This is a page about Microchip's Cortex-A5 SAMA5D2 Xplained Ultra evaluation kit (ATSAMA5D2-XULT).
Availability
Vendor Documentation
Basic Requirements
Running a recent supported release of Debian, Fedora or Ubuntu on a x86 64bit based PC; without OS Virtualization Software.
Many of the listed commands assume /bin/bash as the default shell.
ARM Cross Compiler: GCC
This is a pre-built (64bit) version of GCC that runs on generic linux, sorry (32bit) x86 users, it's time to upgrade...
Download/Extract:
user@localhost:~$
wget -c https://releases.linaro.org/components/toolchain/binaries/6.5-2018.12/arm-linux-gnueabihf/gcc-linaro-6.5.0-2018.12-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
tar xf gcc-linaro-6.5.0-2018.12-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
export CC=`pwd`/gcc-linaro-6.5.0-2018.12-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-
Test Cross Compiler:
user@localhost:~$
${CC}gcc --version
Test Output:
arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc (Linaro GCC 6.5-2018.12) 6.5.0
Copyright (C) 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Bootloader: AT91Bootstrap
user@localhost:~$
git clone https://github.com/linux4sam/at91bootstrap
cd at91bootstrap/
git checkout v3.8.10 -b tmp
Configure and Build:
user@localhost:~/at91bootstrap$
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} distclean
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} sama5d2_xplainedsd_uboot_defconfig
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC}
Bootloader: U-Boot
Das U-Boot – the Universal Boot Loader: http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot
eewiki.net patch archive: https://github.com/eewiki/u-boot-patches
Download:
user@localhost:~$
git clone -b v2019.01 https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot --depth=1
cd u-boot/
Patches:
user@localhost:~/u-boot$
wget -c https://github.com/eewiki/u-boot-patches/raw/master/v2019.01/0001-ARM-at91-Convert-SPL_GENERATE_ATMEL_PMECC_HEADER-to-.patch
wget -c https://github.com/eewiki/u-boot-patches/raw/master/v2019.01/0001-sama5dX-fixes.patch
patch -p1 < 0001-ARM-at91-Convert-SPL_GENERATE_ATMEL_PMECC_HEADER-to-.patch
patch -p1 < 0001-sama5dX-fixes.patch
Configure and Build:
user@localhost:~/u-boot$
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} distclean
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} sama5d2_xplained_mmc_defconfig
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC}
Linux Kernel
This script will build the kernel, modules, device tree binaries and copy them to the deploy directory.
Download:
user@localhost:~$
git clone https://github.com/RobertCNelson/armv7_devel
cd armv7_devel/
For v4.14.x-sama5-armv7 (Longterm 4.14.x):
user@localhost:~/armv7_devel$
git checkout origin/v4.14.x-sama5-armv7 -b tmp
For v4.19.x-sama5-armv7 (Longterm 4.19.x):
user@localhost:~/armv7_devel$
git checkout origin/v4.19.x-sama5-armv7 -b tmp
Build:
user@localhost:~/armv7_devel$
./build_kernel.sh
Root File System
Debian 10
User
Password
debian
temppwd
root
root
Download:
user@localhost:~$
wget -c https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/eewiki/minfs/debian-10.4-minimal-armhf-2020-05-10.tar.xz
Verify:
user@localhost:~$
sha256sum debian-10.4-minimal-armhf-2020-05-10.tar.xz
sha256sum output:
cd598e42850cbef87602bf15ee343abfbf0d8c6ba81028c741672b5f24263534 debian-10.4-minimal-armhf-2020-05-10.tar.xz
Extract:
user@localhost:~$
tar xf debian-10.4-minimal-armhf-2020-05-10.tar.xz
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
User
Password
ubuntu
temppwd
Download:
user@localhost:~$
wget -c https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/eewiki/minfs/ubuntu-20.04-minimal-armhf-2020-05-10.tar.xz
Verify:
user@localhost:~$
sha256sum ubuntu-20.04-minimal-armhf-2020-05-10.tar.xz
sha256sum output:
de0177ac9259fdbcc626ee239f4258b64070c0921dbc38c45fab6925a5becaa1 ubuntu-20.04-minimal-armhf-2020-05-10.tar.xz
Extract:
user@localhost:~$
tar xf ubuntu-20.04-minimal-armhf-2020-05-10.tar.xz
Setup microSD card
We need to access the External Drive to be utilized by the target device. Run lsblk to help figure out what linux device has been reserved for your External Drive.
Example: for DISK=/dev/sdX
lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 465.8G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 512M 0 part /boot/efi
└─sda2 8:2 0 465.3G 0 part /
sdb 8:16 1 962M 0 disk
└─sdb1 8:17 1 961M 0 part
Thus you would use:
export DISK=/dev/sdb
Example: for DISK=/dev/mmcblkX
lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 465.8G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 512M 0 part /boot/efi
└─sda2 8:2 0 465.3G 0 part /
mmcblk0 179:0 0 962M 0 disk
└─mmcblk0p1 179:1 0 961M 0 part
Thus you would use:
export DISK=/dev/mmcblk0
Erase partition table/labels on microSD card:
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=${DISK} bs=1M count=50
Create Partition Layout:
With util-linux v2.26, sfdisk was rewritten and is now based on libfdisk.
Check the version of sfdisk installed on your pc
sudo sfdisk --version
Example Output
sfdisk from util-linux 2.27.1
sfdisk >= 2.26.x
sudo sfdisk ${DISK} <
1M,48M,0xE,*
49M,,,-
__EOF__
sfdisk <= 2.25.x
sudo sfdisk --unit M ${DISK} <
1,48,0xE,*
49,,,-
__EOF__
Format Partition:
for: DISK=/dev/mmcblkX
sudo mkfs.vfat -F 16 -n BOOT ${DISK}p1
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs ${DISK}p2
for: DISK=/dev/sdX
sudo mkfs.vfat -F 16 -n BOOT ${DISK}1
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs ${DISK}2
Mount Partition:
On most systems these partitions may be auto-mounted...
sudo mkdir -p /media/boot/
sudo mkdir -p /media/rootfs/
for: DISK=/dev/mmcblkX
sudo mount ${DISK}p1 /media/boot/
sudo mount ${DISK}p2 /media/rootfs/
for: DISK=/dev/sdX
sudo mount ${DISK}1 /media/boot/
sudo mount ${DISK}2 /media/rootfs/
Install Bootloader
Copy at91bootstrap/u-boot binaries to the boot partition
~/
sudo cp -v ./at91bootstrap/binaries/sama5d2_xplained-sdcardboot-uboot-3.8.10.bin /media/boot/BOOT.BIN
sudo cp -v ./u-boot/u-boot.bin /media/boot/
Install Kernel and Root File System
To help new users, since the kernel version can change on a daily basis. The kernel building scripts listed on this page will now give you a hint of what kernel version was built.
-----------------------------
Script Complete
eewiki.net: [user@localhost:~$ export kernel_version=5.X.Y-Z]
-----------------------------
Copy and paste that "export kernel_version=5.X.Y-Z" exactly as shown in your own build/desktop environment and hit enter to create an environment variable to be used later.
export kernel_version=5.X.Y-Z
Copy Root File System
user@localhost:~$
sudo tar xfvp ./*-*-*-armhf-*/armhf-rootfs-*.tar -C /media/rootfs/
sync
sudo chown root:root /media/rootfs/
sudo chmod 755 /media/rootfs/
Copy Kernel Image
Kernel Image:
user@localhost:~$
sudo cp -v ./armv7_devel/deploy/${kernel_version}.zImage /media/boot/zImage
Copy Kernel Device Tree Binaries
user@localhost:~$
sudo mkdir -p /media/boot/dtbs/
sudo tar xfvo ./armv7_devel/deploy/${kernel_version}-dtbs.tar.gz -C /media/boot/dtbs/
Copy Kernel Modules
user@localhost:~$
sudo tar xfv ./armv7_devel/deploy/${kernel_version}-modules.tar.gz -C /media/rootfs/
File Systems Table (/etc/fstab)
user@localhost:~/$
sudo sh -c "echo '/dev/mmcblk1p2 / auto errors=remount-ro 0 1' >> /media/rootfs/etc/fstab"
sudo sh -c "echo '/dev/mmcblk1p1 /boot/uboot auto defaults 0 2' >> /media/rootfs/etc/fstab"
Remove microSD/SD card
sync
sudo umount /media/boot
sudo umount /media/rootfs
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