Objective
This guide describes a method of flashing an SD card with a bootable image file for the SAMA5D27-SOM1-EK1 Evaluation Kit. The demonstration image file is a customized Linux® distribution created using the Yocto project. This article assumes a Linux Ubuntu-based host, though the steps are similar for Windows®, macOS® and most Linux distributions.
Materials
Hardware
You will need an SD card reader/writer for your PC, plus:
| Tool | About | Purchase |
|---|---|---|
 SAMA5D27-SOM1-EK1
Evaluation Kit |
| |
 SD Card ≥ 1GB
Flash Memory |
| |
 Precision Design Associates TM4301B
4.3in PCAP Touch Module |
| |
The TM4301B display is optional.
Software
| Tool | About | Installers |
Installation
Instructions |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows | Linux | Mac OSX | |||
 Etcher
Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives |
| | | | |
 Minicom
ANSI and VT102 Terminal Emulator |
| | | | |
Files
Use your own binary image or choose an appropriate binary image file below based on the presence or absence of the TM4301B display. The procedure described in this page assumes the use of one of the demonstration images after booting, so the results of the final steps will be different if you are using your own image file.
| Display | Binary |
|---|---|
| None |
|
| Precision Design Associates TM4301B 4.3in PCAP Touch Module |
|
The files above come from the Linux4SAM website.
Connection Diagram
Procedure
1
Download and extract image file
From the "Files" section above, download the file that matches your hardware configuration. Then extract the *.img file from the *.bz2 file.
2
Insert SD flash card into reader and then launch Etcher
You should see your flash card listed in the middle of Etcher's screen. It might say something like "Flash Reader" and display the size of your SD card.
3
Select the appropriate disk image file for your hardware configuration
Click the Select Image button and chose the *.img file you downloaded and extracted in step 1.
4
Flash the image to the SD card
Click the Flash! button and wait for the image to be flashed and verified to the card.
5
Unmount and eject the SD card
If successful, you will see two partitions mounted on your system:
- BOOT
- ROOTFS
Unmount these partitions and eject the SD card from the reader.
6
Insert SD card into J12 (SD card slot)
7
Connect board to PC and determine assigned serial terminal device:
Connect USB cable from J10 to PC. You will see D5, the status LED turn red. Run dmesg in a terminal.
At the end of the output, you will see the SEGGER information. The info we want is the ttyACM0 in this example (may be different on your PC).
8
Open a serial connection to the board
From the command line, run minicom:
sudo minicom -D /dev/ttyACM0
It should automatically detect the baud rate and other settings. Run minicom -help to list possible parameters.
9
Reboot the board and login
Press BP1 to reset the board. D5, the status LED, should blink blue (repeating double blinks) while booting and once the system has booted. You will see text describing the boot process begin to scroll up the Minicom terminal window. Once it has fully booted, if you have the TM4301B display connected you will see a menu as shown in the screenshot. In the Minicom window on your PC, you will see a login prompt. Enter root as the username. There is no password required.
At this point, you have a functioning Linux system on the target and can freely navigate the system using bash shell commands.
10
Exit
To end the Minicom session, press Ctrl + A to enter command mode, then press X to exit.
Results
References
- SAMA5D27-SOM1-EK1 @ Linux4SAM
- SAMA5D27-SOM1-EK1 @ microchip.com
- FFC/FPC Cable Connector
- Tutorial
- FFC = Flat Flex Cable
- FPC = Flexible Printed Circuit