AVNET MaaXBoard8ULP Single Board Computer User Guide

: June 16, 2024
: AVNET

Table of Contents

AVNET MaaXBoard8ULP Single Board Computer
Product Information
MaaXBoard 8ULP
Chapter 1 Build with Yocto
Chapter 2 Standalone Build of u-Boot and Kernel
Chapter 3 System power on and boot up
Chapter 4 Appendix
Contact Information
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)
!/bin/bash
bash clean.sh
For Yocto
copy firmware
copy atf-imx image
copy uboot-imx image
generate bootloader image
copy bootloader image out

AVNET MaaXBoard8ULP Single Board Computer

AVNET-MaaXBoard8ULP-Single-Board-Computer-PRODUCT

Product Information

Product Name: MaaXBoard 8ULP
Development Guide Version: V3.1
Copyright Statement: MaaXBoard-8ULP-Linux-Yocto-Development-guide-V3.0
Copyright Holder: Avnet
Regulatory Compliance: CE, FCC & SRRC certified
Product Website: MaaXBoard 8ULP

Revision History

Version	Release Date	Author
V1.0	–	Lily
V2.0	–	Lily
V3.0	2023/05/16	Lily
V3.1	2023/06/30	Lily

Chapter 1: Build with Yocto

Setup Build Environment
To setup the build environment, you will need

Hardware: It is recommended to have at least 300GB of disk space and 4GB of RAM.
Software: Ubuntu 64-bit OS, version 20.04 LTS or later LTS version (Ubuntu Desktop or Ubuntu Server version). You can also run the Ubuntu 64-bit OS on a virtual machine or in a docker container.

The following packages are required for the development environment. You can install them using the bash script below:

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install -y wget git-core diffstat unzip texinfo gcc-multilib 
  build-essential chrpath socat cpio python python3 python3-pip python3-pexpect 
  xz-utils debianutils iputils-ping python3-git python3-jinja2 libegl1-mesa libsdl1.2-dev 
  pylint3 xterm rsync curl gawk zstd lz4 locales bash-completion

FAQ

Q: Who owns the MaaXBoard 8ULP single board computer?
A: The MaaXBoard 8ULP single board computer and its related intellectual property are owned by Avnet.
Q: What certifications does the MaaXBoard 8ULP single board computer have?
A: The MaaXBoard 8ULP single board computer has passed the CE, FCC & SRRC certification.
Q: Where can I find more information about the MaaXBoard 8ULP?
A: You can find more information about the MaaXBoard 8ULP on the product website.

MaaXBoard 8ULP

Linux Yocto Development Guide
V3.1

Copyright Statement

The MaaXBoard 8ULP single board computer and its related intellectual property are owned by Avnet.
Avnet has the copyright of this document and reserves all rights. Any part of the document should not be modified, distributed or duplicated in any approach and form with the written permission issued by Avnet.

Disclaimer
Avnet does not take warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the program source code, software and documents provided along with the products, and including, but not limited to, warranties of fitness for a particular purpose; The entire risk as to the quality or performance of the program is with the user of products.

Regulatory Compliance
MaaXBoard 8ULP single board computer has passed the CE, FCC & SRRC certification.

Revision History

Version	Note	Author	Release Date
V1.0	Initial version	Lily	2022/11/09
V2.0	Updated Yocto to kirkstone(4.0), BSP_VERSION to lf- 5.15.71-2.2.0,
Converts the file format to markdown	Lily	20230516
V3.0	Updated Yocto to Langdale(4.1), BSP_VERSION to lf-6.1.1- 1.0.0
Lily	20230630
V3.1	Updated Yocto to mickledore(4.2), BSP_VERSION to lf- 6.1.22-2.0.0
Lily	20231024

Chapter 1 Build with Yocto

Setup Build Environment
To setup the build environment need:

Hardware : It is recommended that at least 300GB of disk space and 4GB of RAM
Software : Ubuntu 64-bit OS, 20.04 LTS version or later LTS version (Ubuntu Desktop or Ubuntu Server version). You could also run the Ubuntu 64-bit OS on virtual machine or in docker container.

The following packages are required for the development environment. The required packages can be installed using the bash script below:

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install -y wget git-core diffstat unzip texinfo gcc-multilib \
build-essential chrpath socat cpio python python3 python3-pip python3-pexpect \
xz-utils debianutils iputils-ping python3-git python3-jinja2 libegl1-mesa libsdl1.2-dev \
pylint3 xterm rsync curl gawk zstd lz4 locales bash-completion

Install repo

$ mkdir -p ~/bin
$ curl https://storage.googleapis.com/git-repo-downloads/repo > ~/bin/repo
$ chmod a+x ~/bin/repo
$ export PATH=~/bin:$PATH

Set Git configuration

$ git config –global user.name “Your Name”
$ git config –global user.email “you@example.com“

Fetch Source Code

Download meta layers from NXP

$ mkdir ~/imx-yocto-bsp
$ cd ~/imx-yocto-bsp
$ repo init -u https://github.com/nxp-imx/imx-manifest -b imx-linux-mickledore -m imx-6.1.22-
2.0.0.xml
$ repo sync

Download MaaXBoard 8ULP Source Code
To download the source code of MaaXBoard 8ULP, clone the repository from Github:

$ cd ~/imx-yocto-bsp/sources
$ git clone https://github.com/Avnet/meta-maaxboard.git -b mickledore meta-maaxboard

Build

Edit build Configuration
If you want to create a new build folder or set the configuration for the first time, run the command:

$ cd ~/imx-yocto-bsp
$ MACHINE=maaxboard-8ulp source sources/meta-maaxboard/tools/maaxboard-setup.sh -b
maaxboard-8ulp/build

If you want to build in an existing build folder, use the following command:

$ cd ~/imx-yocto-bsp
$ source sources/poky/oe-init-build-env maaxboard-8ulp/build

Build
Execute the following command to build a Weston Wayland image:

$ bitbake avnet-image-full

After the build has successfully completed, the output files are deployed in: ~/imx-yocto-bsp/maaxboard-8ulp/build/tmp/deploy/images/maaxboard-8ulp/

imx-boot-tagged	Bootloader Image
avnet-image-full-maaxboard- 8ulp -xxxx.rootfs.wic	System image,

this includes: Linux kernel, DTB and root file system.
Image| Kernel image
maaxboard-8ulp.dtb| MaaXBoard 8ULP device tree binary
overlays| MaaXBoard 8ULP device tree overlay binary
avnet-image-full-maaxboard- 8ulp -xxxx.rootfs.tar.bz2| __ System image compressed archive file

Chapter 2 Standalone Build of u-Boot and Kernel

This chapter describes how to build U-boot and Kernel using SDK or ARM GCC in a standalone environment.

Cross-compile tool chain
The cross-compile tool chain that is used, can be ARM GCC or Yocto SDK.

ARM GCC
Download the tool chain for the A-profile architecture on arm Developer GNU-A Downloads page. It is recommended to use the 10.3 version for this release. You can download the “gcc-arm-10.3-2021.07-x86_64-aarch64-none-linux- gnu.tar.xz “, and decompress the file into a local directory.

$ mkdir ~/toolchain
$ tar -xJf gcc-arm-10.3-2021.07-x86_64-aarch64-none-linux-gnu.tar.xz -C ~/toolchain

Execute the following command to check that the toolchain can be directly run.

$ cd toolchain/gcc-arm-10.3-2021.07-x86_64-aarch64-none-linux-gnu/bin/
$ ./aarch64-none-linux-gnu-gcc -v

To compile a project with ARM GCC, first set the environment with the following commands before building :

$ TOOLCHAIN_PATH=$HOME/toolchain/gcc-arm-10.3-2021.07-x86_64-aarch64-none-linuxgnu/ bin
$ export PATH=$TOOLCHAIN_PATH:$PATH
$ export ARCH=arm64
$ export CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-none-linux-gnu-

Yocto SDK
Generate an SDK from the Yocto Project build environment with the following command after generating the image in the previous chapter.

$ cd ~/imx-yocto-bsp
$ source sources/poky/oe-init-build-env maaxboard-8ulp/build
$ bitbake avnet-image-full -c populate_sdk

The generated file is: ~/imx-yocto-bsp/maaxboard-8ulp/build/tmp/deploy/sdk/ fsl-imx-wayland-lite-glibc-x86_64-avnet-image-full-armv8a-maaxboard-8ulp- toolchain-6.1-mickledore..sh and execute this script to install the SDK. The default location is /opt but can be placed anywhere on the host machine.

$ sudo ./fsl-imx-wayland-lite-glibc-x86_64-avnet-image-full-armv8a-maaxboard-8ulp-toolchain-6.1- mickledore.sh
NXP i.MX Release Distro SDK installer version 6.1-mickledore
============================================================
Enter target directory for SDK (default: /opt/fsl-imx-wayland-lite/6.1-mickledore):
You are about to install the SDK to “/opt/fsl-imx-wayland-lite/6.1-mickledore”. Proceed [Y/n]?
Extracting
SDK……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..done
Setting it up…done
SDK has been successfully set up and is ready to be used.

When using SDK to compile a project, first execute the following command to configure environment variables :

$ . /opt/fsl-imx-wayland-lite/6.1-mickledore/environment-setup-armv8a-poky-linux

Build U-Boot in a standalone environment

Get the source code and firmware
To get the source code of u-boot, imx-atf and imx-mkimage, execute the following commands:

$ mkdir tmp
$ cd tmp
$ git clone https://github.com/Avnet/uboot-imx.git -b maaxboard_lf-6.1.22-2.0.0
$ git clone https://github.com/Avnet/imx-atf.git -b maaxboard_lf-6.1.22-2.0.0
$ git clone https://github.com/Avnet/imx-mkimage.git -b maaxboard_lf-6.1.22-2.0.0
Download the firmware-imx, decompress and accept NXP EULA when running:
$ wget https://www.nxp.com.cn/lgfiles/NMG/MAD/YOCTO/firmware-imx-8.20.bin
$ chmod +x firmware-imx-8.20.bin
$ ./firmware-imx-8.20.bin
Execute the ‘ls’ command to view the tmp directory:
$ ls tmp
firmware-imx-8.20 firmware-imx-8.20.bin imx-atf imx-mkimage uboot-imx
So far, the required source code and firmware have been prepared.

Compile script
Create a bash script in the tmp directory and change the file mode:

$ cd tmp
$ touch make_mx8ulp_uboot.sh
$ chmod 766 make_mx8ulp_uboot.sh
$ vi make_mx8ulp_uboot.sh
Copy the following content into the make_mx8ulp_uboot.sh script:
!/bin/bash
PRJ_PATH=pwd
export JOBS=cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep processor | wc -l
export CROSS_COMPILE=$HOME/toolchain/gcc-arm-10.3-2021.07-x86_64-aarch64-none-linuxgnu/
bin/aarch64-none-linux-gnu-
MKIMG_BIN_PATH=$PRJ_PATH/imx-mkimage/iMX8ULP/
set -e
function fetch_firmware()
{
if [ ! -d firmware-sentinel-0.10 ] ; then
wget https://www.nxp.com/lgfiles/NMG/MAD/YOCTO/firmware-sentinel-0.10.bin
bash firmware-sentinel-0.10.bin –auto-accept > /dev/null 2>&1
fi
if [ ! -d firmware-upower-1.3.0 ] ; then
wget https://www.nxp.com/lgfiles/NMG/MAD/YOCTO/firmware-upower-1.3.0.bin
bash firmware-upower-1.3.0.bin –auto-accept > /dev/null 2>&1
fi
if [ ! -d meta-maaxboard ] ; then
git clone https://github.com/Avnet/meta-maaxboard.git -b mickledore
fi
rm -f *.bin
}
function build_atf()
{
SRC=imx-atf
if [ ! -d $SRC ] ; then
git clone https://github.com/Avnet/$SRC.git -b maaxboard_lf-6.1.22-2.0.0
fi
cd $SRC
make -j${JOBS} CROSS_COMPILE=${CROSS_COMPILE} PLAT=imx8ulp bl31
cd $PRJ_PATH
}
function build_cortexM()
{
DEMO_PATH=boards/evkmimx8ulp/multicore_examples/rpmsg_lite_str_echo_rtos/armgcc
DEMO_BIN=release/rpmsg_lite_str_echo_rtos.bin
SRC=mcore_sdk_8ulp
cd $PRJ_PATH/${SRC}
cd $DEMO_PATH
export ARMGCC_DIR=$MCORE_COMPILE
bash clean.sh
if [ ! -s $DEMO_BIN ] ; then
bash build_release.sh
fi
set -x
cp $DEMO_BIN $MKIMG_BIN_PATH/m33_image.bin
For Yocto
cp $DEMO_BIN $PRFX_PATH/maaxboard_8ulp_m33_image.bin
set +x
}
function build_uboot()
{
SRC=uboot-imx
if [ ! -d $SRC ] ; then
git clone https://github.com/Avnet/$SRC.git -b maaxboard_lf-6.1.22-2.0.0
fi
cd $PRJ_PATH/${SRC}
if [ ! -f .config ] ; then
make ARCH=arm ${BOARD}_defconfig
fi
make -j${JOBS} CROSS_COMPILE=${CROSS_COMPILE} ARCH=arm
cd $PRJ_PATH
}
function build_imxboot()
{

SRC=imx-mkimage

if [ ! -d $SRC ] ; then
git clone https://github.com/Avnet/$SRC.git -b maaxboard_lf-6.1.22-2.0.0
fi
cd $SRC
copy firmware
cp $PRJ_PATH/firmware-upower-*/upower_a1.bin iMX8ULP/upower.bin
cp $PRJ_PATH/firmware-sentinel-*/mx8ulpa0-ahab-container.img iMX8ULP/
copy atf-imx image
cp $PRJ_PATH/imx-atf/build/imx8ulp/release/bl31.bin iMX8ULP/
copy uboot-imx image
cp $PRJ_PATH/uboot-imx/u-boot.bin iMX8ULP/
cp $PRJ_PATH/uboot-imx/u-boot-nodtb.bin iMX8ULP/
cp $PRJ_PATH/uboot-imx/spl/u-boot-spl.bin iMX8ULP/
cp $PRJ_PATH/uboot-imx/arch/arm/dts/maaxboard-8ulp.dtb iMX8ULP/imx8ulp-evk.dtb
cp $PRJ_PATH/uboot-imx/tools/mkimage iMX8ULP/mkimage_uboot
generate bootloader image
make SOC=iMX8ULP flash_singleboot_m33
cp iMX8ULP/flash.bin u-boot-maaxboard-8ulp.imx
chmod a+x u-boot-maaxboard-8ulp.imx
copy bootloader image out
cp u-boot-maaxboard-8ulp.imx $PRJ_PATH
}
fetch_firmware
build_atf
build_cortexM
build_uboot
build_imxboot
Execute the script to build:
$ ./make_mx8ulp_uboot.sh
$ ls -t
u-boot-maaxboard-8ulp.imx uboot-imx meta-maaxboard firmware-sentinel-0.8 firmwareupower-
1.3.0
imx-mkimage imx-atf make_mx8ulp_uboot.sh firmware-imx-8.18

The boot image for Maaxboard 8ULP is u-boot-maaxboard-8ulp.imx in the current directory.

Build Kernel in a standalone environment

Get the Linux source code
$ git clone https://github.com/Avnet/linux-imx.git -b maaxboard_lf-6.1.22-2.0.0

Check that the environment variables are correctly set :
$ echo $CROSS_COMPILE $ARCH

Build the kernel sources

$ cd linux-imx
$ make distclean
$ make maaxboard-8ulp_defconfig
$ make -j4

Execute the ‘ls’ command to view the Image and dtb files after compilation.

$ ls arch/arm64/boot/Image
$ ls arch/arm64/boot/dts/freescale/maaxboard*dtb
arch/arm64/boot/dts/freescale/maaxboard-8ulp.dtb

Execute the following command to compile the kernel modules, and install the modules to rootfs in the current directory.

$ make modules
$ make modules_install INSTALL_MOD_PATH=./rootfs

Chapter 3 System power on and boot up

To program the generated new Bootloader and System image files into MaaXBoard 8ULP’s eMMC memory, or for guidance on power-up MaaXBoard 8ULP, the boot-up process, and how to exercise the supported BSP features of MaaXBoard 8ULP, please refer to MaaXBoard-8ULP-Linux-Yocto-UserManual.

Chapter 4 Appendix

Hardware Documents
For the detail hardware introduction, please refer to MaaXBoard 8ULP Hardware user manual.

Software Documents
MaaXBoard 8ULP supports Yocto Linux, for additional information, please refer to the following documents:

MaaXBoard 8ULP Linux Yocto User Manual
- Describes how to boot up MaaXBoard 8ULP and aspects of the BSP functionality
MaaXBoard 8ULP Linux Yocto Development Guide
- Detailed guidance on how to rebuild the Linux system image (This document)