Getting Started with the i.MX 8QuadMax MEK | NXP Semiconductors

Getting Started with the i.MX 8QuadMax MEK

Last Modified: 2019-09-12 11:55:00Supports i.MX 8QuadMax/QuadPlus Multisensory Enablement Kit

Contents of this document

  • 1

    Out of the Box
  • 2

    Get Software

1. Out of the Box

The following section describes the steps to boot the i.MX 8QuadMax MEK.

Development kit contains:

  • i.MX 8QuadMax MEK board for smart devices
  • USB cable (micro-B to standard-A)
  • Cable -Assembly, USB 2.0 Type-A Male, USB Type-C Male, Shielded, 1m
  • 12 V/11.5 A universal power supply
  • Quick Start Guide
  • 16 GB SD card with bootable operating system demonstration image

1.1 Get Familiar with the Board

MCIMX8QM-CPU TOP

MCIMX8QM-CPU TOP

MCIMX8QM-CPU BACK

MCIMX8QM-CPU BACK

1.2 Insert the SD Card (J19)

The kit includes an SD card with a pre-built NXP Linux binary demo image. Without modifying the binary inside the SD card, booting from this SD card provides a default system with certain features for building other applications on top of Linux. The software is described in the following sections.

1.3 Connect USB Debug Cable

Connect the micro-B end of the supplied USB cable into Debug UART port J18. Connect the other end of the cable to a host computer.

If you are not sure about how to use a terminal application, try one of the following tutorials depending on the operating system of the host machine:

1.4 Connect the HDMI Cable

To see the user interface provided with the image binary connect a monitor via the HDMI connector (J6).

1.5 Boot Switch Setup

The boot sequence is detailed in the i.MX 8QuadMax Reference Manual. In short, the boot modes of the i.MX boards are controlled by the boot configuration switches.

The switches set the boot media (depending on board, i.e. SD card, eMMC, NAND), the serial download protocol mode (SDP) or the value set on eFuses.

The SDP is also the fallback for the boot media, in other words, when the switches are configured to boot from SD card but the SD card slot is empty, or the SD card binary content is not bootable, the boot sequence continues to the SDP boot.

The following table lists the boot switch settings on the i.MX 8M Mini EVK board. The same information can be found on i.MX 8QuadMax Reference Manual and on silkscreen on the board near the switches.

Boot Media SW2 [D1-D6]
Fuse Boot 000000
SDP 000100
eMMC 0001000
SD1 001100
QSPI 011000

1.6 Connect Power Supply

Connect the power supply cable to the power connector (J16).

Power the board by flipping the switch (SW1).

The processor starts executing from the on-chip ROM code. With the default boot switch setup, the code reads the fuses to define the media where it is expected to have a bootable image. After it finds a bootable image, the U-Boot execution should begin automatically.

Information is printed in the smaller number serial console for the Cortex®-A53. If you do not stop the U-Boot process, it continues to boot the Linux kernel.

2. Get Software

This section is applicable ONLY if attempting to load a Linux operating system on the board.

The i.MX Linux Board Support Package (BSP) is a collection of binary files, source code, and support files that are used to boot an Embedded Linux image on a specific i.MX development platform.

Current releases of Linux binary demo files can be found on the i.MX Linux download page. Additional documentation is available in the i.MX Linux documentation bundle under the Linux sections of the i.MX Software and Development Tool.

2.1 Embedded Linux®

This section is applicable ONLY if attempting to load a Linux operating system on the board.

The i.MX Linux Board Support Package (BSP) is a collection of binary files, source code, and support files that are used to boot an Embedded Linux image on a specific i.MX development platform.

Current releases of Linux binary demo files can be found on the i.MX Linux download page. Additional documentation is available in the i.MX Linux documentation bundle under the Linux sections of the i.MX Software and Development Tool.

2.2 Overview

Before the Linux OS kernel can boot on an i.MX board, the Linux kernel is loaded to a boot device (SD card, eMMC and so on) and the boot switches are set to boot that device.

There are various ways to download the Linux BSP image for different boards and boot devices.

For this getting started guide, only a few methods to transfer the Linux BSP image to an SD card are listed. Experienced Linux developers can explore other options.

2.3 Download an NXP Linux BSP Pre-Built Image

The latest pre-built images for the i.MX 8QuadMax MEK are available on the Linux download page under the most current version on Linux.

The pre-built NXP Linux binary demo image provides a typical system and basic set of features for using and evaluating the processor. Without modifying the system, the users can evaluate hardware interfaces, test SoC features, and run user space applications.

When more flexibility is desired, an SD card can be loaded with individual components (boot loader, kernel, dtb file, and rootfs file) one-by-one or the .sdcard image is loaded and the individual parts are overwritten with the specific components.

2.4 Burn NXP Linux BSP Image Using Universal Update Utility (UUU)

In addition to the connections from Out of box chapter, connect the J17 to the host machine using the proper USB cable.

Turn off the board. Consult Boot Switch Setup and configure the board to boot on SDP (Serial Download Protocol) mode.

Depending on the OS used in the host machine, the way to transfer the Linux BSP image onto an SD card can vary.