Since I was asked multiple times about using Dragonboard in headless mode I created this how-to. It was tested with DB410C but it may well work with other boards using a Debian distro.
So the required steps:
-
download SD-Card image from here:
https://www.96boards.org/documentation/consumer/dragonboard410c/downloads/debian.md.html
Follow “Option 2” – “Install and boot from SD Card”
This how-to was tested with dragonboard-410c-sdcard-developer-buster-359 -
write image to a uSD card either with “dd” command (Linux) or “Win32 Disk Imager” (Windows)
-
connect HDMI and keyboard to the Dragonboard, insert uSD card, power on the board
-
at the console login with user:linaro, password:linaro
-
configure WiFi with the following commands
$ nmcli device wifi rescan
$ nmcli device wifi list
(this will show names of WiFi networks)
$ nmcli device wifi connect < SSID > password < network password >
(“password” is an option and must be typed as it is here) -
verify ip address with:
$ ip a
From now on we have SSH so let’s ssh in because one will have copy-paste there.
-
On the PC execute:
$ ssh linaro@< IP address of Dragonboard >
Password is “linaro” as before. -
let’s install some packages:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install vnc4server xterm -
create ~/.vnc/xstartup
(enter the content below after the “cat” command and press Ctrl-D after the last line):
$ mkdir .vnc
$ cat > ~/.vnc/xstartup
#!/bin/sh
xterm & -
start VNC server:
$ vncserver -localhost no -geometry 1024x768 -
enter a password when VNC server starts the 1st time
-
Dragonboard will display something like this:
“… New ‘linaro-developer:1 (linaro)’ desktop at :1 on machine linaro-developer …” -
on the PC connect to the VNC server:
$ vncviewer < IP address of Dragonboard >:1
If everything went well a plain xterm window will be displayed.
If you wish to start VNC server on a different X11 display then simply give the number of the display when starting vncserver. See “vncserver --help” for the syntax.
For a simple XFCE desktop we will need to install some additional packages:
- $ vncserver -kill :1
$ sudo apt-get install xfce4 iceweasel
(this will take a couple of minutes)
At this point reboot is recommended but our new XFCE desktop will start without a reboot nicely.
-
overwrite ~/.vnc/xstartup
$ cat > ~/.vnc/xstartup
#!/bin/sh
startxfce4
vncserver -kill :1 -
start new VNC server with XFCE desktop:
$ vncserver -localhost no -geometry 1024x768 -
on the PC connect to the VNC server:
$ vncviewer <ip_of_dragonboard>:1
Et voilá!
