Hobbitboard

The Hobbitboard is a two-board development system from the makers of the Wandboard, consisting of a System-on-Module (SoM) and a carrier baseboard. The SoM integrates the processor, RAM, eMMC, power management, and wifi/bluetooth. This connects to the baseboard via three Hirose 70-pin connectors, with an Intel Edison compatible footprint. The included baseboard provides connectivity for audio, USB, ethernet, and a variety of headers exposing additional signals.

Architecture
ARMv7 Cortex-A7
Processor
Freescale i.MX6ul 528MHz
RAM
256MB
eMMC
4GB
USB
1
Ethernet
10/100
Wireless
AC, Bluetooth

Setup for serial download mode

  1. Configure the jumpers next to the SoM to enable serial download mode:
  2. Connect a USB 3.0 Type C cable between the Hobbitboard and a computer.
  3. Apply 5V power to the baseboard.
  4. Inspect lsusb to ensure that the board has been recognized. A line similar to this should be present:
    Bus 002 Device 008: ID 15a2:007d Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
  5. Download and extract the Hobbitboard tools zip:
    wget http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/imx6/hobbitboard_tools-20160511.zip
    unzip hobbitboard_tools-20160511.zip
  6. Run the imx_usb (or imx_usb_32bit for 32-bit hosts) as the root user or with sudo to send the "bootbomb" to the board to expose the eMMC:
    cd hobbitboard_tools-20160511/linux
    ./imx_usb ../bootbomb-20160510.imx
  7. After a few moments, the eMMC device will enumerate as a normal storage drive.

Install to eMMC

Replace sdX in the following instructions with the device name for the eMMC as it appears on your computer.

  1. Zero the beginning of the eMMC:
    dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=1M count=8
  2. Start fdisk to partition the eMMC:
    fdisk /dev/sdX
  3. At the fdisk prompt, delete old partitions and create a new one:
    1. Type o. This will clear out any partitions on the drive.
    2. Type p to list partitions. There should be no partitions left.
    3. Now type n, then p for primary, 1 for the first partition on the drive, 2048 for the first sector, and then press ENTER to accept the default last sector.
    4. Write the partition table and exit by typing w.
  4. Create the ext4 filesystem:
    1. For e2fsprogs < 1.43:
      mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX1
    2. For e2fsprogs >= 1.43:
      mkfs.ext4 -O ^metadata_csum,^64bit /dev/sdX1
  5. Mount the filesystem:
    mkdir mnt
    mount /dev/sdX1 mnt
  6. Download and extract the root filesystem (as root, not via sudo):
    wget http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-armv7-latest.tar.gz
    bsdtar -xpf ArchLinuxARM-armv7-latest.tar.gz -C mnt
    sync
    umount mnt
  7. Download and install the U-Boot bootloader:
    wget http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/imx6/boot/hobbitboard/u-boot.imx
    dd if=u-boot.imx of=/dev/sdX bs=1k seek=1 conv=notrunc oflag=dsync
    sync

Setup for eMMC boot mode

  1. Ensure the eMMC storage device has been unmounted, and remove 5V power and the USB 3.0 Type C cable from the baseboard.
  2. Configure the jumpers next to the SoM to enable booting from eMMC:
  3. Connect ethernet, and apply 5V power.
  4. Use the serial console or SSH to the IP address given to the board by your router.
    • Login as the default user alarm with the password alarm.
    • The default root password is root.
  5. Initialize the pacman keyring and populate the Arch Linux ARM package signing keys:
    pacman-key --init
    pacman-key --populate archlinuxarm

Install the U-Boot package

  1. In order to receive updates to the U-Boot bootloader, after logging into the system type:
    pacman -Sy uboot-hobbitboard
  2. When prompted, press y and hit enter to flash the bootloader to the eMMC.

Set a static ethernet MAC address

  1. The ethernet controller has no stored MAC address. To set a static address, create the file /boot/uEnv.txt and add the following line:
    optargs=fec.macaddr="0xCE,0x02,0x03,0x04,0x05,0x06"
  2. Configure each hex byte for the desired address.
  3. Save the file and reboot.

Wireless setup

  1. In order for the wireless chipset to work, install the Hobbitboard firmware package:
    pacman -Sy firmware-hobbitboard
  2. Reboot after installation. The wireless device will be enumerated as wlan0.
  3. Connect an antenna to the U.FL connector on the SoM.
  4. Install any additional or desired wireless and network management software.

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