The ConnectCore 8M Mini platform uses U-Boot (Universal Bootloader) as primary bootloader. U-Boot is an open-source project. You can find standard documentation about commands, environment variables, Flattened Device Tree support, and more at www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot/Documentation.

About this guide

This guide only describes specific changes made to the standard U-Boot by Digi International.

Version

U-Boot for ConnectCore 8M Mini is based on standard U-Boot v2020.04 plus NXP patches at https://github.com/nxp-imx/uboot-imx.

Supported interfaces

The U-Boot for ConnectCore 8M Mini supports the following interfaces:

  • UART1 for console (115200/8/N/1)

  • LPDDR4

  • eMMC

  • microSD card

  • 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet on Marvell 88E1512 PHY (RGMII)

  • I2C multi-port

  • One-Time-Programmable (OTP) bits

  • USB device for Fastboot communication

Older ConnectCore 8M Mini Development Kit have Atheros AR8031 Ethernet PHY instead.

Fastboot support

Fastboot protocol is a mechanism for communicating with bootloaders over USB. It is designed to be used across a wide range of devices and from hosts running different operating systems.

Fastboot enables you to boot and control your device, including:

  • Running any U-Boot command on the target from your host machine

  • Downloading images and files directly into RAM

  • Programming and erasing entire partitions from eMMC

To start Fastboot on your device, run the fastboot command:

=> fastboot 0

This leaves the device awaiting communication from the host through the selected USB interface. You can use NXP Universal Update Utility (uuu) in your host machine to communicate with the device.

See the uuu repository for additional information.