View and modify device tree

Anukuls127 · October 19, 2022, 2:12am

Hi, We are using Verdin + Dahlia combination loaded with “Boot2Qt 6.2.1 Toradex Verdin-iMX8MP” linux image. I need to view and modify the device tree. I am new to Linux systems. I went through “Device Tree Customization | Toradex Developer Center” link to have some initial understanding and it says that device tree is located under arch/arm/boot/dts/ folder. When I checked my board, i could not find the arch folder. PLease suggest how to locate and modify the device tree. Also this board does not take any basic command like apt, apt-get, sudo etc. I want to use these commands to install the dtc compiler.

Thanks,
Anuj

hfranco.tx · October 19, 2022, 11:33am

Hi @Anukuls127,

All the modifications in the device tree are done inside your host computer (Linux or Windows) instead of the board. You will compile the device tree on your computer and then copy it to your board. The module doesn’t have all the necessary tools to compile it and usually, our desktop computers have better hardware to do that.

This folder is from the Linux Kernel that you’ll download to your computer. Follow this link to get everything done before moving to High performance, low power Embedded Computing Systems | Toradex Developer Center. These first steps are important to download the toolchain, the Linux kernel, and then you can modify and compile the device tree.

Feel free to ask any questions you might have.

Best Regards,
Hiago.

Edward · October 19, 2022, 11:49am

This is for 32 bit ARM’s. For iMX8 you need to look in arch/arm64/boot/dts/freescale

Anukuls127 · October 20, 2022, 9:19am

Hi Hiago,

Thanks for your quick response. I went through the “Build U-Boot and Linux Kernel from Source Code | Toradex Developer Center” link and found that I need to have the required setup in host computer (not sure, if this link can be followed for windows host ?). This setup requires the BSP package, kernel code from Toradex’s website.

We are using Verdin+Dahlia loaded with Boot2Qt 6.2.1. We built this image from the Boot2Qt software stack. Can we modify the device tree for this setup using the host setup that is created per above link ?
As per my understanding it will create conflict right ?

Our main problem statement is - We want to check one of the GPIOs if that is properly set in device tree because we are not able to toggle this output GPIO. Please suggest how we can debug the issue.

Thanks,
Anuj

hfranco.tx · October 21, 2022, 5:36pm

Hi @Anukuls127,

For a windows host computer, the better approach would be to use WSL or a Linux Virtual Machine in this case.

If you follow the above link to set everything and modify the device tree, it should work on your image as well. You just need to make sure that you get the right files for your module and modify them accordingly to your needs.

Could you share with me which pin are you trying to debug? One way to do that would be to check the device tree that you are using. This pin will be assigned inside of this file.

Best Regards,
Hiago.

Anukuls127 · October 25, 2022, 9:05am

Hi @hfranco.tx

If you follow the above link to set everything and modify the device tree, it should work on your image as well. You just need to make sure that you get the right files for your module and modify them accordingly to your needs.

I went through section “Deploying the Kernel to an Image” of article and found that it integrates modified Kernel with Toradex’s image which makes sense. In my case, do I need to have my Boot2Qt image in the download folder ? Also Will the instructions mentioned in the link also applicable to my boot2qt image creation setup (I am using Boot2Qt software stack).

Could you share with me which pin are you trying to debug? One way to do that would be to check the device tree that you are using. This pin will be assigned inside of this file

It is GPIO4_IO26 pin. Could you please assist more in how to check the existing device tree which is running on the target ?

Thanks,
ANuj

hfranco.tx · October 25, 2022, 6:34pm

Hi @Anukuls127,

Yes, the linux kernel should be inside your image folder, so you can follow the same principle from our reference images. You can also show me which files are inside your folder so I can assist you with that.

This pin isn’t enable by default. Checking the Verdin iMX8M Plus datasheet, this GPIO4_IO26 is located at pin 24, which is CAN2_TX by default.
In order to use this pin as GPIO, you can create an overlay or change the device tree to enable this function. An overlay should look as the following code.

/dts-v1/;
/plugin/;

#include "imx8mp-pinfunc.h"

/ {
    compatible = "toradex,verdin-imx8mp", "fsl,imx8mp";
};

&flexcan2 {
    status = "disabled";
}

&iomuxc {

    pinctrl-0 = <&additional_gpio>;

    	additional_gpio: additional_grp {
		fsl,pins = <
			MX8MP_IOMUXC_SAI2_TXD0__GPIO4_IO26		0x184
		>;
	};
};

Please note that this is just an example, but something like this modification is required. I would recommend using a different GPIO which is already available, so no modification is needed.

Best Regards,
Hiago.

Anukuls127 · October 27, 2022, 4:34am

Hi,
This is the b2qt-verdin-imx8mp folder structure in my Ubuntu machine. I am not sure where it has the kernel.

My understanding is - QT shall use the Toradex’s device tree only then can we modify required toradex’s device tree file and load only that on the target board ? If yes, how it can be done. Also if we go with separate device tree overlay then how it can be loaded into target board. Please suggest.

Thanks,
Anuj

hfranco.tx · October 27, 2022, 4:21pm

Hi @Anukuls127,

The image looks like the folder for the Yocto build, am I correct?
The image should be inside the build folder, usually, it’s a compressed tar file where all the files for the OS (kernel, device trees), are inside.

I would say the same, they’re using the same device tree. This image is actually managed by the QT company and it’s the build, it’s not strictly under the Toradex domain. We offer support for TorizonCore and our BSP layers, while QT offers support for their boot2QT image.

Despite that, it should be similar to what we do in our images.

/dts-v1/;
/plugin/;

#include "imx8mp-pinfunc.h"

/ {
    compatible = "toradex,verdin-imx8mp", "fsl,imx8mp";
};

&flexcan2 {
    status = "disabled";
}

&iomuxc {

    pinctrl-0 = <&additional_gpio>;

    	additional_gpio: additional_grp {
		fsl,pins = <
			MX8MP_IOMUXC_SAI2_TXD0__GPIO4_IO26		0x184
		>;
	};
};

This overlay should work for you to enable the GPIO if QT is using the device tree that we provide. Assuming this is correct, you can compile this code and send it to your module (using a USB stick or copying through the internet with the SCP command). Then, you will copy the compiled binary to the /boot/overlays folder and paste the name of the file inside /boot/overlays.txt. It should look like this:

# cat /boot/overlays.txt
fdt_overlays=verdin_custom_gpio.dtbo

You can check these articles for more information about device tree overlays and how to compile them:

Best Regards,
Hiago.

Anukuls127 · October 28, 2022, 5:10am

Thanks a lot for your updates. I will try these steps and keep you posted.

Thanks,
Anuj

Kyle.W · October 28, 2022, 6:22pm

Hi Hiago!

I’m working alongside Anuj on this issue. Thanks for your help so far!

I successfully created the overlay (.dts) file. Our DTS file looks like:

/dts-v1/;
/plugin/;

#include "imx8mp-pinfunc.h"
/ {
    compatible = "toradex,verdin-imx8mp", "fsl,imx8mp";
};

&flexcan2 {
    status = "disabled";
};

&iomuxc {
    pinctrl-0 = <&additional_gpio>;
	additional_gpio: additional_grp {
	fsl,pins = <
		MX8MP_IOMUXC_SAI2_TXD0__GPIO4_IO26		0x104
		>;
	};
};

I’ve also successfully compiled the .dts file and received the .dtbo file. I placed the .dtbo file onto a flash drive and copied it over onto the SOM.

The work instruction mentioned to copy the .dtbo file over into the /boot/overlays folder and append the /boot/overlays.txt file, but this file and directory did not exist. Our /boot/ directory looked like:

Instead, I found an overlays folder and overlays.txt file located under /media/mmcblk2p1

So, I copied the .dtbo file to the /media/mmcblk2p1/overlays/ folder and appended the /media/mmcblk2p1/overlays.txt file.

Does this seem correct?

This seemed to work, but there is no longer any HDMI output. I can confirm that the kernel is still booting via the serial output. The overlay file appears to be implemented though. Within the overlay .dts file, if I set the pin configuration to 0x104 (pull down resistor), I measure 0V on the Dahlia X19 pin 1 when the OS boots. If I set the pin configuration to 0x144 (pull up resistor), I measure 1.8V on the Dahlia X19 pin 1 when the OS boots. However, there is still no HDMI output. If I remove the .dtbo reference from the overlays.txt file, the HDMI functionality returns.

Any idea what I could be doing wrong?

Thanks again for all of your support!
Kyle

Kyle.W · October 28, 2022, 8:28pm

Hi Hiago,

I wanted to check-in with a quick update. I played with this some more and it appears to be functioning properly now (HDMI too).

It looks like the particular SOM that I’m using is the non-wifi version. I was browsing the forums and found another thread where someone posted a sample dts file for a non-wifi SOM. It had some additional tweaks. My dts file now looks like:

/dts-v1/;
/plugin/;

#include "imx8mp-pinfunc.h"
/ {
    compatible = "toradex,verdin-imx8mp", "fsl,imx8mp";
};

&flexcan2 {
    status = "disabled";
};

&iomuxc {

	pinctrl-0 = <&pinctrl_gpio1>, <&pinctrl_gpio2>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio3>, <&pinctrl_gpio4>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio7>, <&pinctrl_gpio8>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio_hog1>, <&pinctrl_gpio_hog2>, <&pinctrl_gpio_hog3>,
		    <&pinctrl_hdmi_hog>, <&pinctrl_add_gpio>;
	
    pinctrl_add_gpio: add_gpio_grp {
		fsl,pins = <
			MX8MP_IOMUXC_SAI2_TXD0__GPIO4_IO26		0x104
		>;
	};
};

I’m still working to understand what these differences are actually doing and why they are different for the wifi/non-wifi versions, but I just wanted to provide an update that it appears to be working properly!

Thanks,
Kyle

hfranco.tx · October 31, 2022, 2:16pm

Hi @Kyle.W,

Nice job! I actually missed this part :

Kyle.W:

pinctrl-0 = <&pinctrl_gpio1>, <&pinctrl_gpio2>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio3>, <&pinctrl_gpio4>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio7>, <&pinctrl_gpio8>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio_hog1>, <&pinctrl_gpio_hog2>, <&pinctrl_gpio_hog3>,
		    <&pinctrl_hdmi_hog>, <&pinctrl_add_gpio>;

Checking the imx8mp-verdin-nonwifi.dts, we can see this part:

&iomuxc {
	pinctrl-names = "default";
	pinctrl-0 = <&pinctrl_gpio1>, <&pinctrl_gpio2>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio3>, <&pinctrl_gpio4>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio7>, <&pinctrl_gpio8>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio_hog1>, <&pinctrl_gpio_hog2>, <&pinctrl_gpio_hog3>,
		    <&pinctrl_hdmi_hog>;
};

There is a difference between the wifi and non-wifi version here. It allocates all the pins for HDMI to work. So, when I did this part

I overwrote everything that was making the HDMI work. The right overlay is the one that you provided.

I’m glad that’s working now! Sorry for this error

Please, if you think this thread is solved, mark your answer as a “solution” so others can benefit from it.

Best Regards,
Hiago.

Kyle.W · November 1, 2022, 7:56pm

Hi Hiago!

Another question for you!

The CTRL_WAKE1_MICO# appears to be capable of being used as an input and a wake up pin.

As far as configuring this in the device tree overlay, can you give me an example of what this might look like? I successfully configured it as a GPIO using the same DTO, but I’m losing the wake up capability. Surely I am missing something, but I’m a little stuck.

#include "imx8mp-pinfunc.h"
/ {
    compatible = "toradex,verdin-imx8mp", "fsl,imx8mp";
};

&flexcan2 {
    status = "disabled";
};

&iomuxc {

	pinctrl-0 = <&pinctrl_gpio1>, <&pinctrl_gpio2>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio3>, <&pinctrl_gpio4>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio7>, <&pinctrl_gpio8>,
		    <&pinctrl_gpio_hog1>, <&pinctrl_gpio_hog2>, <&pinctrl_gpio_hog3>,
		    <&pinctrl_hdmi_hog>, <&pinctrl_add_gpio>;
	
    pinctrl_add_gpio: add_gpio_grp {
		fsl,pins = <
			MX8MP_IOMUXC_SAI1_RXFS__GPIO4_IO00 		0x004
			MX8MP_IOMUXC_SAI2_TXD0__GPIO4_IO26		0x004
		>;
	};
};

Your help is appreciated!

Thanks,
Kyle

hfranco.tx · November 3, 2022, 12:37pm

Hi @Kyle.W,

this definition is inside imx8mp-verdin.dtsi file:

	gpio-keys {
		compatible = "gpio-keys";
		pinctrl-names = "default";
		pinctrl-0 = <&pinctrl_gpio_keys>;

		wakeup {
			debounce-interval = <10>;
			/* Verdin CTRL_WAKE1_MICO# (SODIMM 252) */
			gpios = <&gpio4 0 GPIO_ACTIVE_LOW>;
			label = "Wake-Up";
			linux,code = <KEY_WAKEUP>;
			wakeup-source;
		};
	};

Looking at the code above, the GPIO4_IO0 is being used, as defined here: <&gpio4 0 GPIO_ACTIVE_LOW>;

Checking the datasheet, we can see that is correct, this pin is GPIO4_IO0:

The problem here is that your overlay is redefining this pin on this part:

That’s probably causing the problem you’re seeing. I believe your overlay can correct this issue if you do something like this:

&wakeup {
        gpios = <INSERT_NEW_PIN_HERE>
};

inside your overlay. This will route the wake source to a different pin.

Please, if you have more questions about that, I kindly ask you to open a new ticket, since this one is already closed.

Best Regards,
Hiago.