Camera Support on IGX BaseOS#

IGX is a server-based system that uses the GRUB bootloader. This section explains how you can enable camera support by modifying the device-tree during system boot.

Generating the DTB File#

You can generate the device-tree binary (DTB) file from the BSP, located at Linux_for_Tegra/kernel/dtb/.

Creating the Camera-Enabled DTB#

To apply the overlay and generate the final DTB:

IGX500 Camera Support#

IGX500 supports multiple camera modules, such as Dual IMX274 and GMSL3762.

  • Base DTB: tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-nv.dtb

  • GMSL Camera Overlay: tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-camera-p3762-a00-overlay.dtbo

  • Dual IMX274 Overlay: tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-camera-dual-imx274-overlay.dtbo

Creating the Camera-Enabled DTB#

For GMSL Camera:

fdtoverlay -i tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-nv.dtb -o tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-camera-p3762-a00-camera.dtb tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-camera-p3762-a00-overlay.dtbo

For Dual IMX274:

fdtoverlay -i tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-nv.dtb -o tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-dual-imx274-camera.dtb tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-camera-dual-imx274-overlay.dtbo

Adding Boot Option with Custom DTB#

  1. Boot the IGX system with the default Ubuntu option.

  2. Add the boot option with the newly generated DTB file. To do so, copy the generated DTB file tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-dual-imx274-camera.dtb on the IGX and apply these steps.

    sudo mkdir /boot/custom_dtbs
sudo cp tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-dual-imx274-camera.dtb /boot/custom_dtbs

  3. Copy the “Ubuntu” entry from /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

  4. Modify /etc/grub.d/40_custom by adding the new entry from your grub.cfg file. Add devicetree /boot/custom_dtbs/tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-dual-imx274-camera.dtb as the last entry in the grub configuration file. Be sure to also rename “Ubuntu” to something like “Ubuntu Custom” or “Ubuntu Camera Support”. Here is an example:

    menuentry 'Ubuntu Camera Support' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-3a9d6c12-14c0-4672-bda3-412194f528f5' {
  recordfail
  load_video
  gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
  insmod gzio
  if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
  insmod part_gpt
  insmod ext2
  search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 3a9d6c12-14c0-4672-bda3-412194f528f5
  linux   /boot/vmlinuz-5.15.0-1020-nvidia-tegra-igx root=UUID=3a9d6c12-14c0-4672-bda3-412194f528f5 ro  console=ttyTCU0,115200 console=tty0 fbcon=map:0 video=efifb:off rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau nouveau.modeset=0 console=tty0 console=ttyTCU0,115200
  initrd  /boot/initrd.img-5.15.0-1020-nvidia-tegra-igx
  devicetree /boot/custom_dtbs/tegra234-p3971-0000+p3701-0008-dual-imx274-camera.dtb
}

  5. Update GRUB and reboot:

    sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
sudo reboot

  6. Select Ubuntu Camera Support during boot.

    GNU GRUB boot menu

Verifying Camera Probe#

Once your system boots, check if the camera device nodes are created:

ls -l /dev/video*

Expected output:

crw-rw----+ 1 root video 81, 0 Jul 12 14:13 /dev/video0
crw-rw----+ 1 root video 81, 4 Jul 12 14:13 /dev/video1

If the camera is not detected, verify the hardware connections.

Capturing Images#

  1. Install v4l2 utilities:

    sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install v4l-utils

  2. Capture raw images:

    v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video0 --stream-mmap --stream-count=100
v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video1 --stream-mmap --stream-count=100

Using Argus Camera Application#

  1. Obtain Jetson_Multimedia_API_R36.x.x_aarch64.tbz2 from the customer release.

  2. Build and run the Argus application:

    ./argus_oneshot

    Example output:

    Executing Argus Sample: argus_oneshot
Argus Version: 0.99.3.3 (multi-process)
Capturing from device 0 using sensor mode 0 (1920x1200)
Wrote file: argus_oneShot.jpg
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