Debian 12 on the TS-7180
Debian 12 - Bookworm
Debian 12 - Getting Started
This Debian release is available in two flavors with various packages.
| Image | Estimated Size | Description |
|---|---|---|
| debian-armhf-bookworm-headless-20240417.tar.xz | 1.1 GiB |
|
| debian-armhf-bookworm-minimal-latest.tar.bz2 | 263 MiB |
|
The default login is root with no password.
This image can be written to a USB drive, or to the eMMC. For development, a USB thumbdrive will be simplest. If a bootable USB drive is connected this will take priority over other boot media Plug in a USB drive and check the last output from dmesg(1) to get the USB disk. For example, this may be /dev/sdc.
# Erase all older partitions
sudo sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sdc
# Create one GPT Linux partition
sudo sgdisk -n 0:0:0 -t 0:8300 /dev/sdc
# Create a filesystem and mount
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc1
sudo mkdir /mnt/usb/
sudo mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/usb/
# Extract downloaded image:
sudo tar --numeric-owner --dereference -xf debian-armhf-bookworm-headless-20240417.tar.xz -C /mnt/usb/
sudo chmod 755 /mnt/usb/
sudo umount /mnt/usb/
These commands will also work while booted from a USB drive to rewrite the eMMC. Instead of /dev/sdc you would use /dev/mmcblk1, and instead of /dev/sdc1 you would use /dev/mmcblk1p1. To prepare an SD card, the devices would be /dev/mmcblk0 and /dev/mmcblk0p1, respectively.
Debian 12 - Networking
The network in Debian is configured with /etc/network/interfaces. For complete documentation, see Debian's documentation here
Some common examples are shown below. On this release network interfaces follow the predictible network interface names. Run ip addr show to get a list of the network interfaces.
Most commonly:
- end0 - Ethernet device 0 (CPU Ethernet)
- enp1s0 - Ethernet PCIe port 1 slot 0 ethernet
- usb<mac> - USB ethernet
- wlan0 - WIFI
DHCP on end0. Edit the file /etc/network/interfaces and add:
auto end0 allow-hotplug end0 iface end0 inet dhcp
Static IP on end0. Edit the file /etc/network/interfaces and add:
auto end0
iface end0 inet static
address 192.0.2.7/24
gateway 192.0.2.254
These will take effect on the next boot, or by restarting the networking service:
service networking restart
Debian 12 - WIFI Client
Wireless interfaces are also managed with configuration files in "/etc/network/interfaces.d/". For example, to connect as a client to a WPA network with DHCP. Note some or all of this software may already be installed on the target SBC.
Install wpa_supplicant:
apt-get update && apt-get install wpasupplicant -y
Run:
wpa_passphrase youressid yourpassword
This command will output information similar to:
network={
ssid="youressid"
#psk="yourpassword"
psk=151790fab3bf3a1751a269618491b54984e192aa19319fc667397d45ec8dee5b
}
Use the hashed PSK in the specific network interfaces file for added security. Create the file:
/etc/network/interfaces.d/wlan0
allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-ssid youressid
wpa-psk 151790fab3bf3a1751a269618491b54984e192aa19319fc667397d45ec8dee5bTo have this take effect immediately:
service networking restart
For more information on configuring Wi-Fi, see Debian's guide here.
Debian 12 - WIFI Access Point
First, hostapd needs to be installed in order to manage the access point on the device:
apt-get update && apt-get install hostapd -y
| Note: | The install process will start an unconfigured hostapd process. This process must be killed and restarted before a new hostapd.conf will take effect. |
Edit /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf to include the following lines:
interface=wlan0 driver=nl80211 ssid=YourAPName channel=1
| Note: | Refer to the kernel's hostapd documentation for more wireless configuration options. |
To start the access point launch hostapd:
hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf &
This will start up an access point that can be detected by WIFI clients. A DHCP server will likely be desired to assign IP addresses. Refer to Debian's documentation for more details on DHCP configuration.
Debian 12 - Installing New Software
Debian provides the apt-get system which allows management of pre-built applications. The apt tools require a network connection to the internet in order to automatically download and install new software. The update command will download a list of the current versions of pre-built packages.
apt-get update
A common example is installing Java runtime support for a system. Find the package name first with search, and then install it.
root@tsa38x:~# apt-cache search openjdk default-jdk - Standard Java or Java compatible Development Kit default-jdk-doc - Standard Java or Java compatible Development Kit (documentation) default-jdk-headless - Standard Java or Java compatible Development Kit (headless) default-jre - Standard Java or Java compatible Runtime default-jre-headless - Standard Java or Java compatible Runtime (headless) jtreg - Regression Test Harness for the OpenJDK platform libreoffice - office productivity suite (metapackage) openjdk-11-dbg - Java runtime based on OpenJDK (debugging symbols) openjdk-11-demo - Java runtime based on OpenJDK (demos and examples) openjdk-11-doc - OpenJDK Development Kit (JDK) documentation openjdk-11-jdk - OpenJDK Development Kit (JDK) openjdk-11-jdk-headless - OpenJDK Development Kit (JDK) (headless) openjdk-11-jre - OpenJDK Java runtime, using Hotspot JIT openjdk-11-jre-headless - OpenJDK Java runtime, using Hotspot JIT (headless) openjdk-11-jre-zero - Alternative JVM for OpenJDK, using Zero openjdk-11-source - OpenJDK Development Kit (JDK) source files uwsgi-app-integration-plugins - plugins for integration of uWSGI and application uwsgi-plugin-jvm-openjdk-11 - Java plugin for uWSGI (OpenJDK 11) uwsgi-plugin-jwsgi-openjdk-11 - JWSGI plugin for uWSGI (OpenJDK 11) uwsgi-plugin-ring-openjdk-11 - Closure/Ring plugin for uWSGI (OpenJDK 11) uwsgi-plugin-servlet-openjdk-11 - JWSGI plugin for uWSGI (OpenJDK 11) java-package - Utility for creating Java Debian packages
In this case, the wanted package will likely be the "openjdk-11-jre" package. Names of packages can be found on Debian's wiki pages or the packages site.
With the package name apt-get install can be used to install the prebuilt packages.
apt-get install openjdk-11-jre
# More than one package can be installed at a time.
apt-get install openjdk-11-jre nano vim mplayer
For more information on using apt-get refer to Debian's documentation here.
Debian 12 - Setting up SSH
Openssh is installed in our default Debian image, but by default openssh does not permit root logins, and requires a password to be set. Additionally, a host key is required if one hasn't already been created on the target board. To allow remote root login:
sed --in-place 's/#PermitRootLogin prohibit-password/PermitRootLogin yes/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
systemctl restart ssh.service
passwd root # Set any password
If you ssh to this system it will now support ssh as root.
Debian 12 - Starting Automatically
Debian 12 - Cross Compiling
Debian provides cross toolchains within their distribution for different architectures.
For best portability we recommend using a container like docker to run a Debian 12 rootfs for the toolchain. This will allow a consistent toolchain to run from almost any Linux system that can run Docker. Keep in mind that while docker does run under OSX and Windows, these are run under a case insensitive filesystem which will cause problems with complex builds like the Linux kernel so a Linux host is still recommended.
- Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt-get install docker.io -y
- Fedora
sudo dnf install docker -y
After installing docker on any distribution make sure your user is in the docker group:
# Add your user to the docker group. You may need to logout/log back in.
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
Make sure you can run docker's hello world image as your user to verify it is working:
docker run hello-world
Now create a file Dockerfile:
sudo mkdir -p /opt/docker-toolchain/docker-debian-bookworm-armhf
# Use any preferred editor, vim/emacs/nano/etc
sudo nano /opt/docker-toolchain/docker-debian-bookworm-armhf/Dockerfile
# syntax = docker/dockerfile:1.2
FROM debian:bookworm
RUN dpkg --add-architecture armhf
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
autogen \
automake \
bash \
bc \
bison \
build-essential \
bzip2 \
ca-certificates \
ccache \
chrpath \
cpio \
curl \
diffstat \
fakeroot \
file \
flex \
gawk \
gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf \
git \
gzip \
kmod \
libgpiod-dev:armhf \
libncursesw5-dev \
libssl-dev \
libtool \
libyaml-dev \
locales \
lz4 \
lzop \
make \
multistrap \
ncurses-dev \
pkg-config \
python3 \
python3-cbor \
python3-pexpect \
python3-pip \
qemu-user-static \
rsync \
runit \
socat \
srecord \
swig \
texinfo \
u-boot-tools \
zstd \
unzip \
vim \
wget \
xz-utils
# Provide a more friendly name
ENV debian_chroot debian_bookworm
RUN echo "PS1='\${debian_chroot}\\[\033[01;32m\\]@\\H\[\\033[00m\\]:\\[\\033[01;34m\\]\\w\\[\\033[00m\\]\\$ '" >> /etc/bash.bashrc
# Set up locales
RUN sed -i -e 's/# en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8/' /etc/locale.gen && \
echo 'LANG="en_US.UTF-8"'>/etc/default/locale && \
dpkg-reconfigure --frontend=noninteractive locales && \
update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ENV LC_ALL en_US.UTF-8
ENV LANG en_US.UTF-8
ENV LANGUAGE en_US.UTF-8
Next make a shell script to enter into this docker container. Create /usr/local/bin/docker-debian-bookworm:
# Use any preferred editor, vim/emacs/nano/etc
sudo nano /usr/local/bin/docker-debian-bookworm
#!/bin/bash -e
# Enters a docker running Debian 12 Bookworm
# Any arguments are run in the docker, or if no arguments it runs a shell
export TAG=debian-bookworm-armdev
SCRIPTPATH=$(readlink -f "$0")
DOCKERPATH=/opt/docker-toolchain/docker-debian-bookworm-armhf/
DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 docker build --tag "$TAG" "$DOCKERPATH" --quiet
exec docker run --rm \
-it \
--volume "$(pwd)":/work \
--user $(id -g):$(id -u) \
-w /work \
-e HOME=/tmp \
"$TAG" \
$@;
Make this executable, and call it:
sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/docker-debian-bookworm
# dont run as root
docker-debian-bookworm
The first time this runs it will download a base Debian image, and run the above apt-get commands which may take around 10 or so minutes depending on your internet connection and disk speed. After it has run once, it will stay cached and adds almost no overhead to run.
This docker can be thought of as a very low overhead virtual machine that only has access to the directory where it is run.
For example, to build a simple c project, create a ~/Desktop/hello-world/hello.c:
mkdir -p ~/Desktop/hello-world/
In ~/Desktop/hello-world/hello.c:
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
printf("Hello world!\n");
return 0;
}
We can now use the docker in that directory to use Debian's cross compiler to create a binary that targets armhf:
user@hostname:~$ cd ~/Desktop/hello-world/ user@hostname:~/Desktop/hello-world$ docker-debian-bookworm sha256:a92e70c3d7346654b34c0442da20ae634901fd25d1a89dd26517e7d1c1d00c47 debian_bookworm@a8ddfa54989f:/work$ ls hello.c debian_bookworm@a8ddfa54989f:/work$ arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc hello.c -o hello debian_bookworm@a8ddfa54989f:/work$ arm-linux-gnueabihf-strip hello debian_bookworm@a8ddfa54989f:/work$ file hello hello: ELF 32-bit LSB pie executable, ARM, EABI5 version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib/ld-linux-armhf.so.3, BuildID[sha1]=ffda981721a1531418ed1da27238707851ae0126, for GNU/Linux 3.2.0, stripped
Debian 12 - Compile the Kernel
A compatible armhf cross compiler is needed for building the 5.10 kernel. We recommend using the cross compiler available in Debian distributions. It is also possible to use our Buildroot repository to build a compatible cross compiler.
Download and Configure
These steps assume a host Linux workstation with an appropriate cross compiler. While on most platforms the kernel can be downloaded, built, and installed all on the device, we recommend against this due to the amount of time, memory, and disk space that can be needed for a build.
Prerequisites
If using our instructions for using Docker to handle the cross compiler, then the Docker environment needs to be entered first:
# Create a place to store the kernel:
mkdir -p ~/Projects/tsimx6ul/kernel/
cd ~/Projects/tsimx6ul/kernel/
docker-debian-bookworm
If the Docker container is not being used, a number of host tools are required to be installed on the workstation:
# Install dependencies for kernel build
# The following command is for Ubuntu / Debian workstations. If using a different
# distribution, please consult distribution docs for the proper commands to install
# new packages/tools/libraries/etc.
apt-get install git fakeroot build-essential ncurses-dev xz-utils lzop libssl-dev bc flex libelf-dev bison
| Note: | The above prerequisite libraries and tools may not be the complete list, depending on the workstation's distribution and age. It may be necessary to install additional packages to support kernel compilation. |
Download kernel repo on a host Linux workstation:
# Do a shallow clone of the sources
git clone --depth 1 -b linux-5.10.y https://github.com/embeddedTS/linux-lts
cd linux-lts/
Configure environment variables needed for building. This specifies the architecture, the cross compiler that is being used, and to set up building the kernel modules for the WILC3000 Wi-Fi/BLE module:
export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf- # This may be different if using a different compiler!
export ARCH=arm
export WILC=y
The WILC3000 Wi-Fi/BLE drivers are maintained and built externally out of the kernel tree. Clone this tree inside of the linux-lts/ directory (this is built later):
git clone -b linux4microchip-2021.10-1 https://github.com/embeddedTS/wilc3000-external-module/
Next, set the default configuration for this platform. Note that a minimal defconfig and a full-feature defconfig are available. The minimal defconfig contains options for supporting the device and a few common peripherals and technologies. While the full defconfig includes much more support for things like USB devices, a more broad range of netfilter/iptables filter module support, etc.
make tsimx6ul_defconfig
# The minimal defconfig can alternately be used with:
# make tsimx6ul_minimal_defconfig
Build and Install
| Note: | If using the Docker container to cross compile, be sure to exit the container after the build script below completes! The tarball will be located in the linux-lts/ folder that was created.
|
The following will build the kernel and modules, and install the kernel, modules, and headers to a folder and create a tarball from that. This tarball can be unpacked to bootable media, e.g. microSD, eMMC, USB, etc., to update an existing bootable disk.
The script below is most easily saved as a text file and run from the command line as a script. Most terminal emulators will accept the whole script copy/pasted in to the terminal. But it is also possible to copy paste each line of text in to a terminal. In any case, the following is an example of how to compile the kernel. The script or commands used can be modified as needed to suit a specific build pipeline.
The script assumes the following environment variables are set before it is run. See the above sections for what these variables should be set to for this specific platform.
ARCH- Used to indicate the target CPU architecture.
CROSS_COMPILE- Used to point to an appropriate cross toolchain for the target platform.
LOADADDR[Optional]- Used on some platforms to tell U-Boot where to load the file.
WILC[Optional]- Set to "y" to build and install the WILC3000 Wi-Fi/BLE external modules.
#!/bin/bash -e
# Always build zImage, most common. If LOADADDR is set, then uImage is also built
TARGETS="zImage"
if [ -n "${LOADADDR}" ]; then TARGETS+=" uImage"; fi
# Build the actual kernel, binary files, and loadable modules.
# Use as many CPUs to do this as possible.
make -j"$(nproc)" && make ${TARGETS} && make modules
# Create a temporary directory to install the kernel to in order to use that as a base directory for a tarball.
# Also creates a temporary file that is used as the tarball name.
TEMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)
TEMPFILE=$(mktemp)
mkdir "${TEMPDIR}/boot/"
# Adds "arch/arm/boot/" path prefix to each TARGET
cp $(for i in ${TARGETS}; do echo arch/arm/boot/$i; done) "${TEMPDIR}"/boot/
# Copy the full .config file to the target, this is optional and can be removed
cp .config "${TEMPDIR}"/boot/config
# Copy all of the generated FDT binary files to the target
find arch/arm/boot/dts -name "*ts*.dtb" -exec cp {} "${TEMPDIR}/boot" \;
# Install kernel modules to the target
INSTALL_MOD_PATH="${TEMPDIR}" make modules_install
# Install kernel headers to the target, this is optional in most cases and can be removed to save space on the target
make headers_install INSTALL_HDR_PATH="${TEMPDIR}"
# If WILC is set to "y", then build the external module for the WILC300 Wi-Fi/BLE device.
# Note that this expects the source to be available as a subfolder in the kernel. See the above sections
# for details on getting the driver source if it is used on this specific platform.
if [ "${WILC}" == "y" ]; then
CONFIG_WILC_SPI=m INSTALL_MOD_PATH="${TEMPDIR}" make M=wilc3000-external-module modules modules_install
fi
# Use fakeroot to properly set permissions on the target folder as well as create a tarball from this.
fakeroot sh -c "chmod 755 ${TEMPDIR};
chown -R root:root ${TEMPDIR};
tar czf ${TEMPFILE}.tar.gz -C ${TEMPDIR} .";
# Create a final output tarball and cleanup all of the temporary files and folder.
cp ${TEMPFILE}.tar.gz embeddedTS-linux-lts-"$(date +"%Y%m%d")"-"$(git describe --abbrev=8 --dirty --always)".tar.gz
rm -rf "${TEMPDIR}" "${TEMPFILE}"
At this point, the tarball can be unpacked to a bootable media for the device. This can be done from a booted device, or by mounting removable media from a host Linux workstation. For example, if the root folder of the target filesystem to be updated is mounted to /mnt/, the following can be used to unpack the above tarball:
# Ensure the target filesystem is mounted to /mnt first!
# Extract kernel tarball to target filesystem,
tar xhf embeddedTS-linux-lts-*.tar.gz -C /mnt
| Note: | The h argument to tar is necessary on recent distributions that use paths with symlinks. Not using it can potentially render the whole filesystem no longer bootable.
|
This will correctly unpack the kernel, modules, and headers to the target filesystem which can then be booted as normal.