Installing an Operating System
In this chapter we're going to go over the process of preparing your storage device to install an operating system for your Tinker Board.
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Installing an Operating System In this chapter we’re going to go over the process of preparing your storage device to install an operating system for your Tinker Board. Now that you have all of your materials from Chapter 2 and you have a better idea of exactly how the Tinker Board works, it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty aspects of working with the Tinker Board. To begin, we’re going to prepare your chosen storage solution to install an operating system (OS) and then go through the steps to download your chosen operating system’s disk image and install the OS on your storage device so that it can run on your Tinker Board.
Note Many users will utilize a microSD card for their operating system if they are using the original Tinker Board, or even the Tinker Board S, so the following instructions will assume that is the case. If you are using the eMMC flash on the Tinker Board S, the steps will be the same unless otherwise noted.
© Liz Clark 2019 L. Clark, Practical Tinker Board, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3826-4_3
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Prepping the SD Card The first step in loading an OS onto an SD card is to format the card so that it is ready to write the OS files without any glitches or data corruption. Formatting ensures that the storage does not have any remaining or proprietary files from previous use or from the factory. It’s especially important to format properly when prepping storage for an operating system, since it will have a direct connection to the stability and long-term health of the OS. How do you format storage, though? There are built-in utilities within your desktop operating system, whether you are on Windows, macOS, or Linux. For SD cards, the SD Association provides the SD Card Formatter program, which is a specialized program for a full and complete reformat. It’s available for Windows and macOS, but not Linux. If you are on a Linux distribution, it may be worthwhile to run the SD Card Formatter in a Windows virtual machine (VM) .
Note If you are using the eMMC on the Tinker Board S, then you do not need to fully reformat it, since it has a built-in bootloader that would be deleted if fully reformatted. It takes a lot longer to format the card using the software, but you will know that the card is fully cleared and ready to take on an OS. This process mainly comes in handy when you’ve had an OS installed on the card previously and want to do a fresh install or install a completely different OS.
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Installing SD Card Formatter The installation process for the SD Card Formatter program is very straightforward. You’ll go to the SD Association’s web site1 and download the version for your desktop operating system, either macOS or Windows, and follow the installation instructions. Once the installation has completed, launch the program and select your SD card’s drive letter from the drop-down menu as shown in Figure 3-1.
Figure 3-1. The SD Association’s SD Card Formatter software
https://www.sdcard.org
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