Zybo Z7-20 Petalinux 2018.3/Any linux Installation

[Amin]

Can someone guide me how to get Petalinux working on Zybo Z7-20?

I am using Vivado and SDK 2018.3 on Windows 10. I prefer using prebuilt images and files if they are available.

 

I found this link, but it seems it is very old, and I am not sure if I can use it on my version of Vivado and SDK:

https://github.com/Digilent/Petalinux-Zybo-Z7-20

The Xilinx links for Petalinux are available here:

https://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.html/content/xilinx/en/downloadNav/embedded-design-tools.html

 

If there exists any other easy method for installing any type of Linux please help me.

[Ionel]

Hi @Amin,

Inside `image.zip` you will find necessary files to obtain a micro SD card with a persistent rootfs .

sha1sum: 228ec31bbfaf465310c1894983964a5fa33cc668  image.zip

To prepare it please follow instructions found here  https://github.com/Digilent/Petalinux-Zybo-Z7-20#note-if-you-wish-to-change-back-to-initramfs-in-the-future-you-will-need-to-undo-this-change-to-the-bootargs-line staring from "Format an SD card.." paragraph.

`z7-20.img.zip` is an image of a 2G disk it can be written to the micro SD card  directly however the rootfs partition needs to be resized if additional space is needed.

If you want more control over the rootfs please consider installing petalinux.

image.zip

z7-20.img.zip

[jpeyron]

Hi @Amin,

I know our content team is planning on updating our Petalinux projects. We currently do not have an ETA for this. Here is the Petalinux Support for Digilent Boards table that shows what Petalinux projects we have for our development boards and has a link to them as well. To use our most recent Petalinux release for the Zybo-Z7-20  I would suggest to download Vivado/SDK and Petalinux 2017.4. I would also suggest reading the Petalinux projects detailed readme as well.

thank you,

Jon

[Amin]

2 minutes ago, jpeyron said:

Hi @Amin,

I know our content team is planning on updating our Petalinux projects. We currently do not have an ETA for this. Here is the Petalinux Support for Digilent Boards table that shows what Petalinux projects we have for our development boards and has a link to them as well. To use our most recent Petalinux release for the Zybo-Z7-20  I would suggest to download Vivado/SDK and Petalinux 2017.4. I would also suggest reading the Petalinux projects detailed readme as well.

thank you,

Jon

1

Can I install Petalinux/any Linux using Windows?

[jpeyron]

Hi @Amin,

I believe you need to use the Petalinux in a linux environment. Here is the download page for Petalinux. You should be able to use a VM or dual boot with Windows. 

thank you,

Jon

[Ciprian]

Hi @Amin,

It depends on what you are planning to do. If you only need a Linux running on your Zybo Z7-20, then I can give you our pre-build BOOT.bin, kernel+rootfs images. This approach is based on our Demo HW platform, you will have the benefit of a lot of IPs in the design which allows a very versatile approach to the board, unfortunately this will not allow you to add any new IP to the design.

If you want to build you own platform and base the on board Linux on it then you will need to install petalinux on linux(I recommend Ubuntu) and build/customize it the way you want, @jpeyron sent you the links for this in the previous post.

-Ciprian

[Amin]

6 hours ago, Ciprian said:

Hi @Amin,

It depends on what you are planning to do. If you only need a Linux running on your Zybo Z7-20, then I can give you our pre-build BOOT.bin, kernel+rootfs images. This approach is based on our Demo HW platform, you will have the benefit of a lot of IPs in the design which allows a very versatile approach to the board, unfortunately this will not allow you to add any new IP to the design.

If you want to build you own platform and base the on board Linux on it then you will need to install petalinux on linux(I recommend Ubuntu) and build/customize it the way you want, @jpeyron sent you the links for this in the previous post.

-Ciprian

5

I just need to run a Linux on PS, because I want to use a library prebuilt for Linux in my code running on the ARM processor. Would you please give me prebuilt files you are talking about.

I think I can use the Linux installing section of this guide (step 2), which is for Zybo (https://reference.digilentinc.com/learn/programmable-logic/tutorials/zybo-zybot-guide/start) with your files for Zybo Z7-20

https://github.com/ARM-software/ComputeLibrary They used Linux armv7a: gcc-linaro-4.9-2016.02-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf  toolchain for building the binaries.

[Amin]

On 2/12/2019 at 7:51 AM, Ionel said:

Hi @Amin,

Inside `image.zip` you will find necessary files to obtain a micro SD card with a persistent rootfs .

sha1sum: 228ec31bbfaf465310c1894983964a5fa33cc668  image.zip

To prepare it please follow instructions found here  https://github.com/Digilent/Petalinux-Zybo-Z7-20#note-if-you-wish-to-change-back-to-initramfs-in-the-future-you-will-need-to-undo-this-change-to-the-bootargs-line staring from "Format an SD card.." paragraph.

`z7-20.img.zip` is an image of a 2G disk it can be written to the micro SD card  directly however the rootfs partition needs to be resized if additional space is needed.

If you want more control over the rootfs please consider installing petalinux.

image.zip

z7-20.img.zip

I properly followed all the instructions, and I used the three files you gave (BOOT.bin, rootfs.ext4, etc), but my processor does not give any feedback on UART when I boot it from microSD card. Although, I get some feedback when I load it using default Zybo program.

[Ionel]

12 hours ago, Amin said:

I properly followed all the instructions, and I used the three files you gave (BOOT.bin, rootfs.ext4, etc), but my processor does not give any feedback on UART when I boot it from microSD card. Although, I get some feedback when I load it using default Zybo program.

When you boot using the microSD card that you have prepared is the green led [LD12 DONE] turned on?

 

[Amin]

On 3/12/2019 at 6:25 AM, Ionel said:

When you boot using the microSD card that you have prepared is the green led [LD12 DONE] turned on?

 

Sorry for my delay. No, just a red LED is turned on.

To clarify, I just followed the instructions in the link. Do I need to any configuration inside Vivado or SDK?

[Ionel]

It seems that something went wrong when preparing first partition with BOOT.BIN and image.ub files.

First method : A minimal test that we can do is to prepare only one FAT32 partition and copy BOOT.BIN and image.ub files. Then start the board with this setup. This way it should only start the Linux kernel, however no rootfs. The UART should be initialize. and the green LED should be on.

Step 1: format SD card as FAT32 file system

Step 2: copy BOOT.BIN and image.ub files to the SD card (then safety remove the SD card)

Step 3: insert SD card in zybo-z7-20 and power the board

Step 4: The green LED turns on then it means that the UART(via FTDI) is ready.

Note:

Alternative: The second file attached was z7-20.img.zip which is a snapshot off a 2GB SD card containing both partitions. The image can be written to the micro SD card with `dd` tool on Linux or a similar tool for Windows (writing this image to SD card from windows 10 worked for me using  Win32DiskImager).

Step 1: extract the z7-20.img.zip

Step 1.A : insert micro SD card if not already inserted.

Step 2: run Win32DiskImager

Step 3: For `Image File` field set the path to z7-20.img file.

z7-20.img sha1sum: e08516edb24ff65d32ce7a43a946f0be9b9f0ebe (If you want to check)

Step 4: In `Device` field make sure the Drive letter for microSD is selected (If not you risk loosing data from other devices).

Step 5: Pres write.(If you are prompted to format partitions please do not. The second partition filesystem is ext4 which is not recognized by the OS)

Step 6: After the process ended, safety remove the micro SD.

Step 7: Plug the micro SD into the z7-20 board. Power up the board.