Build Altera SoC Image with Ubuntu

This repository includes an Ubuntu 18.04.1 base with several development packages pre-installed. It is based on DE10-nano using HDMI framebuffer. It can be easily updated to address any altera/xilinx board.

There are five steps to build Altera SoC image with Ubuntu.

Establish Cross-compile environment
Build FPGA Project to update device tree
Modifications made to Ubuntu base filesystem
Build Linux Kernel
Create Linux Image File

The following scripts aims to automate some of these steps.

download_rootfs.sh -- Download and prepare root file system.
update_rootfs.sh -- Update file system with standard tools
prepare_devicetree.sh -- compiles device hardware information and places them according to requirement. Please ensure that 2.2 Quartus Setup is followed.
prepare_sdcard.sh -- prepares sd_card image assuming a 16 GB storage medium.

1. Establish Cross-compile environment

This chapter describe how to establish a cross-compile environment on Linux. Please follow the instruction from the sections below to install the required software and finally create an empty project folder for building the project later.

1.1 Install Ubuntu 18.04.1 64-bit 1.2 Install Quartus Prime Standard Edition 18.1 1.3 Install SoC Embedded Design Suite 18.1 1.4 Install Linaro Cross Compiler: arm-linux-gnueabihf 5.2 (for ubuntu 16) or 7.3 (for ubuntu 18) 1.5 Install Library and Tool 1.6 Directory structure

1.1 Install Ubuntu 64-bit on the Host PC

A 64-bit Ubuntu is required to establish a compile environment. Please download the Ubuntu image file and install it on your 64-bit Intel/AMD PC with the following instructions.

1.2 Install Quartus Prime Standard Edition 18.0

Altera Quartus is required to compile FPGA project. Please follow the instruction below to download and install Quartus Prime, Cyclone V device and the patch on Ubuntu.

Download and install Quartus Prime Standard Edition and Cyclone V device support

1.3 Install SoC EDS tool

Altera SoC EDS tool is required to compile ARM project. Please follow the instructions below to install the EDS tool. :::info Note: Altera DS-5 is not required for the installation. :::

Download and install the SoC EDS tool

1.4 Install arm-linux-gnueabihf Toolchain

ARM toolchain is required to cross-compile ARM project. Please type the following commands in Ubuntu Terminal to install the required ARM toolcahin.

#for Ubuntu 16.04.1
cd /opt
sudo wget -c https://releases.linaro.org/components/toolchain/binaries/5.2-2015.11-2/arm-linux-gnueabihf/gcc-linaro-5.2-2015.11-2-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
sudo tar xvf gcc-linaro-5.2-2015.11-2-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
sudo ln -s gcc-linaro-5.2-2015.11-2-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf arm-linux-guneabihf
export PATH=$PATH:/opt/arm-linux-guneabihf/bin

#for Ubuntu 18.04.1
cd /opt
sudo wget -c https://releases.linaro.org/components/toolchain/binaries/7.3-2018.05/arm-linux-gnueabihf/gcc-linaro-7.3.1-2018.05-i686_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
sudo tar xvf gcc-linaro-7.3.1-2018.05-i686_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
sudo ln -s gcc-linaro-7.3.1-2018.05-i686_arm-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz arm-linux-guneabihf
export PATH=$PATH:/opt/arm-linux-guneabihf/bin

1.5 Install Library and Tool

Some library and tool are required to perform cross-compiler for ARM project. Please type the following commands in Ubuntu Terminal to install the required library and tool.

sudo apt install lib32ncurses5 qemu-user-static git pv libncurses5-dev -y

1.6 Directory Structure

Folder tree is established to store the source code for compilation. The folder tree looks like the example below:

de10_nano/
├── image
│   ├── p1
│   ├── p2
│   └── p3
├── ghrd
├── linux-socfpga
└── rootfs

2. Build FPGA Quartus Project

This chapter describes how to build the FPGA configure file (soc_system.rbf), preloader(preloader-mkpimage.bin), u-boot(u-boot.img), and device tree blob(soc_system.dtb).

Please type the following commands in Ubuntu Terminal for building the FPGA project in Quartus Prime Standard edition.

2.1 Prepare Project

Download and extract the DE10-NANO-FB FPGA Quartus project from Tersic's website.

2.2 Quartus Setup

Setting environment variable

~/altera/16.0/embedded/embedded_command_shell.sh

2.3 Build Project

Generate Components Type the following commands to generate all components including preloader-mkpimage.bin, u-boot.img, soc_system.dtb, soc_system.rbf, and u-boot.scr.

make all

Copy Components Type the following commands to copy the generated components to a dedicated folder for building an image.

cp output_files/soc_system.rbf ../image/p1/output_files/
cp soc_system.dtb ../image/p1/
cp u-boot.scr ../image/p1/
cp software/preloader/preloader-mkpimage.bin ../image/p3/
cp software/preloader/uboot-socfpga/u-boot.img ../image/p3/

3. Build Linux Filesystem

This chapter describes modifications that were made to the Linux tool filesystem. The final filesystem is stored in the folder "~/de10_nano/rootfs".

Type the following commands in Ubuntu Terminal for building the Linux Filesystem.

Switch to root privilege

sudo -s

Download the Ubuntu root filesystem

cd ~/de10_nano/rootfs
wget -c http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-base/releases/18.04.1/release/ubuntu-base-18.04-base-armhf.tar.gz
tar xvf ubuntu-base-18.04-base-armhf.tar.gz
rm ubuntu-base-18.04-base-armhf.tar.gz

Copy qemu-user-static

cp /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static usr/bin/

Modify etc/apt/sources.list to un-comment all the repositories except the ones starting with deb-src.

sed -i 's%^# deb %deb %' etc/apt/sources.list

copy your system’s (host machine’s) /etc/resolv.conf to ~/de10_nano/rootfs/etc/resolv.conf. Set proxies if necessary.

cp /etc/resolv.conf rootfs/etc/resolv.conf

Mounting the filesystem with chroot using the script below and un-mounting later.

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/psachin/bash_scripts/master/ch-mount.sh

Mount proc, sys, dev, dev/pts to the new filesystem.

chmod a+x ch-mount.sh
./ch-mount.sh -m rootfs/

Update the repositories

chmod 1777 /tmp
apt update

Install minimal packages required for core utils

apt install language-pack-en-base sudo ssh net-tools ethtool iputils-ping rsyslog alsa-utils bash-completion htop python-gobject-2 network-manager ntp build-essential python3--no-install-recommends usbutils psmisc lsof unzip udev net-tools netbase ifupdown network-manager lsb-base nginx vim cmake ntp whois libpcap-dev bind-utils git --yes

Add /usr/local/koheron-server to the environment PATH

cat <<- EOF_CAT > etc/environment
PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/usr/local/koheron-server"
EOF_CAT

Update hostname, user profile

echo koheron-altera > etc/hostname

cat <<- EOF_CAT >> etc/hosts
127.0.0.1    localhost.localdomain localhost
127.0.1.1    koheron-altera
EOF_CAT

cat <<- EOF_CAT >> etc/network/interfaces
allow-hotplug eth0
# DHCP configuration
iface eth0 inet dhcp
# Static IP
#iface eth0 inet static
#  address 192.168.1.100
#  gateway 192.168.1.1
#  netmask 255.255.255.0
#  network 192.168.1.0
#  broadcast 192.168.1.255
  post-up systemctl start koheron-server-init
EOF_CAT

useradd rsarwar 
passwd rsarwar
addgroup rsarwar sudo && addgroup rsarwar audio && addgroup rsarwar video
mkdir -p /home/rsarwar
chsh -s /bin/bash


cat <<- EOF_CAT >> /home/rsarwar/.bash_profile
if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
    . ~/.bashrc
fi
EOF_CAT

cat <<- EOF_CAT >> /home/rsarwar/.bashrc
PS1="\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\] : \[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\n\$ " 
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
alias ls='ll -l --color=auto'
alias grep='grep --color=auto' 
EOF_CAT
systemd-machine-id-setup

Install packages required for LXDE Desktop

apt install lxde xfce4-power-manager xinit xorg lightdm-gtk-greeter xserver-xorg-video-fbdev gnome-mplayer lightdm lxtask htop --yes

Exit chroot and unmount proc, sys, dev, dev/pts

exit
./ch-mount.sh -u rootfs/

Return to user privilege

exit

Reference: Building Ubuntu rootfs for ARM Reference: Koheron-sdk

4. Build Linux Kernel

This chapter describes how to build Linux kernel.The final kernal image is stored in the directory ~/de10_nano/image/p1. The kernel module is stored in the directory ~/de1_soc/rootfs.

Type the following commands in Ubuntu Terminal for building the Linux kernel.

Download the source code of the kernel

cd ~/de10_nano
git clone https://github.com/rsarwar87/altera-soc-rootfs
cd altera-soc-rootfs
git checkout socfpga-5.4.23-lts

Setup enviroment variables for cross-compilation

export ARCH=arm
export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf-

Generate the default config. file .config

make socfpga_defconfig

Compile kernel

make zImage -j10

Copy kernel

cp arch/arm/boot/zImage ~/de10_nano/image/p1/

Compile modules

make modules -j10

Install modules

sudo -E make modules_install INSTALL_MOD_PATH=~/de10_nano/rootfs/

5. Create Linux Image File

This chapter describes how to merge the components generated in above chapters into an image file. It also shows how to write this image file into a microSD card.

The Python script file 'make_sdimage2.py' provided from rocketboards.org can be used to merge these components. Execute the script file Type the following commands in terminal to execute the script file and merge all components into a single image file 'de1-soc-sd-card.img'

## for 16 GB images
sudo ./make_sdimage.py -f \
     -P p1/*,num=1,format=vfat,size=500M \
     -P p2/*,num=2,format=ext3,size=13500M \
     -P p3/preloader-mkpimage.bin,p3/u-boot.img,num=3,format=raw,size=10M,type=A2 \
     -s 14200M \
     -n de10-nqno-sd-card.img
     
## for 4 GB images
sudo ./make_sdimage.py -f \
     -P p1/*,num=1,format=vfat,size=100M \
     -P p2/*,num=2,format=ext3,size=3500M \
     -P p3/preloader-mkpimage.bin,p3/u-boot.img,num=3,format=raw,size=10M,type=A2 \
     -s 3700M \
     -n de10-nqno-sd-card.img

Clone the image to the microSD card Insert a microSD card (at least 4GB is required and 8GB is recommended) into your host PC. Execute the following commands to clone the image file. Note the "sdx" in the command below needs to be replaced with the device name of the microSD card on your host PC. The lsblk command can be used to check the device name associated with the inserted microSD card.

umount /dev/sdx* 2> /dev/null
pv -tpreb de1-soc-sd-card.img | sudo dd of=/dev/sdx bs=1M

Appendix

Contents of the microSD Card Image in Linux

Partition Format

There are three partitions in microSD Card

FAT32
EXT3
RAW A2

Partition Content

FAT32

Device tree blob
FPGA configuration
U-boot script for FPGA configuration
Linux kernel image

EXT3

Filesystem

RAW A2

Preloader image
U-boot image

:::info The order of the partitions cannot be changed. :::

Update Individual Elements on the microSD Card

It is time consuming to write the entire image to the microSD card whenever a modification is made. Hence it is preferred to update the elements individually after the first image is created and written to the microSD card.

The following table shows how each item can be updated individually.

Item	Update Procedure
zImage	Mount partition 1 from the microSD card and replace the file with the new one. `mkdir sdcard` `mount /dev/sdx1 sdcard/` `cp <file_name> sdcard/` `umount sdcard`
soc_system.rbf
soc_system.dtb
u-boot.scr
preloader-mkpimage.bin	dd if=preloader-mkpimage.bin of=/dev/sdx3 bs=64k seek=0
u-boot.img	dd if=u-boot.img of=/dev/sdx3 bs=64k seek=4
filesystem	dd if=de1-soc-sd-card.img bs=512 skip=206849 count=7168001 \| pv -tpreb -s 3500m \| sudo dd of=/dev/sdx2 bs=512

Remember to replace "sdx" in the command above with the device name of the microSD card on your host PC. You can find out the device name by executing cat /proc/partitions after plugging in the card reader into the host.

Reference: GSRD v15.1 - microSD Card - Arrow SoCKit Edition

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

Repository files navigation

Build Altera SoC Image with Ubuntu

1. Establish Cross-compile environment

1.1 Install Ubuntu 64-bit on the Host PC

1.2 Install Quartus Prime Standard Edition 18.0

1.3 Install SoC EDS tool

1.4 Install arm-linux-gnueabihf Toolchain

1.5 Install Library and Tool

1.6 Directory Structure

2. Build FPGA Quartus Project

2.1 Prepare Project

2.2 Quartus Setup

2.3 Build Project

3. Build Linux Filesystem

4. Build Linux Kernel

5. Create Linux Image File

Appendix

Contents of the microSD Card Image in Linux

Partition Format

Partition Content

FAT32

EXT3

RAW A2

Update Individual Elements on the microSD Card

About

Releases

Packages

Languages

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 12 Commits
ghrd		ghrd
README.md		README.md
build_sdcard.sh		build_sdcard.sh
ch-mount.sh		ch-mount.sh
download_rootfs.sh		download_rootfs.sh
make_sdimage2.py		make_sdimage2.py
prepare_devicetree.sh		prepare_devicetree.sh

rsarwar87/altera-soc-rootfs

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

Build Altera SoC Image with Ubuntu

1. Establish Cross-compile environment

1.1 Install Ubuntu 64-bit on the Host PC

1.2 Install Quartus Prime Standard Edition 18.0

1.3 Install SoC EDS tool

1.4 Install arm-linux-gnueabihf Toolchain

1.5 Install Library and Tool

1.6 Directory Structure

2. Build FPGA Quartus Project

2.1 Prepare Project

2.2 Quartus Setup

2.3 Build Project

3. Build Linux Filesystem

4. Build Linux Kernel

5. Create Linux Image File

Appendix

Contents of the microSD Card Image in Linux

Partition Format

Partition Content

FAT32

EXT3

RAW A2

Update Individual Elements on the microSD Card

About

Resources

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages 0

Languages

Packages