The Starterkit STKa64xxL consisting of the TQMa64xxL module and MBaX4XxL mainboard is intended as evaluation platform for the TQMa64xxL. To bring up the board a comprehensive set of accessories is supplied with the kit. The STKa64xxL 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 STKa64xxL up. This page guides through the first steps with the STKa64xxL Starterkit.

The TQMa64xxL debug UART is connected via a Silicon Labs USB-to-Serial converter to X16 (micro-USB) on the MBaX4XxL. A micro-USB/USB-A cable is part of the STKa64xxL accessory set. Depending on the host operating system, a driver may need to be installed.

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

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.

The serial port which connects the STKa64xxL to the Host PC must be configured as follows:

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

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


As soon as logging in on the Linux shell for the first time, the question about the login credential comes up.
By default the user root is used to log into the Linux shell, no password is set for user root.

tqmaxx-mbaxx login: root

To get familiar with the interfaces of the STKa64xxL we recommend to work through the interface tutorials first.

The Board Support Packages provided by TQ may not contain all software packages to evaluate the STKa64xxL, therefore TQ provides some guides how to build the BSP and customize it for your needs,

In addition to the BSP documentation, the Yocto SDK build and Eclipse IDE setup for the STKa64xxL is also documented.

The STKa64xxL can be setup to boot from different sources please see the DIP switch settings below to change the boot source.

The following boot modes can be configured by setting the DIP switches S4, S5, S6, S7 on the MBa65xx.

Boot Configuration

SD-Card

S4

S5

S6

S7

eMMC

S4

S5

S6

S7

QSPI-NOR

S4

S5

S6

S7

USB host (mass storage)

S4

S5

S6

S7

USB device (dfu-util)

S4

S5

S6

S7

CAN0 configuration (S1)

DIP switch S1 is used to configure the CAN interfaces CAN0.

Funktion S11-1 S11-2
CAN-Bus not terminated OFF OFF
not defined (illegal state) OFF ON
not defined (illegal state) ON OFF
CAN-Bus terminated with 120 Ohm ON ON

RS485 Termination (S3)

DIP switch S4 is used to configure the RS485 interface.

DIP OFF (default) ON
S4-1 RS485 RxD not terminated RS485 RxD terminated (120Ω)
S4-2 RS485 TxD not terminated RS485 TxD terminated (120Ω)

  • Last modified: 2022/08/19 13:48