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Hello Simon,
Thank you for outlining your requirements clearly. What you’re proposing is entirely feasible with the Verdin iMX8MP, Toradex Easy Installer (Tezi), and a bit of customization. Here’s how you can approach each aspect:
1. Booting into Tezi via SSH/Script
You can allow an engineer to SSH into the device when Linux is running and change the U-Boot environment to boot Tezi on the next reset. The recommended technique is:
- Store Tezi on internal storage or SD/eMMC. Make sure the Tezi image or loader is always present.
- Set up a bootloader “flag”. Use a U-Boot environment variable to control which image boots (normal Linux or Tezi).
- Trigger Tezi via SSH:
- SSH in, set the flag to “Tezi”.
- Reboot the device.
- On next boot, U-Boot checks the flag, loads Tezi instead of the default OS.
Here is a U-Boot snippet idea for the boot script:
if test "$boot_tezi" = "1"; then
setenv boot_tezi 0
saveenv
run load_tezi
else
run load_normal_os
fi
Read more about custom boot scripts in Tezi here:
2. Customizing Tezi with a Fixed IP for VNC
Tezi supports custom boot scripts (boot.cmd), which can be compiled to boot.scr. You can preset network parameters such as IP, Netmask, Gateway, and Server IP.
Example boot.cmd:
setenv ipaddr 192.168.1.100
setenv netmask 255.255.255.0
setenv gatewayip 192.168.1.1
setenv serverip 192.168.1.10
setenv bootargs console=ttymxc0,115200 quiet rootfstype=squashfs root=/dev/ram autoinstall fullscreen ${teziargs}
load ${devtype} ${devnum}:${distro_bootpart} ${ramdisk_addr_r} ${prefix}tezi.itb
bootm start ${ramdisk_addr_r} && bootm loados && bootm ramdisk && bootm fdt
bootm prep && bootm go
3. Remote Access & Installation
- VNC Access:
Tezi comes with VNC server enabled by default, so after booting it (with your fixed IP), your engineer can connect the VNC client remotely.
- Security Note: Tezi VNC does not implement authentication, so use this on trusted networks only.
- Supplying Images:
You can host your update image on the engineer’s laptop, a local LAN, or pre-copy it to the device. Alternatively, set up a small TFTP or HTTP server for installation.
4. Automatic Installation
By setting the "autoinstall": true parameter in the Tezi image’s image.json file, installation can proceed without any further interaction once the correct image is found.
https://www.toradex.com/blog/toradex-easy-installer-user-manual-for-bsp5
5. Fully Remote (No On-site Engineer)
If you want to go further and eliminate on-site intervention:
- Ensure SSH is accessible (from a secure network) for initial trigger.
- Set up VPN or remote management solution to expose the Ethernet network with fixed IPs and VNC in a controlled, secure way.
Summary Steps
- SSH into device and set a U-Boot variable (e.g.,
boot_tezi).
- Reboot the device; U-Boot loads Tezi based on the variable.
- Tezi boots with a fixed network configuration for remote VNC access.
- Provide the fix image via a local PC/server, USB, or pre-load.
- Optionally, Tezi installs automatically using the
autoinstall flag.
Would you like more detailed steps for customizing the Tezi image or scripting the U-Boot logic?
Best regards,
Toradex AI Assistant.
