embeddedTS Buildroot

This repository implements BR_EXTERNAL for embeddedTS products. Currently this includes support for:

• TS-4100
• TS-4900
• TS-7100
• TS-7250-V3
• TS-7400-V2
• TS-7553-V2
• TS-7670
• TS-7680
• TS-7800-V2
• TS-7840
• TS-7970
• TS-TPC-7970

Getting Started

This project implements a tagged release from upstream Buildroot as a submodule. This allows for this project to be used as it is to build whole Buildroot projects, or it can be integrated as a BR2_EXTERNAL directory for custom implementations.

The repository and the Buildroot submodule can all be cloned in a single command with:

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/embeddedTS/buildroot-ts.git
cd buildroot-ts

From here, projects can be built, for example, this will generate a minimal TS-7250-V3 image:

make ts7250v3_defconfig all

The output files will be located in buildroot/output/images/

As this uses Buildroot as a git submodule, its possible to change which branch/tag is used by Buildroot. For example, to checkout a specific tag:

cd buildroot
git checkout <tag>
cd ..
make <defconfig>
make

This will output a Buildroot image built from the specified tag. The buildroot version can be reverted with the same init command used above:

git submodule update --init

We will update the Buildroot release tag used as time goes on, we will only push these updates to the repository once they have been tested by us to ensure compatibility.

Build instructions

Product	Buildroot base defconfig	USB Image Replicator	Specialty
TS-4100	ts4100_defconfig	tsimx6ul_usbprod_defconfig
TS-4900	tsimx6_defconfig	tsimx6_usbprod_defconfig	tsimx6_graphical_defconfig
TS-7100	ts7100_defconfig	ts7100_usbprod_defconfig
TS-7250-V3	ts7250v3_defconfig	ts7250v3_usbprod_defconfig
TS-7400-V2	ts7400v2_defconfig	tsimx28_usbprod_defconfig
TS-7553-V2	ts7553v2_defconfig	tsimx6ul_usbprod_defconfig
TS-7670	ts7670_defconfig	tsimx28_usbprod_defconfig
TS-7680	ts7680_defconfig
TS-7800-V2	ts7800v2_defconfig	ts7800v2_usbprod_defconfig
TS-7840	tsa38x_defconfig	tsa38x_usbprod_defconfig
TS-7970	tsimx6_defconfig	tsimx6_usbprod_defconfig	tsimx6_graphical_defconfig
TS-TPC-7990	tsimx6_defconfig	tsimx6_usbprod_defconfig	tsimx6_graphical_defconfig

All Buildroot base defconfigs above are compatible with the Extra Packages defconfig fragment.

ts4100_defconfig

• Supports TS-4100 devices
• Generates a minimal Linux with hardware support (based on 5.10 kernel)
• Outputs rootfs.tar.xz which can be written to any boot device for the platform: USB, SD, eMMC, etc.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make ts4100_defconfig all

ts7100_defconfig

• Supports TS-7100 devices
• Generates a minimal Linux with hardware support (based on 5.10 kernel)
• Outputs rootfs.tar.xz which can be written to any boot device for the platform: USB, eMMC.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make ts7100_defconfig all

ts7100_usbprod_defconfig

• Supports TS-7100 devices
• Able to capture disk images and/or write out disk images to all supported media on devices
• Outputs ts7100-usb-image-replicator-rootfs.tar.xz and ts7100-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz that can be written to a USB drive and booted on supported devices
• The ts71000-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz file is self expanding after first boot. It is intended to make the image capture process easier
• See the respective product manual for more information on the Image Replicator tool

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make ts7100_usbprod_defconfig all

ts7250v3_defconfig

• Supports TS-7250-V3 devices
• Generates a minimal Linux with hardware support (based on 5.10 kernel)
• Outputs rootfs.tar.xz which can be written to any boot device for the platform: USB, eMMC, etc.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make ts7250v3_defconfig all

ts7250v3_usbprod_defconfig

• Supports TS-7250-V3 devices
• Able to capture disk images and/or write out disk images to all supported media on devices
• Outputs ts7250v3-usb-image-replicator-rootfs.tar.xz and ts7250v3-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz that can be written to a USB drive and booted on supported devices
• The ts7250v3-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz file is self expanding after first boot. It is intended to make the image capture process easier
• See the respective product manual for more information on the Image Replicator tool

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make ts7250v3_usbprod_defconfig all

ts7400v2_defconfig

• Supports TS-7400-V2 devices with PCB revision B or newer
• Generates a minimal Linux with hardware support (based on 5.10 kernel)
• Outputs sdcard.img which can be written to to SD or eMMC on the device.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make ts7400v2_defconfig all

ts7553v2_defconfig

• Supports TS-7553-V2 devices
• Generates a minimal Linux with hardware support (based on 5.10 kernel)
• Outputs rootfs.tar.xz which can be written to any boot device for the platform: USB, SD, eMMC, etc.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make ts7553v2_defconfig all

ts7670_defconfig

• Supports TS-7670 devices with PCB revision D or newer
• Generates a minimal Linux with hardware support (based on 5.10 kernel)
• Outputs sdcard.img which can be written to to SD or eMMC on the device.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make ts7670_defconfig all

ts7680_defconfig

• Supports TS-7680 devices
• Upstream support provided by Buildroot, configuration file not directly in this repository
• This repository provides the following useful configuration options not in upstream Buildroot (be sure to enable them if desired):
  • BR2_PACKAGE_TS7680_UTILS (Utilities for TS-7680, tshwctl, switchctl, tsmicroctl, etc.)
  • BR2_PACKAGE_TSSILOMON_INIT (Enables TS-SILO script to run on startup)
• Outputs rootfs.tar and sdcard.img which can be written to any boot device for the platform: USB, SD, eMMC, etc.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make ts7680_defconfig all

ts7800v2_defconfig

• Supports TS-7800-V2 devices
• Generates a minimal Linux with hardware support (based on 4.4 kernel)
• Outputs rootfs.tar.xz which can be written to any boot device for the platform: USB, eMMC, SATA, NFS, etc.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make ts7800v2_defconfig all

ts7800v2_usbprod_defconfig

• Image Replication tool for the TS-7800-V2
• Able to capture disk images and/or write out disk images to all supported media on devices
• Outputs ts7800v2-usb-image-replicator-rootfs.tar.xz and ts7800v2-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz that can be written to a USB drive and booted on supported devices
• The ts7800v2-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz file is self expanding after first boot. It is intended to make the image capture process easier
• See the respective product manual for more information on the Image Replicator tool

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make ts7800v2_usbprod_defconfig all

tsa38x_defconfig

• Supports TS-7840 devices
• Generates a minimal Linux with hardware support (based on 5.10 kernel)
• Outputs rootfs.tar.xz which can be written to any boot device for the platform: USB, eMMC, SATA, NFS, etc.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make tsa38x_defconfig all

tsa38x_usbprod_defconfig

• Supports TS-7840 devices
• Generates a tarball for use on a USB drive to boot the device, run a script named blast.sh from the drive to write and verify or capture images from the device media. See the respective product manual for information on this Production Mechanism.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make tsa38x_usbprod_defconfig all

This outputs a tarball to buildroot/output/images/tsa38x-usb-production-rootfs-${DATESTAMP}.tar.xz intended to be written to a USB drive with one partition which is formatted either ext2, ext3, ext4, or FAT32 (including vfat) with an MBR or GPT partition table.

tsimx28_usbprod_defconfig

• Image Replication tool for TS-7670 and TS-7400-V2 device
• Able to capture disk images and/or write out disk images to all supported media on devices. ⚠️ Not possible in all situations, see 'tsimx28 notes' below
• Outputs tsimx28-usb-image-replicator-rootfs.tar.xz and tsimx28-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz that can be written to a USB drive and booted on supported devices
• The tsimx28-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz file is self expanding after first boot. It is intended to make the image capture process easier
• See the respective product manual for more information on the Image Replicator tool

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make tsimx28_usbprod_defconfig all

tsimx28 notes

• Compatible with stock images as well as our additional supported images, e.g. Linux kernel 4.9 with Debian Stretch.
• i.MX28 based platforms require a whole disk image to be written through the Image Replicator tool to create a bootable media. This is a limitation of the platforms themselves needing a bootloader present on the boot media. If the goal is to update a few files or unpack a tarball, it is recommended to use the stock initramfs scripting process, e.g. https://docs.embeddedts.com/TS-7670#Scripting_in_the_initramfs
• The Image Replicator tool is not compatible with devices that have soldered down NAND flash. Contact our support team if you are working with an older device that uses soldered down NAND flash rather than eMMC.

Devices that are compatible with this Image Replicator tool boot directly to the selected media, SD or eMMC, and are unable to load a kernel from a USB disk.

When booted from a stock image, a shim script is used to install U-Boot over top of the bootloader provided by NXP on the booted media (SD / eMMC) and then the unit is rebooted and the Image Replication process starts. In other words, the Image Replicator tool, booted on compatible platforms, will modify booted media!

This is not an issue for the most common use-case of writing custom images to devices. For example, a TS-7670 ordered from us will have eMMC pre-programmed with our stock image. It would be possible with the Image Replicator USB drive inserted, for the unit to boot, install a U-Boot bootloader to the eMMC flash, reboot itself, and start the Image Replicator process to write out full custom images to eMMC or to attached microSD cards. Image Capture of a stock image with this tool is difficult due to the process required to boot the Image Replicator. Please contact our support team for assistance if you need to run this process.

tsimx6_defconfig

Note! See #60 if using a platform with Silex Wi-Fi devices!

• Supports TS-4900, TS-7970, and TS-TPC-7990 devices
• Generates a minimal Linux with hardware support (based on 5.10 kernel)
• Outputs rootfs.tar.xz which can be written to any boot device for the platform: USB, eMMC, SATA, NFS, etc.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make tsimx6_defconfig all

tsimx6_graphical_defconfig

Note! See #58 when building this configuration!

• Supports TS-4900, TS-7970, and TS-TPC-7990 devices
• Generates an example image focused on showcasing the graphical abilities of the i.MX6 CPU
• Boots to Weston with Wayland/Xwayland support and includes Weston/Wayland demos. Provides Qt5 demos utilizing OpenGLES with a Wayland wrapper taking advantage of the Vivante GPU. Provides a video player able to take advantage of VPU hardware.
• Outputs rootfs.tar.xz which can be written to any boot device for the platform: USB, eMMC, SATA, NFS, etc.

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make tsimx6_graphical_defconfig xcb-util-cursor all
# There is a bug in Weston in Buildroot that requires xcb-util-cursor explicitly
# built first.

tsimx6_usbprod_defconfig

• Image Replication tool for TS-4900, TS-7970, and TS-TPC-7990 devices
• Able to capture disk images and/or write out disk images to all supported media on devices
• Outputs tsimx6-usb-image-replicator-rootfs.tar.xz and tsimx6-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz that can be written to a USB drive and booted on supported devices
• The tsimx6-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz file is self expanding after first boot. It is intended to make the image capture process easier
• See the respective product manual for more information on the Image Replicator tool

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make tsimx6_usbprod_defconfig all

tsimx6ul_usbprod_defconfig

• Image Replication tool for TS-4100 and TS-7553-V2 devices
• Able to capture disk images and/or write out disk images to all supported media on devices
• Outputs tsimx6ul-usb-image-replicator-rootfs.tar.xz and tsimx6ul-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz that can be written to a USB drive and booted on supported devices
• The tsimx6ul-usb-image-replicator.dd.xz file is self expanding after first boot. It is intended to make the image capture process easier
• See the respective product manual for more information on the Image Replicator tool

Can be built with (See Using Docker for how to build in Docker container):

make tsimx6ul_usbprod_defconfig all

Extra Packages

The platform defconfig files are very basic configurations; providing support for the base hardware with no additional tools. We've created an extra_packages_defconfig that can be merged with any of the above defconfig files to provide additional packages that are more in-line with the stock images for our devices.

Buildroot itself provides a script to merge and make the config file. Rather than running any of the above make <platform>_defconfig commands, instead run the merge script. For example, here is how to build the extra packages config for the TS-7553-V2:

./buildroot/support/kconfig/merge_config.sh technologic/configs/extra_packages_defconfig technologic/configs/ts7553v2_defconfig
make

Simply substitute out the platform defconfig for other devices. Note that each defconfig provided to the script overrides any values set in the previous defconfig if they conflict. It is recommended to pass the extra_packages_defconfig before the device defconfig so any conflicts result in favoring the known base configuration file.

Using Docker

Optionally, this can be built in a Docker container. The container is maintained in lock-step with this project and the upstream Buildroot submodule. Meaning it is possible to go back to a specific commit in history and get a valid environment for building in via Docker.

The container is implemented as a simple front-end script, any arguments passed to the script will be passed directly to the root buildroot-ts/ directory inside of the container. The first time the script is run, it will build the container so this may take additional time.

The script itself launches the container and then runs any subsequent command-line commands and arguments inside the container itself. The script must prepend each new command to be run in the Docker container.

For example, to use the TS-7250-V3 defconfig, open a menuconfig window, then start a build after saving any changes:

./scripts/run_docker_buildroot.sh make ts7250v3_defconfig menuconfig all

Build the Image Replicator tool for a TS-4100/TS-7553-V2 with multiple commands:

./scripts/run_docker_buildroot.sh make clean
./scripts/run_docker_buildroot.sh make tsimx6ul_usbprod_defconfig
./scripts/run_docker_buildroot.sh make

It is also possible to enter a shell inside of the container:

./scripts/run_docker_buildroot.sh bash

From there, any commands issued would be issued inside of the container. See notes below for more details.

Notes on using Docker

• Choose building either from the host workstation or Docker container, it is not recommended to mix and match. Do a make clean from one build system in order to be able to cleanly switch to another. Switching between the two without make clean in between will likely cause build issues
• The pwd is mapped to /work/ inside the container, with $HOME being set to /work/. Any changes made inside of /work/ will be retained, any changes to the rest of the container filesystem will be lost once the container is exited
• Most of our configs have ccache enabled though Buildroot. Normally, this lies at ~/.buildroot-ccache. Inside the container however, the buildroot-ts/ directory is set to $HOME. If relying on ccache in Buildroot, be sure to continually use the same build system to prevent excessive work