Setting up your machine Exporting variables Edit your ~/.bashrc and add these 2 lines export ARCH=arm export CROSS_COMPILE=/opt/gcc-4.1.2-glibc-2.5-nptl-3/arm-none-linux-gnueabi/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi- To build and debug android you will need to install some packages and services in the host machine,this how-to assumes that you are using Ubuntu 9.04 or greater. Installing packages sudo apt-get install nfs-kernel-server patch g++ rpm zlib1g-dev m4 bison libncurses5-dev gettext build-essential tcl intltool libxml2-dev minicom tftpd  xinetd For a complete list, depending on system type, refer to Installing required packages Set serial port Setting TFTP Setting NFS Compile Android Download the SDK from our internal repository cd /opt wget http://android.maxtrack.com.br/imx-android-r6.tar.gz tar xvfz imx-android-r6.tar.gz cd imx-android-r6/code tar xzvf R6.tar.gz cd ~ mkdir myandroid cd myandroid curl http://android.git.kernel.org/repo > ./repo chmod a+x ./repo ./repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git -b donut * If you are behind a firewall or proxy try this one:./repo init -u http://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git -b donut cp /opt/imx-android-r6/code/R6/default.xml .repo/manifests/default.xml ./repo sync Preparing cross compiling tools cd /opt/imx-android-r6/tool tar xzvf gcc-4.1.2-glibc-2.5-nptl-3.tar.gz -C /opt export ARCH=arm export CROSS_COMPILE=/opt/gcc-4.1.2-glibc-2.5-nptl-3/arm-none-linux-gnueabi/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabi- Download the kernel source git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-2.6.28.y.git kernel_imx Download U-Boot cd bootable/bootloader git clone git://git.denx.de/u-boot.git uboot-imx       Patching the environment Previously we decompressed the SDK at "/opt/imx-android-r6/code/R6" there we can find all the patches needed to iMX51 cd ~/myandroid . /opt/imx-android-r6/code/R6/and_patch.sh c_patch /opt/imx-android-r6/code/R6 imx_R6 Build Uboot cd ~/myandroid/bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx make mx51_bbg_android_config make Build Android cd ~/myandroid make PRODUCT-imx51_BBG-eng 2>&1 | tee build_imx51_BBG_android.log For i.MX51 BBG build, it will generate the compiled environment under myandroid/out/target/product/imx51_BBG. These 4 folders can be used to create your Android file system for NFS mounting, i.e., "root/" -> "/", "system/" -> "/system", "data/" -> "/data" root/ : root file system (including init, init.rc, etc). Will be mounted at "/" system/:  Android system binary/libraries. Will be mounted at "/system" data/: Android data area. Will be mounted at "/data" recovery/: root file system when booting in "recovery" mode. Not directly used. Image files to use with SD cards ramdisk.img: Ramdisk image generated from "root/". Not directly used. system.img: EXT3 image generated from "system/". Can be programmed to "SYSTEM" partition on SD card with "dd" userdata.img: EXT3 image generated from "data/". recovery.img: EXT3 image generated from "recovery/". Can be programmed to "RECOVERY" partition on SD card with "dd" Build uRamdisk Assuming that you had already built uboot, "mkimage" was generated under myandroid//bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/tools/ cd ~/myandroid/out/target/product/imx51_BBG ~/myandroid/bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/tools/mkimage -A arm -O linux -T ramdisk -C none -a 0x90308000 -n "Android Root Filesystem" -d ./ramdisk.img ./uramdisk.img Build Kernel Image If you want to run Android via NFS or from SD, you can build kernel with default configuration now: cd ~/myandroid/kernel_imx       make imx51_android_defconfig      make uImage After compiling the image can be found at ~/myandroid/kernel_imx/arch/arm/boot/uImage. Since we are using Uboot we will need to do this step: cd myandroid/kernel_imx/arch/arm/boot ~/myandroid/bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx/tools/mkimage -A arm -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0x90008000 -e 0x90008000 -n "Android Linux Kernel" -d ./zImage ./uImage Boot FS from SDcard Partioning the SD Card Insert your SD card/cardreader to the Linux PC (you need root privileges for programming SD), you can use dmesg to check the SD device, in our how-to we will consider that the sdcard is detected as /dev/sdb, so be careful to not mess up your own file system. To boot the entire FS from SDcard you must follow this partition schema: File:Pt.png To achieve this, we are going to use fdisk to create the partition table: # sudo fdisk /dev/sdb Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0x1787490d. Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them. After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable. Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite) Listing the partition talbe (in our example the SDcard does not have a partition schema): Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdb: 3965 MB, 3965190144 bytes 122 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1023 cylinders Units = cylinders of 7564 * 512 = 3872768 bytesDisk identifier: 0x1787490d    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System If you have any previous partition, please delete it using the "d" command. Pay attention that each sdcard block has 3872768 bytes (this size usually changes for each type of sdcard) so the first step is to jump at least 8 MB to store uboot, kernel and ramdisk ( as shown in the partition schema ) With that advice in mind, create a 10 MB primary partition that will store the media (/sdcards): Command (m for help): nCommand action    e   extended    p   primary partition (1-4) pPartition number (1-4): 1First cylinder (1-1023, default 1): +8MLast cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (2-1023, default 1023): +10M List the partition table to check if the partition was correctly created: Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdb: 3965 MB, 3965190144 bytes 122 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1023 cylinders Units = cylinders of 7564 * 512 = 3872768 bytes Disk identifier: 0x1787490d     Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/sdb1               2           5       15128   83  Linux Note that the first partition does not start in the first cylinder; the first cylinder and the second one will store uboot, kernel and ramdisk. Now we need to change the partition label to vfat: Command (m for help): tSelected partition 1 Hex code (type L to list codes): bChanged system type of partition 1 to b (W95 FAT32) Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdb: 3965 MB, 3965190144 bytes 122 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1023 cylinders Units = cylinders of 7564 * 512 = 3872768 bytes Disk identifier: 0x1787490d     Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/sdb1               2           5       15128    b  W95 FAT32 Create another 80 MB primary partition with 80 MB storage capacity; this partition will store the system's files. This partition must start in the cylinder that follows the last cylinder of the former partition. Command (m for help): nCommand action    e   extended    p   primary partition (1-4) p Partition number (1-4): 2First cylinder (1-1023, default 1): 6Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (6-1023, default 1023): +80M Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdb: 3965 MB, 3965190144 bytes 122 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1023 cylinders Units = cylinders of 7564 * 512 = 3872768 bytes Disk identifier: 0x1787490d    Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/sdb1               2           5       15128    b  W95 FAT32 /dev/sdb2               6          28       86986   83  Linux Now you must create an extended partition big enough to store other 2 logic partitions ( DATA partition with 20 MegaBytes and CACHE partition with 10 MB): Command (m for help): nCommand action    e   extended    p   primary partition (1-4) ePartition number (1-4): 3First cylinder (1-1023, default 1): 29Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (29-1023, default 1023): +30M Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdb: 3965 MB, 3965190144 bytes 122 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1023 cylinders Units = cylinders of 7564 * 512 = 3872768 bytes Disk identifier: 0x1787490d     Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/sdb1               2           5       15128    b  W95 FAT32 /dev/sdb2               6          28       86986   83  Linux /dev/sdb3              29          37       34038    5  Extended Now create the logic partitions: Command (m for help): nCommand action    l   logical (5 or over)    p   primary partition (1-4) lFirst cylinder (29-37, default 29): Using default value 29 Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (29-37, default 37): +20M Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdb: 3965 MB, 3965190144 bytes 122 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1023 cylinders Units = cylinders of 7564 * 512 = 3872768 bytes Disk identifier: 0x1787490d     Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/sdb1               2           5       15128    b  W95 FAT32 /dev/sdb2               6          28       86986   83  Linux /dev/sdb3              29          37       34038    5  Extended /dev/sdb5              29          34       22661   83  Linux Command (m for help): nCommand action    l   logical (5 or over)    p   primary partition (1-4) lFirst cylinder (35-37, default 35): Using default value 35 Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (35-37, default 37): Using default value 37 At last, you must create a primary partition to store the /recovery: Command (m for help): nCommand action    l   logical (5 or over)    p   primary partition (1-4) pSelected partition 4 First cylinder (1-1023, default 1): 38 Last cylinder, +cylinders or +size{K,M,G} (38-1023, default 1023): +10M Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdb: 3965 MB, 3965190144 bytes 122 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1023 cylinders Units = cylinders of 7564 * 512 = 3872768 bytes Disk identifier: 0x1787490d     Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/sdb1               2           5       15128    b  W95 FAT32 /dev/sdb2               6          28       86986   83  Linux /dev/sdb3              29          37       34038    5  Extended /dev/sdb4              38          41       15128   83  Linux /dev/sdb5              29          34       22661   83  Linux /dev/sdb6              35          37       11315   83  Linux Saving the partition table: Command (m for help): wThe partition table has been altered! Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy. The kernel still uses the old table. The new table will be used at the next reboot. WARNING: If you have created or modified any DOS 6.x partitions, please see the fdisk manual page for additional information. Syncing disks. Now you are ready to start flashing the SDcard: Flashing SDcard Flashing Uboot cd ~/myandroid/bootable/bootloader/uboot-imx sudo dd if=your_bootloader_binfile of=/dev/sdb bs=1K seek=1 Usually we use this no-padding uboot image in SD card, i.e. program this no-padding uboot image into 1KB offset of SD card so that we will NOT overwrite the MBR (including partition table) within 1st 512B on SD card. Formatting the SD Do not copy and paste the commands; wait for the complete output. sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb1 sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb2 sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb4 sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb5 sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdb6 Flashing Kernel cd ~/myandroid/kernel_imx/arch/arm/boot sudo dd if=uImage of=/dev/sdb bs=1M seek=1 Flashing FS cd ~/myandroid/out/target/product/imx51_BBG sudo dd if=uramdisk.img of=/dev/sdb bs=4M seek=1 sudo dd if=system.img of=/dev/sdb2  (Program system.img into SYSTEM partition which will be mounted as "/system") sudo dd if=recovery.img of=/dev/sdb4 (Program recovery.img into RECOVERY partition which will mounted as "/" in recovery mode) Configure Uboot After inserting the SD card in the board (the slot is located at the inferior portion of the board), plugging in the serial cable and start a configured minicom session, you should turn on the iMX51 board and see in your console something like this: U-Boot 2009.08-00046-gf91e287 (Jan 18 2010 - 12:32:32) CPU:   Freescale i.MX51 family 2.5V at 400 MHz mx51 pll1: 800MHz mx51 pll2: 665MHz mx51 pll3: 216MHz ipg clock     : 66500000Hz ipg per clock : 665000000Hz uart clock    : 66500000Hz cspi clock    : 54000000Hz Board: MX51 BABBAGE 3.0 [POR] Boot Device: MMC DRAM:  512 MB MMC:   FSL_ESDHC: 0 In:    serial Out:   serial Err:   serial Press home + power to enter recovery mode ... Net:   FEC0 [PRIME] Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 BBG U-Boot > Copy and paste these configurations, line by line: setenv bootcmd 'run bootcmd_SD1 bootcmd_SD2' setenv bootcmd_SD1 'run bootargs_base bootargs_android bootargs_SD' setenv bootcmd_SD2 'mmc read 0 ${loadaddr} 0x800 0x1280;mmc read 0 ${rd_loadaddr} 0x2000 0x258;bootm ${loadaddr} ${rd_loadaddr}' setenv bootargs_base 'setenv bootargs console=ttymxc0,115200' setenv bootargs_SD 'setenv bootargs ${bootargs}' setenv bootargs_android 'setenv bootargs ${bootargs} init=/init androidboot.console=ttymxc0 wvga calibration' setenv loadaddr 0x90800000 setenv rd_loadaddr 0x90B00000 saveenv Reboot the board: reset Additional Resources All Board Android ADB All Board Android Getevent All Board Android logcat All Board Android Without Ramdisk All Boards Debugging Android [Android] Fatal exception happens when preview size does not match video snapshot size Android Data Partition Encryption on i.MX6 Android GDB for Native Code Android Graphic UI with GPU hardware acceleration Android HTML5 Video Android Memory Usage Tool: Procrank Build Android 4.0 ICS under Ubuntu 11.10 Build Linphone Android for i.MX6 How to find the crash point: Android Native crash How to debug memory leakage in media server in Android How to Enable LDO Bypass Based on i.MX6 Android ICS How to Enable PCIe WiFi into i.MX6 Android Release? How to Install Android on SD Card How to play a file with 2 audio tracks: DTS & AC3 on i.MX6/Android How to play a media file/stream from console in Android How to port new audio codec into Android.docx How to Print Function Caller Stack in Android Log File How to Support New WiFi Card in Android How to Use Proxy to Access Network in Android i.MX6 Android 13.4.1.03 Patch Release i.MX6 Android R13.4.1.04 patch release i.MX6 D/Q and i.MX6 DL/S Android JB4.2.2_1.0.0-GA release iMX6QD How to Add 24-bit LVDS Support in Android i.MX6 Android R13.4-GA.03 patch release IoT Solutions: Cloud Connector for Android Memory Management on i.MX6 Android New Android SD Card Demo Image for the i.MX6Q SABRE Board for Smart Devices New Android SD Card Demo Image for the i.MX6Q SABRE Platform for Smart Devices Sabre-l Setup Memo Video - Bye-Bye Standby Power - Ubiquitous QuickBoot with Android on NetWalker Video - Efika MX Smartbook Android Flash

Introduction to Linux In 1989, a Finnish student called Linus Torvalds started an improvement work of Minix's Kernel, an operational system like Unix wrote by Andrew Tannenbaum, calling his own Kernel as Linux, a mix of Linus and Minix. The main idea about this new Kernel is that it's free. Anyone can develop to improve the Kernel, share the software, change it specific application and distribute without any fee or restriction. All the code is open. Finally, in 1991, Linus launched the first official Linux version, later joining Richard Stallman's GNU project in 1992 with the objective to produce the complete operational system that we know today. Linux had fast success on the x86 architecture and soon it had ported for various processor architectures and became very popular on embedded devices in many different applications like automotive, industrial, telecommunications, consumer and internet appliances. The use of Linux in embedded devices has many advantages: Supports many devices, file systems, networking protocols High portability, since it has been ported for many CPU architectures Large number of ready applications Mature source code with constant actualization Large community of programmers and users over the world testing and adding new features Which Linux distribution should I install on my PC? There are many distributions of Linux available for free. Below are a list of some of them: Ubuntu (IPA: [uːˈbuːntuː] in English,[3][ùbúntú] in Zulu) is an operating system for desktops, laptops, and servers. It has consistently been rated among the most popular of the many Linux distributions. Ubuntu's goals include providing an up-to-date yet stable Linux distribution for the average user and having a strong focus on usability and ease of installation. It is a derivative of Debian, another popular distribution. Ubuntu is sponsored by Canonical Ltd, owned by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. The name of the distribution comes from the African concept of ubuntu which may be rendered roughly as "humanity toward others", "we are people because of other people", or "I am who I am because of who we all are", though other meanings have been suggested. This Linux distribution is named as such to bring the spirit of the philosophy to the software world. Ubuntu is free software and can be shared by any number of users. Kubuntu and Xubuntu are official subprojects of the Ubuntu project, aiming to bring the KDE and Xfce desktop environments, respectively, to the Ubuntu core (by default Ubuntu uses GNOME for its desktop environment). Edubuntu is an official subproject designed for school environments, and should be equally suitable for children to use at home. Gobuntu is an official subproject that is aimed at adhering strictly to the Free Software Foundation's Four Freedoms. The newest official subproject is JeOS. Ubuntu JeOS (pronounced "Juice") is a concept for what an operating system should look like in the context of a virtual appliance. Ubuntu releases new versions every six months, and supports those releases for 18 months with daily security fixes and patches to critical bugs. LTS (Long Term Support) releases, which occur every two years, are supported for 3 years for desktops and 5 years for servers. The most recent LTS version, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx), was released on 29 April 2010. The current non-LTS version is 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) released on 10/10/10 (10 October 2010). Click here for official site Mandriva Linux (formerly Mandrakelinux or Mandrake Linux) is a Linux distribution created by Mandriva (formerly Mandrakesoft). It uses the RPM Package Manager. The product lifetime of Mandriva Linux releases is 18 months for base updates and 12 months for desktop updates. Click here for official site openSUSE, (pronounced /ˌoʊpɛnˈsuːzə/), is a community project, sponsored by Novell and AMD, to develop and maintain a general purpose Linux distribution. After acquiring SUSE Linux in January 2004, Novell decided to release the SUSE Linux Professional product as a 100% open source project, involving the community in the development process. The initial release was a beta version of SUSE Linux 10.0, and as of October 2007 the current stable release is openSUSE 10.3. Beyond the distribution, openSUSE provides a web portal for community involvement. The community assists in developing openSUSE collaboratively with representatives from Novell by contributing code through the open Build Service, writing documentation, designing artwork, fostering discussion on open mailing lists and in Internet Relay Chat channels, and improving the openSUSE site through its wiki interface. Novell markets openSUSE as the best, easiest distribution for all users. Like most distributions it includes both a default graphical user interface (GUI) and a command line interface option; it allows the user (during installation) to select which GUI they are comfortable with (either KDE, GNOME or XFCE), and supports thousands of software packages across the full range of open source development. Click here for official site Fedora is an RPM-based, general purpose Linux distribution, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat. Fedora's mission statement is: "Fedora is about the rapid progress of Free and Open Source software." One of Fedora's main objectives is not only to contain free and open source software, but also to be on the leading edge of such technologies. Also, developers in Fedora prefer to make upstream changes instead of applying fixes specifically for Fedora – this ensures that updates are available to all Linux distributions. Click here for official site Debian (pronounced [ˈdɛbiən]) is a computer operating system (OS) composed entirely of software which is both free and open source (FOSS). Its primary form, Debian GNU/Linux, is a popular and influential Linux distribution. It is a multipurpose OS; it can be used as a desktop or server operating system. Debian is known for strict adherence to the Unix and free software philosophies. Debian is also known for its abundance of options — the current release includes over twenty-six thousand software packages for eleven computer architectures. These architectures range from the Intel/AMD 32-bit/64-bit architectures commonly found in personal computers to the ARM architecture commonly found in embedded systems and the IBM eServer zSeries mainframes. Throughout Debian's lifetime, other distributions have taken it as a basis to develop their own, including: Ubuntu, MEPIS, Dreamlinux, Damn Small Linux, Xandros, Knoppix, Linspire, sidux, Kanotix, and LinEx among others. A university's study concluded that Debian's 283 million source code lines would cost 10 billion USA Dollars to develop by proprietary means. Prominent features of Debian are its APT package management system, its strict policies regarding its packages and the quality of its releases. These practices afford easy upgrades between releases and easy automated installation and removal of packages. Debian uses an open development and testing process. It is developed by volunteers from around the world and supported by donations through SPI, a non-profit umbrella organization for various free software projects. The default install provides popular programs such as: OpenOffice, Iceweasel (a rebranding of Firefox), Evolution mail, CD/DVD writing programs, music and video players, image viewers and editors, and PDF viewers. Only the first CD/DVD is necessary for the default install; the remaining discs contain all 26,000+ extra programs and packages currently available. If a user does not wish to download the CDs/DVDs, these extras can be downloaded and installed separately using the package manager. Debian can also be configured to download and install updates automatically. Click here for official site Slackware is a Linux distribution created by Patrick Volkerding of Slackware Linux, Inc. Slackware was one of the earliest distributions, and is the oldest currently being maintained. Slackware aims for design stability and simplicity, and to be the most Unix-like GNU/Linux distribution. Click here for official site