Getting Started with the N1SDP

This document explains how to build, deploy, and boot the Cassini distro on the Arm Neoverse N1 System Development Platform (N1SDP).

NOTE: Requires a micro SD card (at least 2 GB) and a USB drive (at least 16 GB)

Building N1SDP images

The kas configuration file kas/n1sdp.yml can be used to build images which target the N1SDP. To build N1SDP images:

kas build --update kas/cassini.yml:kas/k3s.yml:kas/n1sdp.yml

This will produce an N1SDP firmware image here:

build/tmp/deploy/images/n1sdp/n1sdp-board-firmware_primary.tar.gz

And a Cassini distribution image here:

build/tmp/deploy/images/n1sdp/cassini-image-base-n1sdp.rootfs.wic.gz

build/tmp/deploy/images/n1sdp/cassini-image-base-n1sdp.rootfs.wic.bmap

Connecting to the N1SDP

  1. Connect a USB cable between the build host and the DBG USB port on the N1SDP back panel and power on the device

  2. Check four new TTY USB devices are seen by the build host, via:

ls /dev/ttyUSB*

This will output, for example:

/dev/ttyUSB0
/dev/ttyUSB1
/dev/ttyUSB2
/dev/ttyUSB3

If there are no other TTY USB devices, then the four ports on the N1SDP will be connected as follows:

  • ttyUSB0 Motherboard Configuration Controller (MCC)

  • ttyUSB1 Application processor (AP)

  • ttyUSB2 System Control Processor (SCP)

  • ttyUSB3 Manageability Control Processor (MCP) (or OP-TEE and Secure Partitions)

The rest of this guide assumes there are no other TTY USB devices on the build host

  1. Connect to the serial console(s) using any terminal client (picocom, minicom, or screen should all work).

All ports are configured with:

  • 115200 Baud

  • 8 bits, No parity, 1 stop bit (8N1)

  • No hardware or software flow control

For example, run the following command to open a new picocom session for the AP console:

sudo picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyUSB1

Note

sudo should not be required if the current user is in the dialout group

Updating the MCC firmware (Micro SD image)

  1. Follow the instructions above and connect to the MCC console i.e.

sudo picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyUSB0

  1. In the MCC console, at the Cmd> prompt, type the following command to see MCC firmware version and a list of commands:

?

This will output, for example:

Arm N1SDP MCC Firmware v1.0.1
Build Date: Sep  5 2019
Build Time: 14:18:16
+ command ------------------+ function ---------------------------------+
| CAP "fname" [/A]          | captures serial data to a file            |
|                           |  [/A option appends data to a file]       |
| FILL "fname" [nnnn]       | create a file filled with text            |
|                           |  [nnnn - number of lines, default=1000]   |
| TYPE "fname"              | displays the content of a text file       |
| REN "fname1" "fname2"     | renames a file 'fname1' to 'fname2'       |
| COPY "fin" ["fin2"] "fout"| copies a file 'fin' to 'fout' file        |
|                           |  ['fin2' option merges 'fin' and 'fin2']  |
| DEL "fname"               | deletes a file                            |
| DIR "[mask]"              | displays a list of files in the directory |
| FORMAT [label]            | formats Flash Memory Card                 |
| USB_ON                    | Enable usb                                |
| USB_OFF                   | Disable usb                               |
| SHUTDOWN                  | Shutdown PSU (leave micro running)        |
| REBOOT                    | Power cycle system and reboot             |
| RESET                     | Reset Board using CB_nRST                 |
| DEBUG                     | Enters debug menu                         |
| EEPROM                    | Enters eeprom menu                        |
| HELP  or  ?               | displays this help                        |
|                                                                       |
| THE FOLLOWING COMMANDS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE IN RUN MODE                 |
|                                                                       |
| CASE_FAN_SPEED "SPEED"    | Choose from SLOW, MEDIUM, FAST            |
| READ_AXI "fname"          | Read system memory to file 'fname'        |
|          "address"        | from address to end address               |
|          "end_address"    |                                           |
| WRITE_AXI "fname"         | Write file 'fname' to system memory       |
|           "address"       | at address                                |
+---------------------------+-------------------------------------------+

  1. Type the following command to enable USB:

USB_ON

  1. Check a new block device is seen by the build host, via:

lsblk

This will output, for example:

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sdb      8:0    0     2G  0 disk
└─sdb1   8:1    0     2G  0 part

If there are no similar block devices mounted on the build host, then it should be possible to identify the Micro SD Card on the N1SDP by its’ size. In the output above, the Micro SD partition is clearly sdb1.

  1. Mount the device and check its contents:

sudo umount /dev/sdb1 &&
sudo mkdir -p /tmp/sdcard &&
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /tmp/sdcard &&
ls -l /tmp/sdcard

This should output, for example:

config.txt  ee0316a.txt  LIB  LICENSES  LOG.TXT  MB

Warning

In this example, the /dev/sdb1 partition is being mounted. As this may vary on different machines, care should be taken when copying and pasting the following commands. Don’t proceed unless the contents of the Micro SD Card were as expected in the previous step.

  1. Wipe the mounted microSD card, then extract the contents of n1sdp-board-firmware_primary.tar.gz onto it:

sudo rm -rf /tmp/sdcard/* &&
sudo tar --no-same-owner -xf build/tmp/deploy/images/n1sdp/n1sdp-board-firmware_primary.tar.gz -C /tmp/sdcard/ &&
sudo sync

Note

If the N1SDP board was manufactured after November 2019 (Serial Number greater than 36253xxx), a different PMIC firmware image should be used to prevent system hangs. More details can be found in Potential firmware damage notice. The MB/HBI0316A/io_v123f.txt file located in the microSD needs to be updated. To update it, set the PMIC image (300k_8c2.bin) to be used in the newer models by running the following commands on the Build Host:

sudo sed -i '/^MBPMIC: pms_0V85.bin/s/^/;/g' /tmp/sdcard/MB/HBI0316A/io_v123f.txt
sudo sed -i '/^;MBPMIC: 300k_8c2.bin/s/^;//g' /tmp/sdcard/MB/HBI0316A/io_v123f.txt
sudo sync

  1. Unmount the device

sudo umount /tmp/sdcard
sudo rmdir /tmp/sdcard

Prepare the distro image for the N1SDP (USB image)

  1. Insert the USB storage device into the build host

  2. Check a new block device is seen by the build host, via:

lsblk

This will output, for example:

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sdb      8:0    0     2G  0 disk
└─sdb1   8:1    0     2G  0 part
sdc      8:0    0    64G  0 disk

If there are no similar block devices mounted on the build host, then it should be possible to identify the USB storage device by its’ size. In the output above, the USB storage device is sdc.

Warning

The next step will result in all prior partitions and data on the USB storage device being erased. Take care not to confuse your host PC’s own hard drive with the USB drive and backup any data on the USB storage device before continuing.

  1. Flash the image onto the USB storage device using bmap-tools:

sudo bmaptool copy --bmap cassini-image-base-n1sdp.rootfs.wic.bmap cassini-image-base-n1sdp.rootfs.wic.gz /dev/<usb drive>

Or if deploying an SDK image

sudo bmaptool copy --bmap cassini-image-sdk-n1sdp.rootfs.wic.bmap cassini-image-sdk-n1sdp.rootfs.wic.gz /dev/<usb drive>

  1. Eject the USB storage device from the build host and plug it into one of the USB 3.0 ports on the N1SDP

  2. Reboot the N1SDP device by power cycling it or typing the following at the MCC console

REBOOT