Introduction
This article provides an installation guide for Linux kernel and Debian root file system on the CompuLab CL-SOM-iMX7 System-on-Module / Computer-on-Module internal storage device, either eMMC or NAND flash.
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Current demo root filesystem image provided by CompuLab is NOT designed for installation onto the 128MB/1GB NAND flash and will not fit these storage options. For 128MB/1GB NAND flash the following installation procedure assumes properly sized root filesystem image.
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Preparation steps
- Obtain a PC workstation with a serial communication port.
- Download the BSP binary package for CL-SOM-iMX7 from CompuLab website. Unzip the package to a directory on your host workstation.
- All image files mentioned below can be found in the install subdirectory.
- Connect the host PC to the SBC-iMX7 base-board (connector P8) via the serial cable supplied with the evaluation kit.
Preparing installation media
- Obtain an MMC/SD card. Any commercially available MMC/SD card of 1GB (or larger) may be used.
- Create a first partition on it. The partition can be formatted either ext2/3/4 or FAT file system.
- For installation on eMMC storage copy all files found in the directory install from the BSP binary package for CL-SOM-iMX7 to the first partition on the installation media (MMC/SD card).
- For installation on NAND flash, copy the following files from the package directory install to the installation SD card:
- boot.scr
- config
- install.ext2
- firmware.ext2
- modules.ext2
- kernel.img
- ramdisk.img
- rootfs.tar.bz2 - please use a properly sized root filesystem image
- zImage
- imx7d-sbc-imx7.dtb
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Please do not use multiple *.dtb files for installation on NAND flash.
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Automatic Installation Procedure
- Start terminal emulation software on your PC with the following serial port settings:
| Baud Rate
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Data Bits
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Stop Bits
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Parity
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Flow Control
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| 115200
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8
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1
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none
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none
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- Plug the installation media (SD/microSD card) into the SD socket:
- On SBC-iMX7 - SD socket P9
- On SBC-IOT-iMX7 - micro-SD socket P18
- On IOT-GATE-iMX7 - socket marked uSD
- Turn on the system.
- The system will boot from the SD card and start the automatic installation procedure.
Kernel release : Linux 4.14.98-cl-som-imx7-6.3
===CompuLab Automatic Installation System 2.0.1 (Nov 20 2018)===
Press any key to cancel installation 0
The Automatic Installation Procedure can be terminated by pressing any key during the timeout.
- The installation script performs all necessary steps including installing Linux images onto the on-board storage device (eMMC) and setting up the boot environment.
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The Automatic Installation script deletes the storage device during the installation procedure. All data stored on the eMMC will be lost.
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=== Installation Target: eMMC ===
* Mounting extra images
* Loading extra modules
===Installing OS===
* Updating partitions
* Formatting partitions
* Copying kernel files
* Extracting user space rootfs.tar.bz2
405MiB 0:06:37 [1.02MiB/s] [================================>] 100%
* Unmounting extra images
Please remove installation SD card ...
Press any key to cancel restart 0
...
- The system will reboot automatically to the newly installed Linux. Please reboot manually, if for some reason the system does not reboot automatically.
- Please remember to remove the installation SD card.
Troubleshooting
- Automatic installation doesn't start.
The U-Boot environment should be set to default:
- Power on the board.
- Press and hold Ctrl-C to get command prompt.
- Set default U-Boot environment and boot the board:
CL-SOM-iMX7 # env default -a
CL-SOM-iMX7 # saveenv
CL-SOM-iMX7 # reset
See also
