Introduction

This BSP provides a basis for development, deployment and execution of Linux based applications on the iMX7 System on Module (SOM). For detailed information on the various software components included in the release and how to use them, please refer to the Quickstart.

• Introduction
• Versioning
  • Software
    • Yocto Machine Configuration Table
    • Linux Device Tree Summary
  • Compatible Hardware
    • Supported Hardware Versions
  • Compatible Expansion Boards and Accessories
• BSP Download
• Quickstart
• BSP Features
• Fixed In This Release
• New In This Release
• Not Tested
• Known Issues
  • PHYTEC Known Issues
  • NXP Known Issues
• Technical Support

Versioning

Software

Yocto Machine Configuration Table

This BSP release supports various configurations of the phyBOARD-Zeta i.MX7. You will need to know which Yocto machine configuration corresponds to your kit in order to build the appropriate BSP. By default, only the standard kit configurations are shown in the table. If you have a different kit, use the filters below to search by Kit Part Number or SOM. The U-Boot defconfig and kernel device tree file names are important when creating custom U-Boot and kernel images outside of Yocto development.

• PB-01910-001(i.MX7Dual Kit)
• PB-01910-002(i.MX7Solo Kit)

Linux Device Tree Summary

The following is an example describing the structure of the device tree for the standard phyBOARD-Zeta Kit (machine configuration imx7d-phyboard-zeta-001).

Please look at the dts file corresponding to your machine configuration for the included dtsi files.

Alternate dts  imx7d-phyboard-zeta-001-m4.dtb: configure u-boot to use this DTS if running Linux on the Cortex-A7 while running FreeRTOS on the Cortex-M4

Compatible Hardware

Supported Hardware Versions

Device tree changes are required to support earlier SOM and Carrier Board revisions. Visit the PHYTEC Support Portal to open a support ticket for help on how to make the device tree changes.

Compatible Expansion Boards and Accessories

BSP Download

Prebuilt images of BSP-Yocto-FSL-iMX7-PD17.2.1 can be downloaded and extracted from the link below:

BSP-Yocto-FSL-iMX7-PD17.2.1

Quickstart

Quickstarts for BSP-Yocto-FSL-iMX7-PD17.2.1:

BSP Yocto FSL i.MX7 PD17.2.1 Quickstart

BSP Features

The following table lists the interfaces available from the phyCORE-iMX7 SOM. 

• Implemented - driver support exists in the kernel. 
• Tested  - the interface has been configured in the device tree and was tested by PHYTEC 

• Enabled in DTS - the corresponding device tree nodes are enabled in the device tree. See Linux Device Tree Summary for more information.

  The "Enabled in DTS" column is specifically for the standard phyBOARD-Zeta kit (machine configuration imx7d-phyboard-zeta-001).

  Please look at the dts file corresponding to your machine configuration for differences.

[1] Interface requires additional configuration, such as pinmuxing. It may be possible to change the software configuration to utilize this interface even if it is not being set in the board's default configuration. Please see NXP's i.MX7D Technical Reference Manual for more information on the various modes each pin can be muxed to.

Fixed In This Release

• Kit imx7s-phyboard-zeta-002: 

  • Communication with Cortex-M4: Linux failed to boot when RPMsg is enabled, the RPMSG driver hardcoded the location in memory used for RPMSG to be at the end of 1GB. 

• Linux:
  • Optimized I2C and CAN1 drive strength

New In This Release

• Linux
  • PCIe: switch to using internal reference clk for PCIe PHY instead of external oscillator.
    • Reason: NXP initially recommended an external oscillator be used but has since validated that the internal reference clock meets PCIe requirements.
• Meta-phytec-extra:
  • New meta layer with machine configurations to support non-kit SOM variants:
    
    • PCM-061-2111101E
    • PCM-061-2111111E
    • PCM-061-2211101E

Not Tested

• Booting via network
• Qt5 - NXP includes "fsl-image-qt5" Yocto Image in the BSP but it is meant for i.MX SoCs with hardware graphics, and is not supported by NXP or PHYTEC for the i.MX7D.

Known Issues

PHYTEC Known Issues

• Ethernet:
  • iperf3 is included with the Krogoth Yocto BSP. With UDP, this command reports much lower bandwidth than expected when compared with iperf command.

• eMMC:

  • Flashing with U-Boot: 
    • fsl-image-gui-imx7d-phyboard-zeta.sdcard image is too large to be loaded into memory (1GB) from u-boot.
    • Workaround: Partition and flash eMMC from Linux instead. See Quickstart for instructions.
• Linux IMX Busfreq driver:
  • Driver disabled by default due to impaired UART console functionality when the system is idle (Low frequency setpoint).

  • For dynamic bus frequency scaling and improved power consumption, the busfreq driver can be enabled in the device tree by removing the "fsl,freq_scaling_disabled" property in imx7-phycore-som.dtsi. It can also be controlled in Linux sysfs: 

    echo 1 > /sys/bus/platform/drivers/imx_busfreq/soc\:busfreq/enable 

• 256MB NAND is too small to flash fsl-image-gui filesystem. Booting from NAND was tested with core-image-minimal Yocto image, which is included with release binaries.
• Yocto kernel-module-laird-backports fetch error: LSR has released a new version of the package being fetched in this recipe, and replaced the tarball on their website with the same name. This is resulting in a checksum mismatch.
  • Workaround: See Quickstart section "Yocto Build Steps".

NXP Known Issues

See i.MX Linux Release Notes from NXP in  L4.1.15_2.0.0_LINUX_DOCS