Welcome#
This Developer Guide applies to NVIDIA® Jetson™ Linux version 38.2 GA. Last update: August 25, 2025.
Attention
Version 38.2 of Jetson Linux does not support the Jetson Orin™ product family, including Jetson AGX Orin, Jetson Orin NX, and Jetson Orin Nano. Support for Jetson Orin is planned in a later release.
NVIDIA Jetson is the world’s leading platform for AI at the edge. Its high-performance, low-power computing for deep learning, and computer vision makes Jetson the ideal platform for compute-intensive projects. The Jetson platform includes a variety of Jetson modules with NVIDIA JetPack™ SDK.
Each Jetson module is a computing system packaged as a plug-in unit (a System on Module (SOM)), and NVIDIA offers a variety of Jetson modules with different capabilities.
Starting with NVIDIA Jetson Linux, JetPack bundles the Jetson platform software. Jetson Linux provides the Linux kernel, bootloader, NVIDIA drivers, flashing utilities, sample file system, and more for the Jetson platform.
Jetson Developer Kits and Modules#
Jetson developer kits include a non-production specification Jetson module attached to a reference carrier board. It is used with JetPack SDK to develop and test software for your project. Jetson developer kits are not intended for production use.
Jetson modules, which are designed for deployment in a production environment, are sold separately from Jetson developer kits. Each Jetson module ships with no software preinstalled. You can attach it to a carrier board, which was designed or procured for your end product, and flash it with the software image that you developed.
Software for Jetson Modules and Developer Kits#
JetPack SDK is a comprehensive resource for building AI applications, and the SDK includes Jetson Linux with accelerated software libraries, APIs, sample applications, developer tools, and documentation.
Use NVIDIA SDK Manager to install Jetson Linux and other JetPack components on your Jetson developer kit. For instructions, see the appropriate Jetson Developer Kit user guide. You can also refer to Quick Start to flash your Jetson module with the bootloader and file system only, excluding other JetPack components.
For information about moving a completed application from a Jetson developer kit to a production Jetson module on your production carrier board, refer to Jetson Module Adaptation and Bring-Up for your Jetson module.
You can customize Jetson Linux software to fit the needs of your project. This developer guide contains the information you need to optimize your use of the complete Jetson product feature set.
Documentation for Jetson Modules and Developer Kits#
This developer guide is your primary resource for information about software development for Jetson modules.
NVIDIA publishes many other documents that address specific aspects of Jetson software and hardware. Refer to Related Documentation for more information. Many of these documents and others are available in the Jetson Download Center. To find a document, enter a string of consecutive words from the document’s title in the Search field. Use the Product drop-down list to restrict your search to documents for a Jetson device.
The NVIDIA Autonomous Machines Getting Started page contains links to several documents that are useful to developers who are new to artificial intelligence (AI) programming or to Jetson products. This page has links to Getting Started guides and user guides for each Jetson module’s developer kit.
Additional resources and important facts about Jetson Linux are on the Jetson Linux home page of the NVIDIA Developer web site.
Devices Supported by This Document#
The NVIDIA Jetson Linux Developer Guide covers use of Jetson Linux with any of the module and reference carrier board combinations described in this table.
Type of Module |
Module Name and P-number* |
Compatible Developer Kit |
|---|---|---|
NVIDIA Jetson Thor series |
Developer Kit only:
|
Jetson AGX Thor Developer Kit (P4070)
|
NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano series |
Commercial modules:
Developer Kit only:
|
Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit (P3766)
|
NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX series |
Commercial modules:
|
Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit (P3766)
|
NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin series |
Developer Kit only:
Commercial modules:
Industrial-grade module:
|
Jetson AGX Orin Developer Kit (P3730)
|
*The P-numbers for NVIDIA Jetson modules and developer kits are derived from their 699-level part numbers (PNs). For details about the structure of a 699-level part number for modules, refer to Jetson EEPROM Layout. |
||
For more information about the various Jetson modules and developer kits, see Jetson and the Jetson FAQ on the NVIDIA Developer site.
How Developer Guide Topics Identify Devices#
If a Developer Guide topic does not apply to all supported Jetson devices, its heading or subheading specifies its scope.
Heading with scope: Power Management for Jetson AGX Orin Devices
Subheading: Applies to Jetson AGX Orin only.
Note
The word original is descriptive and is used only to clarify the products being referenced. It is not a part of a Jetson product name.