Run an application using imx-mkimage

This section describes the steps to write a bootable SDK image to the eMMC/FlexSPI NOR flash for the i.MX processor.

Note: Attach core to debug code with J-Link probe.

The following steps describe how to write container image (flash.bin):

Connect the DEBUG UART slot on the board to your PC through the USB cable. The Windows OS installs the USB driver automatically and the Ubuntu OS finds the serial devices as well.
On Windows OS, open the device manager, find USB serial Port in Ports (COM and LPT). Assume that the ports are COM9 and COM10. One port is for the debug message from the Cortex-A35 and the other is for the Cortex-M33. The port number is allocated randomly, so opening both is beneficial for development. On Ubuntu OS, find the TTY device with name /dev/ttyUSB* to determine your debug port. Similar to Windows OS, opening both is beneficial for development.

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Generate m33 firmware:

For RAM target:

$ ./build_debug.sh

or

$ ./build_release.sh

For FLASH target(XIP):

$ ./build_flash_debug.sh

or

$ ./build_flash_release.sh

Get imx-mkimage, s400 firmware(mx8ulpa2-ahab-container.img), OPTEE(tee.bin), upower firmware(upower.bin), uboot-spl(u-boot-spl.bin), uboot(u-boot.bin), and TF-A(bl31.bin) from the Linux release package.
1. Clone the imx-mkimage from NXP public git.
```
$ git clone https://github.com/nxp-imx/imx-mkimage
```
2. Check out the correct branch. The branch name is named after Linux release version which is compatible with the SDK. You can get the version information from corresponding Linux Release Notes document.
```
$ cd imx-mkimage
$ git checkout [branch name]
```
3. Get s400 firmware(mx8ulpa2-ahab-container.img).
```
$ cp mx8ulpa2-ahab-container.img iMX8ULP/
```
4. Get upower firmware(upower.bin).
```
$ cp upower.bin iMX8ULP/
```
5. Get u-boot-spl.bin and u-boot.bin.
  - For EVK-MIMX8ULP:
    $ cp u-boot-spl.bin-imx8ulpevk-sd iMX8ULP/u-boot-spl.bin $ cp u-boot-imx8ulpevk.bin-sd iMX8ULP/u-boot.bin
  - For EVK9-MIMX8ULP:
    $ cp u-boot-spl.bin-imx8ulp-9x9-lpddr4-evk-sd iMX8ULP/u-boot-spl.bin $ cp u-boot-imx8ulp-9x9-lpddr4-evk.bin-sd iMX8ULP/u-boot.bin
6. Get bl31.bin.
```
$ cp bl31-imx8ulp.bin-optee iMX8ULP/bl31.bin
```
Generate container image table with imx-mkimage:

boot type

A35

M33

SW5[8:1]

Single Boot

make SOC=iMX8ULP flash_singleboot For RAM target:

make SOC=iMX8ULP flash_singleboot_m33 Note: Does not support pack Flash target into flash.bin when boot type is single boot type.

|1000_xx00 Single Boot-eMMC| | |make SOC=iMX8ULP flash_singleboot_flexspiFor RAM target:

make SOC=iMX8ULP flash_singleboot_m33_flexspi Note: Does not support pack Flash target into flash.bin when boot type is single boot type.

For Flash target: make SOC=iMX8ULP flash_dualboot_m33_xip

**Note:**

-   For details, see `imx-mkimage/iMX8ULP/README`.
-   Does not support pack Flash target firmware to flash.bin when boot type is single boot type.

-   RAM target: debug/release.

-   Flash target: `flash_debug/flash_release`.

-   Need generate two flash.bin and download to emmc/flexspi2 nor flash of a35 and flexspi0 nor flash of m33, one for A35, another one for M33 when boot type is dual boot type or low power boot type.

Build the application (for example, hello_world), get binary image sdk20-app.bin, copy to imx-mkimage project folder iMX8ULP/ and rename to m33_image.bin.
```
cp sdk20-app.bin <imx-mkimage path>/iMX8ULP/m33_image.bin
```

Under imx-mkimage project folder, execute the following command to generate m33 container image.

When boot type is dual boot/low power boot type:

For RAM (TCM) target:

make SOC=iMX8ULP flash_dualboot_m33 (write flash.bin to flexspi0 nor flash of m33; 

For Flash target:

make SOC=iMX8ULP flash_dualboot_m33_xip (write flash.bin to flexspi0 nor flash of m33); 

When boot type is single boot type:

for RAM (TCM) target and sw5[8:1] = 1000_xx00 Single Boot-eMMC:
make SOC=iMX8ULP flash_singleboot_m33 (write flash.bin to emmc); 

for RAM (TCM) target and sw5[8:1] = 1010_xx00 Single Boot-Nor:
make SOC=iMX8ULP flash_singleboot_m33_flexspi (write flash.bin to flexspi2 nor flash of
a35);

Copy the flash.bin image to your tftpboot server.

Write flash.bin to flexspi0 nor flash. There are two ways:

Write flash.bin to flexspi0 nor flash with uboot.

Switch to single boot type (sw[8:1]=1000 0000) and boot the board, assuming your board can boot to U-Boot.

At the U-Boot console, execute following commands to download image (from network) and flash to FlexSPI0 NOR flash.

setenv serverip <tftpboot server ip>
dhcp
tftpboot 0xa0000000 flash.bin
setenv erase_unit 1000
setexpr erase_size ${filesize} + ${erase_unit}
setexpr erase_size ${erase_size} / ${erase_unit}
setexpr erase_size ${erase_size} * ${erase_unit}
sf probe 0:0
sf erase ${erase_size}
sf write  0xa0000000 0 ${filesize}

Write flash.bin to flexspi0 nor flash with JLink:

J-Link>connect
Device>
TIF>s (Choose target interface as SWD, unless failed to do anything)
Speed>
J-Link>r
J-Link>h
J-Link>loadbin flash.bin 0x4000000

Write flash.bin to emmc with uuu (only for the RAM target):
1. Start uuu.
```
uuu -b emmc workable-flash.bin flash.bin (workable-flash.bin: uboot and m33 image are workable)
```
2. Enter serial download mode.
  1. Change SW5[8:1] to 01xx_xxxx Serial Downloader.
  2. Enter serial download mode with uboot.
    => fastboot 0
Open another terminal application on the PC, such as PuTTY and connect to the debug COM port (to determine the COM port number, see How to determine COM port). Configure the terminal with these settings:
- 115200
- No parity
- 8 data bits
- 1 stop bit
Power off and switch to low-power boot mode (sw5[8:1]=1000 0001), then repower the board.
The hello_world application is now executed and a banner is displayed at the terminal. If this is not true, check your terminal settings and connections.

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