EZSDK Filesystems

Introduction

The EZSDK 5.x ships with two filesystems. This topic explains the rationale behind the two filesystems and how to use them.

Note! In this page we refer to the installed location of the EZSDK by $EZSDK. Please replace $EZSDK by your installation directory.

Note! This page has been written and verified against EZSDK 5.02 and applies to earlier versions as well.

List of Filesystems

Once you install the EZSDK, you should see the directory filesystem/ right at the top. This directory contains two files, each of which can be used as the target filesystem

host $ cd $EZSDK
host $ ls
arago-base-tisdk-image-<platform>.tar.gz
ezsdk-<platform>-rootfs.tar.gz

Note! We will refer to the ezsdk-<platform>-rootfs either by its full name or by EZSDK filesystem interchangeably. Likewise, we will refer to arago-base-tisdk-image-<platform> either by its full name or by Arago Base filesystem interchangably.

The ezsdk-<platform>-rootfs.tar.gz is a much bigger filesystem that will contain not just base linux software but libraries, demo applications. This is the filesystem which is used to create and SD Card image or when you choose to setup NFS. This filesystem has been designed to support out of the box demos and for software development. However, this comes with the penalty of being really very large. In some platforms it could exceed 300MB in size.

The arago-base-tisdk-image-<platform>.tar.gz is a much smaller filesystem of around 10-15MB in size. This serves one key purpose. Its a vanilla filesystem with no TI software on that you could use in different scenarios

1. Add your software and create a RAMDisk
2. Add your software and burn to NAND/NOR Flash
3. Run individual TI component examples in a minimal and thereby clean environment.

Note! The arago-base-tisdk-image-<platform>.tar.gz filesystem does not contain any TI firmware, kernel objects, or libraries.

Organization of the EZSDK Filesystem

Kernel Objects

The EZSDK filesystem follows Linux conventions and puts all pre-built kernel objects in /lib. So, on the target you would find kernel objects such as syslink.ko and video drivers such as ti81xxfb.ko and vpss.ko.

TI Demos and Sample Applications

All TI Demos and Sample Applications are typically under /usr/share/ti. Some applications such as prcm_config_app are present in /usr/bin so that they are in your PATH by default and can be run at boot.

Initialization Scripts

/etc/init.d has two initscripts that will take care of loading firmware and bringing up syslink and video drivers at boot time - load-hdvicp2-firmware.sh and load-hdvpss-firmware.sh. Again these follow linux conventions and are softlinked as RC scripts in /etc/rc3.d and /etc/rc5.d. These can be used as the basis for any initialization sequence you would like to have in your product.

Tip! If you rename any initscript in /etc/rc3.d and /etc/rc5.d to start with the letter 'K', then linux will not run them. This is useful sometimes when debugging.

Building your own filesystem

The EZSDK does not ship with a System Builder that allows you to build/customize a filesystem from scratch.

You could use the following options to build/customize by hand.

1. Start with the Arago Base Filesystem and add TI software and your application software. The EZSDK's toplevel Makefile supports make install of TI libraries and programs.
2. Start with the EZSDK Filesystem, remove software that you will not use and add your application software. This is more challenging that the previous option as you would need to be careful about not breaking dependencies.
3. Create a filesystem from scratch. The EZSDK filesystem is built from the Arago Project and therefore, this is a good starting point. Note that this is more challenging that the first option as well and requires good understanding of Linux and OpenEmbedded.

For more advanced users who want other options you could use the following community projects to create your own filesystem

1. OpenEmbedded - http://www.openembedded.org/wiki/Main_Page
2. Buildroot - http://buildroot.uclibc.org/
3. Ubuntu Rootstock - https://launchpad.net/project-rootstock
4. Linaro - https://wiki.linaro.org/

The EZSDK filesystem and the Arago Base filesystem are built from the Arago Project at http://arago-project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page. In EZSDK 5.02 and earlier these are overlays on top of the Classic OpenEmbedded Dev. The Arago Base filesystem can itself be built using the task-arago-base-tisdk.bb task in Arago.

Note! Since the EZSDK has been build using Arago, there has been no validation done using either Buildroot or Ubuntu or Linaro. You will need to work with the respective open source communities if you wish to build your own filesystem using these projects.

Download the Latest EZSDK

The latest EZSDK is available for download from http://software-dl.ti.com/dsps/dsps_public_sw/ezsdk/latest/index_FDS.html.

The current version is 5.05.02.00. The supported platforms are DM816x and DM814x.

EZSDK Support

DM816x E2E Support Forum http://e2e.ti.com/support/dsp/davinci_digital_media_processors/f/717.aspx DM814x E2E Support Forum http://e2e.ti.com/support/dsp/davinci_digital_media_processors/f/716.aspx Linux E2E Support Forum http://e2e.ti.com/support/embedded/linux/default.aspx BIOS E2E Support Forum http://e2e.ti.com/support/embedded/bios/default.aspx