i.MX8M Linux Pre-Release B2020.01 (Buildroot)
This is the pre release for fsimx8m. fsimx8m is the software for all boards from F&S that are based on the i.MX8M series application processors with familie 8M from NXP. Currently this consists of the board armStoneMX8M. More boards may be added to this family in the future. All these boards can work with software that is created from this pre-release package.
The pre-release consists of file:
fsimx8m-B2020.01-pre.tar.bz2
This is the pre-release itself containing all sources, the binary images, the documentation, examples and the toolchain.
These tar archives are compressed with bzip2. So to see the files, you first have to unpack the archives
This will create a directory fsimx8m-B2020.01-pre that contains all the files of the release.
Please read the file doc/FSiMX8_FirstSteps_eng.txt. It describes the first steps when working with the board and gives references to further reading.
Release Notes for fsimx8m-B2020.01-pre
This pre-release brings new versions to all parts of the software stack. Here are some highlights of this release.
1. New version numbering
We have changed the way how we name versions. In the past we had a version number made up of a major part m and a minor part n. Then we used Vm.n for Buildroot releases and Ym.n for Yocto releases. Release versions were counted individually for each CPU architecture. But then a "new" CPU type unfortunately had a smaller version number than an "old" CPU, even if the code was coming from the same sources or was even newer. This caused some irritations and misunderstandings of what release is actually the newest.
So from now on we will use the year and month of the release instead, preceeded by a 'B' for Buildroot releases and a 'Y' for Yocto releases. For example the "B2020.01" of this release indicates a Buildroot based release from January 2020.
2. Support for board armStonemMX8M
This is the first pre release that supports armStoneMX8M Rev. 1.00.
3. Buildroot 2019.05.1
Buildroot 2019.05 has many many updated packages, for example Qt-5.12, busybox-1.30.1, xserver-1.20.5 and gstreamer-1.16.0. We actually use buildroot-2019.05.1, which is a newer version that already has some more fixes.
4. New toolchain fs-toolchain-8.3-armv8ahf
Our new toolchain is now based on gcc-8.3 that fully supports C++14 and has basic support for C++17 and even some experimental support for C++2a.
This toolchain is now a 64-bit toolchain, i.e. it will not run on PCs (or VMs) with a 32-bit Linux anymore. The default output of the toolchain is of course still ARMv8 code for 64 bit ARM CPUs like Cortex-A53, as in i.MX8M.
This toolchain also fixes a bug in the calling convention for ARM CPUs that was introduced in gcc-5.x and prevented some code optimizations. Many software packages now depend on a compiler that has this bug fixed. For example our new u-boot-2018.03 will produce bad code if compiled with a toolchain before gcc-6.0. Qt5-webengine will not compile with a toolchain before gcc-8.0. So please use this new toolchain together with the code of this release.
5. Documentation
In the past, the documentation that was included in the release package itself was often superseded by newer versions on our website. But people continued to use the outdated version of the release, causing unnecessary complications.
To avoid this, from now on only the software related documentation is directly included in the release package that contains direct links to the appropriate resources on our website. There you can download the newest versions of hardware documentations, schematics, layout files, certificates, accessories, add-ons, adapters and similar things.
The software documentation has only basic introdution to the work with boards of fsimx8m(m) architecture. And there is a new document LinuxOnFSBoards_eng.pdf that shows a more in-depth view of a Linux system in general and of the F&S versions of NBoot, U-Boot, Linux and Buildroot in particular. This is still work in progress, some chapters are not fully done yet and will be revised in the future. Check our website from time to time to see if there is a newer version of this document.
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The following list shows the most noticable changes in this release in more detail since our last i.MX8M release. Please note that the source code may used for other platforms. This is why you will also find references to other CPU types and F&S boards here in the changelog.
u-boot-2018.03-imx_v2018.03_4.14.78_1.0.0_ga
Supported boards only: PicoCoreMX8MM, armStoneMX8M
- Use imx_v2018.03_4.14.78_1.0.0_ga branch from NXP
- Add basic support for armStoneMX8M
- Add basic support for PicoCoreMX8MM
- Improve USB host support for PicoCoreMX8MM
- Improve RAM timings for PicoCoreMX8MM
- Improve nand support for armStoneMX8M
linux-4.14.78-fsimx8m-B2020.01-pre (27.01.2020)
Supported boards only: PicoCoreMX8MM, armStoneMX8M
- Use imx_4.14.78_1.0.0_ga branch from NXP
- Add support for armStoneMX8M
- Correct compatible string for USB3 nodes
- Add BDIInfo driver
- Add support for panels g070y2-l01, g101ice-l01
- Add basic support for sn65dsi84
- Add sn65dsi84 to fsimx8m_defconfig
- Add 'best-match' attribute to set precise clock
- Add support for PicoCoreMX8MM
- Improve some nodes in fsl-imx8mm.dtsi
- Add CLKO2 support
- Add IOMUX configuration for UART
- Add basic support for TC358764
- Add DT support for g070y2-l01, j070wvtc0211 panels
- Add dynamic calculation of pll pms
- Add support for g050tan01 panel
- Add DT support for PicoCoreMX8MM Rev. 1.10
- Remove unused timings
- Add spidev support
- Add audio support for SGTL5000
- Add support for inversion of x,y coordinates in FT touch driver
buildroot-2019.05.1-fsimx8m-B2020.01 (27.01.2020)
Supported boards only: PicoCoreMX8MM, armStoneMX8M
- Use F&S 2019.05.01 branch
- Add support for PicoCoreMX8MM
- Add fs-toolchain-8.3-armv8ahf toolchain
- Add fsimx8mm_min_defconfig, fsimx8mm_std_wayland_defconfig, fsimx8mm_qt5_wayland_defconfig
- Add U-Boot support for PicoCoreMX8MM
- Add support for armStoneMX8M
- Add fsimx8m_min_defconfig, fsimx8m_std_wayland_defconfig, fsimx8m_qt5_wayland_defconfig
- Add U-Boot support for armStoneMX8MM
Examples
(no changes)
Toolchain
fs-toolchain-8.3-armv8ahf.tar.bz2 for Linux
- Based on gcc-8.3
- Support for C and C++
- Includes glibc-2.29 (compiled for ARM code)
- With binutils-2.32
- Hardware floating point
- Native Posix Thread Library (NPTL)
- Full support for C++14 and OpenMP 4.5
- Basic support for C++17
- Experimental support for C++2a
Documentation
- Update FSiMX8_FirstSteps_eng.txt
- Add new version 0.3 of LinuxOnFSBoards_eng.pdf
Please download the hardware documentation and GPIO Reference Cards directly from our website. Then you always have the newest version.
Your F&S Support Team
