Introduction

This project utilizes Arrow SoCKit to demonstrate the LXDE X11 interface running on the Altera Cyclone V SoC device. This project allows you to boot linux with the penguin on a desktop display and run X windows. This project can be built using the features of the 13.0 release.

The purpose of this project was to test some of the capabilities of the SoC hardware. The video output for the LXDE X11 interface is driven from the VGA connector on the SoCKit. The video pipeline is implemented in the FPGA portion of the SoC using Altera's Video IP (VIP) suite. A frame buffer DMA component in the FPGA reads the video buffer information from DDR in the HPS and writes it into the video pipeline. A custom frame buffer driver was added to the kernel to support this.

This project is based on the work of Chris Rauer. Thanks Chris !!

Run the demo using the provided SD Card Image

Requirements

1. Arrow SoCKit - Rev B or later
2. SD Card adapter
3. 16 GB microSD card
4. Micro USB 2.0 B Male to A Female Adapter Converter OTG Cable
5. USB Hub

Prepare the SD Card Image

1. Download the provided https://s3.amazonaws.com/rocketboards/sockit_lxde_20130907.tar.gz (md5sum 9d37598793e95e1fa6cae9e7ebfa936d)
2. Extract the Linux SD card image:

   $ tar -xzf sockit_lxde_20130825.tar.gz sockit_lxde_20130907.img

3. Determine the device associated with the SD card on the host by running the following command before and after inserting the card in the reader:

   $ cat /proc/partitions 

   Let's assume it is /dev/sdx

4. Use the dd utility to write the SD image to the SD card:

   $ sudo dd if=sockit_lxde_20130907.img of=/dev/sdx bs=1M

   Note we are using sudo to be able to write to the card.

5. Use sync utility to flush the changes to the SD card:

   $ sudo sync

Note. If you are operating under Windows you can use Win32DiskImager to write the image to the SD card (after you have extracted the img file).

Boot the System

Please refer to Figure 2-1 in the SoCKit User Manual for a layout of the SoCKit.

1. Install the SD card in the SoCKit
2. Ensure the Bootsel jumpers are set to 101 for booting from SD. Refer to Figure 3.5 and Table 3-5 in the SoCKit User Manual
3. Ensure the MSEL jumpers are set to 00000 to enable the ARM processor to configure the FPGA. boot Linux. Refer to section 3.1.2 in the SoCKit User Manual
4. Use a hub to connect a keyboard and mouse to the USB 2.0 OTG connector. You can purchase an adapter like this Micro USB 2.0 B Male to A Female Adapter Converter OTG Cable
5. Connect a display to the VGA connector
6. Connect a terminal cable to the UART connector.
7. Use minicom or gtkterm with the following settings (57,600 8 N 1 /dev/ttyUSBx)
8. Power on the SoCKit
9. Wait about 30-60 seconds for it to boot to a command prompt
10. Type startx and then press enter at the prompt.

Use mplayer to play a movie

1. Open the File Manager. Navigate to Downloads/movie previews
2. Double click on the Title to begin play. Do so again to begin another movie. Many of these can run concurrently

Use mozilla to browse the internet

Depending on the setup of u-boot and the router that you are using, DHCP may not complete successfully.

Use glxgears to demonstrate rendering capability

Build the demo

Requirements

1. Quartus II 13.0sp1
2. Build toolchain - only if you wish to build the kernel source and the device tree. Not necessary if you are using the provided uImage and dtb files.
   • http://www.rocketboards.org/foswiki/Documentation/GitGettingSTarted#Build_Toolchain
3. SOC EDS 13.0
   • Needed to compile linux kernel
4. Custom Linux kernel
   • This demo used version 3.8 of the rocketboards.org kernel with modifications for the framebuffer
5. Linaro Linux Root filesystem

Build the Quartus project (optional : sof and rbf images attached to this project)

Please note that the Quartus project tar.gz file contains a prebuilt pof file in the output_files directory.

1. Download and unarchive the Quartus project file.
2. Open the project in Quartus 13.0 sp1.
3. Open the system in Qsys. Generate the system.
4. Full Quartus compile in Quartus II 13.0 sp1

Linux Kernel Configuration and Drivers

Driver summary / Kernel changes summary

1. Frame buffer driver
   • copied from nios2 tree + some modifications
2. Updated kernel build configuration
   • socfpga_defconfig was modified in the patch to add everything you need for the demo
3. Updated kernel device tree
   • we use a modified kernel device tree instead. It is part of the branch on github

How to get the kernel source and compile (optional : uImage and dtb files attached to this project)

1. clone the source from github
2. checkout the arrow_sockit_vga branch
3. compile the kernel

#clone the source from github
git clone https://github.com/altcrauer/linux.git

#go into the 'linux' directory
cd linux

#create a new branch from the remote arrow_sockit_vga
git checkout -b neek_soc_38 origin/arrow_sockit_vga

#setup build environment
export ARCH=arm
export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf-
export LOADADDR=0x8000

#import default config(patch will enable new drivers in this config)
make socfpga_defconfig

#make a new uImage
make uImage

#build the device tree
#You need this device tree to get the drivers to work!
make socfpga_cyclone5.dtb

#note: building the kernel modules is not required.

#note: the kernel patch file is attached at the end of this page. It does not need to be applied, but is provided to document the patches that were applied to the 3.8 kernel for this project

Is USB supported?

The 3.8 kernel that is included in this tutorial, includes support for USB.You can hook up a mouse and/or keyboard with this.

U-Boot arguments

You may need to add 'console=tty0' to the kernel boot command line. You can do this in uboot. You can also have the serial port and the video display as your console.

setenv mmcboot 'setenv bootargs console=tty0 console=ttyS0,57600 root=${mmcroot} rw rootwait;bootm ${loadaddr} - ${fdtaddr}'

The linux kernel requires that the FPGA be configured with the video pipeline prior to the video frame buffer driver being implemented. The FPGA configuration is implemented by the u-boot fpgaload command. Add the following to u-boot.

bootcmd=run mmcload; run fpgaload; run mmcboot       
fpga=0                                                                          
fpgadata=0x2000000                                                              
fpgadatasize=2126D5                                                             
fpgaload=fatload mmc 0:1 0x2000000 soc_system.rbf; fpga load 0 ${fpgadata} ${fi}

Get the Linaro Ubuntu Nano image

1. Latest images are here:
   • https://releases.linaro.org/13.04/ubuntu/quantal-images/nano
2. Untar the tar.gz file. A binary folder will contain the contents of the roofs.

Create the SD Card Image

Partition the SD Card

1. Determine the device associated with the SD card on the host by running the following command before and after inserting the card in the reader:

   $ cat /proc/partitions 

   Let's assume it is /dev/sdx

2. Repartition the card, with the sudo fdisk/dev/sdx command
   

   $ Use p to print current partitioning

   $ Use d to delete all partitions one by one

3. Create partition using these options, pressing enter after each one: n p 2 4096 +4496384 t 83
   Create partition using these options, pressing enter after each one: n p 1 9000000 +20480K t 1 b
   Create partition using these options, pressing enter after each one: n p 3 2048 +1024K t 3 a2

4. Press w to write partitions to card, then exit

5. Verify the card was partitioned correctly, it should look like this (use fdisk and p to see it): 
   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System 
   /dev/sdx1 9000000 9020480 20480 b W95 FAT32 
   /dev/sdx2 4096 8996863 4496384 83 Linux 
   /dev/sdx3 2048 4095 1024 a2 Unknown

6. Make partition one a DOS partition
   

   $ sudo mkdosfs /dev/sdx1

Place the preloader and u-boot in the binary partition

1. dd if=preloader_with_header.img of=/dev/sdx3 bs=64k seek=0
2. sudo dd if=u-boot.img of=/dev/sdx3 bs=64K seek=4

Copy the Linux kernel, Device Tree and FPGA RBF file to the Fat 32 partition

1. mkdir /sdcard
2. mount /dev/sdx1 /sdcard
3. cp uImage.bin /sdcard/uImage
4. cp soc_system.dtb /sdcard/soc_system.dtb
5. cp soc_system.rbf /sdcard/soc_system.rbf
6. umount /sdcard
7. sync

Copy the Linaro Root Filesystem to the Linux partition

The linaro rootfs is located in the binary subdirectory where the tar.gz file was extracted

1. mount /dev/sdx2 /sdcard
2. cp /binary /sdcard
3. umount /sdcard
4. sync

Boot the System

Please refer to Figure 2-1 in the SoCKit User Manual for a layout of the SoCKit.

1. Install the SD card in the SoCKit
2. Ensure the Bootsel jumpers are set to 101 for booting from SD. Refer to Figure 3.5 and Table 3-5 in the SoCKit User Manual
3. Ensure the MSEL jumpers are set to 00000 to enable the ARM processor to configure the FPGA. Refer to section 3.1.2 in the SoCKit User Manual
4. Use a hub to connect a keyboard and mouse to the USB 2.0 OTG connector. You can purchase an adapter like this Micro USB 2.0 B Male to A Female Adapter Converter OTG Cable
5. Connect a display to the VGA connector
6. Connect a terminal cable to the UART connector.
7. Use minicom or gtkterm with the following settings (57,600 8 N 1 /dev/ttyUSBx)
8. Power on the SoCKit
9. Wait about 30-60 seconds for it to boot to a command prompt
10. cd to /etc . edit rc.local. add 'dhclient eth0' to enable dhcp

Install the following apt Packages

#Basics
apt-get install ssh
apt-get install vim
apt-get install less
apt-get install psmisc
apt-get install lynx
apt-get install gcc g++

#X and applications
apt-get install xserver-xorg
apt-get install xterm
apt-get install firefox mplayer
apt-get install lxde xinit
apt-get install x11-apps
apt-get install xinput-calibrator
apt-get install mesa-utils
apt-get install prboom

Prebuilt Image Files

FPGA SOF File :md5sum 2f312506f9b639aee65ba61ca1d0ada6 soc_system.sof

FPGA Raw Binary File :md5sum bd44ab19ac5464b9f365c120b3466429 soc_system.rbf

Device Tree : md5sum ee093d71da89547d23cabbaa58deef01 soc_system.dtb

Patched Linux Kernel (3.8) : md5sum 14cc016a0f8f3d0105e5f8767f9a3993 uImage

Preloader : md5sum 83ef77023f58c012a3785c97b5c3d214 preloader_with_header.img

U-boot (v2012.10): md5sum d432e6d895444da1910a6fb49ef10f14 u-boot.img

Kernel Patch File

patch file for 3.8 kernel arrow_vga_38.patch