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

Availability

Boards:
IMX233-OLINUXINO-MICRO at Digi-Key

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

Kit Notes

iMX233-OLinuXino-Micro:

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

Olimex Documentation: https://www.olimex.com
- Documentation: https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO
- Forums: https://www.olimex.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0

Basic Requirements

Running a recent release of Debian, Fedora or Ubuntu; without OS Virtualization Software.
ARM Cross Compiler – Linaro: https://www.linaro.org
- Linaro Toolchain Binaries: https://www.linaro.org/downloads/
Bootloader
- Das U-Boot – the Universal Boot Loader: http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot
- Source: https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot/
Linux Kernel
- Linus's Mainline tree: https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git
ARM based rootfs
- Debian: https://www.debian.org

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 v2019.01 -b tmp

Patches:

~/u-boot

wget -c https://github.com/eewiki/u-boot-patches/raw/master/v2019.01/0001-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

For v4.19.x-imxv5 (Longterm 4.19.x):

~/armv5_devel/

git checkout origin/v4.19.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-9.6-minimal-armel-2018-11-26.tar.xz

Verify:

~/

sha256sum debian-9.6-minimal-armel-2018-11-26.tar.xz
7f93f169764664d60588c904e23acb5ac81b9e14f8023bb5bb2c548f9b33fe39  debian-9.6-minimal-armel-2018-11-26.tar.xz

Extract:

~/

tar xf debian-9.6-minimal-armel-2018-11-26.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 /                <- Development Machine Root Partition
sdb      8:16   1   962M  0 disk                  <- microSD/USB Storage Device
└─sdb1   8:17   1   961M  0 part                  <- microSD/USB Storage Partition

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 /                <- Development Machine Root Partition
mmcblk0     179:0    0   962M  0 disk                  <- microSD/USB Storage Device
└─mmcblk0p1 179:1    0   961M  0 part                  <- microSD/USB Storage Partition

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=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/mmcblkX
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/mmcblkX
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

Comments, feedback, and questions can be sent to: eewiki@digikey.com
Please use the Digi-Key's TechForum: TechForum

Page tree

iMX233-OLinuXino

Availability

Kit Notes

Vendor Documentation

Basic Requirements

ARM Cross Compiler: GCC

Bootloader: U-Boot

Linux Kernel

Root File System

Debian 9

Setup microSD card

Install Kernel and Root File System

Copy Root File System

Set uname_r in /boot/uEnv.txt

Copy Kernel Image

Copy Kernel Device Tree Binaries

Copy Kernel Modules

File Systems Table (/etc/fstab)

Remove microSD/SD card

Comments