Introduction
The following quick start guide provides background information about the HummingBoard RZ/G2LC.
The guide will give a technical overview about the product and by the end of it you should be able to boot an operating system and begin testing your application.
Revision and Notes
Date | Owner | Revision | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Yazan Shhady | 1.0 | Initial release | |
Yazan Shhady | 1.1 | Updated SW Versions | |
May 15, 2023 | Yazan Shhady | 1.2 | Updated SD SW Versions |
Table of Contents |
Hardware Setup
Product specifications
HUMMINGBOARD RZ/G2LC | |
---|---|
I/Os | 2 x USB 3.0 1 x MIPI-CSI |
Networking | 1 x Ethernet RJ45 10/100 |
Processor | Renesas RZ/G2LC Dual core Arm Cortex A55 up to 1.2GHz + Cortex M33 |
Memory & Storage | Up to 2GB DDR4 |
Display | micro HDMI |
Misc. | 1 x Reset button |
Development and Debug interfaces | Micro USB |
Power | 7V – 36V |
Expansion card I/Os | mikroBUS header |
Temperature | Commercial: 0°C to 70°C |
Dimensions | PCBA: 100 x 70mm |
Enclosure | Extruded aluminium |
Supported with RZ/G2LC SOM. For more detailed information about our SOM-RZ/G2LC series please visit this user manual : RZ/G2LC SOM Hardware User Manual .
Block Diagram
The following figure describes the RZ/G2LC Block Diagram.
Visual features overview
Please see below the features overview of the connector side of the HummingBoard RZ/G2LC
Print side connector overview of the HummingBoard RZ/G2LC.
Software Setup
Cable setup and prerequisites
Here is what you will need to power up and use the board:
Linux or Windows PC
HummingBoard Ripple with RZ/G2LC SOM (HummingBoard RZ/G2LC)
12V Power adapter (HummingBoard Ripple has wide range input of 7V-36V, it is recommended to use 12V power adapter).
Micro USB to USB for console, the HummingBoard Ripple has an onboard FTDI chip.
IP router or IP switch
USB Disk and SD Card
Boot Select
Before powering up the board for the first time it is recommended to select the boot media. In order to configure the boot media, please refer to HummingBoard RZ/G2LC Boot Select .
eMMC and SD connect to the same SDIO signals via MUX so we can’t have access to the SD & eMMC at the same time, select eMMC/SD by setting switch S3{6} → off : eMMC , on : SD
Booting from SD card
The following shows how to set the switches on the boot source selector:
Please Note:
The black rectangle represents the switch position.
Once you set the switches, you can apply the following for booting from SD card:
Downloading the Debian image
Download the Debian image by running the following command on your Linux/Windows PC:wget https://solid-run-images.sos-de-fra-1.exo.io/RZ/rzg2lc_build/20231122-6391518/rzg2lc-solidrun-sd-debian-6391518.img.xz
For more Debian releases, please visit Debian Releases for RZ/G2LC.
Writing the image to the SD card
Use the following commands for writing the image to an SD card:xz -dc rzg2lc-solidrun-sd-debian-6391518.img.xz | dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4k conv=fdatasync
For more information, please visit Flashing an SD Card .
Note: Plug a micro SD into your Linux PC, the following assumes that the USB-Disk / Micro-SD is added as /dev/sdX and all it’s partitions are unmounted.
SD card insertion
Please Insert the SD card into your device.Power connection
Connect your power adaptor to the DC jack, and then connect the adaptor to mains supply.Power On
Hold on the On/Off Power button - SW1 (as shown in the figure below)Note: The system should turn on by default when the power is connected (without pressing the button).
Serial Connection
Please insert the micro USB into your device, then you can refer to Serial Connection for installing necessary serial connection software in Linux/Windows.
Once you installed the necessary serial connection software, you should be able to see the following:
Enter “root” in the login like the above example and then you can move on to use the device.
Final stages
The following stages need to be done in order to finalise the imaging:
Run
fdisk /dev/mmcblk0
if using SD or eMMC.Recreate the rootfs partition (mostly the second partition) by deleting it and then creating a new partition that starts at the next sector after the first one and extends to the end of the drive (or less depending on your needs).
Write the new partition, when prompt about ‘Do you want to remove the signature?’ then answer with Yes.
Run
resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p2
if using SD Card or eMMC.In this stage the root partition should be big enough to start populating it; but first update the RTC clock.
Connect the RJ45 to your network with internet access (and DHCP server); and then run
dhclient
.Update the RTC clock by running
ntpdate pool.ntp.org
and thenhwclock -w
.Run apt-update commands below and then populate the root filesystem as you wish.
$ apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y
Here is an example of the process until the 3rd step (include):
After those steps you should end the process in this way (step 4 to the end):
In the end you should see with “lsblk” that the partition size is in the required size.
More Features
Internet
Connect an Ethernet cable to your HummingBoard Pulse (for internet access during boot-up).
Models HummingBoard with WiFi, can be connected via WiFi or wired Ethernet.
Please check you Ethernet connection.
Use the following commands in order to keep your system up-to-date:
apt-get update apt-get upgrade reboot
For more detailed information, please refer to RZ/G2LC Debian .
WiFi
You can connect to WiFi using any application, such as : connmanctl or wpa_spplicant.
An example for connecting to WiFi using wpa_supplicant:
To bring a WiFi interface up, run the following :
$ ifconfig wlan0 up
To discover your wireless network interface name, see Network Interfaces.
Install the wpa_supplicant package:
$ apt-get install wpasupplicant
Edit network interfaces file :
At the bottom of the file, add the following lines to allow wlan as a network connection:
cat <<EOF > /etc/network/interfaces.d/wlan0 allow-hotplug wlan0 iface wlan0 inet dhcp wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf iface default inet dhcp EOF
Create a configuration file with the relevant ssid:
cat <<EOF > /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf ctrl_interface=/run/wpa_supplicant update_config=1 network={ ssid="MYSSID" psk="passphrase" } EOF
Check your personal ssids by running : ‘iw dev wlan0 scan’
Make sure it works:
Restart your device and it should connect to the wireless network. You can check it by running the command $ iwconfig
. If it doesn't, repeat above steps or get help from an adult.
For more information about using wpa_supplicant , you can refer to wpa_supplicant or wpa_supplicant.
Bluetooth
For showing all Bluetooth devices, run the following:
$ apt-get install bluez $ bluetoothctl
Turn the device on:
[bluetooth]# power on
Make your Bluetooth detectable by other devices:
[bluetooth]# discoverable on
If you want to connect to other devices:
Start by scanning for other Bluetooth devices:
[bluetooth]# scan on
Choose a MAC address and connect :
[bluetooth]# pair $MAC
You can check the pairing list between the devices by writing :
[bluetooth]# paired-devices
Cellular Modem
The cellular modem is a more fully featured extension of which contains a cellular module with additional hardware interfaces and a SIM card slot.
You can connect your cellular modem to the mPCIe, and insert a SIM card.
How to connect to the network:
1. Install “modemmanager” package on your debian.$ sudo apt install modemmanager
2. Search for your modem location:
$ mmcli -L
3. Connect to your modem:
$ mmcli --modem=/your/modem/location
4. Enable the modem:
$ mmcli --modem=/your/modem/location -e
5. Scan for networks:
$ mmcli --modem=/your/modem/location --3gpp-scan
6. connect to 3gpp network:
$ mmcli --modem=/your/modem/location --3gpp-register-in-operator=<network ID>
7. Make sure the connection was created:
$ mmcli --modem=/your/modem/location
For some cellular modules to be connected, please refer to Cellular Modules .
GUI On Debian
There is an option with the Debian image, up to the user, to work with a GUI like Weston, GNOME and etc.
For applying this option do the following steps:
First, connect your device to a screen using the working output (HDMI / uHDMI).
For working with Weston GUI:
Install the Weston package.
sudo apt install weston
Set the XDG_RUNTIME_DIR env param.
cat << 'EOF' > /etc/profile.d/weston.sh if test -z "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR"; then export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/`id -u` if ! test -d "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}"; then # Make a directory for the output of the Weston GUI mkdir --parents "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}" chmod 0700 "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}" fi fi EOF
Restart the system
reboot
Start Weston (must be run from the Dissplay Terminal)
weston
Run the weston
command from the Dissplay Terminal using keyboard (PHYSICAL TERMINAL not serial session or remote connection)
For working with GNOME GUI on top of Xorg:
Install Xorg.
$ sudo apt install xorg
Install your desired gnome.
$ sudo apt install gnome-session
NOTE: ‘gnome-session’ is an example of gnome that we can work with, you can replace the ‘session' with another GNOME extention.
Start your GNOME GUI.
$ sudo systemctl start gdm
For logging in you need a user on your device to log into it. You can create one before step 3 by this command (replace the ‘username’ with name that you want) :
$ sudo adduser username
You can jump between GUIs that you install (like gnome-session) by the setting button that locates in the down right corner of the home screen.
List Of Supported OS
Quick start Yocto and Buildroot
For working with a different distro except the Debian you have 2 option, here is the way of doing it:
Yocto
Clone the repository from the above link of supported OS and move your terminal to this directory.
Download the layers by this command
$ repo init -u https://github.com/SolidRun/meta-solidrun-arm-rzg2lc.git -b dunfell -m meta-solidrun-arm-rzg2lc.xml $ repo sync
In this stage you can modify your image configs as you want, you can find more info about it the the repository.
For graphics support you need to explore in the readme file in the github and follow the instructions of this utility.
Set the environment of the image that going to be build by this command
$ TEMPLATECONF=$PWD/meta-solidrun-arm-rzg2lc/docs/template/conf/rzg2lc-solidrun source poky/oe-init-build-env build
Build your own Yocto image by this command
$ MACHINE=rzg2lc-hummingboard bitbake <target>
NOTE: Choose your relevant target, for example:
-core-image-bsp: cli image.
-core-image-weston: graphical image.
-core-image-qt: graphical image including qt.
Buildroot
Clone the repository from the above link of supported OS and move your terminal to this directory.
In this stage you can modify your image configs as you want, you can find more info about it the the repository.
Build your own Buildrtoot image by this command
$ MACHINE=rzg2lc-hummingboard ./runme.sh
NOTE: after you generate your image you can flash to a sd card and boot your device.