Phytec LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit User manual

A Product of PHYTEC Technology Holding Company
LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart
Guide
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LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart Guide
LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart Guide
Document Title LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart Guide
Document Type Quickstart Guide
Yocto Page L-813e_7 Yocto Reference Manual
Article Number LAN-087e.A2
Release Date 13.02.2020
Is Branch of LAN-087e.Ax phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit QS Guide Head

LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart Guide
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Introduction
This Quickstart guide describes the tools and provides the know-how to install and work with the Linux Board
Support Package (BSP) for the phyCORE-i.MX 8 AlphaKit. This guide shows you how to do everything including
installing the appropriate tools and sources, building custom kernels, and deploying the OS in order to operate the
software and hardware.
This kit is currently in Alpha Status. There are several topics to keep in mind while working with this kit and guide:
The phyCORE-i.MX 8 will go through several functional changes during the Alpha Stage of development. Due
to this, this Quickstart guide may change without any prior notice.
The phyCORE-i.MX 8 has some functionality that is not currently operational. Please be aware of this when
working with the Alpha Kit.
This Quickstart guide is only for booting and starting the basic functionality of the phyCORE-i.MX 8. This
guide does not qualify as a Hardware manual for the phyCORE-i.MX 8. The following manuals will be
available in future releases of the phyCORE-i.MX 8:
For more information or details regarding the phyCORE-i.MX 8, please contact the PHYTEC Sales
department.
  * Hardware Manual - provides a detailed description of all components and functions of the phyCORE-i.MX 8
and phyCORE-i.MX 8 Carrier Board
  * Yocto Reference Manual - provides information on Yocto, which is used with most PHYTEC products * Board
Support Package (BSP) Manual - provides detailed instructions on running the tools which are used to build
various software
  * Development Environment Guide - provides instructions to prepare and start the programs Eclipse and QT
Creator, as well as setting up a Linux host system

LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart Guide
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Requirements
The following components and system requirements are necessary to successfully complete this Quickstart.
Deviations from these requirements are possible but may require workarounds.
Hardware
Included in Kit
phyCORE-i.MX 8 SOM with i.MX 8QuadMax processor (PCM-064)
phyCORE-i.MX 8 carrier board (PCM-943)
USB-A to Micro-USB Cable
Power adapter supplying 24 V DC/ 2.5 A
Ethernet Cable
phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Compete Assembly
phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit

LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart Guide
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Additional Equipment
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Additional Equipment (not included in Alpha Kit)
An SD card and SD card reader operational underLinux.
Additional Serial null modem cable (RS-232) (optional)
Additional Kits for the phyCORE-i.MX 8
LCD-018-070-KAP.A3 - 7" Display Kit
Software
A modernLinuxoperating host system either natively or via a virtual machine.
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit recommended. Other distributions will likely work but note that some setup
information, as well as OS-specific commands and paths, may differ.
VMWare Workstation, VMWare Player, and VirtualBox are possible solutions if you want to use a virtual
machine.
Root access to yourLinuxhost PC. Some commands in this guide will not work if you do not have sudo
access (e.g. package installation, formatting an SD card).
At least 40 GB to 50 GB of free space on the build partition of the host PC.
An active internet connection.
phyCORE-i.MX 8 Carrier Board Components
The following pictures show the components of the phyCORE-i.MX 8 Carrier Board. The location of the components
on the board have been highlighted for easy reference.
If you do not have SD card access underLinuxon your host PC then formatting, copying the bootloader,
and mounting the root file system on an SD card will not be possible.
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LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart Guide
phyCORE-i.MX 8 Components (Top)

LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart Guide
phyCORE-i.MX 8 Components (Bottom)
As this is an Alpha Kit, there will be continuous revisions made to the phyCORE-i.MX 8 SOM and phyCORE-
i.MX 8 Carrier Board. Due to this, components and features may not be available. Contact PHYTEC if there
any questions regarding components and features for this Alpha Kit. To see which components are
currently functional, refer to the i.MX 8release notes.
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LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart Guide
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Connecting the phyCORE-i.MX 8 Carrier Board
There are 3 cables that need to be manually connected to the phyCORE-i.MX 8 in order for it to be operational
Connecting the USB Debug
If S1=ON, no boot is possible without connecting the Debug USB cable. Using the USB Micro head, connect the USB
cable to the Debug USB component (X10). The other head should be connected to the development host. After
switching On the power, 4 COM-Ports should show up.
-M41 UART (not supported yet)
-M40 UART (not supported yet)
-SCU-UART (only output of the SCU)
-Debug-UART (default console)
Connecting to the Ethernet
Connect one end of the Ethernet cable to the Ethernet ETH0 component (X8). Connect the other end to a suitable
Ethernet source, as the development host will need to be able to communicate with the phyCORE-i.MX8M carrier
board.
Powering the Board
Connect the power adapter to the Power-In component (X29 or X32). The Power Adapter included in this kit is a 2-
pole barrel connector used with X29.
Please note the polarity of the Power components X29 and X32. Ensure that your power adapter is
correctly set up to use the polarity as shown below.
phyCORE-i.MX8 Polarity
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Be aware that as soon as the phyCORE-i.MX 8 Carrier Board is supplied with power, the default eMMC boot
sequence will begin. Ensure that all cables are connected and the desired boot mode is chosen before
powering on the board!
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LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart Guide
Bootmode Switch
The i.MX 8QuadMax has 6 Boot-Pins. They are connected to Dip Switches on the carrier board. The following table
shows the Dip Switch configurations for the available Boot-Sources. ON = 0 and OFF = 1 when Nr.8 of the Dipswitch
is ON.
BOOT_MODE [0] is Dipswitch Nr.1, BOOT_MODE [1] is Dipswitch Nr. 2, etc.
Boot Mode Boot_Mode
[5]
Boot_Mode
[4]
Boot_Mode
[3]
Boot_Mode
[2]
Boot_Mode
[1]
Boot_Mode
[0]
USB Serial
Download
ON ON ON OFF ON ON
eMMC0 Boot ON ON OFF ON ON ON
USDHC2 SD Boot ON ON OFF OFF OFF ON
FlexSPI Boot ON OFF OFF OFF OFF ON
SATA Boot OFF ON ON ON OFF ON
By default the Boot-Source is EMMC(Switch the right Dip-Switch (Nr.8 = Enable Overwrite) of the
Bootswitches to "OFF" for default setting).

LAN-087e.A2 phyCORE-i.MX 8 Alpha Kit Quickstart Guide
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Building the BSP
This section will guide you through the general build process of the i.MX8 BSP using the phyLinux script.
If you want to use our software without phyLinux and the Repo tool managed environment instead, you can find all
Git repositories on:
Usedu-bootrepository:
Ouru-bootversion is based on theu-boot-imxand adds only a few patches which will be sent upstream in future.
Used Linux kernel repository:
Our i.MX8 kernel is based on the linux-imx kernel.
To find out which tag is used for a specific board, have a look at your checked out BSP source folder under:
Get the BSP
Create a fresh project directory:
Download and run the phyLinux script on the manifest file:
Basic Set-up
There are a few important steps which have to be done before the main build process.
git://git.phytec.de
git://git.phytec.de/u-boot-imx
git://git.phytec.de/linux-imx-dev
meta-phytec/dynamic-layers/fsl-bsp-release/recipes-bsp/u-boot/u-boot-
imx_*.bbappend
meta-phytec/recipes-kernel/linux/linux-imx_*.bb
host$ mkdir ~/yocto
host$ cd ~/yocto
host$ wget ftp://ftp.phytec.de/pub/Software/Linux/Yocto/Tools/phyLinux
host$ ./phyLinux init