Just a Boot of the BeagleV-Fire

This is an ongoing work in progress (WIP). I know this is not too much data for one to handle. So, we are jumping right in.

...

Get the debugger and attach GND to GND. TX to RX and then RX to TX like so:

Also...look here for the I/O:

TOP:

and...

BOTTOM:

Okay. So, we first connect our debugger (3.3v compatible) and type:

sudo apt install tio && tio /dev/ttyUSB0

if /dev/ttyUSB0 is not your location of the file for communication from the TTY to USB connector cable, use the exact location. We are using it basically for getting the IP Address of the BeagleV-Fire.

# UPDATE

https://openbeagle.org/beaglev-fire/BeagleV-Fire-ubuntu/-/jobs is a list of available jobs that have three files for use case scenarios.

Be sure to read the Readme.md file(s) if necessary.

sudo apt install zip && unzip Downloaded_Jobs_File_From_The_Link_Above.zip

There is a .xz compressed file we will need.

unxz sdcard.img.xz

That command will produce the file image we need to install via TTY to USB connector from the development desktop to the BeagleV-Fire.

Once you have the file unxz'd, we can now move forward.

Install etcher for your development desktop, Windows or Linux, and start the etcher utility. Now, while you are connected to the TTY to USB, not really needed here, apply power to the board via USB. HOLD the USER BUTTON while toggling the RESET BUTTON until the board shows up on the etcher source as a way to boot the board. Once the etcher source states that the board is being seen and can take commands, go to where you saved your sdcard.img file, pick it for the etcher utility source, and then pick your board that is accepting of commands (read/write).

MAKE SURE YOU PICK THE BEAGLEV-FIRE. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT PICK YOUR DISK DRIVE FOR YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTER/Development Desktop. You can lose your data or write to it when this is something that is not wanted which will cause loss of access to the disk in
specific cases.

Signing in with the username is beagle and the passwd is temppwd after the flashing to the eMMC is done. I have not been able to use the micro SD Card cage yet. So, this tutorial is not covering that option of available boot sequences.

Now, when the flashing is done via USB C to USB C and/or USB C to USB 3.0 or later, you can reset the board to boot into your image.

That will get you started using the BeagleV-Fire and its slew of peripherals and coprocessors.

There are still people using this board and some more development is taking place in case you were wondering. I know this is a fact because of paying attention throughout the years. I even think that there might be a newer revision based on a similar processor SoC in the works from the PolarFire SoC people (Microchip).

If you are well versed in .tcl scripts and in programing with verilog or hdl, I think this may be a good board to use for specific learning and seeing what the PolarFire SoCs are about currently.

https://docs.beagle.cc/boards/beaglev/fire/01-introduction.html is a starter on the board and other relevant data. You can go through the data to get up to date whenever as it is a working site. I sometimes use docs.beagleboard.org also outside of the .cc site.