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SolidRun's i.MX8DXL V2X SoM build scripts

Introduction

Main intention of this repository is to produce a Debian based reference system for i.MX8DXL product evaluation. Automatic binary releases are available on our website for download.

Get Started

Early preview SoMs were shipped with U-Boot and Debian preinstalled to eMMC. Production versions are expected to ship at least with U-Boot preinstalled to boot0.

If no operating system was installed, please download the latest binary release from our website. Then follow the steps in section "Flash Disk Image to eMMC".

After flashing the eMMC and booting into Linux, the serial console must be used for logging into the root account for the first time. Simply enter "root" and press return:

Debian GNU/Linux 11 e7c450f97e59 ttyLP0

e7c450f97e59 login: root
Linux e7c450f97e59 5.15.5-00002-g0c527c0172f1-dirty #19 SMP PREEMPT Sun Aug 7 13:39:57 UTC 2022 aarch64

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.

root@e7c450f97e59:~#

USB Networking

The system is preconfigured as a USB Ethernet Gadget. Via the same USB connection used for booting and flashing the eMMC, your computer should be detecting a generic usb network interface once Linux has booted. This allows e.g. for internet connection sharing, or simple peer to peer networking. By default the system tries to acquire an IP address and DNS configuration via DHCP.

Log-In via SSH

To log in via SSH, an ssh key must be installed first. Copy your favourite public key, e.g. from ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub, into a new file in the root users home directory at ~/.ssh/authorized_keys:

root@e7c450f97e59:~# mkdir .ssh
root@e7c450f97e59:~# cat > .ssh/authorized_keys << EOF
ssh-ed25519 AAAAinsertyour pubkey@here
EOF

Expand Root Filesystem

After flashing the root filesystem is smaller than the eMMC. To utilize all space, resize both the rootfs partition - and then the filesystem:

  1. inspect partitions:

    Using fdisk, view the current partitions. Take note of the start sector for partition 1!

    root@e7c450f97e59:~# fdisk /dev/mmcblk0

Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.36.1).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.


Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 7.28 GiB, 7820083200 bytes, 15273600 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xcc3ec3d4

Device         Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/mmcblk0p1      49152  2690687  2641535  1.3G 83 Linux

Command (m for help):

  2. resize partition 1:

    Drop and re-create partition 1 at the same starting sector noted before, keeping the ext4 signature when prompted:

    Command (m for help): d
Selected partition 1
Partition 1 has been deleted.

Command (m for help): n
Partition type
   p   primary (0 primary, 0 extended, 4 free)
   e   extended (container for logical partitions)
Select (default p): p
Partition number (1-4, default 1): 1
First sector (2048-15273599, default 2048): 49152
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (49152-15273599, default 15273599):

Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux' and of size 7.3 GiB.
Partition #1 contains a ext4 signature.

Do you want to remove the signature? [Y]es/[N]o: N

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/mmcblk0: 7.28 GiB, 7820083200 bytes, 15273600 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xcc3ec3d4

Device         Boot Start      End  Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/mmcblk0p1      49152 15273599 15224448  7.3G 83 Linux

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered.
Syncing disks.

  3. resize root filesystem:

    Linux supports online-resizing for the ext4 filesystem. Invoke resize2fs on partition 1 to do so:

    root@e7c450f97e59:~# resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p1

V2X DSRC

Due to license restrictions V2X-specific documentation and software are available only to customers who have purchased a SolidRun i.MX8DXL SoM with DSRC Modem. Please create an account on nxp.com, then contact SolidRun Support to facilitate access through your nxp user account.

Binaries including a README are automatically published here.

IOs (Adapter Board)

USB (J1)

The USB-A port can be configured as either Host or Peripheral at boot time through the Device-Tree:

See arch/arm64/boot/dts/freescale/imx8dxl-sr-som.dtsi:

&usbotg1 {
	srp-disable;
	hnp-disable;
	adp-disable;
	power-active-high;
	disable-over-current;
	dr_mode = "peripheral";
	status = "okay";
};

The "dr_mode" property may be configured as either "host" or "peripheral". OTG mode requires a different physical connector and is not available.

Note that with Carrier revision 1.0 the resistor R1 on the adapter board should be disassembled when choosing peripheral, and reassembled for host mode. Carriers revision 1.1 and later include a power switch such that R1 may be assembled at all times.

Rebuilding and replacing the device-tree can be tedious for during development. It is possible to make the change dynamically through U-Boot. In that case however the automatic boot through boot-script or extlinux.conf can't be used, and all commands must be executed interactively:

load mmc 0:1 ${fdt_addr_r} /boot/${fdtfile}
fdt addr ${fdt_addr_r}
fdt resize
fdt set /bus@5b000000/usb@5b0d0000 dr_mode host

load mmc 0:1 ${kernel_addr_r} /boot/Image

setenv bootargs root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 ro rootwait net.ifnames=0
booti ${kernel_addr_r} - ${fdt_addr_r}

CAN-Bus (J8, J9)

After booting the CAN network interfaces will show up in the output of the ip utility:

root@f9c5d243692b:~# ip addr
...
4: can0: <NOARP,ECHO> mtu 16 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 10
    link/can
5: can1: <NOARP,ECHO> mtu 16 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 10
    link/can

For transmitting packets it is required to configure a bitrate and set link state up. Then data can be exchanged e.g. with the candump and cansend commands from can-utils package:

apt-get install can-utils
ip link set can0 up type can bitrate 125000 restart-ms 100
ip link set dev can0 up
ip -details -statistics link show can0
ip link set can1 up type can bitrate 125000
ip link set dev can1 up
ip -details -statistics link show can1

# To receive data
candump can0

# To send data
cansend can1 "123#c0ffee"

Note: the CAN interfaces are not functional on early samples manufactured before October!

Digital Inputs (J4)

Userspace access to the two digital inputs on J4 pins 1+2 is available through the gpiod library. As examples and for simple usecases it provides utilities to lookup, control and monitor the varioaus GPIos on a system.

Reading from the two inputs can be achieved through the following commands:

# 1. find the gpiochip instance and numbers:
root@f9c5d243692b:~# gpiofind DIG_IN1
gpiochip8 0
root@f9c5d243692b:~# gpiofind DIG_IN2
gpiochip8 1
# --> the inputs are on chip number 8, lines 0+1

# 2. read values from chip 8 lines 0+1
root@f9c5d243692b:~# gpioget 8 0 1
1 1

A Reading of 1 means that both pins are floating, not connected to a voltage supply. Applying 5V or more will toggle the respective reading to 0.

Digital Outpouts (J6)

Pins 0+1 on J6 provide switchable 12V from the board power supply through relays.

Their state can be toggled from GPIOs, e.g. through libgpiod, or the libgpiod utilities:

# 1. find the gpiochip instance and numbers:
root@f9c5d243692b:~# gpiofind DIG_OUT1
gpiochip8 4
root@f9c5d243692b:~# gpiofind DIG_OUT2
gpiochip8 5
# --> the outputs are on chip number 8, lines 4+5

# 2. enable both relays for 10 seconds
gpioset -m time -s 10 8 4=1 5=1

# 3. disable both relays for 10 seconds
gpioset -m time -s 10 8 4=0 5=0

Ethernet Switch

The carrier features an SJA1110A ethernet switch supporting a wide mix of ports such as T1, 100base-tx, 1000base-tx and 2500base-tx. Externally exposed on the Adapter Board are 1x 100Base-TX and 1x T1, backed by a 1000Mbps RGMII link from the switch to the CPU.

Linux uses the DSA Framework for management of switch ports: Any port on the switch will appear as a normal network interface and can be controlled by the standard Linux utilities such as ethtool, ip, ifconfig, etc.. Note that by design of DSA the cpu port - eth0 should not be used directly. Instead - when the behaviour of a dumb switch is desired, a linux bridge interface should be created covering all ports.

100Base-TX

Switch port #1 is exposed on the V2X Adapter as "lan1":

# ifconfig -a
lan1: flags=4098<BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        ether 96:d1:b9:ea:48:07  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 1111  bytes 136285 (133.0 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 12  bytes 936 (936.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

The interface is automatically configured using DHCP at boot-time, if a link is detected. Otherwise manual ifdown lan1; ifup lan1 may be needed after connecting a cable. For other configurations modify overlay/etc/network/interfaces.d/lan1 before the build, or /etc/network/interfaces.d/lan1 on the target system accordingly.

MDIX

Auto-MDIX is not available by default for 100Base-TX enabled using a special phy driver from NXP, which is integrated in this release.

T1

Switch port #10 is exposed on the V2X Adapter as "trx6":

# ifconfig -a
trx6: flags=4098<BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.20.1  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 0.0.0.0
        ether 96:d1:b9:ea:48:07  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 32  bytes 2308 (2.2 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

Note that the PHY does not support automatic negotiation for slave and master roles. To achieve link up between two devices, both sides must be explicitly configured:

ethtool -s trx6 master-slave forced-slave
ethtool -s trx6 master-slave forced-master

LTE Modem

The carrier features a Quectel EC25 LTE modem, which is powered down by default. A systemd unit called lte-power is included in this image, but disabled by default.

After the modem has booted, it will show up as wwan0 and needs to be supplied with the APN name and SIM PIN (if present). Either use a suitable network manager for that or just use mmcli from the modemmanager package.

Configure Boot Mode DIP Switch

This table indicates valid boot-modes selectable via the DIP switch S1 on the Molex Carrier. The value 0 indicates OFF, and 1 indicates the ON state.

Switch 1 2
selected by eFuses 0 0
eMMC 0 1
USB-OTG 1 0

Boot via USB-OTG

All steps in this section require using NXPs uuu application to interface with the Boot-ROM inside the SoC. Precompiled binaries are available here on GitHub, and through the package managers on some distributions.

Flash Disk Image to eMMC

  1. Configure the DIP Switch to boot from eMMC.

  2. Connect the serial console to the computer, and open it.

  3. Connect the first USB-OTG port via a type A to type A cable to the computer.

  4. Connect to power, or reset the device.

  5. The serial console should now provide access to the early boot log. Interrupt it at the timeout prompt for access to U-Boot Shell:

    Hit any key to stop autoboot:  3

  6. Activate USB mass storage emulation for eMMC data partition:

    => ums mmc 0

  7. The computer should recognise a new USB drive. Flash the disk image using your tool of choice, e.g. etcher.io.

  8. On the U-Boot console, cancel usb mass storage emulation by pressing ctrl+c, then reboot or reset the device.

Load U-Boot to RAM only

  1. Configure the DIP Switch to boot from USB. This step is optional only before flashing a bootloader to eMMC

  2. Connect the serial console to the computer, and open it.

  3. Connect the first USB-OTG port via a type A to type A cable to the computer.

  4. Acquire the full path to the uuu command (e.g. C:\Users\Josua\Desktop\uuu.exe) or copy it into the imx8dxl_build folder.

  5. From a CLI at the root of imx8dxl_build folder, Instruct NXPs uuu command to send U-Boot: [path-to-]uuu images/uboot.bin

  6. Connect to power, or reset the device.

  7. The serial console should now provide access to the early boot log, and u-boot commandline:

    U-Boot 2021.04-00001-g6f4a2fe897 (Jul 24 2022 - 11:18:25 +0000)

CPU:   NXP i.MX8DXL RevA1 A35 at 1200 MHz at 37C

Model: NXP i.MX8DXL EVK Board
Board: iMX8DXL EVK
Boot:  USB
DRAM:  1019.8 MiB
MMC:   FSL_SDHC: 0, FSL_SDHC: 1
Loading Environment from MMC... MMC: no card present
*** Warning - No block device, using default environment

In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial

 BuildInfo:
  - SCFW c1e35e09, SECO-FW b3c3cbc7, IMX-MKIMAGE 22346a32, ATF 05f788b
  - U-Boot 2021.04-00001-g6f4a2fe897
  - V2X-FW 2c8f793d version 0.0.4

MMC: no card present
Detect USB boot. Will enter fastboot mode!
Net:   pca953x gpio@20: Error reading direction register

Warning: ethernet@5b050000 (eth1) using random MAC address - ca:ef:1c:f5:5c:db
eth1: ethernet@5b050000 [PRIME]
Fastboot: Normal
Boot from USB for mfgtools
*** Warning - Use default environment for                                mfgtools
, using default environment

Run bootcmd_mfg: run mfgtool_args;if iminfo ${initrd_addr}; then if test ${tee} = yes; then bootm ${tee_addr} ${initrd_addr} ${fdt_addr}; else booti ${loadaddr} ${initrd_addr} ${fdt_addr}; fi; else echo "Run fastboot ..."; fastboot auto; fi;
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0

## Checking Image at 83100000 ...
Unknown image format!
Run fastboot ...
auto usb 0

    The last line indicates that the bootloader is waiting for further USB commands via the fastboot protocol. By pressing Ctrl+C the U-Boot commandline can be accessed instead.

Flash only U-Boot to eMMC

All steps in this section require using NXPs uuu application to interface with the Boot-ROM inside the SoC. Precompiled binaries are available here on GitHub, and through the package managers on some distributions.

  1. Configure the DIP Switch to boot from USB. This step is optional only before flashing the eMMC for the first time

  2. Connect the serial console to the computer, and open it.

  3. Connect the first USB-OTG port via a type A to type A cable to the computer.

  4. Acquire the full path to the uuu command (e.g. C:\Users\Josua\Desktop\uuu.exe) or copy it into the imx8dxl_build folder.

  5. From a CLI at the root of imx8dxl_build folder, Instruct NXPs uuu command to execute the flash-uboot.uuu script, to write images/uboot.bin to the eMMC: [path-to-]uuu flash-uboot.uuu

  6. Connect to power, or reset the device.

  7. The serial console should now provide access to the early boot log, and indicate writing to the eMMC:

    Run fastboot ...
auto usb 0
Detect USB boot. Will enter fastboot mode!
flash target is MMC:1
MMC: no card present
MMC card init failed!
MMC: no card present
** Block device MMC 1 not supported
Detect USB boot. Will enter fastboot mode!
flash target is MMC:0
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc0(part 0) is current device
Starting download of 1171456 bytes
........
downloading of 1171456 bytes finished
writing to partition 'bootloader'
Initializing 'bootloader'
switch to partitions #1, OK
mmc0(part 1) is current device
Writing 'bootloader'

MMC write: dev # 0, block # 0, count 2288 ... 2288 blocks written: OK
Writing 'bootloader' DONE!

  8. Once the uuu command indicates "done", the flashing is complete.

Flash U-Boot and Disk Image to eMMC

Note: This method has been observed unreliable, transfer of large images are interrupted at random, prefer ums command described above.

All steps in this section require using NXPs uuu application to interface with the Boot-ROM inside the SoC. Precompiled binaries are available here on GitHub, and through the package managers on some distributions.

  1. Configure the DIP Switch to boot from USB. This step is optional only before flashing the eMMC for the first time

  2. Connect the serial console to the computer, and open it.

  3. Connect the first USB-OTG port via a type A to type A cable to the computer.

  4. Acquire the full path to the uuu command (e.g. C:\Users\Josua\Desktop\uuu.exe) or copy it into the imx8dxl_build folder.

  5. From a CLI at the root of imx8dxl_build folder, Instruct NXPs uuu command to execute the flash-emmc.uuu script, to write images/emmc.img and images/uboot.bin to the eMMC: [path-to-]uuu flash-emmc.uuu

  6. Connect to power, or reset the device.

  7. The serial console should now provide access to the early boot log, and indicate writing to the eMMC:

    Run fastboot ...
auto usb 0
Detect USB boot. Will enter fastboot mode!
flash target is MMC:1
MMC: no card present
MMC card init failed!
MMC: no card present
** Block device MMC 1 not supported
Detect USB boot. Will enter fastboot mode!
flash target is MMC:0
switch to partitions #0, OK
mmc0(part 0) is current device
Detect USB boot. Will enter fastboot mode!
Starting download of 16776232 bytes
..........................................................................
.....................................................
downloading of 16776232 bytes finished
writing to partition 'all'
sparse flash target is mmc:0
writing to partition 'all' for sparse, buffer size 16776232
Flashing sparse image at offset 0
Flashing Sparse Image
........ wrote 16776192 bytes to 'all'

...

  8. Once the uuu command indicates "done", the flashing is complete.

Boot Linux without flashing

This section is useful for development or testing only, when explicitly trying to avoid flashing the eMMC. If you intend to evaluate the device or software, please instead flash the build results to eMMC.

  1. Configure the DIP Switch to boot from USB. This step is optional only before flashing a bootloader to eMMC

  2. Connect the serial console to the computer, and open it.

  3. Connect the first USB-OTG port via a type A to type A cable to the computer.

  4. Customise boot.uuu at the root of imx8dxl_build folder with a text editor, to choose specific kernel, device-tree and initrd paths. By default kernel and device-tree are taken from the last build while initrd should be created by the user at images/initrd.

  5. Acquire the full path to the uuu command (e.g. C:\Users\Josua\Desktop\uuu.exe) or copy it into the imx8dxl_build folder.

  6. From a CLI at the root of imx8dxl_build folder, Instruct NXPs uuu command to send u-boot, kernel and initramfs: [path-to-]uuu boot.uuu

  7. Connect to power, or reset the device.

  8. The serial console should now provide access to the early boot log, showing progress of loading the system to RAM till eventually Linux is started:

       U-Boot 2022.04-00004-gc20edd9a31-dirty (Nov 17 2022 - 13:25:39 +0000)

CPU:   NXP i.MX8DXL RevA1 A35 at 1200 MHz at 56C

Model: SolidRun i.MX8DXL SoM
Board: SolidRun i.MX8DXL SoM
Boot:  USB
DRAM:  1019.8 MiB
Core:  148 devices, 18 uclasses, devicetree: separate
MMC:   FSL_SDHC: 0
Loading Environment from MMC... OK
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial

 BuildInfo:
  - SCFW 8172eaea, SECO-FW b3c3cbc7, IMX-MKIMAGE a8bb8edb, ATF c6a19b1
  - U-Boot 2022.04-00004-gc20edd9a31-dirty
  - V2X-FW 2c8f793d version 0.0.4

Detect USB boot. Will enter fastboot mode!
Net:
Warning: ethernet@5b050000 (eth1) using random MAC address - d2:a6:e2:e1:9d:8a
eth1: ethernet@5b050000 [PRIME]
Fastboot: Normal
Boot from USB for uuu
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0
Failed to configure default pinctrl
warning: id pin does not indicate gadget mode, enabling regardless.
Detect USB boot. Will enter fastboot mode!
Detect USB boot. Will enter fastboot mode!
Detect USB boot. Will enter fastboot mode!
Detect USB boot. Will enter fastboot mode!
Starting download of 30925312 bytes
...
## Flattened Device Tree blob at 80700000
   Booting using the fdt blob at 0x80700000
   Using Device Tree in place at 0000000080700000, end 0000000080710b2d

Starting kernel ...

[    0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0000000000 [0x410fd042]
...

    The last line indicates that Linux has been started.

Build with Docker

A docker image providing a consistent build environment can be used as below:

  1. build container image (first time only) 
    docker build -t imx8dxl_build docker
# optional with an apt proxy, e.g. apt-cacher-ng
# docker build --build-arg APTPROXY=http://127.0.0.1:3142 -t imx8dxl_build docker
  2. Download "SCFW Porting Kit​ 1.15.0" for Linux 5.15.71-2.2.2 from NXP IMXLINUX and place it in the root of this repository (first time only)
  3. invoke build script in working directory 
    docker run --rm -i -t -v "$PWD":/work imx8dxl_build -u $(id -u) -g $(id -g)

rootless Podman

Due to the way podman performs user-id mapping, the root user inside the container (uid=0, gid=0) will be mapped to the user running podman (e.g. 1000:100). Therefore in order for the build directory to be owned by current user, -u 0 -g 0 have to be passed to docker run.

Build with host tools

Simply running ./runme.sh, it will check for required tools, clone and build images and place results in images/ directory.

Known Issues

Sporadic failure to access eMMC after reboot

eMMC access may fail after reboot with messages similar to this:

=> boot
Card did not respond to voltage select! : -110
Card did not respond to voltage select! : -110

To improve the situation patches were added to U-Boot and Linux supporting eMMC reset, and the eMMC internal efuse supporting reset input must be blown - i.e. from Linux:

# read configuration
mmc extcsd read /dev/mmcblk0 | grep RST
# H/W Reset Function [RST_N_FUNCTION]: 0x00
# if value was 0x00, reset can be enabled ONCE:
mmc hwreset enable /dev/mmcblk0

# read back new configuration
mmc extcsd read /dev/mmcblk0 | grep RST
# H/W Reset Function [RST_N_FUNCTION]: 0x01

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