Quick Start Guide
The information here is intended to help you get started quickly using the NVIDIA® Tegra® Linux Driver Package (L4T) in conjunction with an NVIDIA® Jetson™ developer kit.
Types and Models of Jetson Devices
This Development Guide discusses both Jetson modules and Jetson developer kits. Jetson developer kits include a Jetson module attached to a reference carrier board. Together with JetPack SDK, it is used to develop and test software for your use case. Jetson developer kits are not intended for production use.
Jetson modules are suitable for deployment in a production environment throughout their
operating lifetime. Each Jetson module ships with no software pre-installed; you attach it to a carrier board designed or procured for your end product, and flash it with the software image you’ve developed.
This release of L4T supports the following Jetson devices:
• NVIDIA® Jetson Nano™ modules and Jetson Nano Developer Kit
• NVIDIA® Jetson AGX Xavier™ and Jetson AGX Xavier Developer Kit
• NVIDIA® Jetson™ TX2 series modules and Jetson TX2 Developer Kit
• NVIDIA® Jetson™ TX1 module and Jetson TX1 Developer Kit
Preparing a Jetson Development Kit for Use
This section explains how to prepare a Jetson developer kit for use by flashing it with the appropriate software.
Assumptions
• You have a Jetson developer kit.
If you have the Jetson Nano Developer Kit, you can skip this guide and simply download and use the supported SD Card image. Alternatively, you can follow these instructions to flash the QSPI-NOR, or flash the QSPI-NOR and an SD Card inserted on the Jetson Nano module.
• Your Jetson developer kit is powered off and connected as follows. (Note that your Jetson developer kit may not come with the devices and cables listed below.)
• A USB cable connects the correct USB port of your Jetson developer kit to your Linux host for flashing.
(For the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier Developer Kit, use the USB-C port next to the power button. For the other Jetson developer kits, use the micro USB port.)
• Any required USB peripherals such as keyboard and mouse are connected to the Jetson developer kit, possibly through a USB hub.
• A wired Ethernet connection is available for installing optional software on the Jetson developer kit after L4T is installed and running.
• Either a display device or a serial console is connected to the Jetson developer kit.
Note: | A display device or console need not be connected to a Jetson AGX Xavier Developer Kit through the micro USB connector. (This does not apply to other developer kits.) |
Variables
The directions below assume that:
• The ${L4T_RELEASE_PACKAGE} environment variable contains the pathname of the L4T release package filename
For the Jetson Nano and Jetson TX1 modules:
Jetson-210_Linux_R32.2.0_aarch64.tbz2
For Jetson AGX Xavier and Jetson TX2™ series modules:
Jetson_Linux_R32.2.0_aarch64.tbz2
• ${SAMPLE_FS_PACKAGE} refers to the sample filesystem package file name:
Tegra_Linux_Sample-Root-Filesystem_R32.2.0_aarch64.tbz2
• ${BOARD} refers to the name of a supported configuration of a specific Jetson module with a specific carrier board.
Examples:
• jetson-nano-qspi-sd
Module: Jetson Nano module (P3448—the version included in the developer kit)
Carrier board: Jetson Nano Developer Kit carrier board
Note: | This configuration is used to flash both QSPI-NOR and the micro SD card inserted into the Jetson Nano module. |
• jetson-tx2
Module: Jetson TX2 (P3310)
Carrier board: Jetson TX2 Developer Kit carrier board
• jetson-tx1
Module: Jetson TX1 (P2180)
Carrier board: Jetson TX1 Developer Kit carrier board
To flash Jetson developer kit operating software
1. Download the latest L4T release package and sample file system for your Jetson developer kit from:
https://developer.nvidia.com/linux-tegra.
2. Enter the following commands to untar the files and assemble the rootfs:
sudo tar xpf ${L4T_RELEASE_PACKAGE}
cd Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/
sudo tar xpf ../../${SAMPLE_FS_PACKAGE}
cd ..
sudo ./apply_binaries.sh
3. Flash the BSP software onto the Jetson developer kit.
a. Ensure that your Jetson developer kit is configured and connected to your Linux host as described in
Assumptions.
b. Put your Jetson developer kit into ”Force Recovery Mode” (RCM).
For the Jetson Nano Developer Kit, follow these instructions:
1) Ensure that your Jetson Nano Developer Kit is powered off, and that a 16 GB or larger microSD card is inserted in the SD card slot.
2) Enable ”Force Recovery mode” by placing a jumper across the FRC pins of the Button Header on the carrier board.
For carrier board revision A02, these are pins 3 and 4 of the Button Header (J40) which are located near the camera header.
For carrier board revision B01, these are pins 9 and 10 of the Button Header (J50), which is located on the edge of the PCB under the CPU module.
3) Place a jumper across J48 to enable use of a DC power adapter.
4) Connect a DC power adapter to J25. The developer kit powers on automatically and enters ”Force Recovery mode.”
5) Remove the jumper from the FRC pins of the Button Header.
6) Continue the software installation.
For other Jetson developer kits that have hardware buttons:
1) Ensure that the developer kit is powered off.
2) Press and hold down the Force Recovery button.
3) Press, then release the Power button.
4) Release the Recovery button.
c. Enter these commands on your Linux host to install (flash) the L4T release onto the Jetson developer kit:
sudo ./flash.sh ${BOARD} mmcblk0p1
This takes about 10 minutes, or more on a slow host computer.
The value of the environment variable $(board) determines the configuration that the flashing script uses. This table lists each supported Jetson module, and assumes the module is attached to the appropriate carrier board from a Jetson developer kit.
Module
Part Number | Module Notes | Value of $(board) | $(board) Notes |
Jetson Nano
P3448 | Included with Jetson Nano Developer Kit. Has a microSD card slot instead of eMMC for storage. | jetson-nano-qspi | Flashes QSPI‑NOR memory. |
jetson-nano-qspi-sd | Flashes both QSPI‑NOR memory & SD card. |
Jetson Nano
P3448-0020 | For use in production devices. | jetson-nano-emmc | Flashes eMMC memory. |
Jetson AGX Xavier P2888 | For use in production devices. A variation with permanently attached thermal solution is included in Jetson AGX Xavier Developer Kit. | jetson-xavier | Flashes eMMC memory. |
jetson-xavier-maxn | Flashes board to support MAXN power mode. |
jetson-xavier-slvs-ec | Flashes board to support SLVS-EC with IMX204 sensor. |
jetson-xavier-as-8gb | Flashes board to emulate a production module with 8 GB memory (a proposed future product). |
Jetson TX2 P3310 | For use in production devices. Also included in Jetson TX2 Developer Kit. | jetson-tx2 | Flashes eMMC memory. |
jetson-tx2-as-4GB | Flashes eMMC memory to emulate Jetson TX2 4GB. |
Jetson TX2i P3489 | For use in production devices. | jetson-tx2i | eMMC memory. |
Jetson TX2 4GB P3489-0080 | For use in production devices. | jetson-tx2-4GB | eMMC memory. |
Jetson TX1 P2180 | For use in production devices. Also included in Jetson TX1 Developer Kit. | jetson-tx1 | eMMC memory. |
There is a configuration file corresponding to each value of $(board). Its name is the value of $(board) with the filename extension .conf, for example, jetson-nano-qspi.conf.
The Jetson developer kit automatically reboots upon completion of the installation process. After the reboot follow the prompts on the display to set up the user account and login. At this point, your Jetson developer kit is operational.
To determine whether the developer kit is in Force Recovery mode
a. Connect your Linux host to the correct USB port on your Jetson developer kit (see
Assumptions).
b. Open a terminal window on your host and enter command lsusb.
The Jetson module is in Force Recovery mode if you see the message:
The Jetson module is in Force Recovery mode if you see the message:
Bus <bbb> Device <ddd>: ID 0955: <nnnn> Nvidia Corp.
Where:
• <bbb> is any three-digit number
• <ddd> is any three-digit number
• <nnnn> is a four-digit number that represents the type of Jetson module:
• 7f21 for Jetson Nano (P3448, included in the developer kit)
• 7f21 for Jetson Nano (P3448-0020, for production devices)
• 7019 for Jetson AGX Xavier
• 7c18 for Jetson TX2
• 7018 for Jetson TX2i
• 7418 for Jetson TX2 4GB
• 7721 Jetson TX1
As an alternative, you can look for the message above on the display device or serial console connected to one of the developer kit’s USB ports. (See
Assumptions.)
L4T Over-the-Air (OTA) Updates
Applies to: Jetson Nano only
L4T provides a software update service (OTA update) using standard Debian Package archives. Starting with Release 32.2, NVIDIA provides Debian packages in the Jetson Nano SD card image. You can download new Debian packages from the NVIDIA APT repository for upgrading your Jetson Nano device.
NVIDIA provides the following Debian packages in the Jetson Nano SD card image:
• nvidia-l4t-wayland
• nvidia-l4t-init
• nvidia-l4t-kernel-dtbs
• nvidia-l4t-firmware
• nvidia-l4t-xusb-firmware
• nvidia-l4t-oem-config
• nvidia-l4t-apt-source
• nvidia-l4t-weston
• nvidia-l4t-nvmedia
• nvidia-l4t-cuda
• nvidia-l4t-3d-core
• nvidia-l4t-kernel
• nvidia-l4t-multimedia
• nvidia-l4t-bootloader
• nvidia-l4t-v4l2
• nvidia-l4t-gstreamer
• nvidia-l4t-kernel-headers
• nvidia-l4t-camera
• nvidia-l4t-ccp-t210ref
• nvidia-l4t-x11
• nvidia-l4t-tools
• nvidia-l4t-core
• nvidia-l4t-configs
• nvidia-l4t-graphics-demos
• nvidia-l4t-multimedia-utils
