If you have just purchased a phyCORE-AM57x development kit, start your development here. 


Basic Evaluation Requirements

This Quickstart guide walks through booting the phyCORE-AM57x development kit into Linux and how to establish a console session with it using a Windows Host Machine. Host system requirements are minimal for basic serial communication, and for the purposes of this Quickstart, any modern computer could be used. PHYTEC recommends using a native Windows environment to establish serial communication with the development kit and leaving the bulk of development tasks for a dedicated Ubuntu 18.04 build server or Virtual Machine.

Host system requirements for the more process-intense development tasks are detailed in the BSP Development guide, but you won't need those Host system requirements to follow this Quickstart or to follow the Using Peripherals guides.

Check the Board Configuration

The board should have been pre-configured during manufacturing, but we will double check it together as an exercise:

  • Ensure that an SD Card is inserted in the SD Card slot. This SD Card was flashed during manufacturing and should feature the latest phyCORE-AM57x Linux image.
  • Check that the Boot Switch S5 is set to boot the system from the SD Card slot (X2).

  • Press firmly down on the SOM with equal pressure on both sides to ensure that it is seated properly.

Serial Communication Setup

Connect the provided RS-232 Serial cable to the Debug Port X18 on the development kit and the other end to a USB port on your Host Machine.

Windows 10 Instructions

If your native operating system is something other than Windows 10, please feel free to reach out on PHYTEC's Support Portal for more options and instructions.

After the phyCORE-AM57x development kit is connected, you will need to determine the COM ports associated with it.

  • Open your system's Device Manager and expand Ports (COM & LPT).

  • Note the COM port number of the "Prolific USB-to-Serial" Adapter.

    If you are having trouble determining which COM port to use:

    • Reconnect the USB cable to your computer and see what disappears/reappears in the Device Manager.
    • Check "Other Devices"

Configure your Terminal Session:

  • Download or open the terminal emulator of your preference. There are many options such as PuTTY and TeraTerm.

    This guide will use TeraTerm. Configuration of your terminal will vary slightly depending on the terminal emulator software you are using. 

  • Create a new session using your preferred terminal emulator:
  • Specify the COM port to connect to (found in previous steps):
  • Other parameters include: 115200 Baud, 8 bit data, no parity bits, 1 stop bit and no flow control.

Once you have an empty terminal session, your host system is effectively listening for a console data over the COM port you selected. The documentation for the phyCORE-AM57x, outlined throughout this wiki, will generally refer to this serial session as the "Target Console".

Power the Board

  • Use the included power supply to provide power to the phyCORE-AM57x development kit's X4 Power Connector. The system should automatically boot.



If you are working with an older hardware revision of the phyCORE-AM57x development kit then there may not be a auto power-on circuit implemented on the development kit carrier board. Booting the system on older hardware will require pressing and holding the Power Button.

See Automatic Power-On Event at Power Up for more information.

  • On your serial console you should reach a login prompt.

    Expected Output

    PHYTEC: BSP-Yocto-TISDK-AM57xx-PD20.1.2
am57xx-phycore-kit login:
    CODE
  • Login using "root" (no password is required). 

You may find that commands and text in the terminal wrap over themselves if they extend too far on a single line in your Terminal Window. To improve usability and to prevent text from wrapping over itself use the following command: 

Target (Linux)

shopt -s checkwinsize && resize
CODE

Safe Shutdown

Before removing power from the development kit, you must make sure that the operating system has safely shutdown. This will help to avoid things like filesystem corruption which can prevent the hardware from booting the next time it is needed.

  • To initiate a shutdown run the following command:

    Target (Linux)

    poweroff
    CODE

  • Once you have seen Reached target Shutdown it is safe to remove the power from the development kit:

    Expected Output

    Reached target Shutdown.
    CODE

Next Steps

With the phyCORE-AM57x development kit booted into Linux, now you can explore the features of the phyCORE-AM57x System On Module (SOM) and Board Support Package (BSP) to begin designing your custom system around it:

  • The Using Peripherals guides contain examples for evaluating the reference circuits implemented on the phyCORE-AM57x development kit carrier board using the target console. 

    The development kit carrier board is not intended to be used in production systems. The development kit carrier board serves to provide engineers with as many reference circuits as possible to evaluate the functionality of the phyCORE-AM57x System On Module (SOM), with the intention that the reference circuits are eventually cherry picked and transitioned to a custom carrier board. 

  • The Hello World guide will help you setup a host environment and get started with a code example. Depending on the requirements of your application on the phyCORE-AM57x SOM, you could also perform a lot of your application development directly on the target using the packages included in the default software image. 

  • Eventually, you will be ready to transition the SOM to a custom carrier board and modify the software to begin finalizing the production system. Head over to the BSP Development to first build the stock software and then see the Customizing the BSP guide for configuring it for your unique requirements.

For technical support, please visit PHYTEC's Support Portal