Pandaboard Status

We’re looking at updating our Android support with these PandaBoard cards.  We already run with Tegras in our automation, but the Tegra 250’s are discontinued, and we can’t update to newer versions of Android with them, so introducing Pandaboards.

Well, PandaBoards come with nothing, not even a power supply.  They can be powered off USB, but it’s pretty difficult to get adb working in that state (if you have steps, I’d love to hear them).  So, here are the steps to getting something usable working (See the official getting started too):

1. Order power cord, specifically the adapter and the cord
2. Order 8-16Gb SDCard
3. Ensure you have a mini USB cord
4. Ensure you have a CAT 5 network cable.

Once you have this, you can build or download a build onto your SDCard.  Oh yeah, you’ll need an SDCard writer/reader.  Most computers have them by default these days, thankfully.

Then, plug it all in, and it should work.  I’ve noticed a few oddities:

• Our SUTAgent had some difficulties at first, but now it seems to be working fine.  Still debugging this.
• ADB won’t work if the card is plugged in when it boots.  I think this is due to the build, as I seem to recall seeing an issue on it earlier.  I’ll keep researching and will try some different builds to find something more stable.  In the mean time, unplug when you reboot the card, plug in after the card is up and running.  Also, you won’t see the “USB” notification that you usually see in Android.  So, don’t expect that.
• There is something going on with the package manager.  I installed Fennec, but the pm doesn’t list it, and claims that it is not installed.  However, it runs fine, appears in the applications, and can’t be re-installed.  I just can’t uninstall it.  Still investigating that too, and like the other OS level issues, I’m wondering about this downloaded build.