Is this page helpful?

Flashing a New Image Using Toradex Easy Installer

Introduction

This article aims to guide you throught the process of flashing a new OS image (custom build or pre-built image) using the Toradex Easy Installer tool.

Why flashing a new OS image using Tezi?

As mentioned in the Toradex Easy Installer Overview, Tezi is the recommended way to flash your image onto Toradex SoMs. You might face one of this cases:

• Factory default status: Toradex Easy Installer is flashed in the factory as the default image. You will be able to see the tool's GUI on your screen after booting the module for the first time and install the pre-built image of your choice.
• The SoM already has an Operating System flashed: If your module already have an Operating System and you want to install another OS, custom build or not, you can download Tezi image and load it into the module's RAM through a host computer over USB OTG (see the Load Toradex Easy Installer article).

In any of those cases, using Tezi is the most straightforward way to do it.

Requirements

• A Toradex System on Module with Toradex Easy Installer installed.
• (optional) If Tezi is not installed in your module, you need to manually load it. For this, refer to Loading Toradex Easy Installer article.
• (optional) Toradex provides pre-built, ready-to-use images in our online feeds. Some of them are meant for evaluation, as our Partner Demo Images and our Reference Images for Yocto Project, others for production, as Torizon OS.

Flashing a Toradex Pre-built Image

Displaying the GUI

To access the Tezi interface, you must:

1. Use a Display as output: Once the Toradex Easy Installer is loaded into RAM, you should see a User Interface appearing on the DVI-I/HDMI, VGA, or on the parallel RGB (Unified Interface Display) ports of your carrier board (obviously a display must be connected at that port). The default outputs are:

   • DVI-I/HDMI port on Apalis
   • RGB with VGA resolution on Colibri
   • HDMI through the Verdin DSI to HDMI Adapter on Verdin. (HDMI hotplug is not supported. You must connect the HDMI cable with the board powered off and only then power it on).

2. Use a remote desktop as output: If you can't use any of these display options, you can access the user interface remotely over the network using VNC. For this, you should connect a USB cable to the USB / OTG port of your carrier board. The module provides a connection via USB RNDIS with the default IP address of 192.168.11.1.

   tip

   The USB / OTG port we refer to is the same one used to enter recovery mode. Refer to the article iMX Recovery Mode to find the correct port for your carrier board.

   Alternatively, you can use the IP address of the ethernet interface, which will depend on the DHCP server serving your LAN.

   Use your preferred VNC client to connect to this address. For example:

   $ vncviewer 192.168.11.1

   For Windows 10, we recommend using TightVNC. For Linux, we recommend Vinagre.

Providing the Images

To provide the OS images to Tezi, you have two options:

1. Online installation (preferred): this is the easiest method. To list images from the Internet, make sure that you connect the board via Ethernet to a network that provides Internet access (the installer relies on DHCP to configure the IP address and HTTP to download images). After some seconds you should see a list of images appearing.

2. Offline installation: Alternatively, if you cannot connect the board directly to the internet, you can use an external media with a pre-built image or a custom image. Once you plug it into the board, the images should appear in the list of available images with an icon indicating that it is found on a local storage device.

   • Pre-built images: Download Toradex OS and partner demo images from our website and unzip/untar it onto an SD Card or USB Flash Drive. For all available images, visit Toradex Download Links (Torizon, Linux BSP, WinCE and Partner Demos).
   • Custom image: Use Yocto Project/OpenEmbedded to build a custom image in a Tezi suitable format and transfer it to an external media (SD Card or USB stick).

caution

Please insert the SD card in X19 (SD/MMC 4 bit) if you are using Apalis TK1 with Apalis Evaluation Board.

Installing the Images

To install an image:

1. Use a USB mouse or USB keyboard to select the desired image.
2. Click on the "Install (i)" button or press "i" to start the installation.
3. Follow the instructions until installation begins.

After the image has been successfully installed you should see the following message on your screen:

At this point, all data have been stored on internal flash and caches have been flushed (synced). It is not required to click on any of these three buttons, it is perfectly fine to just reset or turn off the system.

Enabling the Toradex CI Feed and Adding Your Own Feeds

Also, it is good to remember that if you want to add more sources to Toradex Easy Installer (like adding your own server into it), make sure to hit Feeds button.

A simple test can be done by allowing the Toradex Continuous Integration Server (testing) option.