GS-IMX91QSB: Getting Started with IMX91QSB
Contents of this document
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Out of the Box
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Get Software
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Build, Run
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Developer Experience
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Purchase your i.MX 91 Quick Start Evaluation Kit
1. Out of the Box
The following section describes the steps to boot the i.MX 91 QSB.
The development kit contains:
- i.MX 91 QSB along with M.2 module with NXP’s Wi-Fi 6 Tri-radio IW610
- Power supply: USB-Type C 45 W power delivery supply, 5 V/3 A; 9 V/3 A; 15 V/3 A; 20 V/2.25 A supported
- Cable: Assembly, USB 2.0, Type-C male to Type-A male
- Software: Linux BSP image programmed in eMMC
- Quick start guide
Get started developing your application on the i.MX 91 QSB with the out-of-the-box video. For more information, please visit the i.MX 91 applications processor Documentation.
1.2 Boot Option
The i.MX 91 QSB comes with a prebuilt NXP Linux binary demo image flashed on the eMMC. Without modifying the binary inside, booting from the eMMC provides a default system with certain features for building other applications on top of Linux.
To understand more about NXP's Embedded Linux®, continue reading the next sections.
1.3 Connect USB Debug Cable
Connect the supplied USB-Type C cable to the debug UART port J11, then connect the other end of the
cable to a host
computer.
Four UART connections will appear on the host computer. The third port is for A55 core system debugging. If you are unfamiliar with terminal applications, please view one of the following tutorials before continuing to the next section: Minicom Tutorial, Tera Term Tutorial, PuTTY Tutorial.
To understand more about NXP's Embedded Linux®, continue reading the next sections.1.4 Boot Switch Setup
SW3 [1-4] is the boot configuration switch. By default, the boot device is eMMC/uSDHC1.
1.5 Board Boot Up
- Connect the power supply cable to the power connector
J13 - Power the board by flipping the switch
SW5
The processor starts executing from the on-chip ROM code. With the default boot switch setup, the code reads the fuses to define the media where it is expected to have a bootable image. After it finds a bootable image, the U-Boot execution should begin automatically.
Information is printed in the serial console for the Arm® Cortex®-A55. If you do not stop the U-Boot process, it continues to boot the kernel.
As the board boots up. The serial port starts to print log information to the PC as the board boots up. Congratulations, you are up and running.
2. Get Software
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
i.MX 91 QSB support booting from eMMC and SD card.
This Getting Started guide only outlines a few methods of flashing 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 prebuilt images for the i.MX 91 QSB are available on the Linux download page.
The prebuilt 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 "Out of the Box" section, connect the USB1 (J12) to the host machine using the proper USB cable.
Turn off the board. Refer to the "1.4 Boot Switch setup" section 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:
Linux®
- Install UUU on Linux Distro
- Burn the NXP Linux BSP Image to the Board
Download the latest stable files from UUU GitHub page . If further assistance for UUU is needed, please refer to this extensive tutorial.
By default, this procedure flashes the image to the SD card. Check the UUU GitHub page for reference on how to flash the image to other devices.
Open a terminal application and change the directory to the location where uuu and the latest Linux distribution for i.MX 91 QSB are located. Add execution permission to the uuu file and execute it. uuu will wait for the USB device to connect
$ chmod a+x uuu
$ sudo ./uuu -b sd_all imx-image-full- imx91qsb.rootfs.wic.zstConfirm that i.MX 91 QSB boot mode is switched to serial download mode, and turn on the board, uuu will start to flash the images to the SD card.
When it finishes, turn off the board and the terminal. If further assistance with configuring the board to boot from SD card is needed, please refer to the 1.4 Boot Switch setup.
Windows®
- Install UUU on Windows Distro
uuu.exe- Serial USB drivers (depending on your board and Windows installation - check Windows Device Manager)
- Burn the NXP Linux BSP Image to the Board
Download the latest stable files from UUU GitHub page . If further assistance for UUU is needed, please refer to this extensive tutorial.
By default, this procedure flashes the image to the SD card. Check the UUU GitHub page for reference on how to flash the image to other devices.
Open the command prompt application and navigate to the directory where the uuu.exe file and the Linux release for the i.MX 91 QSB are located.
uuu.exe -b sd_all imx-image-full-imx91qsb.rootfs.wic.zstConfirm i.MX 91 QSB boot mode is switched to serial download mode, and turn on the board, uuu will start to copy the images to the board.
When it finishes, turn off the board and the command prompt application. If further assistance with configuring the board to boot from SD card is needed, please refer to the Boot Switch setup.
3. Build, Run
In the section, a brief guide of how to build Yocto BSP image for i.MX 91 QSB is introduced, along with how to add Matter support.
3.1 i.MX 91 QSB Yocto BSP
The i.MX 91 QSB BSP release is based on i.MX SW 2025 Q2 release with Yocto Project 5.2 (Walnascar). To build i.MX 91 QSB BSP image from source code, please first check i.MX Yocto Project user guide to get familiar with Yocto project and Yocto build. Then please follow the below steps to build image for i.MX 91 QSB.
- Download i.MX SW 2025 Q2 BSP Release:
- Yocto Project Setup:
- Flashing SD card image:
- Change boot switch SW1[1:4] to “0011” to select SD card boot, insert the SD card and power up the i.MX 91 QSB
$ repo init -u https://github.com/nxp-imx/imx-manifest -b imx-linux-walnascar -m
imx-6.12.20-2.0.0.xml
$ repo sync$ MACHINE=imx91-9x9-lpddr4-qsb DISTRO=fsl-imx-xwayland source imx-setup-release.sh -b
bld-xwayland-imx91qsb1$ zstdcat imx-image-full-imx91qsb.rootfs.wic.zst | sudo dd of=/dev/sdx bs=1M && syncOr using uuu to burn image into SD card:
$ uuu -b sd_all imx-image-full-imx91qsb.rootfs.wic.zst3.2 i.MX 91 QSB Matter Support
i.MX 91 QSB has support for Matter. To include Matter support, please follow below steps to include Matter layer into Yocto build.
- Download i.MX SW 2025 Q2 BSP Release:
- Download i.MX Matter Yocto layer:
- Yocto Project Setup:
- Build images:
$ repo init -u https://github.com/nxp-imx/imx-manifest -b imx-linux-walnascar -m imx-6.12.20-2.0.0.xml
$ repo sync1$ cd ${MY_YOCTO}/sources/meta-nxp-connectivity
$ git remote update
$ git checkout imx_matter_2025_q21$ cd ${MY_YOCTO}
$ MACHINE=imx91qsb-iwxxx-matter DISTRO=fsl-imx-xwayland source sources/meta-nxp-connectivity/tools/imx-matter-setup.sh bld-xwayland-imx91qsb$ bitbake imx-image-multimedia4. Developer Experience
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 microcontroller 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.
Learn more about the Application Code Hub (ACH).
4.2 GoPoint for i.MX Applications Processors
The GoPoint for i.MX Application Processors is a user-friendly application launches prebuilt 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 .
Learn more about GoPoint for i.MX Application Processors
Debug Terminal Setup
Debug Terminal in Linux
Serial Communication Console Setup
On the command prompt of the Linux host machine, run the following command to determine the port number:
1$ ls /dev/ttyUSB*The third port is for Arm® Cortex®-A55.
Minicom
- Use the following commands to install and run the Minicom program:
- Launch Minicom using a console window using the port number determined earlier
1$ sudo apt-get install minicom1$ sudo minicom /dev/ttyUSB* -s
Debug Terminal in Windows
Serial Communication Console Setup
The FTDI USB-serial chip on i.MX 91 QSB enumerates 4 serial ports. Assume that the ports are COM11,
COM12, COM13,
COM14.
The third port (COM13) is for the serial console communication from Arm® Cortex®-A55. The serial-to-USB drivers are
available at FTD Chip Drivers .
Tera Term
Tera Term is an open-source terminal emulation application. This program displays the information sent from the NXP development platform’s virtual serial port.
- Download Tera Term. After the download, run the installer and then return to this webpage to continue
- Launch Tera Term. The first time it launches, it shows the following dialog. Select the serial option. Assuming your board is plugged in, there should be a COM port automatically populated in the list
- Configure the serial port settings (using the COM port number identified earlier) to 115200 baud rate, 8 data bits, no parity and 1 stop bit. To do this, go to Setup → Serial Port and change the settings
- Verify that the connection is open
PuTTY
PuTTY is a popular terminal-emulation application. This program displays the information sent from the NXP development platform’s virtual serial port.
- Download PuTTY. After the download, run the installer and then return to this webpage to continue
- Launch PuTTY by either double clicking on the executable file you downloaded or from the Start menu, depending on the type of download you selected
- Configure In the window that launches. Select the Serial radio button and enter the COM port number that you determined earlier. Also enter the baud rate, in this case 115200
- Click Open to open the serial connection. Assuming the board is connected, and the correct COM port is entered, the terminal window opens. If the configuration is not correct, PuTTY alerts you
Design Resources
Board Information
Support
Troubleshooting
Security and Integrity
System security and integrity is always one of the most critical aspects to be considered in product development.
i.MX 91 QSB support secure boot feature and encrypted boot feature, helping to prevent unauthorized software execution during the device boot sequence and protect bootloader data from unauthorized access.
For more details of secure boot feature, please check application note Secure Boot on AHAB Supported Devices.
For more details of encrypted boot feature, please check application note i.MX Encrypted Boot on AHAB-Enabled Devices.
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, i.MX 91 QSB 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 Fast Boot on i.MX 8M and i.MX 9 Using Falcon Mode and Kernel Optimizations .