Automation of the initial writing of the Verdin iMX8M Plus SoM

Technical Support
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1

We would like to ask about the first writing of the Verdin iMX8M Plus SoM.

We are preparing for volume production of products with Verdin iMX8M Plus SoM.

The matter on which we would like you to share your ideas is how to automate the initial writing of the SoM.

The method we employ is to connect an HDMI, a mouse and a USB stick containing the image to the product using EasyInstaller. Then, the operator selects the write file with the mouse while watching the screen and performs the initial write.

This method is very inefficient.

Since the write image is fixed, we are looking for a way to automatically start writing to the SoM just by turning the power on.

The most ideal method is to be able to write to several units at the same time.

Is there any good way to do this?

2

Hi, I’m the Toradex AI Assistant. I’m in early beta, and I would appreciate your feedback.
The Toradex Support team will follow up with you shortly!

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For automating the initial writing of the Verdin iMX8M Plus SoM, you can leverage the Toradex Easy Installer with the autoinstall feature. This will allow you to flash the image automatically and unattended, significantly improving efficiency. Here are the steps you can follow:

Automatic Installation with Toradex Easy Installer

  1. Prepare the Image:

    • Ensure your OS image has the autoinstall property set to true. This property enables the image to be flashed automatically without manual intervention.

  2. Set Up the Storage Device:

    • Use a storage device (e.g., USB stick) with only one image having the autoinstall property set to true to avoid conflicts.

  3. Unattended Flashing Over Ethernet:

    • HTTP Web Server:
      • Host the image on an HTTP web server (e.g., Nginx). Configure the Verdin iMX8M Plus SoM to connect to this server upon boot.
      • When the module connects to the local network and identifies the web server, it will automatically start flashing the image.
    • TorizonCore Builder:
      • Use the TorizonCore Builder command images serve to serve the OS images via HTTP from a directory on your host machine.
      • Any device within the same network running Toradex Easy Installer can view this list of images and install them. Combined with the autoinstall property, this allows for unattended flashing over Ethernet.

Steps for Unattended Flashing Over Ethernet

  1. Set Up the Web Server:

    • Install and configure a web server (e.g., Nginx) on your host machine.
    • Place the OS image in the web server’s directory.

  2. Configure the SoM:

    • Ensure the Verdin iMX8M Plus SoM is set to boot and connect to the web server upon power-up.
    • If a storage device is unavailable, configure the URL searched by the device to match the server you are providing.

  3. DNS Workaround:

    • If necessary, use a DNS workaround to ensure the SoM can locate the web server.

Flashing Multiple Units Simultaneously

  • By setting up a network with multiple Verdin iMX8M Plus SoMs, each configured to connect to the same web server, you can flash several units at the same time. This setup allows for scalable
3

Hi @p-uchi , thanks for reaching out. @ToradexAI is pretty much correct. You have the autoinstall feature on the image.json from the Toradex Easy Installer.

That allows for a no-touch installation. This has all our best practices for Production Programming:

You still need to check the installation with an HDMI screen or through VNC to make sure it completed correctly.

Hope this helps.
Alvaro.

4

Thanks for the replies, @alvaro.tx and @ToradexAI.

I was able to use the automatic installation feature in Toradex Easy Installer’s image.json.
Thanks to you we have made a lot of progress.

But we want to automate it a bit more.
I tried the “External Media Approach” on Verdin Development Board with the Verdin iMX8M Plus SoM.

[Procedure]

  1. Format SD card to FAT32.

  2. Unzip Easy Installer into the root directory.(The boot-tezi.scr does not exist in Verdin-iMX8MP_ToradexEasyInstaller_6.7.0+build.7 and there was only boot.scr, so I did not rename it.)

    Verdin-iMX8MP_ToradexEasyInstaller_6.7.0+build.7$ tree
    .
    ├── boot.scr
    ├── image.json
    ├── imx-boot-recoverytezi
    ├── imx-boot-sd
    ├── overlays.txt
    ├── recovery
    │ ├── uuu
    │ ├── uuu.auto
    │ └── uuu.exe
    ├── recovery-linux.README
    ├── recovery-linux.sh
    ├── recovery-windows.README
    ├── recovery-windows.bat
    ├── tezi.itb
    ├── tezi.png

  3. Insert the external media on the carrier board.

  4. Power on the carrier board.(with and without recovery mode).

EasyInstoller does not start after trying the External Media Approach with this procedure.
Have I done something wrong with the procedure?

5

@p-uchi Not sure what you are trying to do now. In case you want to run Toradex Easy Installer in every module to then install your autoinstall image, please remember that all Toradex SOMs come with Toradex Easy Installer flashed by default. So just plugging in a new module will load Toradex Easy Installer and install your image without any user interaction.

Do you need to rewrite old modules or new modules?

6

@alvaro.tx
Thank you for your reply.

The aforementioned information about the Toradex Som default image being flashed is very good information.
I did not know this fact.

What I want to do is exactly what you describe, install module by module.
The purpose is to skip the process of connecting the host PC to the carrier board via USB, running recovery-windows.bat on the host PC and installing EasyInstaller on the modules.

I have experimented with the new SoM that was delivered and confirmed that EasyInstaller runs without any connection to the host PC, so my goal seems to be achieved.

Thank you for your support.

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