Running Linux on STM32H753I-EVAL in 5 Minutes Print

 

Hardware Setup

Prepare hardware as described below:

  1. Change the JP7/JP8 jumpers’ settings to the "2-3" position to access the board serial console via the USB composite device.
  2. Set the JP10 jumper to supply the STM32H753I-EVAL board through the jack (CN10) and connect the 5V DC power adapter to the jack.
  3. Connect the microUSB cable to the CN23 connector on the STM32H753I-EVAL board and the development host to provide access to the serial console and the embedded ST-LINK debugger/programmer that are required to run Linux (uClinux) on the STM32H753I-EVAL. The serial console operates in U-Boot and uCLinux with the following parameters:
    1. Baud rate - 115200
    2. Data bits - 8
    3. Stop bits - 1
    4. Parity - none
  4. Connect Ethernet cable to the CN1 connector on the STM32H753I-EVAL board.
  5. The MicroSD Card used to boot the system on the STM32H753I-EVAL board. Since U-Boot environment is located at the 0x80000..0x100000 range of the raw SD Card address-space, the SD Card must be partitioned properly, so that U-Boot does not overwrite the file system on the partition. The SD Card must contain at least one partition started at a at least 1MB raw offset. The partition must be FATFS-formatted. Usually, a new SD Card satisfies these requirements by default so most likely no special preparations are required unless the card has been reformatted in some other way in other projects.

Installing U-Boot to STM32H753I-EVAL Board

  1. Download the prebuilt U-Boot image from the Emcraft web site:
  2. Run the following command on the Linux development host:

    3. $ st-flash write u-boot.bin 0x08000000
    st-flash 1.7.0-246-gc721751
    2023-08-09T10:52:47 INFO common.c: STM32H74x_H75x: 128 KiB SRAM, 2048 KiB flash in at least 128 KiB pages. file u-boot.bin md5 checksum: 9da4d3227766882d2d2f5d9f914117, stlink checksum: 0x01a79b48
    2023-08-09T10:52:47 INFO common_flash.c: Attempting to write 320790 (0x4e516) bytes to stm32 address:
    134217728 (0x8000000)
    -> Flash page at 0x8000000 erased (size: 0x20000)
    -> Flash page at 0x8020000 erased (size: 0x20000)
    -> Flash page at 0x8040000 erased (size: 0x20000)

    2023-08-09T10:52:50 INFO flashloader.c: Starting Flash write for H7
    320790/320790 bytes written
    2023-08-09T10:52:57 INFO common_flash.c: Starting verification of write complete
    2023-08-09T10:53:00 INFO common_flash.c: Flash written and verified! jolly good!
    $

  3. Connect to the STM32H753I-EVAL console using a serial terminal utility, for example:

    4. $ picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyACM0

  4. Verify that the U-Boot has been successfully installed. Reset the board and confirm that the following output appears on the serial UART console:

    5. U-Boot 2019.04- (Aug 09 2023 - 10:31:06 +0000)

    Model: STMicroelectronics STM32H753i-EVAL board
    DRAM: 32 MiB
    Flash: 2 MiB
    MMC: STM32 SDMMC2: 0
    *** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

    In: serial@40011000
    Out: serial@40011000
    Err: serial@40011000
    Net: eth0: ethernet@40028000
    Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
    STM32H7-EVAL U-Boot >

Installing Linux to STM32H753I-EVAL Board

  1. Download the prebuilt rootfs project image from the Emcraft web site:
  2. Plug in the MicroSD card to the cross-development host.
  3. Find out a /dev/sdX device the system has assigned to your SD Card:

    4. $ dmesg | tail
    [ 456.470775] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
    [ 456.482079] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas
    [ 457.501716] scsi 3:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic STORAGE DEVICE 0821 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
    [ 457.508132] sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
    [ 457.715113] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] 15446016 512-byte logical blocks: (7.91 GB/7.37 GiB)
    [ 457.733992] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
    [ 457.733999] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
    [ 457.753808] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
    [ 457.840489] sdb: sdb1
    [ 457.840845] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

  4. Install the rootfs project to the microSD card:

    5. $ cd $INSTALL_ROOT/projects/rootfs
    $ mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdcard
    $ cp roofts.uImage /mnt/sdcard

  5. Insert the micro SD card in the board and power the board. The system should boot up on the board:
    6. U-Boot 2019.04- (Aug 09 2023 - 10:31:06 +0000)

Model: STMicroelectronics STM32H753i-EVAL board
DRAM:  32 MiB
Flash: 2 MiB
MMC:   STM32 SDMMC2: 0
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

In:    serial@40011000
Out:   serial@40011000
Err:   serial@40011000
Net:   eth0: ethernet@40028000
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0
8192999 bytes read in 597 ms (13.1 MiB/s)
## Booting kernel from Legacy Image at d0c00000 ...
   Image Name:   Linux-6.1.28-gde22b499e426
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Multi-File Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    8192935 Bytes = 7.8 MiB
   Load Address: d0008000
   Entry Point:  d0008001
   Contents:
      Image 0: 8176896 Bytes = 7.8 MiB
      Image 1: 16027 Bytes = 15.7 KiB
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
## Loading init Ramdisk from multi component Legacy Image at d0c00000 ...
## Flattened Device Tree from multi component Image at D0C00000
   Booting using the fdt at 0xd13cc54c
   Loading Multi-File Image ... OK
   Loading Ramdisk to d1a7f000, end d1a82e9b ... OK
ERROR: reserving fdt memory region failed (addr=d1c00000 size=300000)
ERROR: reserving fdt memory region failed (addr=d1f00000 size=100000)
   Loading Device Tree to d1a78000, end d1a7ee9a ... OK

Starting kernel ...

[    0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0
[    0.000000] Linux version 6.1.28-gde22b499e426 (sasha_d
@workbench.emcraft.com) (arm-none-eabi-gcc (GNU Arm 
Embedded Toolchain 10.3-2021.10) 10.3.1 20210824 (release), GNU ld 
(GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain 10.3-2021.10) 2.36.1.20210621) #11 
PREEMPT Fri Aug 11 13:48:10 UTC 2023
……
[    2.350520] ARMv7-M VFP coprocessor found
[    2.354085] VFP: Double precision floating points are supported
[    2.359782] mmc0: host does not support reading read-only switch, 
assuming write-enable
[    2.370286] input: gpio-keys as /devices/platform/gpio-keys/input/input0
[    2.380873] mmc0: new high speed SD card at address 0002
[    2.401454] Freeing unused kernel image (initmem) memory: 3108K
[    2.406092] This architecture does not have kernel memory protection.
[    2.414048] mmcblk0: mmc0:0002 00000 487 MiB
[    2.420784] Run /init as init process
[    2.423762]  mmcblk0: p1
[    2.427125]   with arguments:
[    2.428765]     /init
[    2.430965]   with environment:
[    2.434338]     HOME=/
[    2.436465]     TERM=linux
[    2.439183]     consoleblank=0
[    2.442305]     ip=192.168.0.168:192.168.0.3::::eth0:off
init started: BusyBox v1.24.2 (2023-08-11 13:47:34 UTC)
[43] Jan 01 00:00:02 Running in background
/ # [    2.833395] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: Register 
MEM_TYPE_PAGE_POOL RxQ-0
[    2.922113] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: PHY [stmmac-0:00] 
driver [Microchip LAN8742] (irq=POLL)
[    2.940329] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: No Safety 
Features support found
[    2.946509] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: IEEE 1588-2008 
Advanced Timestamp supported
[    2.955706] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: registered PTP clock
[    2.962801] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: configuring for 
phy/rmii link mode
[    5.062949] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 
100Mbps/Full - flow control rx/tx
[    5.070320] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready

Ethernet Driver Support

  1. Power cycle the board. While U-Boot is coming up, press any key on the serial console to enter the U-Boot command line interface:
    2. U-Boot 2019.04- (Aug 09 2023 - 10:31:06 +0000)

Model: STMicroelectronics STM32H753i-EVAL board
DRAM:  32 MiB
Flash: 2 MiB
MMC:   STM32 SDMMC2: 0
Loading Environment from MMC... OK
In:    serial@40011000
Out:   serial@40011000
Err:   serial@40011000
Net:   eth0: ethernet@40028000
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0
STM32H7-EVAL U-Boot >
  2. From the U-Boot command line interface, reset to the default environment:
    3. => env default -a
## Resetting to default environment
=>
  3. Set the ethaddr, ipaddr and serverip U-Boot environment variables:
    4. STM32H7-EVAL U-Boot > setenv ethaddr 56:78:9a:bc:12:34
STM32H7-EVAL U-Boot > setenv ipaddr 192.168.0.168
STM32H7-EVAL U-Boot > setenv serverip 192.168.0.3
STM32H7-EVAL U-Boot > saveenv
Saving Environment to MMC... Writing to MMC(0)... OK
STM32H7-EVAL U-Boot >
  4. ping the development host from the target board:

    5. STM32H7-EVAL U-Boot > ping 192.168.0.3
    ethernet@40028000 Waiting for PHY auto negotiation to complete. done
    Using ethernet@40028000 device
    host 192.168.0.3 is alive
    STM32H7-EVAL U-Boot >

  5. Load rootfs.uImage using the U-Boot tftp command:
    6. STM32H7-EVAL U-Boot > tftp stm32h753i-eval/rootfs.uImage
Using ethernet@40028000 device
TFTP from server 192.168.0.3; our IP address is 192.168.0.168
Filename 'stm32h753i-eval/rootfs.uImage'.
Load address: 0xd0c00000
Loading: #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #######################################
         312.5 KiB/s
done
Bytes transferred = 8192999 (7d03e7 hex)
STM32H7-EVAL U-Boot >
  6. Reset the board and let it boot up to the Linux shell:
    7. => reset
resetting ...

U-Boot 2019.04- (Aug 09 2023 - 10:31:06 +0000)
.....
Starting kernel ...

[    0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0
[    0.000000] Linux version 6.1.28-gde22b499e426 (sasha_d@workbench.
emcraft.com) (arm-none-eabi-gcc (GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain 10.3-2021.10) 
10.3.1 20210824 (release), GNU ld (GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain 10.3-2021.10) 
2.36.1.20210621) #11 PREEMPT Fri Aug 11 13:48:10 UTC 2023
.....
/ # [    2.833242] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: Register MEM_TYPE_
PAGE_POOL RxQ-0
[    2.922249] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: PHY [stmmac-0:00] driver 
[Microchip 
LAN8742] (irq=POLL)
[    2.940459] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: No Safety Features 
support found
[    2.946635] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: IEEE 1588-2008 Advanced 
Timestamp supported
[    2.955814] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: registered PTP clock
[    2.962933] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: configuring for phy/
rmii link mode
[    5.063089] stm32-dwmac 40028000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 100Mbps/
Full - flow control rx/tx
[    5.070469] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
  7. From the development host validate that the target board is visible using ping:
    8. $ ping 192.168.0.168 -c 5
PING 192.168.0.168 (192.168.0.168) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.0.168: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.69 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.168: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.821 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.168: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.885 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.168: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.850 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.168: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.850 ms

--- 192.168.0.168 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 71ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.821/1.019/1.692/0.338 ms
$
  8. From the target board, validate that the development host is visible using ping:
    9. / # ping 192.168.0.3 -c 5
PING 192.168.0.3 (192.168.0.3): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: seq=0 ttl=128 time=3.759 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: seq=1 ttl=128 time=13.771 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: seq=2 ttl=128 time=1.391 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: seq=3 ttl=128 time=2.265 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: seq=4 ttl=128 time=1.708 ms

--- 192.168.0.3 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 1.391/4.578/13.771 ms
/ #

TCP/IP Stack Support

With uClinux running on the STM32H753I-EVAL, you get the full Linux TCP/IP stack (kernel version 6.1.28). User-space POSIX APIs are provided by the uClibc library. Key user-space networking tools and utilities are available from the multi-call busybox. Additional tools and packages, such as for instance the SSH dropbear server, can be built specifically for uClinux. All in all, you have the powerful Linux TCP/IP stack at your disposal.

  1. From the development host validate that the STM32H753I-EVAL is visible using ping:

    2. $ ping 192.168.0.168 -c 5
    PING 192.168.0.168 (192.168.0.168) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from 192.168.0.168: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.69 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.0.168: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.821 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.0.168: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.885 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.0.168: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.850 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.0.168: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.850 ms 

    --- 192.168.0.168 ping statistics ---
    5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 71ms
    rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.821/1.019/1.692/0.338 ms
    $

  2. ping the development host from the STM32H753I-EVAL:

    3. / # ping 192.168.0.3 -c 5
    PING 192.168.0.3 (192.168.0.3): 56 data bytes
    64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: seq=0 ttl=128 time=3.759 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: seq=1 ttl=128 time=13.771 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: seq=2 ttl=128 time=1.391 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: seq=3 ttl=128 time=2.265 ms
    64 bytes from 192.168.0.3: seq=4 ttl=128 time=1.708 ms

    --- 192.168.0.3 ping statistics ---
    5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss
    round-trip min/avg/max = 1.391/4.578/13.771 ms
    / #

  3. On the target, start the telnetd daemon to allow connections to the STM32H753I-EVAL:

    4. / # telnetd
    / # ps | grep telnetd
    72 root 724 S {busybox} telnetd
    74 root 724 S grep telnetd
    / #

  4. Connect to the target from the development host using telnet. The target is configured to accept the 123 password for root:

    5. [sasha_d@fedora ~]$ telnet 192.168.0.168
    Trying 192.168.0.168...
    Connected to 192.168.0.168.
    Escape character is '^]'.

    (none) login: root
    Password:
    / # ls
    bin etc httpd lib proc sbin tmp var
    dev hello.ko init mnt root sys usr
    / # exit
    Connection closed by foreign host.
    $

  5. The dropbear SSH daemon starts automatically on the target. Verify that dropbear allows secure connections to the target:

    6. / # ps | grep dropbear
    43 root 712 S dropbear -R
    81 root 724 S grep dropbear
    / #

  6. Connect to the target from the development host using ssh. The first connection takes several seconds to establish as the STM32H753I-EVAL runs computation-extensive key calculations. Again, enter 123 on the password prompt:
    7. $ ssh root@192.168.0.168
The authenticity of host '192.168.0.168 (192.168.0.168)' can't be 
established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:SY2N+sEZ38HwVhP06p/H63FERYlJ
ACTITDL7eYMFBFY.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.0.168' (ECDSA) to the list of 
known hosts.
root@192.168.0.168's password:
/ # ls
bin       etc       httpd     lib       proc      sbin      tmp       var
dev       hello.ko  init      mnt       root      sys       usr
/ # exit
Connection to 192.168.0.168 closed.
$
  7. On the target, enable access to the Internet by configuring a default gateway. Note also that the system makes use of the public name server provided by Google:

    8. / # route add default gw 192.168.0.1
    / # cat /etc/resolv.conf
    # This configuration makes use of the Google public DNS server.
    # If you would like to use something else, replace with the IP
    # of your DNS server

    nameserver 8.8.8.8
    / #

  8. Use ntpd to synchronize the time on the target with the time provided by a public server:

    9. / # date
    Thu Jan 1 00:00:28 UTC 1970
    / # ntpd -p 0.fedora.pool.ntp.org
    [ 40.891171] random: crng init done
    / # sleep 5
    / # date
    Fri Aug 11 20:46:15 UTC 2023
    / #

  9. Use wget to download a file from a remote server:

    10. / # wget ftp://ftp.gnu.org/README
    Connecting to ftp.gnu.org (209.51.188.20:21)
    README 100% |*******************************| 2748 0:00:00 ETA
    / # cat README
    This is ftp.gnu.org, the FTP server of the the GNU project.
    ...

  10. Start the HTTP daemon:

    11. httpd -h /httpd/html/
    / #

  11. From a local host, open a Web browser to the STM32H753I-EVAL and watch the demo web page provided by the target. The STM32H753I-EVAL shows the current time and date as well as the list of the currently running processes:

Support USB Host Stack Interface

  1. Attach a USB Flash device to the CN14 USB OTG2 HS connector using an appropriate cable. Verify that it is automatically detected and can be mounted:
    2. / # [ 3903.030069] dwc2 40040000.usb: new device is full-speed
[ 3903.621224] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using dwc2
[ 3903.882727] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0951, idProduct=160e, 
bcdDevice= 1.10
[ 3903.889549] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, 
SerialNumber =3
[ 3903.896811] usb 1-1: Product: DataTraveler 2.0
[ 3903.901177] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Kingston
[ 3903.905257] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: 5B84160009F8
[ 3903.912384] usb-storage 1-1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 3903.918944] scsi host0: usb-storage 1-1:1.0
[ 3904.983539] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 
PMAP PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[ 3905.237389] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 1953792 512-byte logical blocks: 
(1.00 GB/954 MiB) [ 3905.245051] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 3905.248473] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[ 3905.254490] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] No Caching mode page found
[ 3905.258821] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 3905.272896]  sda: sda1
[ 3905.275782] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk

/ # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbflash/
/ # ls -la /mnt/usbflash/
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root          4096 Jan  1 00:00 .
drwxrwxrwx    8 root     root             0 Aug 11  2023 ..
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root           319 Jan  1  1980 data.log
/ #
  2. Unmount the USB Flash device:

    3. / # umount /mnt/usbflash/
    / #

Support Loading / Unloading Kernel Modules

  1. From the Linux shell, load the demo kernel module:

    2. / # insmod hello.ko
    [ 4307.451610] Hello, world
    / #

  2. Show the status of the loaded kernel modules:

    3. / # lsmod
    Module Size Used by Not tainted
    hello 761 0
    / #

  3. Unload the module from the Linux kernel:

    4. / # rmmod hello
    [ 4355.168819] Goodbye, world
    / #