Core4418

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Contents

1 Introduction

Overview
Front
Back
  • The Core4418 quad core Cortex A9 core board is designed and developed by FriendlyELEC for professional and enterprise users. It uses the Samsung Quad Core Cortex-A9 S5P4418 SoC with dynamic frequency scaling up to 1.4GHz. Core4418 has 8G eMMC, 512MB/1GB 32bit-DDR3, Wi-Fi/BT module, GigE, MicroSD, and audio codec. To avoid overheat issues the Core4418 has a heat sink with mounting posts.
  • The Core4418 has LVDS and RGB-LCD interface, both are 0.5mm FPC connector and support resistive touch and capacitive touch.
  • The Core4418 also has a 2.54mm 50pin-GPIO interface, which include USB HOST, UARTs, I2Cs, SPI, PWM, GPIOs etc.

2 Hardware Spec

  • SoC: Samsung S5P4418 Quad Core Cortex-A9 with dynamic frequency scaling up to 1.4G Hz
  • PMU Power Management: Implemented by an MCU, support software power-off, and RTC alarm power-on functions
  • System Memory: 512MB/1GB 32bit DDR3 RAM
  • eMMC: 8GB
  • Storage: 1 x SD Card Slot
  • Ethernet: Gbps Ethernet Port (RTL8211E)
  • WiFi: 802.11b/g/n
  • Bluetooth: 4.0 dual mode
  • Antenna: Porcelain Antenna IPX Interface
  • Display: LVDS and RGB-LCD, 0.5mm pitch FPC seat
  • Audio: MIC in and Headphone out on 2.54mm 50pin-GPIO interface
  • USB: 1 x USB 2.0 Host on 2.54mm 50pin-GPIO interface
  • MicroUSB: 5V Power IN, and USB 2.0 Client
  • GPIO: 2.54 mm pitch 50 pin header
  • Serial Debug Port: 2.54mm pitch 4pin header
  • LED: 1 x power LED , 1 x GPIO LED
  • User Key: 1 x PowerKey
  • Power: DC 5V/2A
  • Heat Sink: 1 x Heat Sink with mounting holes
  • PCB: Six Layer, ENIG
  • PCB Dimension: 75 mm x 45 mm
  • Working Temperature: -40℃ to 70℃
  • OS/Software: u-boot, Android 4.4, Android5.1 and Debian8

3 Diagram, Layout and Dimension

3.1 Layout

Core4418 Layout
  • 50Pin GPIO Pin Spec
Pin# Name Description Pin# Name Description
1 POWER_EN_OUT PMU output to control the power of Peripheral 2 VDD_5V 5V power input
3 I2C0_SDA I2C data 4 VDD_5V 5V power input
5 I2C0_SCL I2C clock 6 DNGD ground
7 RTC_BATT_IN RTC backup battery input 8 UART3_TX/GPIOD21 UART or GPIO
9 DGND ground 10 UART3_RX/GPIOD17 UART or GPIO
11 UART4_TX/GPIOB29 UART or GPIO signal 12 GPIOD1/PWM0 GPIO or PWM
13 GPIOB30 GPIO 14 DGND ground
15 GPIOB31 GPIO 16 GPIOC14/PWM2 GPIO or PWM
17 PWRKEY Power Key input signal 18 GPIOB27 GPIO
19 SPI0_MOSI/GPIOC31 SPI or GPIO 20 DGND ground
21 SPI0_MISO/GPIOD0 SPI or GPIO 22 UART4_RX/GPIOB28 UART or PWM
23 SPI0_CLK/GPIOC29 SPI or GPIO 24 SPI0_CS/GPIOC30 SPI or GPIO
25 DGND ground 26 GPIOB26 GPIO
27 USB_HOST_D+ USB 2.0 host DP 28 USB_HOST_D- USB 2.0 host DM
29 GPIOC8 GPIO 30 DGND ground
31 GPIOC7 GPIO 32 GPIOC28 GPIO
33 UART2_TX UART 34 AGND_AUDIO audio ground
35 UART2_RX UART 36 HP-R Headphone output R
37 Mic-P MIC positive IN 38 HP-L Headphone output L
39 DGND ground 40 Mic-N MIC negative IN
41 MDI3_N GibE MDI singal pair 3- 42 MDI3_P GibE MDI singal pair 3+
43 MDI2_N GibE MDI singal pair 2- 44 MDI2_P GibE MDI singal pair 2+
45 MDI1_N GibE MDI singal pair 1- 46 MDI1_P GibE MDI singal pair 1+
47 MDI0_N GibE MDI singal pair 0- 48 MDI0_P GibE MDI singal pair 1+
49 LINK_LED GibE Link LED signal 50 SPEED_LED GibE speed led signal
  • LVDS
Pin# Name
1 VDD_5V_OUT
2 VDD_5V_OUT
3 VDD_5V_OUT
4 LVDS_Y0M
5 LVDS_Y0P
6 DGND
7 LVDS_Y1M
8 LVDS_Y1P
9 DGND
10 LVDS_Y2M
11 LVDS_Y2P
12 DGND
13 LVDS_CLKM
14 LVDS_CLKP
15 DGND
16 LVDS_Y3M
17 LVDS_Y3P
18 DGND
19 NC
20 DGND
21 I2C2_SCL
22 I2C2_SDA
23 GPIOC16
24 DGND
  • RGB LCD IF Pin Spec
Pin# Name Description
1, 2 VDD_5V_OUT 5V Output, it can be used to power LCD modules
11,20,29, 37,38,39,40, 45 DGND Ground
3-10 Blue LSB to MSB RGB blue
12-19 Green LSB to MSB RGB green
21-28 Red LSB to MSB RGB red
30 GPIOB25 available for users
31 GPIOC15 occupied by FriendlyARM one wire technology to recognize LCD models and control backlight and implement resistive touch, not applicable for users
32 XnRSTOUT Form CPU low when system is reset
33 VDEN signal the external LCD that data is valid on the data bus
34 VSYNC vertical synchronization
35 HSYNC horizontal synchronization
36 LCDCLK LCD clock, Pixel frequency
41 I2C2_SCL I2C2 clock signal, for capacitive touch data transmission
42 I2C2_SDA I2C2 data signal, for capacitive touch data transmission
43 GPIOC16 interrupt pin for capacitive touch, used with I2C2
44 NC Not connected
Note:
  1. RTC backup current is 3.35uA.
  2. 5V power input: VDD_5V on 50Pin-GPIO, or MciroUSB, 5V/2A
  3. For more details refer to the document: Core4418-1711-Schematic.pdf
  4. reference design: Core4418_EVM_REF.pdf

3.2 Board Dimension

Core4418 Dimensions

For more details refer to the document: Core4418-T3_1711_Draw_dxf.zip

4 Get Started

4.1 Essentials You Need

Before starting to use your Core4418 get the following items ready

  • Core4418
  • SD Card: Class 10 or Above, minimum 8GB SDHC
  • A DC 5V/2A power is a must
  • HDMI monitor or LCD
  • USB keyboard, mouse and possible a USB hub(or a TTL to serial board)
  • A host computer running Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit system

4.2 Boot from SD Card

Get the following files from here download link:

  • Get a 8G SDHC card and backup its data if necessary.
Image Files
s5p4418-sd-friendlycore-xenial-4.4-armhf-YYYYMMDD.img.zip FriendlyCore with Qt 5.10.0 (base on Ubuntu core) image file
s5p4418-sd-lubuntu-desktop-xenial-4.4-armhf-YYYYMMDD.img.zip LUbuntu Desktop image file with X Window
s5p4418-sd-friendlywrt-4.4-YYYYMMDD.img.zip FriendlyWrt image file (base on OpenWrt)
s5p4418-sd-android7-YYYYMMDD.img.zip Android7 image file
s5p4418-sd-android-kitkat-YYYYMMDD.img.zip Android4.4 image file with support for 4G LTE
s5p4418-sd-android-lollipop-YYYYMMDD.img.zip Android5.1 image file
s5p4418-eflasher-lubuntu-desktop-xenial-4.4-armhf-YYYYMMDD.img.zip SD card image, which is used to install a lubuntu desktop to eMMC
s5p4418-eflasher-friendlywrt-4.4-YYYYMMDD.img.zip SD card image, which is used to install a FriendlyWrt to eMMC
s5p4418-eflasher-android7-YYYYMMDD.img.zip SD card image, which is used to install a android7 to eMMC
s5p4418-eflasher-friendlycore-xenial-4.4-armhf-YYYYMMDD.img.zip SD card image, which is used to install a friendly-core to eMMC
s5p4418-eflasher-android-kitkat-YYYYMMDD.img.zip SD card image, which is used to install a android4 to eMMC
s5p4418-eflasher-android-lollipop-YYYYMMDD.img.zip SD card image, which is used to install a android5 to eMMC
Flash Utility:
win32diskimager.rar Windows utility. Under Linux users can use "dd"
  • Uncompress these files. Insert an SD card(at least 4G) into a Windows PC and run the win32diskimager utility as administrator. On the utility's main window select your SD card's drive, the wanted image file and click on "write" to start flashing the SD card.
  • Insert this card into your board's boot slot, press and hold the boot key (only applies to a board with onboard eMMC) and power on (with a 5V/2A power source). If the PWR LED is on and LED1 is blinking this indicates your board has successfully booted.

4.3 Flash image to eMMC with eflasher

  • Download eflasher image file

An image file's name is as : s5p4418-eflasher-OSNAME-YYYYMMDD.img.zip
The "OSNAME" is the name of an OS e.g. android, friendlycore and etc;
This image file is used for making an installation SD card and it contains a Ubuntu core system and a utility EFlasher;
Download s5p4418-eflasher-OSNAME-YYYYMMDD.img.zip to a host PC and get a windows utility win32diskimager.rar as well;

  • Make Installation SD Card with eflasher

Extract the package with a 7z utility and you will get a file with an extension ".img". Insert an SDHC card(minimum 8G or above) to a PC running Windows, run the Win32DiskImager utility as administrator, click on "Image File" to select your wanted file, select your SD card and click on "Write" to start flashing the Image to your SD card;
If your PC runs Linux you can command "dd" to extract the package and get an ".img" file and write it to your SD card;

  • Operate in GUI Window: Flash OS to eMMC

Insert your SD card to Core4418, connect an HDMI monitor or LCD to your board, press and hold the "boot" key beside the Ethernet port, power on the board you will see a pop-up window asking you to select an OS for installation. Select your wanted OS and start installation.

  • Operate in Commandline Utility: Flash OS to eMMC

Insert an installation SD card to Core4418, log into or SSH to your board and run the following command to start EFlasher:

sudo eflasher

4.3.1 Make Installation Card under Linux Desktop

  • 1) Insert your SD card into a host computer running Ubuntu and check your SD card's device name
dmesg | tail

Search the messages output by "dmesg" for similar words like "sdc: sdc1 sdc2". If you can find them it means your SD card has been recognized as "/dev/sdc". Or you can check that by commanding "cat /proc/partitions"

  • 2) Downlaod Linux script

git clone https://github.com/friendlyarm/sd-fuse_nanopi2.git
cd sd-fuse_nanopi2

  • 3) Here is how to make a Lubuntu desktop SD card
sudo ./fusing.sh /dev/sdx lubuntu

(Note: you need to replace "/dev/sdx" with the device name in your system)
When you run the script for the first time it will prompt you to download an image you have to hit “Y” within 10 seconds otherwise you will miss the download

  • 4) Run this command to make a complete image file:
sudo ./mkimage.sh lubuntu

More content please refre: Assembling the SD card image yourself

4.4 Extend SD Card Section

  • When Debian/Ubuntu is loaded the SD card's section will be automatically extended.
  • When Android is loaded you need to run the following commands on your host PC to extend your SD card's section:
sudo umount /dev/sdx?
sudo parted /dev/sdx unit % resizepart 4 100 resizepart 7 100 unit MB print
sudo resize2fs -f /dev/sdx7

(Note: you need to replace "/dev/sdx" with the device name in your system)

4.5 LCD/HDMI Resolution

When the system boots our uboot will check whether it is connected to an LCD or to an HDMI monitor. If it recognizes an LCD it will configure its resolution. Our uboot defaults to the HDMI 720P configuration.
If you want to modify the LCD resolution you can modify file "arch/arm/plat-s5p4418/nanopi2/lcds.c" in the kernel and recompile it.
If your Core4418 is connected to an HDMI monitor and it runs Android it will automatically set the resolution to an appropriate HDMI mode by checking the "EDID". If your Core4418 is connected to an HDMI monitor and it runs Debian by default it will set the resolution to the HDMI 720P configuration. If you want to modify the HDMI resolution to 1080P modify your kernel's configuration as explained above.

4.6 Update SD Card's boot parameters From PC Host

Insert your SD card into a host PC running Linux, if you want to change your kernel command line parameters you can do it via the fw_setevn utility.
Check the current Command Line:

git clone https://github.com/friendlyarm/sd-fuse_nanopi2.git
cd sd-fuse_nanopi2/tools
./fw_printenv /dev/sdx | grep bootargs

For example, to disable android SELinux, You can change it this way:

./fw_setenv /dev/sdc bootargs XXX androidboot.selinux=permissive

The "XXX" stands for the original bootargs' value.

4.7 Run Android or Linux (TODO)

  • 将制作好SD卡插入Core4418,连接HDMI,按住靠近网口的boot按键,最后接电源(5V 2A)拨动开关,Core4418会从SD卡启动。你可以看到板上PWR灯常亮,LED1灯闪烁,这说明系统已经开始启动了,同时电视上也将能看到系统启动的画面。
  • 要在电视上进行操作,你需要连接USB鼠标和键盘;如果你选购了LCD配件,则可以直接使用LCD上面的触摸屏进行操作。

5 Work with FriendlyCore

5.1 Introduction

FriendlyCore is a light Linux system without X-windows, based on ubuntu core, It uses the Qt-Embedded's GUI and is popular in industrial and enterprise applications.

Besides the regular Ubuntu core's features our FriendlyCore has the following additional features:

  • it supports our LCDs with both capacitive touch and resistive touch(S700, X710, HD702, S430, HD101 and S70)
  • it supports WiFi
  • it supports Ethernet
  • it supports Bluetooth and has been installed with bluez utilities
  • it supports audio playing
  • it supports Qt 5.10.0 EGLES and OpenGL ES1.1/2.0 (Only for S5P4418/S5P6818)

5.2 System Login

  • If your board is connected to an HDMI monitor you need to use a USB mouse and keyboard.
  • If you want to do kernel development you need to use a serial communication board, ie a PSU-ONECOM board, which will

For example, NanoPi-M1:
PSU-ONECOM-M1.jpg
You can use a USB to Serial conversion board too.
Make sure you use a 5V/2A power to power your board from its MicroUSB port:
For example, NanoPi-NEO2:
USB2UART-NEO2.jpg

  • FriendlyCore User Accounts:

Non-root User:

   User Name: pi
   Password: pi

Root:

   User Name: root
   Password: fa

The system is automatically logged in as "pi". You can do "sudo npi-config" to disable auto login.

  • Update packages
$ sudo apt-get update

5.3 Configure System with npi-config

The npi-config is a commandline utility which can be used to initialize system configurations such as user password, system language, time zone, Hostname, SSH switch , Auto login and etc. Type the following command to run this utility.

$ sudo npi-config

Here is how npi-config's GUI looks like:
npi-config

5.4 Develop Qt Application

Please refer to: How to Build and Install Qt Application for FriendlyELEC Boards

5.5 Setup Program to AutoRun

You can setup a program to autorun on system boot with npi-config:

sudo npi-config

Go to Boot Options -> Autologin -> Qt/Embedded, select Enable and reboot.

5.6 Extend TF Card's Section

When FriendlyCore is loaded the TF card's section will be automatically extended.You can check the section's size by running the following command:

$ df -h

5.7 Transfer files using Bluetooth

Take the example of transferring files to the mobile phone. First, set your mobile phone Bluetooth to detectable status, then execute the following command to start Bluetooth search.:

hcitool scan


Search results look like:

Scanning ...
    2C:8A:72:1D:46:02   HTC6525LVW

This means that a mobile phone named HTC6525LVW is searched. We write down the MAC address in front of the phone name, and then use the sdptool command to view the Bluetooth service supported by the phone:

sdptool browser 2C:8A:72:1D:46:02

Note: Please replace the MAC address in the above command with the actual Bluetooth MAC address of the mobile phone.
This command will detail the protocols supported by Bluetooth for mobile phones. What we need to care about is a file transfer service called OBEX Object Push. Take the HTC6525LVW mobile phone as an example. The results are as follows:

Service Name: OBEX Object Push
Service RecHandle: 0x1000b
Service Class ID List:
  "OBEX Object Push" (0x1105)
Protocol Descriptor List:
  "L2CAP" (0x0100)
  "RFCOMM" (0x0003)
    Channel: 12
  "OBEX" (0x0008)
Profile Descriptor List:
  "OBEX Object Push" (0x1105)
    Version: 0x0100

As can be seen from the above information, the channel used by the OBEX Object Push service of this mobile phone is 12, we need to pass it to the obexftp command, and finally the command to initiate the file transfer request is as follows:

obexftp --nopath --noconn --uuid none --bluetooth -b 2C:8A:72:1D:46:02 -B 12 -put example.jpg

Note: Please replace the MAC address, channel and file name in the above command with the actual one.

After executing the above commands, please pay attention to the screen of the mobile phone. The mobile phone will pop up a prompt for pairing and receiving files. After confirming, the file transfer will start.

Bluetooth FAQ:
1) Bluetooth device not found on the development board, try to open Bluetooth with the following command:

rfkill unblock 0

2) Prompt can not find the relevant command, you can try to install related software with the following command:

apt-get install bluetooth bluez obexftp openobex-apps python-gobject ussp-push

5.8 WiFi

For either an SD WiFi or a USB WiFi you can connect it to your board in the same way. The APXX series WiFi chips are SD WiFi chips. By default FriendlyElec's system supports most popular USB WiFi modules. Here is a list of the USB WiFi modules we tested:

Index Model
1 RTL8188CUS/8188EU 802.11n WLAN Adapter
2 RT2070 Wireless Adapter
3 RT2870/RT3070 Wireless Adapter
4 RTL8192CU Wireless Adapter
5 mi WiFi mt7601
6 5G USB WiFi RTL8821CU
7 5G USB WiFi RTL8812AU

You can use the NetworkManager utility to manage network. You can run "nmcli" in the commandline utility to start it. Here are the commands to start a WiFi connection:

  • Change to root
$ su root
  • Check device list
$ nmcli dev

Note: if the status of a device is "unmanaged" it means that device cannot be accessed by NetworkManager. To make it accessed you need to clear the settings under "/etc/network/interfaces" and reboot your system.

  • Start WiFi
$ nmcli r wifi on
  • Scan Surrounding WiFi Sources
$ nmcli dev wifi
  • Connect to a WiFi Source
$ nmcli dev wifi connect "SSID" password "PASSWORD" ifname wlan0

The "SSID" and "PASSWORD" need to be replaced with your actual SSID and password.If you have multiple WiFi devices you need to specify the one you want to connect to a WiFi source with iface
If a connection succeeds it will be automatically setup on next system reboot.

For more details about NetworkManager refer to this link: Use NetworkManager to configure network settings

If your USB WiFi module doesn't work most likely your system doesn't have its driver. For a Debian system you can get a driver from Debian-WiFi and install it on your system. For a Ubuntu system you can install a driver by running the following commands:

$ apt-get install linux-firmware

In general all WiFi drivers are located at the "/lib/firmware" directory.


5.9 Ethernet Connection

If a board is connected to a network via Ethernet before it is powered on it will automatically obtain an IP with DHCP activated after it is powered up. If you want to set up a static IP refer to: Use NetworkManager to configure network settings


5.10 Custom welcome message

The welcome message is printed from the script in this directory:

/etc/update-motd.d/

For example, to change the FriendlyELEC LOGO, you can change the file /etc/update-motd.d/10-header. For example, to change the LOGO to HELLO, you can change the following line:

TERM=linux toilet -f standard -F metal $BOARD_VENDOR

To:

TERM=linux toilet -f standard -F metal HELLO

5.11 Modify timezone

For exampe, change to Shanghai timezone:

sudo rm /etc/localtime
sudo ln -ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Shanghai /etc/localtime

5.12 Set Audio Device

If your system has multiple audio devices such as HDMI-Audio, 3.5mm audio jack and I2S-Codec you can set system's default audio device by running the following commands.

  • After your board is booted run the following commands to install alsa packages:
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install libasound2
$ apt-get install alsa-base
$ apt-get install alsa-utils
  • After installation is done you can list all the audio devices by running the following command. Here is a similar list you may see after you run the command:
$ aplay -l
card 0: HDMI
card 1: 3.5mm codec
card 2: I2S codec

"card 0" is HDMI-Audio, "card 1" is 3.5mm audio jack and "card 2" is I2S-Codec. You can set default audio device to HDMI-Audio by changing the "/etc/asound.conf" file as follows:

pcm.!default {
    type hw
    card 0
    device 0
}
 
ctl.!default {
    type hw
    card 0
}

If you change "card 0" to "card 1" the 3.5mm audio jack will be set to the default device.
Copy a .wav file to your board and test it by running the following command:

$ aplay /root/Music/test.wav

You will hear sounds from system's default audio device.
If you are using H3/H5/H2+ series board with mainline kernel, the easier way is using npi-config


5.13 Run Qt 5.10.0 Demo with GPU acceleration

Run the following command

$ sudo qt5demo

S5pxx18-QtE

5.14 Run Qt 5.10.0 Demo with OpenGL

Run the following command

. setqt5env
cd $QTDIR
cd /examples/opengl/qopenglwidget
./qopenglwidget

For more Qt 5.10.0 examples, please go to:
cd $QTDIR/examples/

5.15 Play HD Video with Hardware-decoding

gst-player is console player, it base on GStreamer, support VPU with Hardware-decoding:

sudo gst-player /home/pi/demo.mp4

The equivalent gsteamer command is as follows:

sudo gst-launch-1.0 filesrc location=/home/pi/demo.mp4 ! qtdemux name=demux demux. ! queue ! faad ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! alsasink device="hw:0,DEV=1" demux. ! queue ! h264parse ! nxvideodec ! nxvideosink dst-x=0 dst-y=93 dst-w=1280 dst-h=533

5.16 Connect to DVP Camera CAM500B

The CAM500B camera module is a 5M-pixel camera with DVP interface. For more tech details about it you can refer to Matrix - CAM500B.
Enter the following command to preview the video:

gst-launch-1.0 -e v4l2src device=/dev/video6 ! video/x-raw,format=I420,framerate=30/1,width=1280,height=720 ! nxvideosink

Enter the following command to start recording (VPU hardware encoding):

gst-launch-1.0 -e v4l2src device=/dev/video6 ! video/x-raw,format=I420,framerate=30/1,width=1280,height=720 ! tee name=t t. \
 ! queue ! nxvideosink t. ! queue ! nxvideoenc bitrate=12000000 ! mp4mux ! \
 filesink location=result_720.mp4

5.17 Power Off and Schedule Power On

“PMU Power Management” feature helps us to auto power on the board at a specific time, it is implemented by an MCU, support software power-off, and RTC alarm power-up functions.

Here’s a simple guide:
Turn on automatically after 100 seconds. (Time must be greater than 60 seconds.):

$ sudo echo 100 > /sys/class/i2c-dev/i2c-3/device/3-002d/wakealarm

After setting up the automatic boot, turn off board with the 'poweroff’ command:

$ sudo poweroff

Cancel automatic boot:

$ sudo echo 0 > /sys/class/i2c-dev/i2c-3/device/3-002d/wakealarm

Query the current settings, in the front is current time, followed by the time of automatic booting: If no automatic boot is set, it will display "disabled”.

$ sudo cat /sys/class/i2c-dev/i2c-3/device/3-002d/wakealarm


Note that some older versions of hardware may not support this feature, if you don't see this file node in your system:
/sys/class/i2c-dev/i2c-3/device/3-002d/wakealarm
your board may be it does not support this feature.

5.18 Installing and Using OpenCV 4.1.2

OpenCV has been pre-installed in FriendlyCore (Version after 20191126) and does not require manual installation.
Please refre this link: https://github.com/friendlyarm/install-opencv-on-friendlycore/blob/s5pxx18/README.md
Quick test:

. /usr/bin/cv-env.sh
. /usr/bin/setqt5env-eglfs
cd /usr/local/share/opencv4/samples/python
python3 turing.py

5.19 Installing and Using Caffe

git clone https://github.com/friendlyarm/install-caffe-on-friendlycore
cd install-caffe-on-friendlycore
sudo ./install-caffe.sh

6 Make Your Own OS Image

6.1 Install Cross Compiler

6.1.1 Install arm-linux-gcc 4.9.3

Download the compiler package:

git clone https://github.com/friendlyarm/prebuilts.git -b master --depth 1
cd prebuilts/gcc-x64
cat toolchain-4.9.3-armhf.tar.gz* | sudo tar xz -C /

Then add the compiler's directory to "PATH" by appending the following lines in "~/.bashrc":

export PATH=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/4.9.3/bin:$PATH
export GCC_COLORS=auto

Execute "~/.bashrc" to make the changes take effect. Note that there is a space after the first ".":

. ~/.bashrc

This compiler is a 64-bit one therefore it cannot be run on a 32-bit Linux machine. After the compiler is installed you can verify it by running the following commands:

arm-linux-gcc -v
Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=arm-linux-gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/4.9.3/libexec/gcc/arm-cortexa9-linux-gnueabihf/4.9.3/lto-wrapper
Target: arm-cortexa9-linux-gnueabihf
Configured with: /work/toolchain/build/src/gcc-4.9.3/configure --build=x86_64-build_pc-linux-gnu
--host=x86_64-build_pc-linux-gnu --target=arm-cortexa9-linux-gnueabihf --prefix=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/4.9.3
--with-sysroot=/opt/FriendlyARM/toolchain/4.9.3/arm-cortexa9-linux-gnueabihf/sys-root --enable-languages=c,c++
--with-arch=armv7-a --with-tune=cortex-a9 --with-fpu=vfpv3 --with-float=hard
...
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.9.3 (ctng-1.21.0-229g-FA)

6.2 Compile Linux kernel for FriendlyCore/Lubuntu/EFlasher

6.2.1 Compile Kernel

  • Download Kernel Source Code
git clone https://github.com/friendlyarm/linux.git -b nanopi2-v4.4.y --depth 1
cd linux

The Core4418's kernel source code is in the "nanopi2-v4.4.y" branch.You need to switch to this branch.

  • Compile Ubuntu Kernel
touch .scmversion
make ARCH=arm nanopi2_linux_defconfig
make ARCH=arm

After your compilation succeeds an "arch/arm/boot/zImage" will be generated and a DTB file(s5p4418-nanopi2-rev*.dtb) will be generated in the "arch/arm/boot/dts/" directory. You can use them to replace the existing zImage and DTB files in the boot partition of your bootable SD card.

6.2.2 Use Your Generated Kernel

  • Update kernel in SD card

If you use an SD card to boot Ubuntu you can copy your generated zImage and DTB files to your SD card's boot partition(e.g. partition 1 /dev/sdX1).

  • Update kernel in eMMC

If you boot your board from eMMC you can update your kernel file by following the steps below:
1) Usually after OS is loaded eMMC's boot partition (in our example eMMC's device name was /dev/mmcblk0p1) will be automatically mounted and you can verify that by running "mount"
2) Connect your board to a host PC running Ubuntu and copy the zImage and DTB files to eMMC's boot partition
3) Or you can copy your generated kernel file to an external storage card(e.g. an SD card or a USB drive), connect the storage card to your board the move the file from the card to eMMC's boot partition
4) After update is done type "reboot" to reboot your board. Note: don't just directly disconnect your board from its power source or press the reset button to reboot the board. These actions will damage your kernel file

  • Generate Your boot.img

Refer to this repo: https://github.com/friendlyarm/sd-fuse_s5p4418

6.3 Compile Linux kernel for Android7

The Android 7.1.2 source code already contains the pre-compiled kernel. If you need to customize it, you can compile the kernel according to the following guide.

git clone https://github.com/friendlyarm/linux.git -b nanopi2-v4.4.y --depth 1
cd linux
touch .scmversion
make ARCH=arm nanopi2_nougat_defconfig
make ARCH=arm

The newly generated kernel is arch/arm/boot/zImage,The new DTB file is also included under the directory arch/arm/boot/dts/.(s5p4418-nanopi2-rev*.dtb).
If you only want to debug the kernel, you can quickly update it with adb:

adb root; adb shell mkdir /storage/sdcard1/; adb shell mount -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p1 /storage/sdcard1/;
adb push arch/arm/boot/zImage arch/arm/boot/dts/s5p4418-nanopi2-rev*.dtb /storage/sdcard1/

If you want to generate boot.img for burning, you can copy the kernel zImage and DTB files to the Android7 source code directory: device/friendlyelec/nanopi2/boot, then recompile Android7.

6.4 Compile U-Boot for Android7/FriendlyCore/Lubuntu/EFlasher

Download the U-Boot source code and compile it. Note that the github's branch is nanopi2-v2016.01:

git clone https://github.com/friendlyarm/u-boot.git 
cd u-boot
git checkout nanopi2-v2016.01
make s5p4418_nanopi2_defconfig
make CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-

After your compilation succeeds a bootloader.img will be generated. If you want to test it flash it to your installation SD card to replace an existing U-Boot v2016.01 file via fastboot, sd-fuse_s5p4418 or eflasher ROM.
For Android7: Copy bootloader.img to Android7 source directory device/friendlyelec/nanopi2/boot, then recompile Android7.
Note: you cannot use mixed U-Boot files. For example you cannot use fastboot to update an existing U-Boot V2014.07 and you cannot use bootloader.img to replace an existing u-boot.bin

6.5 Compile Android 7.1.2

6.5.1 Install Cross Compiler

Install 64 bit Ubuntu 16.04 on your host PC.

sudo apt-get install bison g++-multilib git gperf libxml2-utils make python-networkx zip
sudo apt-get install flex curl libncurses5-dev libssl-dev zlib1g-dev gawk minicom
sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk
sudo apt-get install exfat-fuse exfat-utils device-tree-compiler liblz4-tool

For more details refer to https://source.android.com/source/initializing.html

6.5.2 Download Android7 Source Code

There are two ways to download the source code:

  • repo archive file on netdisk

Netdisk URL: Click here
File location on netdisk:sources/s5pxx18-android-7.git-YYYYMMDD.tar (YYYYMMDD means the date of packaging)
After extracting the repo package from the network disk, you need to execute the sync.sh script, which will pull the latest code from gitlab:

tar xvf /path/to/netdisk/sources/s5pxx18-android-7.git-YYYYMMDD.tar
cd s5pxx18-android-7
./sync.sh
  • git clone from gitlab

Core4418 source code is maintained in gitlab, You can download it by running the following command:

git clone https://gitlab.com/friendlyelec/s5pxx18-android-7.git -b master

6.5.3 Compile Android7

cd s5pxx18-android-7
source build/envsetup.sh
lunch aosp_nanopi2-userdebug
make -j8

After your compilation succeeds the following files will be generated in the "out/target/product/nanopi2/" directory.

filename partition Description
bl1-mmcboot.bin raw boot firmware
loader-mmc.img raw boot firmware
bl_mon.img raw boot firmware
bootloader.img raw uboot-v2016.01
env.conf - Uboot environment variable containing Android kernel command line parameters
boot.img boot kernel zImage, DTBs; logo; Android ramdisk
cache.img cache -
userdata.img userdata -
system.img system -
partmap.txt - Partition description file

7 Connect Core4418 to External Modules

7.1 Connect Core4418 to USB Camera(FA-CAM202)

  • In this use case the Core4418 runs Debian. If you connect your Core4418 to our LCD or an HDMI monitor after Debain is fully loaded click on "other"-->"xawtv" on the left bottom of the GUI and the USB Camera application will be started. After enter "welcome to xawtv!" click on "OK" to start exploring.

USB camera USB camera-01

7.2 Connect Core4418 to CMOS 5M-Pixel Camera

For more details about the CAM500A camera refer to [1]

  • If your Core4418 runs Android5.1 and it is connected to our LCD or an HDMI monitor after Android is fully loaded click on the "Camera" icon and the application will be started. You can take pictures or record videos

CMOS camera

  • Under Debian a camera utility "nanocams" is available for previewing 40 frames and picture taking. You can try it by following the commands below
sudo nanocams -p 1 -n 40 -c 4 -o IMG001.jpg

For more details about the usage of the nanocams run "nanocams -h". You can get its source code from our git hub:

git clone https://github.com/friendlyarm/nexell_linux_platform.git
  • Under FriendlyCore (kernel 4.4), You can try it by following the commands below:

Enter the following command to preview the video:

gst-launch-1.0 -e v4l2src device=/dev/video6 ! video/x-raw,format=I420,framerate=30/1,width=1280,height=720 ! nxvideosink

Enter the following command to start recording (VPU hardware encoding):

gst-launch-1.0 -e v4l2src device=/dev/video6 ! video/x-raw,format=I420,framerate=30/1,width=1280,height=720 ! tee name=t t. \
 ! queue ! nxvideosink t. ! queue ! nxvideoenc bitrate=12000000 ! mp4mux ! \
 filesink location=result_720.mp4

7.3 Use OpenCV to Access USB Camera

  • The full name of "OpenCV" is Open Source Computer Vision Library and it is a cross platform vision library.
  • When the Core4418 runs Debian users can use OpenCV APIs to access a USB Camera device.

1. Here is a guideline on how to use OpenCV with C++ on the Core4418:

  • Firstly you need to make sure your Core4418 is connected to the internet.Login to your Core4418 via a serial terminal or SSH. After login type in your username(root) and password(fa):
  • Run the following commands:


apt-get update
apt-get install libcv-dev libopencv-dev

2. Make sure your USB camera works with the Core4418. You can test your camera with Core4418's camera utility.

3. Check your camera device:

ls /dev/video*
  • Note:in our test case video0 was the device name.

4. OpenCV's code sample(official code in C++) is under /home/fa/Documents/opencv-demo. Compile the code sample with the following commands:

cd /home/fa/Documents/opencv-demo
make

After it is compiled successfully a "demo" executable will be generated

5. Connect Core4418 to USB Keyboard & Run the Following Command:

./demo

opencv is successfully started

7.4 Connect Core4418 to Matrix GPS Module

  • The Matrix-GPS module is a small GPS module with high performance. It can be used in navigation devices, four-axle drones and etc.
  • The Matrix-GPS module uses serial communication. When the Core4418 is connected to the Matrix GPS module, after the Core4418 is powered up type in the following command in a terminal or click on the xgps icon it will be started.
$su - fa -c "DISPLAY=:0 xgps 127.0.0.1:9999"
  • Or on the Debian GUI start the LXTerminal, type in "xgps" and enter it will be started too.

For more details about this GPS module refer to Click to check
Refer to the following diagram to connect the Core4418 to the Matrix-GPS:
GPS_NanoPC-T2

Connection Details:

Matrix-GPS Core4418
RXD Pin11
TXD Pin12
5V Pin29
GND Pin30

8 Access Hardware under Android

FriendlyElec developed a library called “libfriendlyarm-things.so”, for android developer to access the hardware resources on the development board in their android apps, the library is based on Android NDK.
Accessible Modules:

  • Serial Port
  • PWM
  • EEPROM
  • ADC
  • LED
  • LCD 1602 (I2C)
  • OLED (SPI)


Interfaces & Ports:

  • GPIO
  • Serial Port
  • I2C
  • SPI


Refer to the following url for details:

9 Connect Core4418 to FriendlyARM LCD Modules

  • Android

Here are the LCDs that are supported under Android:S430, S700/S701, S702, HD700, HD702, HD101 and X710 all of which are LCDs with capacitive touch.

  • FriendlyCore & Lubuntu Desktop

Here are the LCDs that are supported under FriendlyCore and Lubuntu Desktop:S430, S700/S701, S702, HD700, HD702, HD101 and X710 all of which are LCDs with capacitive touch;
W35B, H43, P43, S70D and Matrix 2.8" SPI Key TFT LCD all of which are LCDs with resistive touch
All these LCD's tech details can be obtained on our wiki site:LCDModules

10 Schematics & Mechanical drawing

11 Resources

12 Source Code and Image Files Download Links

  • Image File: [3]
  • Source Code: [4]

13 Tech Support

If you have any further questions please visit our forum http://www.friendlyarm.com/Forum/ and post a message or email us at techsupport@friendlyarm.com. We will endeavor to get back to you as soon as possible.

14 Update Log

14.1 2023-01-09

14.1.1 FriendlyCore:

  • optimized the systemd service

14.2 2020-10-26

  • FriendlyCore, Lubuntu:

Fix Bluetooth stability issue

14.3 2019-12-28

  • eflasher:

1) Supports flashing only some files, such as updating only the kernel and uboot in emmc
2) Added gui option to disable overlay filesystem
3) Add command line parameters to achieve one-click installation without interaction
4) Fix the issue that the same mac address will appear on different devices after backup and restore image
5) UI interface can now be configured with title, hide interface menus and buttons

14.4 2019-11-26

  • FriendlyCore:

Pre-installed OpenCV 4.1.2

14.5 2019-11-14

  • Introducing a new system FriendlyWrt:

FriendlyWrt is a customized OpenWrt system developed by FriendlyElec. It is open source and suitable for applications in IoT, NAS etc.
Please refre: http://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_Build_FriendlyWrt

  • FriendlyCore, Lubuntu updated as follows:

1) Added support for new 4.3-inch screen YZ43
2) Compile bcmdhd as a module.

  • Android7 update is as follows:

1) Added support for new 4.3-inch screen YZ43
2) Optimize the touch experience when using HD900 screen under Android 7 system
3) Optimize the touch experience when using S702 screen under Android 7 system

14.6 2019-10-18

  • Android7, FriendlyCore, Lubuntu:

Fixed audio playback issue.

14.7 2019-09-30

  • Android7 updated as follows:

1)Added support for Android hardware access library (named FriendlyThing), support access to hardware resources such as GPIO, PWM, RTC, serial port and watchdog, providing open source demo
2) Added support for camera CAM500B (OV5640)
3) Added support for LCD W500 (800x480)
4) Fixed LCD-S430 compatibility issues

  • FriendlyCore, FriendlyDesktop updated as follows:

1) Kernel version updated to v4.4.172, same as Android 7
2) Added Docker support, support 32bit and 64bit file systems
3) Kernel configuration items are optimized to enable more features and device drivers

14.8 2019-07-18

  • Introducing a new system Android 7.1.2

1) Features similar to the old version of Android 5, support 4G, WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, etc.
2) Kernel version: 4.4.172
3) Known issue: The camera is not working yet

  • Android/FriendlyCore/Lubuntu updated as follows:

1) Fix an issue where HD101B can't be touched in some cases
2) Fix GPIO configuration of Power key
3) Solve the problem of too small volume: the volume of the DAC is changed from -20dB to -6dB during playback.
4) Add more models of USB Wi-Fi support, built-in driver rtl8821CU.ko, rtl88XXau.ko

  • Updates for Lubuntu only:

1) Modify Lubuntu's Power key behavior to (without pop-ups) shut down directly
2) Add script xrotate.sh to simplify screen rotation settings (Note: screen rotation will lose performance)

  • The following updates are only available for NanoPC T2, Smart4418:

Support for reading Ethernet Mac addresses from the onboard EEPROM, only supports the following systems: FriendlyCore, Lubuntu, Android7

14.9 2019-06-25

Linux(Ubuntu 16.04/18.04) uses OverlayFS to enhance filesystem stability.

14.10 2019-06-03

1) Configure LED1 to be in heartbeat mode
2) Fix HDMI 1080P may have no display problem in some cases
3) Fix the issue that mysql cannot be installed under Linux
4) Fix the issue that the 1-wire touch resistance screen cannot be used under lubuntu

14.11 2019-01-24

1) Update uboot-v2014.07, uboot-v2016.01 for HD702V LCD
2) Adjust Qt5 font path

14.12 2018-12-17

  • Android5 updated as follows:

1) Add support for 4G network, support module: Quectel EC20
2) Add audio setting UI, you can set the default output to headphones or HDMI
3) Synchronously turn off the backlight of the one-line touch screen when the system Shutdown

  • FriendlyCore updated as follows:

1) Add OV5640 camera support
2) Update BL1 to improve system startup stability

  • Lubuntu updated as follows:

1) Add Chrome-browser browser, support web page 1080P hardware decoding, support WebGL
2) Set the audio output channel to HDMI by default (can be changed via /etc/asound.conf)
3) Update BL1 to improve system startup stability
4) Fixed some issues regarding the package error in the previous version
5) Adjust DPMS settings, turn off automatic sleep by default

14.13 March-04-2016

  • Released English version

14.14 March-09-2016

  • Corrected a typo

14.15 March-23-2016

  • Added section 11

14.16 March-27-2016

  • Corrected expression errors

14.17 April-08-2016

  • Added section 6.4.2 and 7.4
  • Updated section 6.5

14.18 June-30-2016

  • Added section 9 and 10

14.19 Sep-04-2016

  • Updated section 5.2.2 and 10.1.1

14.20 Sep-27-2016

  • Updated section 5.2.2, 7.5 and 8.2

14.21 Nov-2-2016

  • Updated section 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 and 12

14.22 Nov-17-2016

  • Added section 10.6

14.23 Dec-7-2016

  • Added section 6.6
  • Updated section 7.5

14.24 June-13-2016

  • Added section 7: added UbuntuCore
  • Added section 11.3: added DietPi

14.25 June-20-2016

  • Updated sections 6.2 & 6.3: Wireless connection and WiFi AP setting
  • Added section 3: software features