The information here is intended to help you get started quickly using the NVIDIA® Jetson™ Linux Driver Package (L4T) in conjunction with an NVIDIA Jetson developer kit.
Types and Models of Jetson Devices
This Developer Guide discusses both Jetson modules and Jetson developer kits. A Jetson developer kit includes a non-production specification Jetson module attached to a reference carrier board. You can use it with JetPack SDK 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. A Jetson module ships with no software preinstalled; you attach it to a carrier board designed or procured for your product and flash it with a software image you have developed.
This release of L4T supports the following Jetson devices:
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.
For 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 is 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 on 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.
• The qemu-user-static package has been installed on the Linux host:
sudo apt-get install qemu-user-static
The installation process needs this package to install certain NVIDIA software components onto the Jetson developer kit.
Environment Variables
The directions that follow assume that:
• ${L4T_RELEASE_PACKAGE} contains the name of the L4T release package:
• For Jetson Nano and Jetson TX1 modules: Jetson-210_Linux_r32.4.2_aarch64.tbz2
• For Jetson Xavier NX, Jetson AGX Xavier series, and Jetson TX2 series modules: Jetson_Linux_L4T r32.4.2_aarch64.tbz2
• ${SAMPLE_FS_PACKAGE} contains the filename of the sample filesystem package:
2. Enter these commands to untar the files and assemble the rootfs:
$ tar xf ${L4T_RELEASE_PACKAGE}
$ cd Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/
$ sudo tar xpf ../../${SAMPLE_FS_PACKAGE}
$ cd ..
$ sudo ./apply_binaries.sh
3. Ensure that your Jetson developer kit is configured and connected to your Linux host as described in Assumptions.
4. Put your Jetson developer kit into Force Recovery Mode (RCM).
• For the Jetson Nano Developer Kit:
1) Ensure that your Jetson Nano Developer Kit is powered off, and that a 16 GB or larger microSD card is inserted into the module’s 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 J40, which is located near the camera header.
• For carrier board revision B01, these are pins 9 and 10 of 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 Jetson Xavier NX Developer Kit:
1) Ensure that your Jetson Xavier NX developer kit is powered off and a 16GB or larger size microSD card is inserted in the SD Card slot.
2) Place a jumper across pins 10 labeled as FC REC and pins 9 or 11 labeled as GND. These buttons are located on the end of the PCB under the module.
3) Connect a DC power adapter to J16 and the developer kit will now automatically power on and enter “Force Recovery mode.”
4) 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.
You can confirm that your developer kit is in Force Recovery mode by following the procedure in To determine whether the developer kit is in Force Recovery mode.
5. Enter this command on your Linux host to flash (install) the L4T release onto the Jetson developer kit:
sudo ./flash.sh ${BOARD} mmcblk0p1
The value of the environment variable $(BOARD) determines the configuration that the flashing script applies. The table at the end of this section describes the configurations available for each Jetson Module.
There is a configuration file that corresponds to each value of $(BOARD). Its name is the value of $(BOARD) with the filename $(BOARD).conf. For example, the configuration file that corresponds to jetson-nano-qspi is jetson-nano-qspi.conf.
Flashing L4T takes about 10 minutes, or more on a slow host computer.
6. The Jetson developer kit automatically reboots at the end of the installation process. At this point your Jetson developer kit is operational. Follow the prompts on the display to set up a user account and log in.
Jetson Modules and Configurations
Module Part Number
Module Notes
Value of $(BOARD)
$(BOARD) Notes
Jetson Xavier NX
P3668-0000
For development; not for production use. included with Jetson Xavier NX Developer Kit. Uses a microSD card for storage.
jetson-xavier-nx-devkit
Flashes QSPI-NOR memory and SD Card.
Jetson Xavier NX
P3668-0001
For production use and development. May be used with Jetson Xavier NX Developer Kit.
P3449-0000+p3668-0001-qspi-emmc
Flashes eMMC memory.
Jetson Nano P3448-0000
For development; not for production use. 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 and SD Card.
Jetson Nano P3448-0002
For production use.
jetson-nano-emmc
Flashes eMMC memory.
Jetson AGX Xavier
P2888-0001 (16 GB)
P2888-0004 (32 GB)
P2888-0006 (8 GB)
For production use and development. A Jetson AGX Xavier module is included in Jetson AGX Xavier Developer Kit.
jetson-xavier
jetson-xavier-maxn
Flashes board to support MAXN power mode.
jetson-xavier-slvs-ec
Flashes board to support SLVS-EC with IMX204 sensor.
Jetson TX2
P3310
For production use and development. Included in Jetson TX2 Developer Kit.
jetson-tx2
jetson-tx2-as-4GB
Flashes eMMC memory to emulate Jetson TX2 (P3489-0080).
Jetson TX2i
P3489-0000
For production use in industrial environments.
jetson-tx2i
Jetson TX2 4GB
P3489-0080
For production use.
jetson-tx2-4GB
Jetson TX1
P2180-1000
For production use and development. May be used with Jetson TX2 Developer Kit.
jetson-tx1
To determine whether the developer kit is in Force Recovery mode
1. Connect your Linux host to the correct USB port on your Jetson developer kit (see Assumptions).
2. Open a terminal window on your host and enter the command lsusb.
The Jetson module is in Force Recovery mode if you see this 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:
Module
<nnnn>
Description
Jetson Xavier NX
P3668-0000
7e19
Module in developer kit
P3668-0001
7e19
Production module
Jetson Nano
P3448-0000
7f21
Module in developer kit
P3448-0002
7f21
Production module
Jetson AGX Xavier series
P2888-0001
7019
16 GB memory
P2888-0004
7019
32 GB memory
P2888-0006
7e19
8 GB memory
Jetson TX2 series
P3310-1000
7c18
Jetson TX2
P3489-0000
7018
Jetson TX2i
P3489-0888
7418
Jetson TX2 4GB
Jetson TX1
P2180-1000
7721
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.)
NVIDIA does not recommend installing L4T Debian packages on a release earlier than r32.3.1, or on a system that is based on Ubuntu without NVIDIA customizations (without L4T).
To upgrade to a new point release
1. Enter the command:
$ sudo apt update
apt reads a list of packages from the remote APT repository and identifies new and upgradable packages.
2. Enter the command:
apt list --upgradable
apt displays a list of new and upgradable packages.
3. To install the basic packages for L4T, enter the command:
sudo apt upgrade
4. Reboot your Jetson device when the upgrade is finished.
To upgrade to new minor release
1. Open the apt source configuration file in a text editor, for example:
$ sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nvidia-l4t-apt-source.list
2. Change the repository name and download URL in the deb commands.
The original commands are:
deb https://repo.download.nvidia.com/jetson/common r32 main
deb https://repo.download.nvidia.com/jetson/<platform> r32 main
Where <platform> is identifies the platform’s processor:
• t186 for Jetson TX2 series
• t194 for Jetson AGX Xavier series or Jetson Xavier NX
• t210 for Jetson Nano or Jetson TX1
Change the repository name from r32 to r32.4, and <platform> to the appropriate processor name for your platform. If your platform is Jetson Xavier NX, for example:
deb https://repo.download.nvidia.com/jetson/common r32.4 main
deb https://repo.download.nvidia.com/jetson/t194r32.4 main
3. Save and close the source configuration file.
4. Enter the commands:
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt dist-upgrade
If apt prompts you to choose a configuration file, reply Y for yes (to use the NVIDIA updated version of the file).
5. Reboot your Jetson device when the upgrade is finished.
