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

Hi Mauro,

Thank you very much!

> Then you could use one i.MX8MP machine among the ones listed in 
> meta-freescale

If I look in the meta-freescale-3rdparty layer what's the easiest way to 
tell if the Yocto builds for the boards there are based on mainline 
Linux or on NSP's i.MX Linux distribution?

Would boards like these typically have separate Yocto builds for 
mainline Linux and i.MX Linux or only Yocto builds for one or the other?

> Nitrogen 8MP or Olimex i.MX8MP EVB

I wasn't able to find a price online for the Nitrogen 8MP but I did get 
a price of 120 USD for the Olimex i.MX8MP EVB and SoM.

The price of the NXP 8MPLUSLPD4-PEVK and 8MPLUSLPD4-EVK eval. boards 
makes them suitable for prototyping but I don't have the money to use 
them in field studies.

Will

On 2025-05-09 15:35, Mauro S. wrote:
> On 09/05/25 12:59, Will Robertson wrote:
>> Hi Mauro,
>> 
>> Thank you very much for your help - it's an enormous help to me to 
>> understand why I was getting so confused trying to find Yocto recipies 
>> for this board.
>> 
>> I've put some links to our conservation work and the repository for 
>> WildCamera below.
>> 
>> We could use a different i.MX 8M Plus board - a board that has good 
>> Yocto support and good mainline Linux support would be ideal for us so 
>> if anyone can suggest one that would be very valuable. (We plan to try 
>> to keep independent of any one hardware supplier and keep an element 
>> of competition between suppliers.)
> 
> Then you could use one i.MX8MP machine among the ones listed in 
> meta-freescale (they are all from NXP and are demoboard, so perhaps 
> they are too big for your product) or the ones listed in 
> meta-freescale-3rdparty layer (Nitrogen 8MP or Olimex i.MX8MP EVB 
> AFAIK).
> 
> These machines should give you a plain and pleasant out-of-the-box 
> Yocto experience :-)
> 
>> 
>>> Moreover Debix does not provide a meta layer for its boards.
>> 
>> Yes - that's what we found as well - the Debix instructions describe 
>> manually modifying the source files which to me seemed strange - 
>> modifications like these would normally be done in a new Yocto layer?
>> 
>> My background is as a climbing arborist and user space (Python, .Net, 
>> SQL) software engineer so my understanding of embedded systems is 
>> inadequate - if folk can suggest anything that I should study to 
>> improve my understanding please let me know.
>> 
> 
> Embedded systems topics are many, in general you can start from a good 
> book for each topic (e.g. Packt and NoStarch editors have many useful 
> books).
> 
>> There's more about our conservation work here
>> 
>> https://new-homes-for-old-friends.cairnwater.com/
>> 
>> And here in English, German and French
>> 
>> https://new-homes-for-old-friends.cairnwater.com/quick-summary-new- 
>> homes-for-old-friends-switzerland/
>> 
>> And analysis for the new open source wildlife camera here:
>> 
>> https://github.com/William-Robert-Robertson/WildCamera
>> 
> 
> Congrats for your activities and good luck for this new project!
> 
> Regards
> --
> Mauro S.
> 
>> Will
>> 
>> On 2025-05-09 09:12, Mauro S. wrote:
>>> 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