Getting Started with FRDM-IMX95

The i.MX Linux Board Support Package (BSP) is a collection of binary files, source code and support files that are used to boot an Embedded Linux image on a specific i.MX development platform.

Current releases of Linux binary demo files can be found on Linux download page. Additional documentation is available in the i.MX Linux documentation bundle under the Linux sections of the i.MX Software and Development Tools.

2.1 Overview

FRDM-IMX95 supports booting from eMMC and SD card.

This Getting Started guide only outlines a few methods of transferring the Linux BSP image to an SD card. Experienced Linux developers can explore other options if desired.

2.2 Download NXP Linux BSP Pre-Built Image

The latest pre-built images for the FRDM-IMX95 are available on the Linux download page under the most recent Linux version.

The pre-built NXP Linux binary demo image provides a typical system and basic set of features for using and evaluating the processor. Without modifying the system, the users can evaluate hardware interfaces, test SoC features and run user space applications.

2.3 Burn NXP Linux BSP Image Using Universal Update Utility (UUU)

In addition to the connections from Section Out of the Box, connect the USB1 J3 to the host machine using the proper USB cable.

Turn off the board. Refer to section 1.4 Boot Switch Setup and configure the board to boot in serial download protocol (SDP) mode.

Depending on the OS used in the host machine, the way to transfer the Linux BSP image onto an SD card can vary. Choose an option below for detailed instructions:

$ chmod a+x uuu
$ sudo ./uuu -b sd_all imx-boot-imx95-15x15-lpddr4x-frdm-sd.bin-flash_all imx-image-full-imx95evk.wic

.\uuu.exe -b sd_all imx-boot-imx95-15x15-lpddr4x-frdm-sd.bin-flash_all imx-image-full-imx95evk.wic

In the section, a brief guide of how to build Yocto BSP image for FRDM-IMX95 is introduced.

3.1 FRDM-IMX95 Yocto BSP

The FRDM-IMX95 BSP release is quarterly released with i.MX family Linux BSP release. To build FRDM-IMX95 image from source code, please first check i.MX Yocto Project User’s Guide to get familiar with Yocto project and Yocto build. Then please follow the steps below to build image for FRDM-IMX95. Here LF6.12.49_2.2.0 BSP is used as an example.

1. Download the latest i.MX family Linux BSP Release:

$ repo init -u https://github.com/nxp-imx/imx-manifest -b imx-linux-walnascar -m imx-6.12.49-2.2.0.xml 
$ repo sync

2. Yocto Project Setup:

$ MACHINE=imx95-15x15-lpddr4x-frdm DISTRO=fsl-imx-xwayland source imx-setup-release.sh -b frdm-imx95

3. Build images:

$ bitbake imx-image-full

4. Flashing SD card image:

$ zstdcat imx-image-full-imx95-15x15-lpddr4x-frdm.rootfs.wic.zst | sudo dd of=/dev/sdx bs=1M && sync

Or using uuu to burn image into SD card:

$ uuu -b sd_all imx-image-full-imx95-15x15-lpddr4x-frdm.rootfs.wic.zst

5. Change boot switch SW1[1:2] to “11” to select SD card boot, insert the SD card and power up the FRDM-IMX95 board.

To enable faster development for users of all skill levels, NXP provides extensive example applications to showcase various features and capabilities of the platform.

4.1 Application Code Hub

The Application Code Hub  (ACH) repository enables engineers to easily find microcontroller and processor software examples, code snippets, application software packs and demos developed by NXP in-house experts. This space provides a quick, easy and consistent way to find microcontrollers and processor applications.

ACH provides filter and search options to quickly find specific applications. With the support of Git capabilities, there is an easy way to import and use applications within user’s development environments.

To learn more details of ACH, please visit this link.

To find available example applications for FRDM-IMX95, please select “i.MX” in Device Families as shown below.

Select each example application to check for details.

To get the source code of each example application, click the “Visit on GitHub” button on the top to visit the code repository in NXP GitHub.

4.2 GoPoint for i.MX Applications Processors

The GoPoint for i.MX Application Processors is a user-friendly application launches pre-built applications packed with the Linux BSP, giving users an excellent out-of-the-box experience and hands-on experience with i.MX SoC's capabilities. GoPoint highlights advanced features while providing practical solutions for implementation, with source code and build recipes for the applications provided in GitHub .

To learn more details of GoPoint, please visit this link.

For FRDM-IMX95, GoPoint is included in the BSP release by default. To open the GoPoint GUI launcher, press the “GoPoint” displayed on the top left-hand corner of the screen after the FRDM-IMX95 boot up as shown below.

Figure 6. GoPoint

Figure 6. GoPoint

Available example applications are shown with icons of screenshot for each application. When selecting the example application, a brief description of this example application is shown on the right side. To launch the currently selected application, click the “Launch Demo” button.

After an application is started, it can then be force-quit by clicking the “Stop Current Demo” button in the launcher (appears once the application is started).

For more details of the usage for each application, please refer to GoPoint for i.MX Applications Processors User's Guide.

Debug Terminal in Linux

Serial Communication Console Setup

The Linux USB serial drivers are available at CH344 Linux Drivers .

On the command prompt of the Linux host machine, run the following command to determine the port number:

ls /dev/ttyCH343USB*

One port is for Arm® Cortex®-M7, one port is for Arm® Cortex®-A55, and one port is for Arm® Cortex®-M33.

Minicom

Use the following commands to install and run the Minicom program:

1. Install Minicom using Ubuntu package manager

$ sudo apt-get install minicom

2. Launch Minicom using a console window using the port number determined earlier

$ sudo minicom /dev/ttyCH343USB * -s

Configure Minicom as shown in Figure and Exit configure.

Debug Terminal in Windows

Cortex-M7 Enablement

FRDM-IMX95 has one general-purpose Arm® Cortex®-M7 running up to 800 MHz, which can be used for real-time and low-power processing. For how to build program and run program on Cortex-M7 core, developers can refer to application note AN14748 “How to Run Application on M7 Core of i.MX 95”.

For how to debug program running on Cortex-M7 core, developers can refer to application note AN14120 “Debugging Cortex-M with VS Code on i.MX 8M, i.MX 8ULP, and i.MX 9”.

Note: The Yocto build already includes several Cortex-M7 example images under rootfs /lib/firmware/ folder for quick evaluation and validation.

Model Quantization

To be accelerated by the NPU, the neural-network operators must be quantized to 8-bit unsigned or signed. For model quantization, please download latest eIQ toolkit and check the user guide.

Model Conversion

To be accelerated by the NPU, the quantized model needs to be converted using the neutron-converter tool. The latest neutron-converter tool is included in the eIQ Neutron SDK, which can be downloaded from eIQ toolkit page. Please follow the user guide in the eIQ Neutron SDK to convert the model for i.MX95.

Model Inference

To evaluate NN model’s performance on NPU, the simplest method is to use the benchmark_model tool in Linux BSP. It uses random data as input and gives average inference time for a given number of runs. Here is an example:

root@imx95frdm:~# /usr/bin/tensorflow-lite-2.19.0/examples/benchmark_model --graph=/usr/bin/tensorflow-lite-2.19.0/examples/mobilenet_v1_1.0_224_quant_converted.tflite $ --external_delegate_path=/usr/lib/libneutron_delegate.so

For how to write code in c++ & python to run model inference on NPU, please refer to example applications in GoPoint .

Using System Manager

FRDM-IMX95 has one Arm® Cortex®-M33 running up to 333 MHz, which is dedicated to running a system manager (SM). SM is an application provided by NXP, intended to manage low-level resources for the other processors in the SoC.

The Cortex-M33 is the boot core, runs the boot ROM, which loads the SM (and other boot code), and then branches to the SM. The SM then configures some aspects of the hardware such as isolation mechanisms and then starts other cores in the system. After starting these cores, it enters a service mode where it provides access to clocking, power, sensor, and pin control via a client RPC API based on ARM's System Control and Management Interface (SCMI) . To facilitate isolation between cores, the SM partitions the SoC into logical machines (LM) which have statically configurable access rights to both hardware and RPC API calls.

SM is delivered in source form in Github imx-sm  repository, allowing customers the freedom to modify and recompile its code to suit their needs. However, NXP advises that any changes made to extend SM functionality must be limited to the customer board layer. To extend SM functionality, developers can refer to application note AN14478 “Extending i.MX 9 System Manager Functionality with Board Controls”.

Using VPU

FRDM-IMX95 has a Video Processing Unit (VPU) including both decoder and encoder, which supports H.264, H.265 4Kp30 decoding, and H.264, H.265 4Kp30 encoding.

To test the VPU, the simplest way is to play an MP4 video file using following command:

root@imx95frdm:~# gplay-1.0 MP4_EXAMPLE_FILE.mp4

The gplay-1.0 will automatically choose VPU as video decoder and play the MP4 file on the Weston desktop. You should be able to see the video playing on the HDMI display if connected.

For more details of how to use VPU API in applications, please check “i.MX VPU API Reference Manual”.

Using ISP

FRDM-IMX95 has 500 Mpixel/s MIPI_CSI and ISP (2x 4 lane, 2.5 Gbps/lane) with PHY (1 mux with DSI) Camera interface, which supports up to 1x 4Kp60fps, 2x 4Kp30, 4x 1080p60, or 8x 1080p30 cameras with MIPI virtual channels.

To test the ISP, you can use EXPI-S08A20 camera with FRDM-IMX95.

Note: Please make sure EXPI-OS08A20 camera is connected to the MIPI_CSI port of FRDM-IMX95 before power up the board. Then please make sure you are using “imx95-15x15-frdm-os08a20-isp.dtb” to boot the Linux OS.

u-boot=> setenv fdtfile imx95-15x15-frdm-os08a20-isp.dtb
u-boot=> boot

After FRDM-IMX95 boots up with OS08A20 camera connected, please run following command to setup the environment and open camera preview of OS08A20:

root@imx95frdm:~# export LIBCAMERA_IPA_MODULE_PATH=/usr/lib/libcamera/ipa 
root@imx95frdm:~# export LIBCAMERA_PIPELINES_MATCH_LIST='nxp/neo,uvc' 
root@imx95frdm:~# export LIBCAMERA_IPA_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/share/libcamera/ipa 
root@imx95frdm:~# export CAMERA0="/base/soc/bus@42000000/i2c@42540000/os08a20_mipi@36" 
root@imx95frdm:~# gst-launch-1.0 libcamerasrc camera-name="${CAMERA0}" ! video/x-raw, width=3840, height=2160, format=YUY2 ! queue ! waylandsink

If a camera preview is shown on the HDMI display with correct view, then it proves ISP is working fine.

For more details of ISP usage, please check “i.MX 95 Camera Porting Guide”.

Using GPU

FRDM-IMX95 has a Mali-G310 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) operating at up to 60 GFLOPS (high-precision), which supports OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0, Vulkan 1.2.

To test the GPU performance, the simplest way is to run glmark2-es2-wayland benchmark as following command:

root@imx95frdm:~# glmark2-es2-wayland --fullscreen

Besides this, there are many other GPU example applications installed in the FRDM-IMX95 default rootfs under folder /opt/imx-gpu-sdk/. You can try them by directly executing the binary or launch the application from GoPoint.

For more details of GPU usage, please check “i.MX Graphics User’s Guide”.

Fast Boot

In certain use cases, there is requirement for the device boot time, which means the device needs to complete booting in a given time limit.

To optimize the boot time, FRDM-IMX95 supports falcon mode in U-Boot. Falcon mode is a feature in U-Boot that enables fast booting by allowing SPL to directly start the Linux kernel. It completely skips the U-Boot loading and initialization, with the effect of reducing the time spent in the bootloader.

For how to enable falcon mode and further optimize boot time, please check application note AN14093 “Fast Boot on i.MX 8M and i.MX 9 Using Falcon Mode and Kernel Optimizations”.

Board Information

• FRDM-IMX95 Design Files
• FRDM-IMX95 Board User Manual

Forums

• FRDM Training Hub
• i.MX Processors