ClearFog GT 8K Quick Start Guide

Owned by SolidRun
Last updated: Jun 01, 2022 by Kareiman Fadly
5 min read

 

Introduction

The following quick start guide provides background information about the ClearFog GT 8K.

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

Date

Owner

Revision

Notes

Oct 28, 2021

 

1.0

Initial release

Table of Contents

Hardware Setup

Product Specifications

Processor

Marvell ARMADA A8040 quad-core Arm Cortex A72 (up to 2Ghz)

Memory & Storage

up to 16GB DDR4 SO-DIMM

 

M.2 (optional support via adapter)

 

MicroSD

 

eMMC

Connectivity

4 x 1GbE switched LAN (RJ45)

 

1 x 1GbE WAN (RJ45)

 

3 x mPCIe (USB 2.0 + PCIe) *

 

1 x USB 3.0

 

1 x SFP+ (up to 10GbE)

I/O

GPIO header

 

Indication LEDs

 

User Push Buttons

 

UART header for debug

OS Support

Linux Kernel 4.4x, Ubuntu 16.04, Google IoT Platform

Power

12V input DC jack

Dimensions

Board: 177mm x 110mm

 

Enclosed: 195 x 118 x 32mm

Enclosure

Optional ruggedized extruded aluminum (IP32) enclosure

 

Please note

(*) The default configuration in the release software:

  • CON4 = mPCIe0 configure to be PCIe

  • CON3 = mPCI1 configure to SATA (can use mpcie to m.2 adapter)

  • CON2 = mPCI2 configure to be USB 3.0 (can connect an LTE modem, this slot has a SIM connection)

You can change the configuration as needed

Block Diagram

The following figure describes the ClearFog GT 8K Block Diagram.

What’s in the box?

  • ClearFog GT 8K

  • SO-DIMM Memory (size depends on the order)

  • 12V 2.5A 220/110 Power adapter EU/US version (Optional)

  • 16GB Micro SD card (Optional)

  • Heatsink with a fan

Cable setup and prerequisites

Here is what you will need to power up the board:

  • Linux or Windows PC

  • ClearFog GT 8K

  • 12V Power adapter

  • USB to UART cable

  • IP router or IP switch

HW interfaces

Please see below the features overview of the connector side of the ClearFog GT 8K.

Print side connector overview of the ClearFog GT 8K.

Software Setup

Cable setup and prerequisites

Here is what you will need to power up the board:

  • Linux or Windows PC

  • ClearFog GT 8K

  • Power adapter 12V@2.5A

  • USB to UART adapter for console

  • IP router or IP switch

The following is a list of industry-standard cables, sorted by type, with the necessary compliance requirements that have been proven to work well with the ClearFog product family.

These examples are the cables which SolidRun uses for testing, and should provide enough information to source products from your preferred cable vendor.

  • Ethernet cable: Monoprice 24AWG Cat6A 500MHz STP

  • USB Cable: SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Type A Male to Female Extension Cable in Black

  • SFP connector: GigaLite GE-GB-P1RT-E SFP module with Monoprice 24AWG Cat6A 500MHz STP cable

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 ClearFog GT-8K Boot Select .

Booting from an SPI card

The switches on the boot source SW6 selector must be set as follows:

Switch 1

Switch 2

Switch 3

Switch 4

Switch 5

OFF

OFF

ON

OFF

OFF


The following shows how to set the switches on the boot source selector: 

Once you set the switches, you can apply the following for booting from an SD card.

Please Note:

Boot is made from SPI by default

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/8040/Debian/sr-8040-debian-buster-20190616-cfgt-sdhc.img.xz

  • For more Debian releases, Download a pre-built snapshot image from SolidRun Images

2. Writing the image to the SD card

Use the following commands for writing the image to an SD card:

xz -dc sr-8040-debian-buster-20190616-cfgt-sdhc.img.xz | dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4k conv=fdatasync

Note: Plug a micro SD into your Linux PC, the following assumes that the micro SD is added as /dev/sdX and all it’s partitions are unmounted.

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.

Connecting a USB to UART adapter to ClearFog GT 8K

On the top side of the ClearFog GT 8K, there is a header for connecting the adapter cable (J27). The cable should be connected as seen at the picture below:

 

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 “debian” as a username and password as follows:

More Features

Internet

Connect an Ethernet cable to your HummingBoard Pulse (for internet access during boot-up).

  • Please check your Ethernet connection.

  • Use the following commands in order to keep your system up-to-date:

apt-get update apt-get upgrade reboot

Build From Source

ClearFog GT 8K With Enclosure

Documentation

  File Modified

PDF File ClearFog-GT-8K-rev-1_1-Simplified-Schematics.pdf

Dec 28, 2021 by SolidRun

File ClearFog GT 8K Full Board Assy_Rev.1.rar

Dec 28, 2021 by SolidRun

SolidRun Ltd.