Where is Downloadable TorizonCore Image for Booting from SATA SSD?

Technical Support
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#1

I am trying to U-Boot in Flash, with TorizonCore Kernel and Rootfs in SATA drive. Apalis iMX8QM 4GB IT V1.1C on a Custom Carrier board based on Ixora V1.1B. As described here, I need a xxx-Image.bootfs.tar.xz and xxx-Image.rootfs.tar.xz. However, when downloading the TorizonCore image (TorizonCore PREEMPT_RT 5.6.0-devel-202203+build.22) and extracting the contents I find:

image.json
imx-boot
LA_OPT_NXP_SW.html
marketing.tar
prepare.sh
toradexlinux.png
u-boot-initial-env-sd
wrapup.sh
torizon-core-docker-rt-apalis-imx8.ota.tar.zst

extracting torizon-core-docker-rt-apalis-imx8.ota.tar.zst shows a filesystem, but it is unclear to me how that will help me follow the two guides available to accomplish this goal.

Obviously the guide is written for a Yocto-based image but I’m trying to accomplish the same task with TorizonCore on the SSD instead. I also understand that the guide is a bit outdated (2018) so correct me if there is a more up-to-date resource to be using for this.

Related posts:
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Apalis Evaluation Module failed to boot up from external SATA Disk
Documentation for Booting from SD card on Apalis iMX8x
How to set IMx8 to boot OS from MSATA SSD or 4Bit SD slot?

Related Developer Resources:
Distro Boot
Linux - Booting
Boot From an SD Card / USB Stick / SATA drive
Reference Images for Yocto Project Software Downloads
U-Boot
Toradex Download Links (Torizon, Linux BSP, WinCE and Partner Demos)
BSP Layers and Reference Images for Yocto Project Software

#2

Should I build TorizonCore from source to get the rootfs file needed to boot from the eMMC but have the kernel and OS on a SATA drive?

#3

Greetings @jonk4m,

You best approach would probably be using Distro boot: Linux - Distro Boot

This is already what TorizonCore uses to boot from eMMC. In short it locates a boot script that’s found in the eMMC to then bootstrap and start the Linux Kernel/OS. In theory you’d have to modify the distro-boot command to mount and look at your SSD rather than eMMC.

However this is only in theory. We don’t support booting TorizonCore from alternative medias and honestly no one’s really tried it so far. There could be many issues or implications, we just don’t know.

Furthermore, I believe our default U-Boot doesn’t even have the support enabled to work with SATA. So you’ll need to probably modify U-Boot for this as well.

At a high level it should be possible, but I hope you can understand why we can’t really give further support on such a use-case.

Best Regards,
Jeremias