Android 11 for Toradex Verdin i.MX8MP

Android 11 for Toradex Verdin iMX8M Plus¶

Verdin i.MX8M Plus setup

Introduction¶

The Toradex Verdin iMX8M Plus is a small form-factor System on Module based on the NXP i.MX8M Plus SoC.

Kynetics, as part of the Toradex early access program, has worked on the Android Kernel for the Toradex Verdin i.MX8M Plus and built an Android 11 image on Android, compatible with the Dahlia carrier board.

Release Notes¶

Here are some important notes about our build:

Android 11, U-Boot 2020.04, Linux Kernel 5.4
Based on NXP release: android-11.0.0_1.2.1
Compatible with
- Toradex Verdin i.MX8M Plus V1.0C (PN: 00581002) with Dahlia Carrier board revision V1.1A (PN: 99981100)
- Toradex Verdin i.MX8M Plus V1.0C (PN: 00581002) with Dahlia Carrier board revision V1.1C (PN: 99981102)
- Toradex Verdin i.MX8M Plus V1.1A (PN: 00581100) with Dahlia Carrier board revision V1.1A (PN: 99981100)
- Toradex Verdin i.MX8M Plus V1.1A (PN: 00581100) with Dahlia Carrier board revision V1.1C (PN: 99981102)
Compatible with any HDMI display using the native HDMI port on the Dahlia carrier board
Userdebug build with permissive SELinux and disabled DM-Verity
Application updates can be deployed using Update Factory: learn more about our Android client for Update Factory.
This is an unsupported release. For commercial support please contact us.

The build includes the following Kynetics applications:

Update Factory
Serial TTY handler
GPIO handler
PWM handler
SPI handler
CAN bus handler

Flash Instructions¶

The following steps will guide you through the installation of Android 11 on the Verdin i.MX8M Plus.

Hardware Requirements¶

Toradex Verdin i.MX8MP V1.0C/1.1A with the Dahlia carrier board 1.1A/1.1C
- SOM with wifi and bluetooth support, 4GB of RAM and at 16GB of eMMC
A USB drive formatted in FAT32 (at least 4 GB)
A USB mouse
A host computer running GNU/Linux
A USB-A to USB-C cable - to load the Toradex Easy Installer

Software Requirements¶

The Verdin board running the Toradex Easy Installer
Kynetics Android 11 Easy Installer archive, downloadable here
Android platform tools installed on the host computer - Optional for debugging

Installation procedure¶

Download the Toradex Easy Installer archive for the Verdin iMX8MP here
Unpack the Toradex Easy Installer archive in a directory on the host PC
Unpack the Kynetics Android 10 Easy Installer archive in the USB drive
Insert the USB drive in one of the USB port on the Dahlia carrier board

Part 1: load the Toradex Easy Installer¶

If your board is already running the Toradex Easy Installer, skip Part 1 and start from Part 2.

Connect a USB-C cable to the USB-C DRP (X3) port from the Dahlia Carrier board to the host pc
Press and keep pressing the RECOVERY button on the Dahlia Carrier board (the button is close to the USB-C DEBUG port)
Power up the board
Wait a couple of seconds, then release the RECOVERY button
From the host Linux pc, enter in the directory with the unpacked Toradex Easy Installer archive and:
```
$ sudo ./recovery-linux.sh
```
Wait for the Successfully downloaded Toradex Easy Installer message, that will indicate that the board is now booting the Toradex Easy Installer.

Part 2: flash Android¶

If you have skipped point 1, power up the board.
It is necessary to have the Toradex Easy Installer interface available: connect an HDMI display to the connector X21 on the Dahlia board.

From the Easy Installer interface, the RNDIS tab will show the Kynetics Android 11 for Verdin iMX8M Plus V1.0/V1.1 image. Using a mouse, double click to flash it on the device. After the procedure is finished, reboot the board.

Android is now installed on the device.

Software support¶

Kynetics includes in this image different applications to help your evaluation. In particular these apps help with testing and managing common peripherals from Android userspace. The example application sources are available on Kynetics Github

The Android libraries used by these apps are not public and they can be purchased to be used in your own code, contact us for more details.

Update Factory
- The Kynetics artifact content and software update delivery platform. Contact us for more information.
GPIO handler:
- the GPIO handler application to test the GPIO functionality.
TTY Serial handler:
- the Serial handler application. It is possible to read and write on the serial ports available as /dev/ttymxcX.
PWM handler
- the PWM handler application to test the PWM functionality.
SPI handler
- the SPI handler application to test the SPI functionality. On the Verdin iMX8M Plus, the /dev/spidev1.0 device is available to test.
CAN bus handler
- the CAN handler application to test the CAN bus functionality.

More applications are available on Kynetics Github.

Notes¶

USB-C port X3 is available only for adb usage. USB Host ports are available on connector X4.