Re: [meta-freescale] Advice on Yocto Build for Mainline Linux or for NXP Linux for Polyhex Debix Model A or Model A SoM for Open Source Wildlife Camera System

On 08/05/25 17:07, Will Robertson wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I was wondering if anyone had any advice on the simplest way for me to 
> use Yocto to build an image using mainline Linux or NXP Linux for the 
> Polyhex Debix Model A i.MX M8 Plus board or for the Debix SoM A i.MX 8M 
> Plus board with SoM A I/O board?
> 
> For my work in conservation of endangered European dormouse species I'm 
> working on a new open source wildlife camera system so I'll have to 
> learn how to include kernel drivers for image sensors in the device 
> tree. I'm not a professional kernel driver engineer so if anyone can 
> recommend anything that I could study to help with this it would also be 
> very valuable.
> 
> We're looking at the i.MX 8M Plus because of it's very strong ISP (Image 
> Signal Processor), two MIPI CSI-2 ports and NXP's strong commitment to 
> open source. The Polyhex Debix boards seem to provide a good way for us 
> to test prototypes in the field before designing our own carrier board 
> for an i.MX 8M Plus SoM.
> 
> As far as I can work out, the Polyhex Debix boards stay fairly close to 
> the design of the two official NXP evaluation boards 8MPLUSLPD4-EVK and 
> 8MPLUSLPD4-PEVK:
> 
> https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/development-boards-and- 
> designs/8MPLUSLPD4-EVK
> 
> https://www.nxp.com/design/design-center/development-boards-and- 
> designs/8MPLUSLPD4-PEVK
> 
> I was able to find these Yocto DTS and DTSI files for the boards:
> 
> for Debix Model A SBC
> https://git.yoctoproject.org/linux-yocto-dev/plain/arch/arm64/boot/dts/ 
> freescale/imx8mp-debix-model-a.dts
> for Debix Model A SoM I/O Board
> https://git.yoctoproject.org/linux-yocto-dev/plain/arch/arm64/boot/dts/ 
> freescale/imx8mp-debix-som-a-bmb-08.dts
> and DTSI for Debix Model A SoM
> https://git.yoctoproject.org/linux-yocto-dev/plain/arch/arm64/boot/dts/ 
> freescale/imx8mp-debix-som-a.dtsi
> 
> Searching for the i.MX 8M Plus under OpenEmbedded I could only find DDR4 
> and LPDDR4 boards (of which I think only the LPDDR4 board is in use):
> 
> https://git.yoctoproject.org/meta-freescale/tree/conf/machine/imx8mp- 
> ddr4-evk.conf?h=master
> 
> https://git.yoctoproject.org/meta-freescale/tree/conf/machine/imx8mp- 
> lpddr4-evk.conf?h=master
> 
> these both build on imx8mp-evk.inc
> 
> require include/imx8mp-evk.inc
> 
> which I think is the official i.MX 8M Plus evaluation board.
> 
> Debix give some guidance on using Yocto to build images for their boards 
> here https://github.com/debix-tech/uboot but I thought that it would be 
> better for me to take a cleaner approach.
> 
> Thank you very much for your help,
> 
> Will
> 

Hi Will,

at the moment Debix boards seem not supported "out of the box" in 
mainline meta layers: this means that there are some pieces needed for 
their support but some works still be done to add missing parts and 
gather them together. Moreover Debix does not provide a meta layer for 
its boards.

To kickstart your project I would suggest you follow the instructions 
from Debix, at least to do first tests and to take control over the 
board and the develop process: this helps you focus on the imaging part 
without losing time to bringup the board.

Later you can return on the BSP part (i.e. u-boot and kernel) and maybe 
try to implement missing parts and gather them all in a meta layer that 
allows to build the Debis BSP inside Yocto.

Regards
-- 
Mauro S.