QNX SDP 7.1 BSP release for Nitrogen93 SMARC

Blackberry_QNX

We are proud to present our latest QNX SDP 7.1 BSP for our Nitrogen93 SMARC board.

For the impatient

You can download the BSP below:

Changelog v1.0 to v1.1:

  • add LVDS display support
  • add RTC support
  • add CAN driver support
  • fix UART driver build issue

If you wish to test a pre-built binary before checking the BSP source code, here it is:

This latter can be programmed in different ways:

  • One can follow our programming eMMC guide
  • One can use Balena Etcher to program its SD card or USB drive
  • Linux users can also program it to SD Card or USB Stick using zcat and dd:
    ~$ zcat BSP_ezurio-imx93-nitrogen-smarc-sdp710-jbn6-v1.1.img.gz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=1M
    

We also recommend reading our QNX Getting Started Guide article to learn about building/debugging QNX apps. Although this article has been written for QNX6.6, the info still applies for QNX7.1.

Nitrogen93 SMARC BSP features

This section will detail all the currently supported features of the BSP.

Network support

Both gigabit Ethernet ports (ETH0 & ETH1) are supported:

  • ETH0 interface is called dwc0
# ifconfig dwc0
dwc0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        capabilities=1f<IP4CSUM,TCP4CSUM,UDP4CSUM,TCP6CSUM,UDP6CSUM>
        enabled=0
        address: 00:19:b8:00:82:17
        media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT full-duplex,flowcontrol)
        status: active
        inet 192.168.1.73 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        inet6 fe80::219:b8ff:fe00:8217%dwc0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x11
# ping google.com
PING google.com (142.250.201.174): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 142.250.201.174: icmp_seq=0 ttl=116 time=3 ms
64 bytes from 142.250.201.174: icmp_seq=1 ttl=116 time=3 ms
64 bytes from 142.250.201.174: icmp_seq=2 ttl=116 time=3 ms
64 bytes from 142.250.201.174: icmp_seq=3 ttl=116 time=3 ms

----google.com PING Statistics----
4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 3/3/3 ms   variance = 0 ms
  • ETH1 interface is called fec0
# SOCK=/alt ifconfig fec0
fec0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        address: 00:19:b8:00:82:16
        media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT full-duplex,flowcontrol)
        status: active
        inet 192.168.1.72 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
        inet6 fe80::219:b8ff:fe00:8216%fec0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x11
# SOCK=/alt ping google.com
PING google.com (142.250.201.174): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 142.250.201.174: icmp_seq=0 ttl=116 time=4 ms
64 bytes from 142.250.201.174: icmp_seq=1 ttl=116 time=4 ms
64 bytes from 142.250.201.174: icmp_seq=2 ttl=116 time=4 ms
64 bytes from 142.250.201.174: icmp_seq=3 ttl=116 time=4 ms

----google.com PING Statistics----
4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 4/4/4 ms   variance = 0 ms

SD / eMMC support

Both SD card (on carrier board) and eMMC (on module) are supported:

# ls /dev/sd* /dev/emmc*
/dev/emmc0         /dev/emmc2         /dev/emmc6
/dev/emmc0t12      /dev/emmc3         /dev/emmc7
/dev/emmc0t179     /dev/emmc4         /dev/sd0
/dev/emmc1         /dev/emmc5         /dev/sd0t131
# mount -t dos -o exe=all /dev/emmc0t12 /emmc-fat/
# ls -l /emmc-fat/
total 17885
-rwxrwxrwx   1 root      root            198 Jun 21  2024 boot.scr
-rwxrwxrwx   1 root      root        9156408 Jun 28  2024 qnx-ifs
# mount -t qnx6 /dev/emmc0t179 /emmc-qnx/
# ls -l /emmc-qnx/
total 24
drwxrwxr-x   3 root      root           4096 Jun 28  2024 etc
drwxrwxr-x   2 root      root           4096 Jun 28  2024 scripts
drwxrwxr-x   3 root      root           4096 Jun 28  2024 var

USB Host support

All the USB Host ports of the Nitrogen93 SMARC device are supported.

# ls /dev/umass0*
/dev/umass0        /dev/umass0t131
# mount -t dos -o exe=all /dev/umass0t131 /mnt
# ls /mnt/
song.wav

Audio support

This BSP includes support for our WM8962 codec which can be used as follows:

# wave /mnt/song.wav

You can control the volume thanks to the mix_ctl tool:

# mix_ctl group "Headphone",0 mute=on

GPIO / UART / I2C / SPI support

The BSP does support all the standard embedded IPs such as UART / I2C / SPI / GPIO of the i.MX 8M Plus.

Here is a list of the exposed IPs:

# ls /dev/ser*
/dev/ser1    /dev/ser2    /dev/ser6    /dev/ser8
# ls /dev/i2c*
/dev/i2c1    /dev/i2c2    /dev/i2c3
# ls /dev/spi*
/dev/spi1    /dev/spi3

All the above nodes can be accessed from your application using QNX API:

The GPIO node however should be used via the gpio-test binary:

# use gpio-test
gpio-test - Utility for the GPIO Resource Manager

Usage:
gpio-test -b bank -p pin [options]

Note:
- This utility does *not* configure the IOMUXC.
  The IOMUXC pin muxing may need to be configured separately.

Options:
-b bank         Set the GPIO bank number
-p pin          Set the GPIO pin number being accessed
-i              Configure the specified GPIO pin as an input
-o state        Configure the specified GPIO pin as output and set its state
-w state        Set the output state of the specified GPIO pin
-N path         Specify the location of the GPIO resource manger to attach to
                The default path is /dev/gpio

We also provide a similar approach for the PCAL6534 GPIO expander that is present on the SMARC in order to easily set/clear pins connected to it:

# use gpio-pcal6534
gpio-pcal6534 - Utility for the PCAL6534 GPIO expander

Usage:
gpio-pcal6534 -a i2c_addr -b i2c_bus -p pin [options]

Options:
-a i2c_addr     Set the PCAL6534 I2C address
-b i2c_bus      Set the PCAL6534 I2C bus index
-p pin          Set the GPIO pin number being accessed
-i              Configure the specified GPIO pin as an input
-o              Configure the specified GPIO pin as output and set its state
-w state        Set the output state of the specified GPIO pin

Examples:
- Configure GPB7 as an input
gpio-pcal6534 -a 0x20 -b 6 -p 15 -i

- Configure GPA6 as an output high
gpio-pcal6534 -a 0x20 -b 6 -p 6 -o1

- Print the state of GPA6
gpio-pcal6534 -a 0x20 -b 6 -p 6

CAN support

The BSP includes the CAN driver for the i.MX 93 that can be used with canctl:

# canctl -u1,rx0 -i
Message queue size: 100
Wait queue size:    16
Mode:               IO
Bitrate:            250000 Baud
Bitrate prescaler:  20
Sync jump width:    1
Time segment 1:     8
Time segment 2:     2
TX mailboxes:       32
RX mailboxes:       32
Loopback:           NONE
Autobus:            OFF
Silent mode:        OFF
# canctl -u1,rx0 -M
GET_MID = 0x100C0000
# canctl -u1,rx0 -M
GET_MID = 0x100C0000
# canctl -u1,rx0 -r
READ_CANMSG_EXT 1:
   mid = 0x100C0000
   timestamp = 0xC25A
   dat len = 4
   dat =  de ad be ef
          ....
# echo test > /dev/can1/tx32

Display support

The BSP supports LVDS output which can be tested using the sw-vsync application using either our BD070LIC3 or BD101LIC3:

# sw-vsync
sw-vsync self layout 0
319 frames in  5.000 seconds = 63.800 FPS
319 frames in  5.012 seconds = 63.647 FPS

During that test, your display should look like below: sw-vsync

IPL bootloader

Our BSP currently works if U-Boot is your main bootloader. U-Boot offers many features like boot from network, USB, display splash screen etc… However, U-Boot is GPL licensed, which can be inconvenient for some customers.

That is why we offer IPL support which allows to boot from either SD or eMMC.

You can flash it using fastboot:

fastboot flash bootloader images/ipl-nitrogen93-smarc.imx

Then the boot log should look like the following:

Boot device: eMMC chip
NOTICE:  BL31: v2.6(release):android-13.0.0_1.0.0-rc2-0-g80f5da009
NOTICE:  BL31: Built : 13:30:26, Dec  1 2022
Welcome to QNX Neutrino Initial Program Loader for Ezurio Nitrogen93 SMARC
ATF commit: 80f5da0
Command:
Press 'D' for serial download, using the 'sendnto' utility
Press 'M' for SDMMC download, IFS filename MUST be 'QNX-IFS'.
Press 'E' for eMMC download, IFS filename MUST be 'QNX-IFS'.
eMMC download...
load image done.
Found image               @ 0x88000FA0
Jumping to startup        @ 0x80801800

board_smp_num_cpu: 2 cores
board_smp_num_cpu: 2 cores
board_smp_num_cpu: 2 cores
board_smp_num_cpu: 2 cores
Welcome to QNX Neutrino 7.1.0 on the Ezurio Nitrogen93 SMARC board
...

QNX Momentics IDE integration

This BSP can be imported by the QNX Momentics IDE:

qde-import

Then the BSP can be modified and built as needed: qde-bsp-view

Finally, the IDE brings many tools that can be used to profile the system while it is running: qde-sys-info

DDR variants

This BSP can be built for Nitrogen93 SMARC platforms with either 1GB or 2GB of LPDDR4.

By default, the build considers 1GB of LPDDR4, in order to change to 2GB you need to set an environment variable to build the BSP:

$ source /opt/qnx710/qnxsdp-env.sh
$ DDR_SIZE=2048 make

Or if you use the IDE, you can add a build variable in the project properties as shown below: qde-build-variable