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Android Pie 9.0.0 for Toradex Apalis i.MX8QM 1.0A

Android Pie 9.0.0 for Toradex Apalis i.MX8QM 1.0A

Introduction

The Apalis iMX8 is a small form-factor System on Module based on the latest NXP i.MX 8 SoCs. The most performant i.MX 8 SoC, the i.MX 8QuadMax, features 2x Cortex-A72 and 4x Cortex-A53 application processor cores, and 2x additional Cortex-M4F, which also include a FPU, microcontroller cores. The integrated high-performance dual GC7000 3D GPU supports Open GL ES 3.1 and Vulkan on up to 4x 1080p or one 4K display.

The Apalis iMX8 is pin-compatible with the other SoMs in the Apalis family. This allows existing Apalis-based products to easily scale and migrate to the new Apalis iMX8. All Toradex's Apalis Carrier Boards are compatible with Apalis i.MX8.

Kynetics, as part of the Toradex early access program, has worked on the Android Kernel for the Toradex Apalis i.MX8QM and built an image based on Android 9.0 (Pie) compatibe with the Ixora carrier board. The image boots form the SD-Card and it is very easy to program and test.

Release Notes

Here are some important remarks about our build:

  • Android 9.0, U-Boot 2018.03, Linux Kernel 4.14
  • Based on NXP release: p9.0.0_1.0.0-ga
  • Compatible with Toradex Apalis i.MX8QM with the Ixora carrier board
  • Userdebug build with permissive SELinux
  • Application updates can be deployed by using Update Factory: Learn more about our Android client for Update Factory.
  • This is an unsupported release. For commercial support please contact us.

Flash Instructions

The following steps will guide you through the installation of Android 8.1 on the Apalis i.MX8QM.

Hardware Requirements

  • Toradex Apalis i.MX8QM (SOC Rev. A0) with the Ixora carrier board, V1.1A
  • The Toradex 10 inches LVDS display (1280x800) or any FullHD HDMI display
  • A USB mouse to use as an input device, connected to the upper USB 3.0 port on the X8 connector
  • Micro SD card (at least 8 GB)
  • A host computer running GNU/Linux, MacOS or Windows

Optional for debugging:

This release supports boards shipped in Oct 2018 and later. If you are experiencing random reboots at runtime you are likely affected by an issue documented on the Toradex Errata at: Apalis i.MX8 Errata

Software Requirements

  • Kynetics Android 9.0 SD-Card image, downloadable here
  • Android platform tools installed on the host computer - Optional for debugging

Software Preparation

On Linux systems:

  • Flash the SD card with the provided image using the gzip and dd commands:

$ gzip -dc Toradex_iMX8QM-AndroidOS-o9.0.0_1.0.0-ga-eval-1.0-SNAPSHOT-[date].img.gz | dd of=/dev/X bs=512 status=progress conv=fsync
where /dev/X is the SD card device path. Use the HDMI image if you are using an HDMI display.

  • Insert the SD Card in the Ixora carrier board and power it on with the ON/OFF button

Q&A

  • Is ADB available?
    • Yes, ADB works using the microUSB port on connector X8. Note that in order to have ADB working the port should work as USB device port: the jumper JP2 should be configured as open. If the jumper is closed, the port works as USB host port and it is possible to use it with a mouse or a USB drive. Refer to the Ixora datasheet for further informations.

Known issues

As this is the first release of Android 9.0 for the Toradex Apalis i.MX8QM, there are issues that will be solved in future releases:

  • Bluetooth is not working.
  • Audio from 3.5mm jack is not working.
  • The HDMI output is forced to 1920x1080

Enjoy the Art of Coding™