Migration from Rocko 2.8 to scathgap

Technical Support
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1

Hi Folks,

I am facing spi driver issue on apalis imx with custom board. The spi doesnot bind automatically and therefore doesnot show up in the /dev/spi*. I am following the tutorial “SPI (Linux) | Toradex Developer Center”.

here is my dts file configuration for spi:

&ecspi1 {
	status = "okay";

	spidev0: spidev@1 {
		compatible = "spidev";
		reg = <0>;
		spi-max-frequency = <18000000>;
	};
};

Thank you.

2

Hi, I’m the Toradex AI Assistant.

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Hello! Thank you for reaching out with your SPI driver issue on the Apalis iMX with a custom board.

Based on your device tree configuration, there are a couple of items you should adjust to ensure proper automatic driver binding:

1. Node Name and reg Property Alignment

Your node is named spidev@1 but uses reg = <0>. For proper binding, these must be consistent:

  • Option 1: spidev@0 with reg = <0>
  • Option 2: spidev@1 with reg = <1>

Choose the option that matches your intended chip select.

2. Compatible String

For Apalis modules, using compatible = "spidev" may not work reliably. It’s recommended to use compatible = "toradex,evalspi".

3. Corrected Device Tree Snippet

Here’s how your device tree should look:

&ecspi1 {
    status = "okay";

    spidev0: spidev@0 {
        compatible = "toradex,evalspi";
        reg = <0>;
        spi-max-frequency = <18000000>;
    };
};

Make sure the node name and reg property match, and use the recommended compatible string.

For more detail, see:

4. Manual Binding (If Automatic Fails)

If the device node still doesn’t appear in /dev/spi* (or /dev/apalis-spi...), try manual binding:

  1. List SPI devices:
    ls /sys/bus/spi/devices
  2. If you see (for example) spi1.0, bind manually:
    echo spidev > /sys/bus/spi/devices/spi1.0/driver_override
echo spi1.0 > /sys/bus/spi/drivers/spidev/bind
  3. Check device nodes:
    ls -la /dev/apalis-spi*

Reference:

5. Device Node Names

For Apalis modules, SPI devices usually appear as /dev/apalis-spi1-cs0, /dev/apalis-spi2-cs0, etc., not /dev/spi*.

Try updating your device tree as above, rebuild and deploy, then reboot and check /dev for the SPI devices.

Let me know if this resolves the issue or if you need further assistance!

Best regards,
Toradex AI Assistant.

3

Yes manual binding works fine as shown here:

echo spidev > /sys/bus/spi/devices/spi1.0/driver_override
echo spi1.0 > /sys/bus/spi/drivers/spidev/bind

ls -la /dev/spi*
crw------- 1 root root 153, 0 Jul 29 12:28 /dev/spidev1.0

I already tried both option mentioned in Node Name and reg Property Alignment, But still same issue.

I am using linux-toradex-upstream branch version 6.6

4

Hello @farooq,

For BSP 7 (scarthgap), we have overlays to enable spidev.
Please have a look at them depending on the SPI interface you want to use as spidev:

If you are enabling these in your device tree, it is a good idea to not also use the respective overlays.

Best Regards,
Bruno

5

Hello Bruno,

Thanks for your quick response. I have my own custom board based on apalis-eval board. So therefore i have my own device file and already the respective nodes for spi i am using from bsp 2.8. But i am facing issue with binding as i mentioned above. Thank you

6

Hello @farooq,

I understand, therefore setting the spidev as follows should be enough, with no need to manually bind it at runtime. This is a direct copy from the SPI1 overlay, as I see you are using ecspi1:

/* Apalis SPI1 */
&ecspi1 {
	#address-cells = <1>;
	#size-cells = <0>;
	status = "okay";

	spidev@0 {
		/* Use compatible "rohm,dh2228fv" to bind spidev driver */
		compatible = "rohm,dh2228fv";
		reg = <0>;
		spi-max-frequency = <10000000>;
	};
};

Best Regards,
Bruno