimal. Jan 21 00:44:37 sure Jan 21 00:45:05 and I can reflash the bone very quickly if it gets messed up by me which never happens. Jan 21 00:45:55 a handful of text config files for my newtork services and I'm off to a new platform or version. Jan 21 00:47:50 there was a time when the multi-user concept didn't exist like it does today. Jan 21 00:48:08 and the world didn't cave in because you were God with no login. Jan 21 00:48:28 it was the norm. Jan 21 00:48:33 I'll admit, if you really don't do much more on it than configure a bunch of services then I guess I'd probably be logged in as root too... though I wouldn't want to need to for basic monitoring or administration Jan 21 00:48:37 sure Jan 21 00:49:06 you can still configure linux without multi-user support Jan 21 00:49:20 I wonder how spectacularly userspace breaks if you do that XD Jan 21 00:49:35 (setuid() and friends would fail with ENOSYS) Jan 21 00:51:30 I might just be more fussy than average about this sort of stuff though Jan 21 00:52:07 if I fubar the bone...it'll be me that learns from it :) Jan 21 00:53:07 true, but with a lot of newbies here there's also the thing of learning good/bad practices, becoming a bit security conscious, and not making the next generation of shitty internet-connected devices that get used in botnets Jan 21 00:55:31 I honestly don't understand how a noob can install stuff and configure stuff without being exposed to good practices. Jan 21 00:55:54 a little reading anywhere and those things stand out. Jan 21 00:56:14 but off to the store...bbiab Jan 21 00:58:49 * zmatt zZ **** ENDING LOGGING AT Mon Jan 21 02:59:56 2019