Re: EPICS, RTEMS, Beaglebone Black

[Heinz Junkes via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov>]

Hi Mike,

Right, I’ve tried to make my current RTEMS7 development with BeagleBon Black available in a public repository:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/hjunkes/RTEMS_BBB.git

In it, you’ll find RTEMS installation scripts, as well as my modifications to the kernel and rtems-libbsd.
EPICS is also included, with epics-base and support modules such as pvxs in epics-support.

There is also an FHI folder containing an example IOC (beaglePyroIOC).

In epics-base/modules/libcom/RTEMS/posix/rtems_init.c ist der NTP host hard coded.

And here are the DHCP settings for the BBB:

{
  "options": [
    {
      "name": "user-class",
      "num": 77,
      "value": "/Volumes/Epics/BEAGLEBONE/beaglePyroIOC/iocBoot/iocbeaglePyroIOC/st.cmd",
      "vendor_class": "DHCP"
    },
    {
      "name": "ntp-servers",
      "num": 42,
      "value": "141.14.138.238",
      "vendor_class": "DHCP"
    },
    {
      "name": "tftp-server-name",
      "num": 66,
      "value": "141.14.131.192:/Volumes/Epics",
      "vendor_class": "DHCP"
    },
    {
      "name": "rtems-cmdline",
      "num": 129,
      "value": "/Volumes/Epics/BEAGLEBONE/beaglePyroIOC/iocBoot/iocbeaglePyroIOC/st.cmd",
      "vendor_class": "DHCP"
    },
    {
      "name": "bootfile-name",
      "num": 67,
      "value": "/Volumes/Epics/BEAGLEBONE/beaglePyroIOC/bin/RTEMS-beagleboneblack/beaglePyroIOC",
      "vendor_class": "DHCP"
    },
    {
      "name": "host-name",
      "num": 12,
      "value": "beaglebone",
      "vendor_class": "DHCP"
    },
    {
      "name": "dhcp-lease-time",
      "num": 51,
      "use_option": false,
      "value": "43200",
      "vendor_class": "DHCP"
    }
  ]
}

HTH, Heinz


------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fritz-Haber-Institut  | Phone: (+49 30) 8413-4270
Heinz Junkes          | VC: https://zoom.fhi.berlin/junkes
Faradayweg 4-6        | Visitors: Hittorfstrasse 29 (Bld S (Slough House) )
D - 14195 Berlin
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Sorry I’m a bit late, had a terrible time…
All sort of things cropping up at the last moment. Uh, how are we for time?”
—Zarquon's address to Milliways

> On 16. Jun 2026, at 17:59, Mike Westfall <mwdlanm at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Heinz.
>
> Thanks for your response.
> I did notice that after a while, the DHCP request times out and the init continues with trying to nfs mount  some default paths hardcoded into EPICS. These of course fail too.
>
> This is not urgent.
> I'm just experimenting for personal learning purposes.
>
>  ---- Waiting for DHCP ...
> info: version 6.2.1 starting
> err: no valid interfaces found
> warning: no interfaces have a carrier
>
>  ---- DHCP timed out!
> -------------- IFCONFIG -----------------
> lo0: flags�49<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
>         optionsh0003<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,LINKSTATE,RXCSUM_IPV6,TXCSUM_IPV6>
>         inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xffffff00
>         inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
>         inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
>         nd6 options!<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
>         groups: lo
> -------------- NETSTAT ------------------
> Routing tables
>
> Internet:
> Destination        Gateway            Flags     Netif Expire
> 127.0.0.1          link#1             UH          lo0
>
> Internet6:
> Destination                       Gateway                       Flags     Netif Expire
> ::1                               link#1                        UH          lo0
> fe80::%lo0/64                     link#1                        U           lo0
> fe80::1%lo0                       link#1                        UHS         lo0
>
> ***** Until now no NTP support in RTEMS 5 with rtems-libbsd *****
>
> ***** Ask ntp server once... *****
> ***** No NTP server ...
>
> ***** Setting up file system *****
> ***** Initializing NFS *****
> nfsMount("1001.1001@10.0.5.1", "/epics", "/epics")
> Mount 1001.1001@10.0.5.1:/epics on /epics
> nfs: mount: nfs -> 1001.1001@10.0.5.1:/epics
> nfs: mount: user/group name in path not supported
> mount failed: Invalid argument
>  check for time registered , C++ initialization ...
> ***** Preparing EPICS application *****
> Can't set initial directory(/epics/myExample/iocBoot/iocmyExample/): No such file or directory
> Can't set initial directory(%s): %s
>
> *** FATAL ***
> fatal source: 11 (RTEMS_FATAL_SOURCE_PANIC)
> fatal code: 2153112536 (0x8055e3d8)
> RTEMS version: 6.0.0.not-released
> RTEMS tools: 13.3.0 20240521 (RTEMS 6, RSB no-repo, Newlib 1b3dcfd)
> executing thread ID: 0x0b010001
> executing thread name: _main_
> U-Boot SPL 2016.11-rc3-00002-g73df7f7 (Nov 04 2016 - 15:20:36)
> Trying to boot from MMC2
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 16, 2026 at 10:28 AM Heinz Junkes <junkes at fhi-berlin.mpg.de> wrote:
> Hallo Mike,
> I have been using BeagleBone Black with RTEMS-LibBSD 6.1 in production so far
> and BeagleBone Black with rtems-libbsd and RTEMS 7, due to be released shortly.
>
> However, I’ve made a lot of changes over the last six months, and these haven’t been incorporated into EPICS-Base yet.
> Over the next few days, I’ll try to document my changes to the RTEMS kernel as well and make them available for download.
> Is it urgent? If so, I’d be happy to send you a version in the meantime.
> Heinz
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Fritz-Haber-Institut  | Phone: (+49 30) 8413-4270
> Heinz Junkes          | VC: https://zoom.fhi.berlin/junkes
> Faradayweg 4-6        | Visitors: Hittorfstrasse 29 (Bld S (Slough House) )
> D - 14195 Berlin
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> “Sorry I’m a bit late, had a terrible time…
> All sort of things cropping up at the last moment. Uh, how are we for time?”
> —Zarquon's address to Milliways
>
> > On 16. Jun 2026, at 15:24, Mike Westfall via Tech-talk <tech-talk at aps.anl.gov> wrote:
> >
> > Looking for advice from anyone who has experience running an IOC under RTEMS on a Beaglebone Black.
> >
> > It looks like I can load the IOC image and the it starts executing , but it seems like it stops stops when it can't find the ethernet interface.
> > Here is the console output of the boot up:
> >
> >
> >
> > U-Boot 2016.11-rc3-00002-g73df7f7 (Nov 04 2016 - 15:20:36 -0500), Build: jenkin9
> >
> > CPU  : AM335X-GP rev 2.1
> > I2C:   ready
> > DRAM:  512 MiB
> > Reset Source: Global external warm reset has occurred.
> > Reset Source: Power-on reset has occurred.
> > MMC:   OMAP SD/MMC: 0, OMAP SD/MMC: 1
> > Using default environment
> >
> > Board: BeagleBone Black
> > <ethaddr> not set. Validating first E-fuse MAC
> > Net:   eth0: MII MODE
> > cpsw
> > Press SPACE to abort autoboot in 2 seconds
> > board_name=[A335BNLT] ...
> > board_rev=[00C0] ...
> > switch to partitions #0, OK
> > mmc0 is current device
> > SD/MMC found on device 0
> > ** Bad device 0:2 0x82000000 **
> > ** Bad device 0:2 0x82000000 **
> > switch to partitions #0, OK
> > mmc0 is current device
> > Scanning mmc 0:1...
> > reading /am335x-boneblack.dtb
> > 99116 bytes read in 15 ms (6.3 MiB/s)
> > gpio: pin 56 (gpio 56) value is 0
> > gpio: pin 55 (gpio 55) value is 0
> > gpio: pin 54 (gpio 54) value is 0
> > gpio: pin 53 (gpio 53) value is 1
> > switch to partitions #0, OK
> > mmc0 is current device
> > gpio: pin 54 (gpio 54) value is 1
> > Checking for: /uEnv.txt ...
> > reading uEnv.txt
> > 173 bytes read in 5 ms (33.2 KiB/s)
> > gpio: pin 55 (gpio 55) value is 1
> > Loaded environment from /uEnv.txt
> > Importing environment from mmc ...
> > Checking if uenvcmd is set ...
> > gpio: pin 56 (gpio 56) value is 1
> > Running uenvcmd ...
> > link up on port 0, speed 100, full duplex
> > BOOTP broadcast 1
> > DHCP client bound to address 192.168.0.186 (6 ms)
> > Using cpsw device
> > TFTP from server 192.168.0.143; our IP address is 192.168.0.186
> > Filename 'rtems-app.img'.
> > Load address: 0x80800000
> > Loading: #################################################################
> >          #################################################################
> >          ###############################################################
> >          2.5 MiB/s
> > done
> > Bytes transferred = 2819094 (2b0416 hex)
> > link up on port 0, speed 100, full duplex
> > BOOTP broadcast 1
> > DHCP client bound to address 192.168.0.186 (7 ms)
> > Using cpsw device
> > TFTP from server 192.168.0.143; our IP address is 192.168.0.186
> > Filename 'am335x-boneblack.dtb'.
> > Load address: 0x88000000
> > Loading: #######
> >          2 MiB/s
> > done
> > Bytes transferred = 99116 (1832c hex)
> > ## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at 80800000 ...
> >    Image Name:   sampleIOC
> >    Created:      2026-06-15  16:44:43 UTC
> >    Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (gzip compressed)
> >    Data Size:    2819030 Bytes = 2.7 MiB
> >    Load Address: 80000000
> >    Entry Point:  80000000
> >    Verifying Checksum ... OK
> > ## Flattened Device Tree blob at 88000000
> >    Booting using the fdt blob at 0x88000000
> >    Uncompressing Kernel Image ... OK
> >    Loading Device Tree to 8ffe4000, end 8ffff32b ... OK
> >
> > Starting kernel ...
> >
> >
> > RTEMS Beagleboard: am335x-based
> >         ARM Debug: 0x4b141000
> > WARNING: OS Clock time was read before being set.
> > Using 1990-01-02 00:00:00.000000 UTC
> >
> >  initConsole --- Info ---
> > stdin: fileno: 0, ttyname: /dev/console
> > stdout: fileno: 1, ttyname: /dev/console
> > stderr: fileno: 2, ttyname: /dev/console
> > time set to : 04/14/14 07:30:06.000002041 UTC
> > Startup.
> > epicsThreadSetPriority called by non epics thread
> >
> > ***** RTEMS Version: rtems-6.0.0 (ARM/ARMv4/beagleboneblack) *****
> >
> > ***** Initializing network (libbsd, dhcpcd) *****
> > nexus0: <RTEMS Nexus device>
> > ofwbus0: <Open Firmware Device Tree> on nexus0
> >
> > ***** ifconfig lo0 *****
> > info: lo0: link state changed to UP
> >
> > ***** add dhcpcd hook *****
> >
> > ***** Start default network dhcpcd *****
> >
> > --Info (hpj)-- bsd task prio IRQS: 96  -----
> >
> > --Info (hpj)-- bsd task prio TIME: 98  -----
> >
> >  ---- Waiting for DHCP ...
> > info: version 6.2.1 starting
> > err: no valid interfaces found
> > warning: no interfaces have a carrier
>

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