I have an iMX7 setup using your easy install with “Toradex Embedded Linux Stable Releases, Linux LXDE Image”. Also have yocto/angstrom running in a 64-bit Virtual Box enviroment as per the tutorial.
There are 2 FreeRTOS tutorials:
- Using ARM DS-5 IDE with Cortex-M4 of a Colibri iMX7 | Toradex Developer Center
- webinar “First steps with heterogeneous Multicore processing on the NXP i.MX7”, Raul Munoz, Toradex brasil, dated a few years ago.
The tutorials are roughly the same, but have problems :
I cloned my virtual box and tar’ed linaro gcc-arm-embedded 4.9-2015-Q3-20150921
Ran packages:
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libc6:i386 libncurses5:i386,
which had hundreds of package related errors.
Ultimately, ~/gcc-arm-none-eabi-4_9-2015q3/bin/arm-none-eabi-gcc --version
, errors that file cannot be found. Using uname
, target is a 32-bit elf executable, but apparently the package errors make running the compiler impossible.
I originally cloned the angstrom compiler environment in Virtual Box that works for iMX6 and iMX7 A9/A7 core development.
The tutorials suggest using DS-5 would be easier, but is not longer available to new licensee’s. I setup the newer Arm Development Studio and pulled the GitHub - toradex/FreeRTOS-Colibri-iMX7: FreeRTOS for Colibri iMX7 repository. Toradex’s tutorial shows how easy it is to use the repository DS project, Hello_world, however, there are NO project files, just a place holder stating they CANNOT BE INCLUDED DUE TO Nxp licensing issues. No project files makes it a non-trivial task. Toradex - you need to fix this!
So, I downloaded Toradex’s pre-built FreeRTOS binaries, of which there are 2 or 3 versions, none of which really work. I loaded these at boot time and indications are the .elf is running on the M4, but I do not see the FreeRTOS banner as shown in the Brasilian app engineers webinar video. The loaded program seems to echo characters entered into the top DB9 RS232 terminal, but I cannot say it’s working. The tutorial also mentions potential collisions between A9 linux and FreeRTOS use of serial port, clocks and maybe SPI. Toradex - you need to fix this!
Where to go from here? Any tips on Linaro setup? Why can’t the angstrom toolchain used for A9 development also be used for M4, certainly would make development more uniform. What about Visual Studio Code? Toradex - you need to have fully up to date instructions and working examples! Does anyone know of other repositories that actually work?
Thanks,
Robert