Select the version of your OS from the tabs below. If you don't know the version you are using, run the command cat /etc/os-release or cat /etc/issue on the board.
Remember that you can always refer to the Torizon Documentation, there you can find a lot of relevant articles that might help you in the application development.
TorizonCore uses Plymouth splash screen running in user space. Plymouth is started from an initial minimal root file system (initramfs) very early during boot. Hence customizing the splash screen requires customizing the initramfs. TorizonCore ships with a script that allows adding a custom splash screen logo to the initramfs.
There are different phases of development with different methods for customizing the splash screen:
ostree-customize-playmouth.sh provided in the TorizonCore image.This article complies to the Typographic Conventions for Torizon Documentation.
The Apalis iMX8 does not have a splash screen on HDMI. The splash screen is only present when using the Capacitive Touch Display 10.1" LVDS with the HDMI Device Tree Overlay disabled.
Since the initramfs is stored in OSTree, customizing the splash screen requires a new OSTree commit. TorizonCore ships with the ostree-customize-plymouth.sh script which does most of the work. It requires three parameters:
# ostree-customize-plymouth.sh [splash] [ostree ref] [new ostree branch]
Being:
Warning: you are advised to always start from a vanilla TorizonCore OSTree reference before running the tool for the second time.
To get the reference to the base tree (typically the current running tree) you can use ostree admin status to display the current reference:
# ostree admin status
* torizon e0d44cf2f894bf834f7d799abeccd4ad1e5226cd1caff2324179950ca3676990.0
Version: 4.0.0-devel-20200218+build.118
origin refspec: e0d44cf2f894bf834f7d799abeccd4ad1e5226cd1caff2324179950ca3676990
The value is displayed as origin refspec.
With the png in place and the base reference above a new OSTree commit with the customized initramfs can be created. See an example below that uses an image named fast-banana.png and creates a new branch named apalis-imx6/torizon/torizon-core-docker-customized:
# sudo ostree-customize-plymouth.sh fast-banana.png \
e0d44cf2f894bf834f7d799abeccd4ad1e5226cd1caff2324179950ca3676990 \
apalis-imx6/torizon/torizon-core-docker-customized
This new OSTree commit can be deployed using:
# sudo ostree admin deploy "apalis-imx6/torizon/torizon-core-docker-customized"
# sudo reboot
On reboot, you should be able to see the new splash screen showing up.
The script ostree-customize-plymouth.sh "overwrites" the default splash screen by appending a new splash screen to the initramfs of the currently running root file system. This means that if the tool is used on an already customized root file system, the initramfs will append another splash screen, making the initramfs unnecessary larger.
Given the origin refspec from the previous example, run ostree admin switch [ostree ref] to revert to the vanilla TorizonCore OSTree reference:
# sudo ostree admin switch e0d44cf2f894bf834f7d799abeccd4ad1e5226cd1caff2324179950ca3676990
# sudo reboot
The TorizonCore Builder Tool is the recommended method for customizing TorizonCore.
To install TorizonCore Builder, read our statements on OS and shell compatibility, then follow the instructions below, in order.
Create and enter a working directory where your customization will be stored:
$ mkdir ~/tcbworkdir
$ cd ~/tcbworkdir
Use the setup script named tcb-env-setup.sh, available on the Toradex Github, to setup TorizonCore Builder:
$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/toradex/tcb-env-setup/master/tcb-env-setup.sh
$ source tcb-env-setup.sh
For advanced usage, run source tcb-env-setup.sh -h, or see the project README.
If using Windows, you must pass extra parameters to the script when using the following commands:
ostree serve: consult the ostree serve reference.Tip: The setup script installs a bash completion script for TorizonCore Builder, making it possible to autocomplete commands and parameters by just pressing the TAB key.
Verify that the command torizoncore-builder is available:
$ torizoncore-builder --help
Warning: Make sure to: (1) source the script, (2) every time you open a new terminal, (3) inside the working directory you have previously created. Otherwise, it will not work as intended and, most importantly, the torizoncore-builder alias will not be created properly.
There are two possible approaches to apply the customization and generate a custom Toradex Easy Installer image, described in the next two sections Approach 1 and Approach 2. These approaches in some cases are interchangeable and in some not as described in the next sections.
To learn about TorizonCore Builder workflow and the different approaches to use the tool, with explanatory diagrams, please refer to the TorizonCore Builder - Workflow article.
Attention: Both approaches generate a custom Toradex Easy Installer image as output, so the approaches should be followed alternatively and not in sequence.
TorizonCore Builder build command generates a custom TorizonCore image with the splash screen, ready to be installed with Toradex Easy Installer, named torizon-core-docker-colibri-imx6-Tezi_5.3.0.CUSTOM in the example below. This is achieved using a configuration YAML file, tcbuild.yml as default.
This is the recommended approach on production programming and on CI/CD (continuous integration / continuous development) pipelines.
To learn about TorizonCore Builder workflow and the different approaches to use the tool, with explanatory diagrams, please refer to the TorizonCore Builder - Workflow article.
It requires a Toradex Easy Installer image of TorizonCore (preferably without containers), torizon-core-docker-colibri-imx6-Tezi_5.3.0+build.7.tar in this case, as input. The splash screen image is passed as customization: splash-screen.
tcbuild.yaml# Sample configuration file: input: easy-installer: local: images/torizon-core-docker-colibri-imx6-Tezi_5.3.0+build.7.tar #Sample customization: insert a Splash Screen customization: # >> Splash screen: splash-screen: splash.png output: easy-installer: local: torizon-core-docker-colibri-imx6-Tezi_5.3.0.CUSTOM
The file splash.png should be available before running the build command. A demo image can be downloaded by clicking on the button below:
To generate the TorizonCore image, run the command below, in the same directory where the tcbuild.yaml file is:
$ torizoncore-builder build
...
1091 metadata, 12741 content objects imported; 412.2 MB content written
Pulling done.
Deploying OSTree with checksum 58629613a342197c31c5911d0874aac1b0fcb46b68a63f59760c03bacc4df08a
Deploying done.
Copy files not under OSTree control from original deployment.
Packing rootfs...
Packing rootfs done.
=>> Build command successfully executed!
In case of using a configuration file with a different name than tcbuild.yaml, run the command specifying the configuration file name:
$ torizoncore-builder build --file <configuration_file_name>
To deploy the custom Toradex Easy Installer image to the board, click on the link below and choose between the available options.
In this second approach, instead of using a configuration YAML file and a one-step command, the generation of the custom TorizonCore with the splash screen is done using standalone commands, each performing one step towards this generation.
This approach is especially useful when making incremental changes, generating multiple images with different splash screens (or other customizations like different device tree overlays). As you will see, applying a splash screen to an image of TorizonCore that has other customizations is just a matter of performing the apply, merge and deploy stages.
To learn about TorizonCore Builder workflow and the different approaches to use the tool, with explanatory diagrams, please refer to the TorizonCore Builder - Workflow article.
To generate a custom Toradex Easy Installer image with the splash screen follow the sequence of steps below.
You just need to execute this once. Then, you are ready to apply multiple changes to the image. For example, in addition to applying a splash screen, you can also apply an external kernel module, a new device tree, among other possibilities.
If you have not unpacked an image yet, download a base TorizonCore image (preferably without containers) inside the TorizonCore Builder working directory, then run the command below to unpack it. In the example below the torizon-core-docker-colibri-imx6-Tezi_5.3.0+build.7.tar image is used as a reference:
$ torizoncore-builder images unpack torizon-core-docker-colibri-imx6-Tezi_5.3.0+build.7.tar
If you want to change the TorizonCore base image, download the new image and run the images unpack command again, passing the new image as the argument.
For more details about the images unpack command, please check the images unpack command in the commands manual.
Instead of using the images unpack you can use the images download command. This command checks which is the connected Toradex SoM, downloads the compatible latest quarterly release of a TorizonCore image without containers, and unpacks this image.
$ torizoncore-builder images download --remote-host 192.168.1.117 --remote-username torizon --remote-password torizon
Change the arguments --remote-host,--remote-username and --remote-password to your board IP Address, username and password, respectively.
For more details on how the images download command works, please check the images download command in the commands manual.
To apply the splash screen file, in this case splash.png, to the custom Toradex Easy Installer image, run the command below:
$ torizoncore-builder splash splash.png
/storage/splash/usr/share/plymouth/themes/spinner/
splash screen merged to initramfs
A demo splash.png image can be downloaded by clicking on the button below:
For more details about the splash command, please check the spash command in the commands manual.
Merge the splash screen (as well as other customizations like an external kernel module or a new device tree) into the base Toradex Easy Installer image of TorizonCore - use whatever branch name you want.
As an example, to commit changes into a branch named custom-branch use the command below, accordingly with the TorizonCore Builder version:
$ torizoncore-builder union custom-branch
Applying changes from STORAGE/dt.
Commit 58629613a342197c31c5911d0874aac1b0fcb46b68a63f59760c03bacc4df08a has been generated for changes and is ready to be deployed.
$ torizoncore-builder union --union-branch=custom-branch
Warning: We recommend that you switch to the latest version of TorizonCore Builder to enjoy its simpler and more consistent user interface besides other improvements and bug fixes.
For more details about the union command, please check the union command in the commands manual.
To deploy the custom Toradex Easy Installer image to the board, click on the link below and choose between the available options.
After rebooting, in your target device's terminal, verify that your new custom image of TorizonCore is active on the device with the command below:
# sudo ostree admin status
Password:
* torizon 58629613a342197c31c5911d0874aac1b0fcb46b68a63f59760c03bacc4df08a.0
Version: 5.3.0+build.7-tcbuilder.20211008140217
origin refspec: tcbuilder:58629613a342197c31c5911d0874aac1b0fcb46b68a63f59760c03bacc4df08a
torizon 36ad904617b170339b6ded7b9dce87ed8cf0f76473b897fdd832d91e82eb1ddc.0 (rollback)
Version: 5.3.0+build.7
origin refspec: tcbuilder:36ad904617b170339b6ded7b9dce87ed8cf0f76473b897fdd832d91e82eb1ddc
Where 58629613a342197c31c5911d0874aac1b0fcb46b68a63f59760c03bacc4df08a is the OSTree commit hash and should be the same as:
union command in the case of the standalone commandsbuild command.TorizonCore uses Plymouth splash screen running in user space. Plymouth is started from an initial minimal root file system (initramfs) very early during boot. Hence customizing the splash screen requires customizing the initramfs. TorizonCore ships with a script which allows to add a custom splash screen logo to the initramfs.
This article complies to the Typographic Conventions for Torizon Documentation.
The custom splash screen needs to be a png file with a maximum size of your screens resolution (-32 pixel in height for the waiting animation). Typically a resolution around 600x400 is used. Currently the background is always black.
Since the initramfs is stored in the OSTree of TorizonCore, customizing the splash screen requires a new OSTree commit. TorizonCore ships with the ostree-customize-plymouth.sh script which does most of the work. It requires three parameters:
# ostree-customize-plymouth.sh [splash] [ostree ref] [new ostree branch]
Being:
Warning: you are advised to always start from a vanilla TorizonCore OSTree reference before running the tool for the second time.
To get the reference to the base tree (typically the current running tree) you can use ostree admin status to display the current reference:
# ostree admin status
* torizon e0d44cf2f894bf834f7d799abeccd4ad1e5226cd1caff2324179950ca3676990.0
Version: 4.0.0-devel-20200218+build.118
origin refspec: e0d44cf2f894bf834f7d799abeccd4ad1e5226cd1caff2324179950ca3676990
The value is displayed as origin refspec.
With the png in place and the base reference above a new OSTree commit with the customzied initramfs can be created. See an example below that uses an image named fast-banana.png and creates a new branch named apalis-imx6/torizon/torizon-core-docker-customized:
# sudo ostree-customize-plymouth.sh fast-banana.png \
e0d44cf2f894bf834f7d799abeccd4ad1e5226cd1caff2324179950ca3676990 \
apalis-imx6/torizon/torizon-core-docker-customized
This new OSTree commit can be deployed using:
# sudo ostree admin deploy "apalis-imx6/torizon/torizon-core-docker-customized"
# sudo reboot
On reboot you should be able to see the new splash screen showing up.
The script ostree-customize-plymouth.sh "overwrites" the default splash screen by appending a new splash screen to the initramfs of the currently running root file system. This means that if the tool is used on an already customized root file system, the initramfs will append another splash screen, making the initramfs unnecessary larger.
Given the origin refspec from the previous example, run ostree admin switch [ostree ref] to revert to the vanilla TorizonCore OSTree reference:
# sudo ostree admin switch e0d44cf2f894bf834f7d799abeccd4ad1e5226cd1caff2324179950ca3676990
# sudo reboot
