buildroot-external-boundary

Buildroot external layer for Boundary Devices platforms and modules. Contains support for BD-SDMAC Wi-Fi/BT module as well as some demo configurations.

Configurations details

Here are some details about the configurations available:

• nitrogen8m_qt5_gst1_defconfig:
  • For i.MX 8MQ based Nitrogen8M, Nitrogen8M SOM
  • Qt5 modules (+ Cinematic Experience demo)
  • GStreamer1.0 with all its plugins
  • NXP proprietary packages (VPU, GPU, SDMA)
  • NXP-based kernel (5.4.x_2.3.0_ga)
  • BD-SDMAC WiFi/BT modules support
  • Miscellaneous tools (adbd, CAN, I2C, IIO, etc...)
• nitrogen8mm_qt5_gst1_defconfig:
  • For i.MX 8M Mini based Nitrogen8M Mini, Nitrogen8M Mini SOM
  • Same set of packages as nitrogen8m_qt5_gst1_defconfig
• nitrogen8mn_qt5_gst1_defconfig:
  • For i.MX 8M Nano based Nitrogen8M Nano, Nitrogen8M Nano SOM
  • Same set of packages as nitrogen8m_qt5_gst1_defconfig
• nitrogen8ulp_qt5_gst1_defconfig:
  • For i.MX 8ULP based Nitrogen8ULP SOM
  • Same set of packages as nitrogen8m_qt5_gst1_defconfig
• nitrogen93_gst1_defconfig:
  • For i.MX 93 based Nitrogen93 SMARC
  • Same set of packages as nitrogen8m_qt5_gst1_defconfig, except without Qt5 modules
• nitrogen8mp_qt5_gst1_defconfig:
  • For i.MX 8M Plus based Nitrogen8M Plus SOM
  • Same set of packages as nitrogen8m_qt5_gst1_defconfig
• nitrogen6x_qt5_gst1_defconfig:
  • For BD-SL-i.MX6 (SABRE Lite), Nitrogen6X, Nitrogen6X SOM v2, Nitrogen6 Lite, Nitrogen6 MAX, Nitrogen6 VM
  • TiWi-BLE and Murata WiFi/BT modules support
  • Same set of packages as nitrogen8m_qt5_gst1_defconfig
• nitrogen6sx_qt5_gst1_defconfig:
  • For Nitrogen6_SoloX
  • Same set of packages as nitrogen6x_qt5_gst1_defconfig
• nitrogen7_gst1_defconfig:
  • For Nitrogen7
  • Same set of packages as nitrogen6x_qt5_gst1_defconfig minus Qt5
• nitrogen6x_qt5_gst1_mainline_defconfig:
  • For BD-SL-i.MX6 (SABRE Lite), Nitrogen6X, Nitrogen6X SOM v2, Nitrogen6 Lite, Nitrogen6 MAX
  • Same set of packages as nitrogen6x_qt5_gst1_defconfig
  • Mainline kernel

Build procedure

This procedure requires you to have the repo tool installed on your system.

1. Download the latest Buildroot and BD external trees:

$ repo init -u https://github.com/boundarydevices/buildroot-manifest -b master
$ repo sync -c

2. Create an output folder for your build:

$ make BR2_EXTERNAL=$PWD/buildroot-external-boundary/ -C buildroot/ \
  O=$PWD/output nitrogen8m_qt5_gst1_defconfig
$ cd output

3. Build the image:

$ make

4. Your rootfs image is ready!

$ ls -l images/sdcard.img

5. Create the SDK for this image (optional):

$ make sdk

Flashing procedure

You can simply use dd to flash an SD card:

$ sudo dd if=images/sdcard.img of=/dev/sdX bs=1M

If you want to flash the eMMC on your board, you can use the U-Boot UMS gadget as explained in this blog post.

=> ums 0 mmc 1

Using the image

Login information

The login for this image is root with no password.

Welcome to Buildroot
buildroot login: root
#

GPU testing

NXP proprietary driver

If the configuration/platform supports 3D GPU, the Vivante example can be tested:

# cd /usr/share/examples/viv_samples/vdk/
# ./tutorial7
fps: 496.61

Mainline driver (etnaviv)

If the configuration/platform supports 3D GPU, make sure to try kmscube:

# kmscube -D /dev/dri/card1

Qt5 demo

If the configuration includes Qt5 support, the Cinematic demo can be tested.

i.MX 8M (Quad, Mini, Nano)

Then the demo can be started:

# CinematicExperience-demo -platform wayland

i.MX 6/7 (Quad, Dual, Solo)

The NXP proprietary drivers require to setup the following variables:

# export FB_MULTI_BUFFER=3
# export QT_QPA_EGLFS_INTEGRATION=eglfs_viv

Then the demo can be started:

# CinematicExperience-demo -platform eglfs

Gstreamer demo

If the configuration includes GStreamer support, the following pipelines can be tested:

i.MX 8M (Quad, Mini, Nano)

• VPU testing

# wget http://linode.boundarydevices.com/videos/trailer_1080p_h264_mp3.avi -P /root/
# gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=/root/trailer_1080p_h264_mp3.avi ! \
  decodebin ! waylandsink

• Camera (MIPI) Streaming

# gst-launch-1.0 v4l2src device=/dev/video0 ! video/x-raw,width=1280,height=720 ! \
  waylandsink

i.MX 6/7 (Quad, Dual, Solo) NXP-based kernel

• VPU testing

# wget http://linode.boundarydevices.com/videos/trailer_1080p_h264_mp3.avi -P /root/
# gst-launch-1.0 playbin uri=file:///root/trailer_1080p_h264_mp3.avi
# gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=/root/trailer_1080p_h264_mp3.avi ! \
  avidemux ! decodebin ! imxeglvivsink

• Camera (MIPI) Streaming to display using 3D GPU:

# gst-launch-1.0 imxv4l2videosrc device=/dev/video1 ! imxeglvivsink

• Camera (Parallel) Streaming to display using IPU:

# gst-launch-1.0 imxv4l2videosrc device=/dev/video0 ! \
  imxipuvideosink use-vsync=true

• Camera Streaming to display using PXP (i.MX7 / i.MX6SX):

# gst-launch-1.0 imxv4l2videosrc device=/dev/video1 ! \
  imxpxpvideosink use-vsync=true

i.MX 6/7 (Quad, Dual, Solo) Mainline kernel

# wget http://linode.boundarydevices.com/videos/trailer_1080p_h264_mp3.avi -P /root/
# gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=/root/trailer_1080p_h264_mp3.avi ! avidemux ! \
  decodebin ! kmssink name=imx-drm sync=0