Starterkit Quicksteps

The Starterkit STKa117xL consisting of the TQMa117xL module and MBa117xL mainboard is intended as evaluation platform for the i.MX RT117x. To bring up the board a comprehensive set of accessories is supplied with the kit. The STKa117xL is delivered preconfigured to boot the latest released Linux BSP revision at the time of delivery, so only the Host Computer has to be set up properly to bring the STKa117xL up. This page guides through the first steps with the Starterkit.

Setup Host Computer

Serial Driver - Silicon Labs CP210x

Linux

The driver is maintained in the Linux Mainline Kernel, please check that the following options are activated in the Linux Kernel configuration.

  • CONFIG_USB_SERIAL
  • CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_CP210X

Windows

The driver can be downloaded from the Vendor website:
https://www.silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers

Terminal Emulator

Linux

Minicom

Minicom is a command line based serial terminal for serial communication with hardware like our starterkits.

Install Minicom using APT(Debian/Ubuntu)
$ sudo apt install minicom

In order for the terminal to work properly with full rights you need to add your user to the dialout group: 

$ sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER


Connect Starterkit to Host

To determine the serial device name under linux you can use dmesg. Just run the command below and then plug in the starter kit to see the new detected interface names: 

$ dmesg -w

once the interface name is clear you can abort dmesg with ctrl + c.
Now you can start minicom via the command line interface: 

$ minicom -D /dev/ttySx
Make sure to replace /dev/ttySx with the serial interface you found out before with dmesg.
Configure minicom

The serial configuration should be correct by default. However, hardware flow control must be disabled for some starter kits, otherwise the communication works only in one direction.

  1. Press CTRL + A, then press O to open the configuration menu
  2. Go to Serial port setup
  3. Press F to change Hardware Flow Control to No
  4. Hit Return key
  5. Select Save setup as dfl to save this configuration as default
  6. Press ESC to exit the menu

Now you should be able to communicate with the starter kit

Windows

TeraTerm

TeraTerm is an open source terminal emulator for windows. it can be downloaded here.

Configure TeraTerm
  1. Download and install TeraTerm
  2. Start TeraTerm and open the Serial Port Settings
  3. select your serial port and configure it with the values defined in the chapter Serial Configuration
  4. after passing the values click on the button new Setting

Now TeraTerm should be ready for use with our starter kits.

Host PC Serial Port Configuration

The serial port which connects the @stk_name@ to the Host PC must be configured as follows:

Bautrate: 115200
Data bits: 8
Parity: none
Stop bits: 1
Handshake : XON/XOFF

Connecting the Starterkit to the Development Host

Please follow the quick start guide delivered with the kit, or open it from the following link: Quick start guide


Building the BSP

The sources for the example builds are provided by TQ via GitHub. A guide to build these examples on your own can be found by clicking this link: https://support.tq-group.com/en/arm/tqma117xl/build

Setup Starterkit for different boot sources

The STKa117xL can be setup to boot from different sources please see the DIP switch settings below to change the boot source.

DIP-Switch settings for Boot Configuration

DIP Switch Functions for SPI Boot

S3

DIP switch S3 is used to configure the BOOT_CFG Pins 0 to 3.

DIP Function OFF ON Remarks
S3-1 FLASH_AUTO_PROBE_EN Disabled Enabled
S3-2 BENCRYPT_XIP_EN Disabled Enabled
DIP Function S3-3 S3-4 Remarks
S3-3 [0]
S3-4 [1]
FLASH_PROBE_TYPE 		OFF
OFF
ON
ON 		OFF
ON
OFF
ON 		QuadSPI NOR
MXIC Octal
Micron Octal
Adesto Octal

S4

DIP switch S4 is used to configure the BOOT_CFG Pins 4 to 7.

Function S4-1 S4-2 S4-3 S4-4
Serial NOR boot via FlexSP OFF OFF OFF OFF
SD Boot via uSDHC X X ON OFF
eMMC/MMC boot via uSDHC X X OFF ON
SLC NAND boot via SEMC X ON OFF OFF
Serial NAND boot via FlexSPI X X ON ON

S5

DIP switch S5 is used to configure the BOOT_CFG Pins 8 to 11.

Function S5-1 S5-2 S5-3 Remarks


xSPI_FLASH_TYPE 		OFF
ON
OFF
ON
OFF
ON
 OFF
OFF
ON
ON
OFF
OFF
 OFF
OFF
OFF
OFF
ON
ON
 Boot with default 0x03 Read Enabled
Reserved
HyperFLASH 1V8
HyperFLASH 3V0
MXIC Octal Read
Micron Octal Read
DIP Function OFF ON Remarks
S5-4 FLEXSPI_INSTANCE FLEXSPI1 FLEXSPI2

S6

DIP switch S6 is used to configure the BOOT_MODEs, JTAG and UART.

Function S6-1 S6-2 Remarks

Boot_Mode 		OFF
OFF
ON
ON 		OFF
ON
OFF
ON 		Boot from fuses
Internal boot
Serial downloader
Reserved
DIP Function OFF ON Remarks
S6-3 LPUART1_SWITCH Freelink USB Debug Interface
S6-4 JTAG_SWITCH FreeLink Interface JTAG Connector

DIP Switch Functions for SD-Card Boot

S3

DIP switch S3 is used to configure the BOOT_CFG Pins 0 to 3.

DIP Function OFF ON
S3-1 Reserved X X
S3-2 Port-Select eSDHC1 eSDHC2
S3-3 Loopback Source Sel. through SD edirect
S3-4 SD Power Cycle Enable No power cycle Enabled via USDHC_RST pad

S4

DIP switch S4 is used to configure the BOOT_CFG Pins 4 to 7.

Function S4-1 S4-2 Remarks

SD/SDXC Speed 		OFF
OFF
ON
ON 		OFF
ON
OFF
ON 		Normal/SDR12
High/SDR25
SDR50
SDR104
DIP Function OFF ON Remarks
S4-3 Reserved - must be ON
S4-4 Reserved must be OFF -

S5

DIP switch S5 is used to configure the BOOT_CFG Pins 8 to 11.

DIP Function OFF ON
S5-1 Reserved X X
S5-2 Bus Width 1 bit 4 bit
S5-3 Reserved X X
S5-4 Reserved X X

S6

DIP switch S6 is used to configure the BOOT_MODEs, JTAG and UART.

Function S6-1 S6-2 Remarks

Boot_Mode 		OFF
OFF
ON
ON 		OFF
ON
OFF
ON 		Boot from fuses
Internal boot
Serial downloader
Reserved
DIP Function OFF ON Remarks
S6-3 LPUART1_SWITCH Freelink (X3) USB Debug interface (X1)
S6-4 JTAG_SWITCH FreeLink Interface JTAG Connector