Flashing Linux NAND Preparation

It is possible to flash an embedded Linux image to a target module using two methods:

• Toradex Easy Installer flashing: the preferred method for flashing. Check out the Toradex Easy Installer article for comprehensive information, including supported and pre-installed modules.
• Legacy flashing: the flashing method prior to Toradex Easy Installer, uses bash script.

Note: Legacy flashing method does not imply that the embedded Linux image is legacy. There are pre-built Toradex images that are provided in both legacy and Toradex Easy Installer formats. Consult the image releases for a list of images in both formats.

Attention: If your Computer on Module is supported by the Toradex Easy Installer, the legacy flashing method is considered deprecated and you shouldn't use it.

This prepares a SD card or USB flash drive for later use on the carrier board with the module which is to be flashed.

1. Download the binary image and extract it with root permissions. The binary image files are named as follows:
   • Starting with version 2.7.2: <module-type>_<image-name>_<version>.tar.bz2 where <module_type> is one of Apalis TK1, Apalis T30, Apalis/Colibri iMX6, Colibri iMX7, Colibri-T20, Colibri-T30, or Colibri-VF and is one of LXDE-Image or Console-Image.
   • Older versions: <module_type>_LinuxImageVx.yz.tar.bz2 where <module_type> is one of Colibri_T20, Colibri_T30 or Colibri_VF.

You can find all the latest pre-built images in Binary Images, both in the legacy as well as the Toradex Easy Installer formats, or conveniently in the tables below, only in the legacy image format:

Toradex Embedded Linux Stable Releases

	OS Image	Supported Modules/Download Link	Summary Overview
	Linux LXDE Image	Apalis TK1 (2.8.7 | 2020-06-10) Apalis TK1 Mainline (2.8.7 | 2020-06-10) Apalis T30 (2.8.7 | 2020-06-10) Apalis iMX6 (2.8.7 | 2020-06-10) Colibri T30 (2.8.7 | 2020-06-10) Colibri T20 (2.8.7 | 2020-06-10) Colibri iMX6 (2.8.7 | 2020-06-10) Colibri iMX7 (2.8.7 | 2020-06-10) Colibri VFxx (2.8.7 | 2020-06-10)	Angstrom LXDE desktop environment image
	Linux Console Image	Colibri VFxx (2.8.7 | 2020-06-10)	Linux Image without graphical user interface

2. Use any FAT formatted SD/uSD card or USB flash drive with enough free space (1GB or more recommended).

   Note: U-Boot expects a partition table (MBR) on the SD card or USB flash drive and the FAT partition to be the first partition!

3. Find the mount point of your SD/uSD card or USB flash drive by e.g. using df or lsblk:

    [user@host ~]$ df
    Filesystem              1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
    ...
    /dev/mmcblk0p1            7582228   2808272   4773956  38% /media/KERNEL
    [user@host ~]$ lsblk
    NAME                         MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINT
    ...
    mmcblk0                      179:0    0   7.3G  0 disk  
    └─mmcblk0p1                  179:1    0   7.3G  0 part  /media/KERNEL

3. Run the update.sh script with the -o argument pointing to the mount point of the SD card or USB flash drive. For example assuming the SD card is mounted at /media/KERNEL:

    ./update.sh -o /media/KERNEL/

At this point the SD/uSD card or USB flash drive should contain U-Boot, optionally the Linux kernel, the flashing scripts and the ext3 (for eMMC modules) resp. UBI (for NAND modules) root file system images.