Processor SDK Linux Software Developer’s Guide

Welcome to the Processor SDK Linux Software Developer’s Guide

Thank you for choosing to evaluate one of our TI Processors ARM microprocessors. It is designed to quickly provide the information you need most while evaluating a TI microprocessor, specifically running one of the Software Architectures available, embedded Linux. We are always striving to improve this product. Please let us know if you have ideas or suggestions.

Processor SDK Linux  
Getting Started Guide <– Start Here Directory Structure Overview
Release Notes How To Guides
Examples and Demos Building the SDK
Linux Software Stack GPLv3 Disclaimer
Technical Support Training

Quick Start Guide

Thanks for your interest in Processor SDK Linux. In this section we describe the basic steps needed to start development using the SDK. We will cover following:

  1. Steps for SDK installation
  2. Setting up the host environment
  3. Hardware setup
  4. Running the Out of the box demo
  5. Flashing release binaries
  6. Illustration for simple kernel build and install to target

For more detailed documentation, refer to Getting Started Guide

1. Steps for SDK installation

Refer to section Installing the SDK for instructions on running SDK installer.

2. Setting up host environment

Once the installer is run, you can setup your host environment with few steps. Run following scripts to achieve this;

  • sdk-install.sh to setup cross compiler environment.
  • setup.sh to install all host packages needed for development.

Detailed steps are described at Installing the SDK

3. Hardware EVM setup

J721E EVM comes with a SoM (System on Chip), a common processor board and optinonally few daughter cards.

Detailed instructions for EVM setup with image illustration can be found at J721E EVM Hardware Setup. Refer this to setup your EVM and boot with the default card.

Most preferred way for starting SDK development is SD card boot. Above section describes pin settings to set the EVM in SD boot mode.

4. Running out of the box demo

By default, the SD card comes with pre-built Linux SDK binaries flashed. This will allow you to quickly verify the EVM functionality with just a Display Port monitor.

Insert the SD card with prebuilt binaries and boot the EVM. After successful bootup, you should see a welcome message on the display wallpaper.

5. Flashing release binaries

The SDK Installer packages latest prebuilt binaries and filesystem for the target. For detailed steps on flashing these binaries on the SD card, refer to the section format your SD card and flash all the prebuilt binaries from the SDK release, Creating SD Card on Linux.

You should be able to verify the same out of box demo after flashing the SD card. This step should be used only when you want to completely overwrite the card with release binaries. For incremental updates, refer next section.

6. Illustration for simple kernel build and install to target

For most users, the important steps in the development is the ability to customize baseport software components like bootloader, Linux kernel, hypervisor, etc. This SDK allows you to build these components and install the built binaries for target EVM. This step allows you to verify that your host environment is setup correctly and you can build and install these components.

For detailed instructions on building BSP components, refer to the section Building the baseport components. You should run following commands in the installer directory:

  • Build all components using make all
  • Follow the section Installing to SD card rootfs
  • Follow the section Installing boot binaries

After you build and copy all the binaries to your SD card, you can boot the EVM with binaries built on your host. Upon successful booup, you should see a different wallpaper on the display. This should confirm that your updates are copied correctly in the SD card. Also, you can run the following command on the target to verify that you are using newly built Linux kernel.

$> cat /proc/version

The output should indicate the build date, host PC name, etc. This verifies that your SDK has been setup correctly enabling you to start development.

Feedback

If you have feedback, suggestions, or ideas on how to improve the SDK, it is very appreciated. Please post your ideas to the Linux forum listed at Technical Support.

../_images/E2e.jpg For technical support please post your questions at http://e2e.ti.com.