IMX6 4x Kernel Compile Guide

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Revision as of 18:09, 3 October 2016 by Mark (talk | contribs)

This board uses a 4.1.15 kernel on most all images. Our kernels are based on Freescale's which are modified for their BSP support, and we modify them to support the various hardware we use with this processor.

  • embeddedarm/linux-3.10.17-imx6
  • The "imx_4.1.15_1.0.0_ga" branch includes support for our TS-4900, TS-7970, TS-7990, and TS-4100.
    • This kernel is compatible with all of our Debian releases, Ubuntu, Yocto Jethro, and Yocto Krogoth.

You can pick the branch below. The kernel can be rebuilt by cross compiling from an X86/X86_64 Linux. Our default kernels are rebuilt using the toolchains built by Yocto. You can download the appropriate cross toolchain for your Linux system here: 

chmod a+x poky-*toolchain-*.sh
sudo ./poky-*toolchain-*.sh

This will ask for the install directory for the toolchain. You can choose another directory than the default, but the instructions will assume the defaults.

This also requires several tools from your distribution. For Ubuntu/Debian: 

sudo apt-get install git build-essential lzop u-boot-tools libncursesw5-dev

Once those are installed: 

# This will pull our shared kernel, using the 4.1.15 branch, use a folder linux-tsimx, and only
# download the latest changes.
git clone https://github.com/embeddedarm/linux-3.10.17-imx6.git -b imx_4.1.15_1.0.0_ga linux-tsimx --depth 1
cd linux-tsimx

# These two must be run each time you open a terminal to build the kernel.
source /opt/poky/2.0.2/environment-setup-cortexa9hf-vfp-neon-poky-linux-gnueabi
export LOADADDR=0x10008000

make ts4900_defconfig

## Make any changes in "make menuconfig" or driver modifications, then compile
make && make uImage

To install this to a board you would use a USB SD reader and plug in the card. Assuming your Linux rootfs is all on "sdc1": 

export DEV=/dev/sdc1
sudo mount "$DEV" /mnt/sd
sudo rm /mnt/sd/boot/uImage
sudo cp arch/arm/boot/uImage  /mnt/sd/boot/uImage
sudo cp arch/arm/boot/dts/imx6*ts*.dtb /mnt/sd/boot/
INSTALL_MOD_PATH="/mnt/sd" sudo -E make modules_install 
INSTALL_HDR_PATH="/mnt/sd" sudo -E make headers_install
sudo umount /mnt/sd/
sync

Change Kernel Splash Screen

The kernel splashscreen allow for a 224 color image, up to the full screen resolution. For the fastest boot speed, it should be kept as small as possible. The image will be centered around a black background.

To convert an image, for example, "mylogo.png": 

convert mylogo.png mylogo.ppm
ppmquant 224 mylogo.ppm > mylogo-224.ppm
pnmnoraw mylogo-224.ppm > logo_user_clut224.ppm
cp logo_user_clut224.ppm <kernel build sources>/drivers/video/logo/

Recompile the kernel following the guide in the previous section to have the splashscreen appear on all future boots.

Add to the kernel cmdline in U-Boot, "logo.nologo" in order to completely disable the splash screen.

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