How you program your sdcard / mmc

How you program your sdcard / mmc

[andrea]

Hello everybody,

I think this is an off topic post but it's a while I'm googling for this
subject and I cannot find any useful information.

This is my question:
I would like to use an eMMC card on the board. So it is soldered on the
board and directly connected to the IMX53. I think the same is for flash
or other non volatile memories...
How do you first program them with u-boot and linux/android for the
first boot?

Thank you to everyone who want to share the way they operate or some
best practice link.

Andrea

Re: How you program your sdcard / mmc

[Otavio Salvador]

Hello Andrea,

On Tue, Apr 14, 2015 at 9:55 AM,  <andrea@perpic.it> wrote:
> Hello everybody,
>
> I think this is an off topic post but it's a while I'm googling for this
> subject and I cannot find any useful information.
>
> This is my question:
> I would like to use an eMMC card on the board. So it is soldered on the
> board and directly connected to the IMX53. I think the same is for flash
> or other non volatile memories...
> How do you first program them with u-boot and linux/android for the
> first boot?

There are several alternatives here:

 - use o MfgTool (which I dislike)
 - use USB Boot of U-Boot and load an initramfs image in memory which does this
 - use USB Boot of U-Boot and export eMMC in USB Storage Gadget

It is likely to exist others as well.

-- 
Otavio Salvador                             O.S. Systems
http://www.ossystems.com.br        http://code.ossystems.com.br
Mobile: +55 (53) 9981-7854            Mobile: +1 (347) 903-9750

Re: How you program your sdcard / mmc

[Fabio Estevam]

On Tue, Apr 14, 2015 at 9:59 AM, Otavio Salvador
<otavio@ossystems.com.br> wrote:

> There are several alternatives here:
>
>  - use o MfgTool (which I dislike)
>  - use USB Boot of U-Boot and load an initramfs image in memory which does this
>  - use USB Boot of U-Boot and export eMMC in USB Storage Gadget

We use the later in imx6sl-warp to flash the eMMC:
https://github.com/Freescale/meta-fsl-arm-extra/commit/5fadb641dffe91ec9dedafcb1e27add3e45255dc

Regards,

Fabio Estevam

Re: How you program your sdcard / mmc

[Fabio Estevam]

On Tue, Apr 14, 2015 at 10:37 AM, Fabio Estevam <festevam@gmail.com> wrote:

> We use the later in imx6sl-warp to flash the eMMC:
> https://github.com/Freescale/meta-fsl-arm-extra/commit/5fadb641dffe91ec9dedafcb1e27add3e45255dc

Actually this is a more complete README:
http://git.denx.de/?p=u-boot.git;a=blob;f=board/warp/README;h=0e1f076605689b0453cae1c59e1e630fca1e9844;hb=HEAD

Regards,

Fabio Estevam

Re: How you program your sdcard / mmc

[Eric Nelson]

Hi Andrea,
On 04/14/2015 08:28 AM, Fabio Estevam wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 14, 2015 at 10:37 AM, Fabio Estevam <festevam@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> We use the later in imx6sl-warp to flash the eMMC:
>> https://github.com/Freescale/meta-fsl-arm-extra/commit/5fadb641dffe91ec9dedafcb1e27add3e45255dc
> 
> Actually this is a more complete README:
> http://git.denx.de/?p=u-boot.git;a=blob;f=board/warp/README;h=0e1f076605689b0453cae1c59e1e630fca1e9844;hb=HEAD
> 

Here are some notes on using the USB Mass Storage gadget:
	http://boundarydevices.com/u-boot-usb-mass-storage-gadget/

Android "fastboot" is another option for programming eMMC.

Regards,


Eric

Re: How you program your sdcard / mmc

[Gary Thomas]

On 2015-04-14 06:55, andrea@perpic.it wrote:
> Hello everybody,
>
> I think this is an off topic post but it's a while I'm googling for this
> subject and I cannot find any useful information.
>
> This is my question:
> I would like to use an eMMC card on the board. So it is soldered on the
> board and directly connected to the IMX53. I think the same is for flash
> or other non volatile memories...
> How do you first program them with u-boot and linux/android for the
> first boot?
>
> Thank you to everyone who want to share the way they operate or some
> best practice link.

I like to boot an "installer" system from a ramdisk which then
has all the tools I need to format the eMMC, install the new OS,
etc.  Not much magic required, just building a separate installer
image that has all the right tools.  This can be started using
a network device or you could also run such a setup from a removable
SD card (this is how it's done on the BeagleBoneBlack for example)

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Thomas                 |  Consulting for the
MLB Associates              |    Embedded world
------------------------------------------------------------

Re: How you program your sdcard / mmc

[andrea]

Il giorno mar, 14/04/2015 alle 14.55 +0200, Andrea ha scritto:
> Hello everybody,
> 
> I think this is an off topic post but it's a while I'm googling for this
> subject and I cannot find any useful information.
> 
> This is my question:
> I would like to use an eMMC card on the board. So it is soldered on the
> board and directly connected to the IMX53. I think the same is for flash
> or other non volatile memories...
> How do you first program them with u-boot and linux/android for the
> first boot?
> 
> Thank you to everyone who want to share the way they operate or some
> best practice link.
> 
> Andrea

Thank you Otavio, Gary, Fabio for your replies,
I'm a bit confused about the mfgtools, I'm trying to find a windows
computer to test. My laptop comes with windows 8 preinstalled and the
program crash when I try to select the USB port. On all the other
computers I have linux installed.

Regarding the various solution with u-boot. The part that is not clear
to me is: I need to have u-boot on sdcard otherwise the imx53qsb doesn't
boot. Where do you place u-boot? On a USB drive? I saw on the datasheet
that I can use eMMC, SD and NAND or Hard Disks via PATA/SATA. USB is not
in there. 
My question is: When I have a brand new board with the eMMC memory
soldered on. How can I install there u-boot and all the rest of the
system? I can't make u-boot install anything, because it's not there
yet.
Can someone explain it better?

Thank you again
Andrea

Re: How you program your sdcard / mmc

[Eric Nelson]

Hi Andrea,

On 04/14/2015 08:39 AM, andrea@perpic.it wrote:
> Il giorno mar, 14/04/2015 alle 14.55 +0200, Andrea ha scritto:
>> Hello everybody,
>>
>> I think this is an off topic post but it's a while I'm googling for this
>> subject and I cannot find any useful information.
>>
>> This is my question:
>> I would like to use an eMMC card on the board. So it is soldered on the
>> board and directly connected to the IMX53. I think the same is for flash
>> or other non volatile memories...
>> How do you first program them with u-boot and linux/android for the
>> first boot?
>>
>> Thank you to everyone who want to share the way they operate or some
>> best practice link.
>>
>> Andrea
> 
> Thank you Otavio, Gary, Fabio for your replies,
> I'm a bit confused about the mfgtools, I'm trying to find a windows
> computer to test. My laptop comes with windows 8 preinstalled and the
> program crash when I try to select the USB port. On all the other
> computers I have linux installed.
> 
> Regarding the various solution with u-boot. The part that is not clear
> to me is: I need to have u-boot on sdcard otherwise the imx53qsb doesn't
> boot. Where do you place u-boot? On a USB drive? I saw on the datasheet
> that I can use eMMC, SD and NAND or Hard Disks via PATA/SATA. USB is not
> in there. 
> My question is: When I have a brand new board with the eMMC memory
> soldered on. How can I install there u-boot and all the rest of the
> system? I can't make u-boot install anything, because it's not there
> yet.
> Can someone explain it better?
> 

This is a separate question: "how do I load initial code onto my
machine?"

In general, you have two options:
	- JTAG
	- serial download

We generally use the latter, and on i.MX6, we use the USB OTG interface
for this, along with the 'imx_usb' program as described here:

	http://boundarydevices.com/unbricking

In essence, we use imx_usb to load U-Boot, then USB Mass Storage to
program the eMMC.

You can also use a UART for the initial load, but the process is more
complicated, and you need a different app for that (specialized terminal
emulator).

Regards,


Eric

Re: How you program your sdcard / mmc

[Fabio Estevam]

Hi Andrea,

On Tue, Apr 14, 2015 at 12:39 PM,  <andrea@perpic.it> wrote:

> Regarding the various solution with u-boot. The part that is not clear
> to me is: I need to have u-boot on sdcard otherwise the imx53qsb doesn't
> boot. Where do you place u-boot? On a USB drive? I saw on the datasheet
> that I can use eMMC, SD and NAND or Hard Disks via PATA/SATA. USB is not
> in there.
> My question is: When I have a brand new board with the eMMC memory
> soldered on. How can I install there u-boot and all the rest of the
> system? I can't make u-boot install anything, because it's not there
> yet.
> Can someone explain it better?

1. You generate u-boot.imx in your Linux host PC

2. Put the boot jumpers to USB download mode on your board. (If you
don't have boot jumpers, then it will automatically enter in USB
download mode if a valid boot image is not found.)

3. Transfer the u-boot.imx binary via USB cable using the imx_usb
utility running on the Linux host

sudo ./imx_usb u-boot.imx

4. Then you shouls see U-boot on the board console;

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Fabio Estevam

Re: How you program your sdcard / mmc

[Gary Thomas]

On 2015-04-14 09:39, andrea@perpic.it wrote:
> Il giorno mar, 14/04/2015 alle 14.55 +0200, Andrea ha scritto:
>> Hello everybody,
>>
>> I think this is an off topic post but it's a while I'm googling for this
>> subject and I cannot find any useful information.
>>
>> This is my question:
>> I would like to use an eMMC card on the board. So it is soldered on the
>> board and directly connected to the IMX53. I think the same is for flash
>> or other non volatile memories...
>> How do you first program them with u-boot and linux/android for the
>> first boot?
>>
>> Thank you to everyone who want to share the way they operate or some
>> best practice link.
>>
>> Andrea
>
> Thank you Otavio, Gary, Fabio for your replies,
> I'm a bit confused about the mfgtools, I'm trying to find a windows
> computer to test. My laptop comes with windows 8 preinstalled and the
> program crash when I try to select the USB port. On all the other
> computers I have linux installed.
>
> Regarding the various solution with u-boot. The part that is not clear
> to me is: I need to have u-boot on sdcard otherwise the imx53qsb doesn't
> boot. Where do you place u-boot? On a USB drive? I saw on the datasheet
> that I can use eMMC, SD and NAND or Hard Disks via PATA/SATA. USB is not
> in there.

In this case, I'd elect to build a bootable SD card (you can do
this directly in your Yocto build) which can then be used to
format the eMMC, install the file system and U-Boot.  It will
be a two stage process but it will work on a raw board.  Once
you get the eMMC formatted and filled, it should just be some
jumper/switch settings to boot from eMMC instead of SD.

Note: most of the other replies have been with i.MX6 in mind.

> My question is: When I have a brand new board with the eMMC memory
> soldered on. How can I install there u-boot and all the rest of the
> system? I can't make u-boot install anything, because it's not there
> yet.
> Can someone explain it better?
>
> Thank you again
> Andrea
>

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Thomas                 |  Consulting for the
MLB Associates              |    Embedded world
------------------------------------------------------------