Please note:
The following was tested on Ubuntu 12.04. All newer distributions should work.
To install PTXdist you need Linux on your development workstation (or a virtual machine running Linux). The build system needs some additional packages which may be normally not installed by default. These packages are (names should match for Debian based systems):
For development it is recommended to have an tftp server for image download and update and an nfs server for network mounted rootfs configured and running.
After installing all packages download PTXdist source, configure, compile and install. See download page for links.
Extract the package ptxdist-<version>.tar.bz2 to a temporary directory and call:
$ ./configure $ make $ sudo make install
This will install PTXdist to /usr/local. Afterwards please configure PTXdist with:
$ ptxdist setup
You have to setup the following things:
Note: you can install more than one PTXdist version in parallel. Then the best way ist to setup an symbolic link to the version needed in your BSP.
See download page for links to toolchain download. If using precompiled toolchain install to /opt. Otherwise carefully follow the documentation for building toolchains found here or in the download section.
By default the toolchain will get installed to /opt/OSELAS.Toolchain-<version>.
Follow chapter “Building a toolchain” in the PTXdist manual and keep in mind:
$ ptxdist select ptxconfigs/...
select this ptxconfig: ptxconfigs/arm-cortexa9-linux-gnueabi_gcc-<version>_glibc-<version>_binutils-<version>_kernel-<version>-sanitized.ptxconfig (for TQMa6x)
The Toolchain normally is already setup in the BSP project. So you can move on to the next step.
Extract the package OSELAS.BSP-TQ-TQMA6x.<version>.tgz to any directory (e.g. /opt or /home):
$ cd /opt/projekte $ tar -xvf OSELAS.BSP-TQ-TQMA6x.<version>.tgz $ cd OSELAS.BSP-TQ-TQMA6x
The manual is your friend. See Downloads where to get it.
To start compilation you have to select
The BSP contains reasonable configurations to enable quick start. Enter the following commands to select the configuration:
$ ptxdist platform configs/platform-tq-mba6x/platformconfig $ ptxdist select configs/ptxconfig
Start building the images:
$ ptxdist go $ ptxdist images
PTXdist downloads package source to your configured loacal source pool if needed. This pool can be shared by several workstations to minimize download times. If it reports some errors, please
To configure the system (e.g. add additional packages) you can start the PTXdist menu:
$ ptxdist menu
To add additional packages to your root filesystem simply use the ptxdist tool. The ncurses based UI is the same that is used by the linux kernel with “make menuconfig”. It can be used the following way:
Dependencies between packages should be “automagically” resolved. Software is organized in sections.
PTXdist uses release tar balls for software it loads from the net. You have to work with patches, if you need to make changes to the source code. Follow the instructions of the developers section in the PTXdist manual.
Changes that are made in the build directories will be deleted, when PTXdist needs to redo a buildstep.
PTXdist needs a package for every bit you need in your root FS to guarantee reproducible builds. To add your software, files etc. you have to provide local packages. Follow the instructions of the developers section in the PTXdist manual. PTXdist provides templates as starting point for own packages. Type
$ ptxdist newpackage
to see what package templates exist.
Finally, you will find the built images in platform-MBa6x/images.
Complete system images:
The complete system images are intended for
Bootloader images:
Please note the suffix .imx, not to be confused with the u-boot*.bin images, these are just intermediate images and will not be booted by the i.MX6.
Linux images:
Rootfs images:
Changing the partition scheme may affect the boot loader update capability and / or the kernel command line parameters!
Sector | Size | Usage |
---|---|---|
0x0000 … 0x0000 | 0x0001 sector / 512 Byte | MBR / Partition Table |
0x0001 … 0x0001 | 0x0001 sector / 512 Byte | reserved for ROM loader *) |
0x0002 … 0x07ff | 0x07fe sectors | u-boot |
0x0800 … 0x0fff | 0x0800 sectors / 1MiB | environment |
0x1000 … 0x17ff | 0x0800 sectors / 1MiB | device tree blob |
*) See CPU reference Manual. This sector can be used for Redundant Boot Support
Partition | Size | Usage |
---|---|---|
1 | 4 MiB | Kernel image |
2 | 256 MiB | root FS |
3 | 256 MiB | Spare, not formatted |
4 | —- | —- |
The partition scheme is defined using the config file config/platform-tq-mba6x/config/uboot-hd.config. The creation of the image is controlled using the PTXdist packages image-uboot-tqma6<q|s>-hd.
To create the image the genimage host tool is used. This tool is automatically selected and built. You can find the build directory under <BSPROOT>/platform-MBa6x/build-host/genimage. There is also a README file documenting how to use this tool.
Sector | Size | Usage |
---|---|---|
0x0000 … 0x0007 | 0x0008 sectors / 512 KiB | U-Boot *) |
0x0008 … 0x0008 | 0x0001 sector / 64 KiB | environment0 |
0x0009 … 0x0009 | 0x0001 sector / 64 KiB | environment1 |
0x000a … 0x000a | 0x0001 sector / 64 KiB | environment1 |
0x000b … 0x000f | 0x0005 sectors / 372 KiB | devicetree |
0x0010 … 0x0070 | 0x0060 sectors / 6 MiB | Kernel |
*) See CPU reference Manual. The U-Boot image must be placed at offset 0x400
The BSP was developed for the starterkit. To use it in a product with special needs or a different basebord we suggest to define an own platform. To start with it make a copy of the platform definition and select the new platform definition
$ cd <BSPROOT> $ cp -r <BSPROOT>/configs/platform-tq-mba6x to <BSPROOT>/configs/<your-cool-platform> $ ptxdist platform <BSPROOT>/configs/<your-cool-platform>/platformconfig
To start configuring your new platform type
$ ptxdist platformconfig
The first thing to change should be the platform name. Adapt things like kernel configuration, image creation etc. to your needs.
The new system will be built under <BSPROOT>/platform-<platformname_from_platformconfig>
Please read the build system documentation howto go further. Keep in mind that custom mainboards may need changes in bootloader and device tree. Give the new bootloader config and device tree a new name to cleanly distinguish them from the starterkit mainboard configuration.
If creating BSP for a new motherboard, make sure to create new configurations for bootloaders and device tree.