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This is a page about Olimex's Freescale based i.MX233 Boards; iMX233-OLinuXino

Availability

Boards:
IMX233-OLINUXINO-MICRO at Digi-Key
IMX233-OLINUXINO-MINI at Digi-Key
IMX233-OLINUXINO-MINI-WIFI at Digi-Key
IMX233-OLINUXINO-MAXI at Digi-Key

Accessories:
USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F at Digi-Key

Kit Notes

iMX233-OLinuXino-Micro:

From: PDF Manual

Important note about owners of revision B of the board: if you are one of the first owners of iMX233-OLinuXino-Micro and you experience random hang-ups (Kernel oops, Kernel panic) it is recommended to unsolder/remove R17 (check the schematic or the board file to locate it easier). Removing R17 fixes the random lock-up.
This problem has been fixed in revision B1 of the board.

Vendor Documentation

Basic Requirements

ARM Cross Compiler: GCC

This is a pre-built (64bit) version of Linaro GCC that runs on generic linux, sorry (32bit) x86 users, it's time to upgrade...
Download/Extract:

~/
wget -c https://releases.linaro.org/components/toolchain/binaries/6.4-2018.05/arm-eabi/gcc-linaro-6.4.1-2018.05-x86_64_arm-eabi.tar.xz
tar xf gcc-linaro-6.4.1-2018.05-x86_64_arm-eabi.tar.xz
export CC=`pwd`/gcc-linaro-6.4.1-2018.05-x86_64_arm-eabi/bin/arm-eabi-

Test Cross Compiler:

~/
${CC}gcc --version
arm-eabi-gcc (Linaro GCC 6.4-2018.05) 6.4.1 20180425 [linaro-6.4-2018.05 revision 7b15d0869c096fe39603ad63dc19ab7cf035eb70]
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: 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:

~/
git clone https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot
cd u-boot/
git checkout v2018.07 -b tmp

Patches:

~/u-boot
wget -c https://rcn-ee.com/repos/git/u-boot-patches/v2018.07/0001-mx23_olinuxino-uEnv.txt-bootz-n-fixes.patch
 
patch -p1 < 0001-mx23_olinuxino-uEnv.txt-bootz-n-fixes.patch

Configure and Build:

~/u-boot
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} distclean
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} mx23_olinuxino_defconfig
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=${CC} u-boot.sb
./tools/mxsboot sd u-boot.sb u-boot.sd

Linux Kernel

This script will build the kernel, modules, device tree binaries and copy them to the deploy directory.
Download:

~/
git clone https://github.com/RobertCNelson/armv5_devel
cd armv5_devel/

For v4.9.x-imxv5 (Longterm 4.9.x):

~/armv5_devel/
git checkout origin/v4.9.x-imxv5 -b tmp

For v4.14.x-imxv5 (Longterm 4.14.x):

~/armv5_devel/
git checkout origin/v4.14.x-imxv5 -b tmp

Build:

~/armv5_devel/
./build_kernel.sh

Root File System

Debian 9

User

Password

debian

temppwd

root

root

Download:

~/
wget -c https://rcn-ee.com/rootfs/eewiki/minfs/debian-9.5-minimal-armel-2018-07-30.tar.xz

Verify:

~/
sha256sum debian-9.5-minimal-armel-2018-07-30.tar.xz
b42ecf46db1e185f1fce5c79214b55b910318cd4f737881bd870d16ba237804f  debian-9.5-minimal-armel-2018-07-30.tar.xz

Extract:

~/
tar xf debian-9.5-minimal-armel-2018-07-30.tar.xz

Setup microSD card

For these instruction we are assuming, DISK=/dev/mmcblk0, lsblk is very useful for determining the device id.

export DISK=/dev/mmcblk0

Erase partition table/labels on microSD card:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=${DISK} bs=1M count=20

Create Partition Layout:
With util-linux v2.26, sfdisk was rewritten and is now based on libfdisk.

sudo sfdisk --version
sfdisk from util-linux 2.27.1
sfdisk >= 2.26.x
sudo sfdisk ${DISK} <<-__EOF__
1M,16M,0x53,-
17M,,,-
__EOF__
sfdisk <= 2.25.x
sudo sfdisk --unit M ${DISK} <<-__EOF__
1,16,0x53,-
17,,,-
__EOF__

Install Bootloader:

~/
for: DISK=/dev/mmcblk0
sudo dd if=./u-boot/u-boot.sd of=${DISK}p1
 
for: DISK=/dev/sdX
sudo dd if=./u-boot/u-boot.sd of=${DISK}1

Format Partition:

for: DISK=/dev/mmcblk0
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs ${DISK}p2
 
for: DISK=/dev/sdX
sudo mkfs.ext4 -L rootfs ${DISK}2

Mount Partition:
On most systems these partitions may will be auto-mounted...

sudo mkdir -p /media/rootfs/
 
for: DISK=/dev/mmcblk0
sudo mount ${DISK}p2 /media/rootfs/
 
for: DISK=/dev/sdX
sudo mount ${DISK}2 /media/rootfs/

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=4.X.Y-Z]
-----------------------------

Copy and paste that "export kernel_version=4.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=4.X.Y-Z

Copy Root File System

~/
sudo tar xfvp ./debian-*-*-armel-*/armel-rootfs-*.tar -C /media/rootfs/
sync
sudo chown root:root /media/rootfs/
sudo chmod 755 /media/rootfs/

Set uname_r in /boot/uEnv.txt

~/
sudo sh -c "echo 'uname_r=${kernel_version}' >> /media/rootfs/boot/uEnv.txt"

Copy Kernel Image

Kernel Image:

~/
sudo cp -v ./armv5_devel/deploy/${kernel_version}.zImage /media/rootfs/boot/vmlinuz-${kernel_version}

Copy Kernel Device Tree Binaries

~/
sudo mkdir -p /media/rootfs/boot/dtbs/${kernel_version}/
sudo tar xfv ./armv5_devel/deploy/${kernel_version}-dtbs.tar.gz -C /media/rootfs/boot/dtbs/${kernel_version}/

Copy Kernel Modules

~/
sudo tar xfv ./armv5_devel/deploy/${kernel_version}-modules.tar.gz -C /media/rootfs/

File Systems Table (/etc/fstab)

sudo sh -c "echo '/dev/mmcblk0p2  /  auto  errors=remount-ro  0  1' >> /media/rootfs/etc/fstab"

Remove microSD/SD card

sync
sudo umount /media/rootfs

Comments

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