HummingBoard Pulse & i.MX8M Plus SOM Quick Start Guide
- Kareiman Fadly (Unlicensed)
- Yazan Shhady
- SolidRun
Introduction
The following quick start guide provides background information about the HummingBoard Pulse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
Oct 28, 2021 |
| 1.0 | Initial release |
Dec 4, 2023 |
| 1.1 | Add More Features |
Table of Contents |
| ||
Hardware Setup
Product specifications
Model | HummingBoard Pulse |
|---|---|
SOM Model | NXP i.MX8M Dual / Quad core Arm Cortex A53 up to 1.5GHz (with Arm M4 GPP) NXP i.MX8M Mini Single to Quad core Arm Cortex A53 up to 1.8GHz (with Arm M4 GPP) |
Memory & Storage | Up to 4GB LPDDR4 |
Network | 2 x RJ45 |
Connectivity | 2 x USB 3.0 * |
Media | HDMI 2.0 out ** Onboard audio codec |
I/O | 1 x Reset button |
OS Support | Linux |
Environment | Commercial: Industrial: Humidity (non-condensing): 10% – 90% |
Dimensions | Board: 102mm x 69mm |
Power | 7V – 28V wide range |
Enclosure | Optional extruded aluminum (IP32) enclosure |
|
Supported with i.MX8M-PLUS SOM. For more detailed information about our SOM-i.MX8M series please visit this user manual : i.MX8M Plus SOM Hardware User Manual .
Please note
(*) Only USB 2.0 supported with the i.MX8M Mini SoC.
(**) Only supported with the i.MX8M SoC.
(***) Only 1 x MIPI-CSI supported with the i.MX8M Mini SoC.
Block Diagram
The following figure describes the i.MX8M Plus Block Diagram.
Visual features overview
Please see below the features overview of the connector side of the HummingBoard Pulse.
Print side connector overview of the HummingBoard Pulse.
Software Setup
Cable setup and prerequisites
Here is what you will need to power up and use the board:
Linux or Windows PC
HummingBoard Pulse with SOM
12V Power adapter (HummingBoard Pulse has wide range input of 7V-28V), alternatively you can use a PoE injector to power on the device.
Micro USB to USB for console, the HummingBoard Pulse has an onboard FTDI chip.
IP router or IP switch
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 Pulse and Ripple Boot Select .
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 an SD card.
1. 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/IMX8/imx8mp_build/build_date_20240617-rev_87b97f9/imx8mp-sdhc-debian-87b97f9.img.xzFor more Debian releases, please visit Debian Release for i.MX8.
2. Writing the image to the SD card
Use the following commands for writing the image to an SD card:
xz -dc imx8mp-sdhc-debian-87b97f9.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4k conv=fdatasync status=progressFor more information, please visit Flashing an SD Card .
3. SD card insertion
Please Insert the SD card into your device.
4. Power connection
Connect your power adaptor to the DC jack, and then connect the adaptor to mains supply.
5. 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:
In order to be able to log in , please insert “root” as a username and password as follows:
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
rebootFor more detailed information, please refer to i.MX8M 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:
1. To bring a WiFi interface up, run the following :
2. Install the wpa_supplicant package:
3. Edit network interfaces file :
At the bottom of the file, add the following lines to allow wlan as a network connection:
4. Create a configuration file with the relevant ssid:
5. Make sure it works:
Restart your device and it should connect to the wireless network. 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
1. For showing all Bluetooth devices, run the following:
2. Choose a device, and turn it on:
3. Set up the Bluetooth name:
4. Make your Bluetooth detectable by other devices:
5. If you want to connect to other devices:
Start by scanning for other Bluetooth devices:
Choose a MAC address and connect :
You can check the communication between the devices by writing :
GPIO Pins Control
In order to be able to control the GPIO pins, please refer to GPIO Pins Control - HummingBoard Pulse/Mate & i.MX8M Plus SOM
Enable the MINI-PCIe slot ‘J20’
To activate the mini-pcie connector you should run the commands bellow (Enable the modem Power & do Rest):
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.
For some cellular modules to be connected, please refer to Cellular Modules .
Enable the M.2 slot ‘M1’
To activate the M.2 connector you should run the commands bellow (Enable the modem Power & do Rest):
SPI
For testing you serial peripheral interface - SPI, please see this documentation SPI from Linux with spidev.
Audio
First, you need to check that the required device is the default one by run:
If the sysdefault:CARD doesn’t set to wm8904 like this example
Then you can play sound with choosing the device who set to wm8904 and generate audio, in the above situation the device is hw:CARD=wm8904audio so the test will work as this:
NOTE: the “ -c “ flag used to set the number of the channels that you have in your audio output device, in my example I have 2 channels.
If the sysdefault:CARD=wm8904 you can test with this command:
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.
Make a directory for the output of the Weston GUI.
Give permissions to this directory.
Set the XDG_RUNTIME_DIR env param to your directory.
Run Weston.
For working with GNOME GUI on top of Xorg:
Install Xorg.
Install your desired gnome.
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.
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) :
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.
Basler Camera
For getting started with the Camera Module on your board, please see this documentation Basler Camera Quick Start Guide.
TLV EEPROM Support
Starting from April 01. 2022, the EEPROMs on Carriers, i.MX8M Plus SoMs are being programmed with identifying information such as the product name and SKUs to allow for programmatic identification of hardware. Check our iMXMP EEPROM documentation for additional information.
List Of Supported OS
Build from source
Documentation
Related Articles
Related pages
SolidRun Ltd.