EmCraft M2S-FG484 Linux SmartFusion2 Systems SOM Starter Kit User Guide

EmCraft M2S-FG484 Linux SmartFusion2 Systems SOM Starter Kit

Overview

• This document is the Emcraft Systems M2S-FG484 SOM Starter Kit Guide, Release 1.12.0.
• The BSP provides a software development environment for evaluation and development of Linux on the Cortex-M3 processor core of the Microsemi SmartFusion2 microcontroller using the Emcraft Systems M2S-FG484 SOM board in harness with the Emcraft Systems SOM-BSB-EXT baseboard as a hardware platform.
• This BSP is provided as part of the Emcraft Systems SmartFusion2 System-On-Module (M2S-FG484 SOM) Starter Kit. The kit provides a hardware platform and Linux software development environment for the SmartFusion2 System-On-Module (M2S-FG484 SOM).

Product Contents

• This product includes the following components.

Shippable Hardware Items

• The following hardware items are shipped to customers of this product:

1. M2S-FG484 SOM board;
2. SOM-BSB-EXT baseboard;
3. Mini-USB cable UART/power interface.

• Note that this product does not include any JTAG programmer tools or associated hardware items. Such equipment needs to be purchased directly from respective vendors.

Downloadable Hardware Materials

• The following hardware materials are available for download from Emcraft’s web site to customers of this product:

1. SOM-BSB-EXT- 1A-schem.pdf – SOM-BSB-EXT schematics in PDF format;
2. SOM-BSB-EXT-1A- bom.xls – SOM-BSB-EXT Bill-Of-Materials (BOM) in Excel format;
3. SOM-BSB-EXT-1A_ Dimensions.pdf – SOM-BSB-EXT mechanical drawing in PDF format;
4. M2S-FG484-SOM.IntLib – Altium Designer 9.4 integrated library for the M2S-FG484-SOM symbol and footprint.

Downloadable Software Materials

• The following software materials are available for download from Em craft’s web site to customers of this product:

1. m2s010-fg484-som-1a.stp – M2S-FG484-SOM Libero .stp file with the U-Boot image embedded, ready for installation onto the M2S010-FG484 SOM using the Microsemi FlashPro tool;

2. m2s010-fg484-som-1a.zip – M2S-FG484-SOM Liberо and SoftConsole “Hello, world” demo project ready for the M2S010-FG484 SOM;

3. m2s050-fg484-som-1a.stp – M2S-FG484-SOM Libero .stp file with the U-Boot image embedded, ready for installation onto the M2S050-FG484 SOM using the Microsemi FlashPro tool;

4. m2s050-fg484-som-1a.zip – M2S-FG484-SOM Liberо and SoftConsole “Hello, world” demo project ready for the M2S050-FG484 SOM;
   Note: The Libero project included with Release 1.12.0 is developed using Libero v11.1. For the M2S050-FG484 device, select М2S050Т as the SmartFusion2 device when using that Libero version.
   Note: Refer to the Microsemi website for the Libero v11.1 minimum system requirements. To increase the virtual address space that is available to the applications on Windows 32-bit OS refer to Known Issue SL5583.

5. networking.uImage – prebuilt Linux image ready to be loaded to the M2S-FG484 SOM board;

6. Linux-M2S-1.12.0.tar.bz2 – Linux SmartFusion2 software development environment, including:

   • U-Boot firmware;
   • Linux kernel;
   • busy box and other target components;
   • Linux-hosted cross-development environment;
   • Framework for developing multiple projects (embedded applications) from a single installation, including sample projects allowing to kick-start software development for Linux SmartFusion2.

Downloadable Documentation Materials

• The following documentation materials are available for download from Emcraft’s web site to customers of this product:

1. m2s-fg484-som-ha.pdf – Emcraft Systems SmartFusion2 System-On-Module (M2S-FG484 SOM) Hardware Architecture specification;
2. m2s-fg484-som-bsb-ext-ha.pdf – Emcraft Systems SOM-BSB-EXT Baseboard Hardware Architecture specification;
3. Linux-cortex-um-1.12.0.pdf – Linux Cortex-M User’s Manual;
4. M2S-FG484-SOM-skg-1.12.0.pdf – Emcraft Systems M2S-FG484 SOM Starter Kit Guide (this document).

Software Functionality

Supported Features

The following list summarizes the features and capabilities of Linux SmartFusion2, Release 1.12.0:

U-Boot firmware:

• * U-Boot v2010.03;

  • Target initialization from power-on / reset;
  • Runs from the internal eNVM and internal SRAM (no external memory required for standalone operation);
  • Serial console;
  • Ethernet driver for loading images to the target;
  • Serial driver for loading images to the target;
  • Device driver for built-in Flash (eNVM) and self-upgrade capability;
  • Device driver for storing environment and Linux images in external Flash;
  • Autoboot feature, allowing boot of OS images from Flash or other storage with no operator intervention;
  • Persistent environment in Flash for customization of target operation;
  • Sophisticated command interface for maintenance and development of the target.
• Linux:
  • Clinux kernel v2.6.33;
  • Boot from compressed and uncompressed images;
  • Ability to run critical kernel code from integrated Flash of SmartFusion2;
  • Serial device driver and Linux console;
  • Ethernet device driver and networking (ping, NFS, Telnet, FTP, ntpd, etc.);
  • busybox v1.17;
  • POSIX pthreads;
  • Process-to-kernel and process-to-process protection using the Memory Protection Unit (MPU) of the SmartFusion2 core;
  • Hardened exception handling; an exception triggered by a process affects only the offending process;
  • Loadable kernel modules;
  • Secure shell (ssh) daemon;
  • Web server;
  • MTD-based Flash partitioning and persistent JFFS2 Flash file system for external Flash;
  • Device driver for the USB OTG interface (M2S010-FG484 SOM only);
  • I2C device driver;
  • SPI controller master-mode device driver;
  • Device driver for the embedded NVM;
  • GPIO device driver.
• Development tools:
  • ARMv7-optimized GNU toolchain from CodeSourcery (2010q1) is used for development of U-Boot, Linux and user-space applications (toolchain must be downloaded separately from the CodeSourcery web site);
  • Cross GDB for debugging user-space applications;
  • mkimage tool used by the Linux kernel build process to create a Linux image bootable by U-Boot.
• Development environment:
  • Linux-hosted cross-development environment;
  • Development of multiple projects (embedded applications) from a single installation;
  • hello sample project (“Hello, world!” single-process configuration);
  • networking sample project (basic shell, networking and Flash management tools demonstration);
  • developer sample project (template project that can be used to jump-start development of custom user-space applications and loadable kernel modules).

New and Changed Features

This section lists new and changed features of this release:

1. Port uClinux to M2S010-FG484. ID: RT 88436.
2. Support SPI0 and SPI1 and multiple chips selects in Linux SPI driver for SmartFusion2. ID: RT 91425.

Known Problems & Limitations

This section lists are known problems and limitations of this release:

1. USB is not supported by this release on the M2S050-FG484 SOM since the USB ULPI interface is not supported on the M2S050-FG484 ES and PP (pre-production) devices.
2. CONFIG_KERNEL_IN_ENVM requires disabling CONFIG_ARM_UNWIND and CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK.
   • ID: RT 74683.
   • Workaround: When enabling CONFIG_KERNEL_IN_ENVM in the kernel, disable CONFIG_ARM_UNWIND and CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK.
3. Debugging of multi-threaded applications using GDB is not supported.
   • ID: RT 77243.
   • Workaround: None. This issue will be resolved in future releases of the product.
4. USB hotplug doesn’t work on SmarFusion2 under uClinux.
   • ID: RT 82415.
   • Workaround: The limitation will be fixed in the next release.

Hardware Setup

• This section explains how to set up the Emcraft Systems M2S-FG484 SOM board in harness with the Emcraft Systems SOM-BSB-EXT baseboard.

Hardware Interfaces

• The M2S-FG484 SOM board in harness with the Emcraft Systems SOM-BSB-EXT baseboard provides the following components and interfaces:

Jumpers

The following jumpers must be configured on the SOM-BSB-EXT board:

to the SmartFusion2 JTAG controller
JP3| 1-3 open, 2-4 closed| Use the mini-USB port as the power source

Board Connections

• To power the SOM-BSB-EXT baseboard with the M2S-FG484 SOM up, simply connect it to a PC / notebook by plugging a mini-USB cable into the P1 mini-USB connector on the SOM-
• BSB-EXT board. As soon as the connection to the PC has been made, the LED DS2 should lit up, indicating that the board is up and running.
• A single USB connection provides a 500 mA power to the M2S-FG484 SOM, which is sufficient for basic functionality. Note however that some advanced operations, such as WiFi connectivity using the USB WiFi module, may require more than 500 mA for reliable operation. Use the second link of the mini-USB Y-cable to connect to the PC for such configurations.
• On the PC side, the USB link provides a serial console device to the M2S-FG484 SOM. The software installed on the board is configured for a 115.2 K terminal. On the Linux host, the serial console is available using a /dev/ttyUSBn device.
• To provide network connectivity to the board, connect it into your LAN by plugging a standard Ethernet cable into the J1 connector. The board is pre-configured with an IP address of 192.168.0.2.
• The M2S-FG484 SOM comes with the U-Boot firmware and an appropriate Libero project pre-installed into SmartFusion2. U-Boot provides sufficient interfaces for uploading and installing new firmware images onto the board so you may never need to re-install firmware over the JTAG interface. If however at some point you require re-programming U-Boot onto your board, connect it to a Microsemi FlashPro programmer tool by plugging a standard JTAG cable into the P3 connector.
• Note: Only one of the FlashPro JTAG and the ARM JTAG interfaces must be used at any time. Using the two JTAG interfaces simultaneously may result in a mal-function of the M2S-FG484 SOM.

Extension Interfaces

• For description of the extension interfaces provided by the Emcraft Systems M2S-FG484 SOM board refer to Emcraft Systems SmartFusion2 System-On-Module (M2S-FG484 SOM) Hardware Architecture.
• For description of the extension interfaces provided by the Emcraft Systems SOM-BSB-EXT baseboard refer to Emcraft Systems SOM-BSB-EXT Baseboard Hardware Architecture.
• The above mentioned documents can be downloaded from the following page: http://www.emcraft.com/som/m2s-fg484

M2S-FG484 SOM Board Linux Software Set-up

U-Boot Environment

When the M2S-FG484 SOM board is reset, the Linux bootstrap will proceed to boot the U-Boot firmware from the on-chip eNVM . Unless interrupted, U-Boot proceeds to load the Linux bootable image from the SPI Flash into the LPDDR and passes control to the Linux kernel entry point in LPDDR. Linux bootstraps the kernel, mounts a root filesystem in RAM and enters the interactive shell command interface printing the following output to the serial console :

• U-boot makes use of the so-called environment variables to define various aspects of the system functionality. Parameters defined by the U-boot environment variables include: target IP address, target MAC address, address in RAM where a Linux bootable images will be loaded, and many more. To examine the current settings of the environment variables, run printenv from the U-Boot command interface.
• U-Boot provides a command called saveenv that stores the up-to-date run-time environment to the persistent storage, which will be the external Flash for the U-Boot configuration used on the M2S-FG484 SOM board. You need to call saveenv any time when you want to copy current settings of the environment variables to the persistent storage in Flash.
• This is how  you can write the current U-Boot environment to the external Flash:

Ethernet MAC Address

• In Linux SmartFusion2, the MAC address of the Ethernet interface is defined by the ethaddr
• U-Boot environment variable. The value of the MAC address can be examined from the U-Boot command line monitor as follows:
• The M2S-FG484 SOM board comes with ethaddr set to a MAC address uniquely allocated for the specific board. Given that each M2S-FG484 SOM board has a unique MAC address allocated to it, there is no need to update the ethaddr variable (although it is possible to do so).
• The MAC address can be changed by modifying the ethaddr variable as follows:
• Don’t forget to store your update in the persistent storage using saveenv so it is remembered across resets and power cycles.

Network Configuration

• You will have to update the network configuration of your board to match settings of your local environment.
• Typically, all you have to allow loading images over network from a TFTP server is update
  the U-Boot environment variables ipaddr (the board IP address) and serverip (the IP address of the TFTP server). Here is how it is done.

Update ipaddr and server:

• and then save the updated environment to the external Flash so that your changes are persistent across resets/power cycles.

Running Pre-installed Linux Image

• The M2S-FG484 SOM board comes with a Linux bootable image for the networking project installed into external Flash. To boot this Linux configuration onto the M2S-FG484 SOM board just reset the board and let U-Boot perform the autoboot sequence.
• Detailed information on functionality of the pre-installed Linux image can be found in Linux Cortex-M User’s Manual, Section 3.

Loading Linux Images

• At this point, you are able to load Linux bootable images to the board over TFTP and either boot them directly or install them to the external Flash to allow booting Linux from Flash on power-up/reset.
• On the host, activate the Linux SmartFusion2 development environment and build the networking project:
• Copy the Linux bootable image to the TFTP download directory:
• To load the image directly, use the netboot U-Boot macro:
• To load the image into the Flash, use the U-Boot update macro:
• Reset the board and verify that the newly programmed image boots on the target in the autoboot mode:

U-Boot Build

• The BSP distribution comes with U-Boot pre-built for the M2S-FG484 SOM board. If however you need to re-build U-Boot for your board, please follow the instructions below:

1. Install the Linux SmartFusion2 distribution to the development host, as described in the Linux Cortex-M User’s Manual.
2. From the top of the Linux SmartFusion2 installation, activate the Linux SmartFusion2 cross-compile environment by running . ACTIVATE.sh.
3. Go to the U-Boot source directory (cd u-boot/).
4. Run the following commands:

U-Boot Installation

• The Emcraft Systems M2S-FG484 SOM board arrives with the U-Boot firmware pre-installed into the on-chip Flash of the SmartFusion2. The U-Boot command line interface provides commands that allow upgrading U-Boot on the running target in self-upgrade mode.
• However, should you program a faulty U-Boot image into SmartFusion2, U-Boot can be re-installed using the Emcraft-provided Linux SmartFusion2 Libero project and a
• Microsemi FlashPro tool.
• Here is an example of how this can be done:

1. Start FlashPro on a Windows host;
2. From the FlashPro IDE, create a new project with an arbitrary name;
3. From the main FlashPro window, push Configure Device;
4. Push Browse next to load existing programming file. Browse to the Linux SmartFusion2 project .stp file for the M2S-FG484 SOM board and choose it.
5. Push Program at the top of the main window to program the project onto the SmartFusion2 device and wait for the programming procedure to complete. If the programming completes successfully, a next reset should bring the U-Boot start-up messages and the command line interface onto the serial console interface.

Further Materials

• Refer to Emcraft Systems SmartFusion2 System-On-Module (M2S-FG484 SOM) Hardware Architecture for detailed information on the hardware architecture of the Emcraft Systems M2S-FG484 SOM board.
• Refer to Emcraft Systems SOM-BSB-EXT Baseboard Hardware Architecture for detailed information on the hardware architecture of the Emcraft Systems SOM-BSB-EXT baseboard.
• Refer to Linux Cortex-M User’s Manual for detailed information on the software architecture of the Linux SmartFusion2 distribution.
• Visit Emcraft Systems’ web site at www.emcraft.com to obtain additional materials related to Linux SmartFusion2.

Support

• We appreciate your review of our product and welcome any and all feedback. Comments can be sent directly by email to: a2f-linux-support@emcraft.com
• The following level of support is included with your purchase of this product:
• Email support for installation, configuration and basic use scenarios of the product during 3 months since the product purchase;
• Free upgrade to new releases of the downloadable materials included in the product during 3 months since the product purchase.
• If you require support beyond of what is described above, we will be happy to provide it using resources of our contract development team. Please contact us for details.

References

• ACTIVATE.sh
• Linux and System-On-Modules: i.MX RT1050, STM32F7, SmartFusion2, i.MX 8M, i.MX 6ULL, i.MX 6SoloX
• Linux and System-On-Modules: i.MX RT1050, STM32F7, SmartFusion2, i.MX 8M, i.MX 6ULL, i.MX 6SoloX

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