2. Getting Started¶

This section highlights some of the most common resources required to use this SDK and/or its components. This SDK is made up of several components. Component details, including capabilities, features, and limitations, are found in component specific documentation. The links to component specific documentation are indexed on the following page: SDK Components

This SDK supports J721E family of SoCs including devices listed below.

Platform	Devices
J721E	TDA4VM, DRA829V

2.1. Dependencies¶

This SDK and its components are built for the family of SoC specified above. Some of the demo/example/reference applications provided by SDK, depends on specific board(s), below listed are the boards/hardware dependencies

2.1.1. Hardware Dependencies¶

2.1.1.1. Evaluation Module (EVM)¶

This SDK is intended to run on the following board combination:

TDA4VM & DRA829V system-on-module

J7 common processor board.

For details on configuring the EVM to run this SDK, refer to the EVM Setup for J721E section.

2.1.1.2. JTAG¶

The common processor board listed above provides on on-board XDS110 USB debugger as shown here

Alternately an external debugger such as XDS560V2 could be used.

JTAG would allow one to debug execution on different compute cores, load and run applications, etc…

To be able to load a program via JTAG, the board will have to be configured in No Boot Mode .

Note that while configuring to no-boot mode is mandatory to load and run apps from CCS. It’s not mandatory, once the device is booted.

e.g. When set to operate in mmc/sd boot mode and mmc/sd card include valid images, on powerup/boot completion, JTAG could be be used to connect to enabled compute core.

2.1.1.3. uart terminal¶

Most of the example application provided in the SDK, prints status of the application via the uart terminal.

Recommend to connect an serial cable to the uart terminal Debug UART of the EVM

2.1.2. Software Dependencies (not included in SDK)¶

2.2. Demo Applications¶

The SDK and its components provide multiple applications that demonstrate some of the features of the SoC. Listed below are two different ways to run included demos (prebuilt, or build from source).

2.2.1. Running Prebuilt Demos¶

The easiest way to run a subset of the demos on the EVM is to download the and run the prebuilt demos. The prebuilt demo package includes a prebuilt linux filesystem and boot partition with demo binaries and firmware preintegrated. It is included as a tar ball from the SDK release page and can be extracted to an SD card and loaded on the board via a simple script without the need to download the source package or build anything.

Note

Only Linux-based Vision Apps Demos are available in the prebuilt package. For RTOS-based Gateway, MCUSW, or PDK demos, they must be built from source (see Build Demos from Source).

2.2.1.1. J721E Out of the Box Demos

2.2.2. Build Demos from Source¶

If you would like access to more demos not included in the prebuilt demo package, or you would like to modify or create custom demos, then you will need to at least download the PROCESSOR SDK RTOS source package. The following sections point you in the right direction depending on if you want to build on Linux or Windows PC.

Important

Only a subset of components/demos can be built on a Windows PC, as indicated in Building on a Windows PC. If you would like to build more components not available for Windows build, then you must build on a Linux PC or Linux virtual machine.

2.2.2.1. Building on a Linux PC¶

Important

To build many of the demos in this SDK, the companion HLOS package may also need to be download separatly; either Processor SDK Linux or Processor SDK QNX.

Download and Untar the SDK tar ball ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j721e-evm-xx_xx_xx_xx.tar.gz

cd {path/to/file}
tar xf ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j721e-evm-xx_xx_xx_xx.tar.gz

Different components in the SDK have different demos. Please refer to the below table to get started with which demo domain you are interested in.

Topic	Documentation Links
Camera, ADAS, Vision, Linux/QNX, OpenVX, Deep Learning (TIDL)	See vision apps [LINK]
Gateway	See ethernet firmware [LINK]
Integrated MCU	See MCUSW [LINK]
RTOS Device Drivers	See PDK [LINK]
HS Device Development	See Developing with High Security Devices

2.2.2.2. Building on a Windows PC¶

The following table specifies the components which support and do not support building on Windows PC:

Supports Windows	Does NOT support Windows
mcusw	vision_apps
pdk	tiovx
dsplib_c66x	ethfw
mathlib_c66x	remote_device
vxlib_c66x	imaging
mmalib (prebuilt)	ti-perception-toolkit
ivision (not built)	tiadalg

In order to build supported components on Windows PC, please follow the setup sequence below:

Download and Untar the SDK tar ball ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j721e-evm-xx_xx_xx_xx.tar.gz
Download and Untar the Windows code gen tools tar ball ti-processor-sdk-rtos-j721e-evm-xx_xx_xx_xx-windows_codegen_tools.tar.gz
Delete the following components in the SDK tar ball and replace with the corresponding components in the windows installation
- ti-cgt-armllvm_<version>.LTS
- ti-cgt-c6000_<version>
- ti-cgt-c7000_<version>.LTS
Different components in the SDK have different demos. Please refer to the below table to get started with which demo domain you are interested in.

Topic	Documentation Links
Ethernet / Gateway	See ethernet firmware [LINK]
Integrated MCU	See MCUSW [LINK]
RTOS Device Drivers	See PDK [LINK]