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AT91SAM9x5 EK

Last modified by Microchip on 2025/06/09 10:55

SoC Features

Kit Information

Kit Overview

Access the console

Demo

Demo archives

Create a SD card with the demo

You need a 1 GB SD card (or more) and to download the image of the demo. The image is compressed to reduce the amount of data to download. This image contains:

  • a FAT32 partition with the AT91Bootstrap, U-Boot and the Linux Kernel (zImage and dtb).
  • an EXT4 partition for the rootfs.

Multi-platform procedure

To write the compressed image on the SD card, you will have to download and install balenaEtcher. This tool, which is an Open Source software, is useful since it allows to get a compressed image as input. More information and extra help available on the balenaEtcher website.

Insert your SD card and launch Etcher:
etcher_sel.jpg

Select the demo image. They are marked as "SD Card image" in the demo table above.
Note that you can select a compressed image (like the demos available here). The tool is able to decompress files on the fly

Select the device corresponding to your SD card (Etcher proposes you the devices that are removable to avoid erasing your system disk)

Click on the Flash! button

On Linux, Etcher finally asks you to enter your root password because it needs access to the hardware (your SD card reader or USB to SD card converter)

then the flashing process begins followed by a verification phase (optional)

etcher_finishing.jpg

Once writing done, Etcher asks you if you want to burn another demo image:

etcher_done.jpg

Information

Your SD card is ready!

 

Flash the demo

Warning

use SAM-BA 3.9.y onwards. You can download it here: SAM-BA 3.91 release page.

Connect the USB to the board before launching SAM-BA

  • Remove power from the board
  • JP9 must be opened (BMS=1) to boot from the on-chip Boot ROM
Cogent moduleEmbest moduleRonetix module
open *NCS jumperopen SW1 switch (not ON position)open J1 and J2 jumpers
which is (are) located on the CPU module to prevent access to serial flash and NAND flash
  • power up the board
  • check whether the board is found in your PC as a USB device
    • For Microsoft Windows users: verify that the USB connection is well established
      AT91 USB to Serial Converter should appear in Device Manager. If it shows a unknown device you need to download and install the driver: AT91SAM USB CDC driver
      AT91 USB to Serial Converter
    • For Linux users: check /dev/ttyACMx by monitoring the last lines of dmesg command:
      [172677.700868] usb 2-1.4.4: new full-speed USB device number 31 using ehci-pci
      [172677.792677] usb 2-1.4.4: not running at top speed; connect to a high speed hub
      [172677.793418] usb 2-1.4.4: New USB device found, idVendor=03eb, idProduct=6124
      [172677.793424] usb 2-1.4.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
      [172677.793897] cdc_acm 2-1.4.4:1.0: This device cannot do calls on its own. It is not a modem.
      [172677.793924] cdc_acm 2-1.4.4:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device

      idVendor=03eb, idProduct=6124: from this message you can see it's Microchip board USB connection.

Cogent moduleEmbest moduleRonetix module
close *NCS jumperclose SW1 switch (move to ON position)close J1 and J2 jumpers
which is (are) located on the CPU module to re-gain access to serial flash and NAND flash

Run script to flash the demo

  • download the demo package for the board. They are marked as "Media type: NAND Flash " in the table above
  • extract the demo package
  • run your usual terminal emulator and enter the demo directory
  • make sure that the sam-ba application is in your Operating System path so that you can reach it from your demo package directory
  • for Microsoft Windows users: Launch the demo_linux_nandflash.bat file
  • for Linux users: Launch the demo_linux_nandflash.sh file
  • this script runs SAM-BA 3 and the associated QML sam-ba script (demo_linux_nandflash_usb.qml) with proper parameters
  • when you reach the end of the flashing process (this will take a few minutes), the following line is written:
    -I- === Done. === 
  • connect a serial link on DBGU and open the terminal emulator program as explained just above
  • ower cycle the board
  • monitor the system while it's booting on the LCD screen or through the serial line

Build From source code

Setup ARM Cross Compiler

  • First step is to dowload the ARM GNU Toolchain:
    wget -c https://developer.arm.com/-/media/Files/downloads/gnu/13.2.rel1/binrel/arm-gnu-toolchain-13.2.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
  • Next step is to add the ARM GNU Toolchain into your system:
    tar -xf arm-gnu-toolchain-13.2.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
    export CROSS_COMPILE=`pwd`/arm-gnu-toolchain-13.2.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabihf-

    or

    tar -xf arm-gnu-toolchain-13.2.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
    export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-none-linux-gnueabihf-
    export PATH=$PATH:/YOUR/PATH/TO/arm-gnu-toolchain-13.2.Rel1-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf/bin/
  • export PATH=${PATH/':/YOUR/PATH/TO/arm-gnu-toolchain-VERSION-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf/bin/'/}

Build AT91Bootstrap from sources

This section describes how to get source code from the git repository, how to configure with the default configuration, how to customize AT91Bootstrap based on the default configuration and finally to build AT91Bootstrap to produce the binary. take the default configuration to download U-Boot from NandFlash for example.

Get AT91Bootstrap Source Code

You can easily download AT91Bootstrap source code on the at91bootstrap git repository.

To get the source code, you should clone the repository by doing:

$ git clone https://github.com/linux4sam/at91bootstrap.git
Cloning into 'at91bootstrap'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 17621, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (3324/3324), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (1029/1029), done.
remote: Total 17621 (delta 2465), reused 3102 (delta 2285), pack-reused 14297
Receiving objects: 100% (17621/17621), 5.65 MiB | 4.65 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (13459/13459), done.
$ cd at91bootstrap/

Configure AT91Bootstrap

Customize AT91Bootstrap

If the default configuration doesn't meet your need, after configuring with the default configuration, you can customize it by doing:

$ make menuconfig

Now, in the menuconfig dialog, you can easily add or remove some features to/from AT91Bootstrap as the same way as kernel configuration.
Move to <Exit> with arrows and press this button hitting the Enter key to exit from this screen.

Build AT91Bootstrap

Then you can build the AT91Bootstrap binary by doing:

$ make

If the building process is successful, the final .bin image is build/binaries/at91bootstrap.bin.

Build U-Boot from sources

Getting U-Boot sources

Dedicated page on U-Boot wiki: http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot/SourceCode

You can easily download U-Boot source code from Linux4Microchip GitHub U-Boot repository:

  • clone the Linux4microchip GitHub U-Boot repository
        $ git clone https://github.com/linux4microchip/u-boot-mchp.git
     Cloning into 'u-boot-mchp'...
     remote: Enumerating objects: 951876, done.
     remote: Counting objects: 100% (17718/17718), done.
     remote: Compressing objects: 100% (5735/5735), done.
     remote: Total 951876 (delta 12391), reused 15314 (delta 11846), pack-reused 934158
     Receiving objects: 100% (951876/951876), 164.77 MiB | 401.00 KiB/s, done.
     Resolving deltas: 100% (790362/790362), done.
       $ cd u-boot-mchp/
  • The source code has been taken from the master branch which is pointing to the latest branch we use. If you want to use the other branch, you can list them and use one of them by doing:
       $ git branch -r
      origin/HEAD -> origin/master
      origin/dev/tony/sama7g5ek_optee
      origin/master
      origin/sam9x60_curiosity_early
      origin/sam9x60_early
      origin/sam9x60_iar
      origin/sam9x7_early
      origin/sama5d27wlsom1ek_ear
      origin/sama7g5_early
      origin/u-boot-2012.10-at91
      origin/u-boot-2013.07-at91
      origin/u-boot-2014.07-at91
      origin/u-boot-2015.01-at91
      origin/u-boot-2016.01-at91
      origin/u-boot-2016.03-at91
      origin/u-boot-2017.03-at91
      origin/u-boot-2018.07-at91
      origin/u-boot-2019.04-at91
      origin/u-boot-2020.01-at91
      origin/u-boot-2021.04-at91
      origin/u-boot-2022.01-at91
      origin/u-boot-2023.07-mchp
      origin/u-boot-2024.07-mchp
      origin/uboot_5series_1.x

       $ git checkout origin/u-boot-2024.07-mchp -b u-boot-2024.07-mchp
      Branch 'u-boot-2024.07-mchp' set up to track remote branch 'u-boot-2024.07-mchp' from 'origin'.
      Switched to a new branch 'u-boot-2024.07-mchp'

Cross-compiling U-Boot

Before compiling the U-Boot, you need setup cross compile toolchain in the section.

Warning

Latest versions of U-boot (2018.07 and newer) have a minimum requirement of 6.0 version of the GCC toolchain. We always recommend to use the latest versions.

Build Kernel from sources

Required packages

You must install essential host packages on your build host. These requirements are listed in the Linux kernel documentation with the chapter Install build requirements. You must follow this process which includes, but not limited to, the following packages:

  • build-essential
  • flex
  • bison
  • git
  • perl-base
  • libssl-dev
  • libncurses5-dev
  • libncursesw5-dev
  • ncurses-dev

Getting Kernel sources

To get the source code, you have to clone the repository:

$ git clone https://github.com/linux4microchip/linux.git
Cloning into 'linux'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 8587836, done.
remote: Total 8587836 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 8587836
Receiving objects: 100% (8587836/8587836), 3.49 GiB | 13.44 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (7117887/7117887), done.
Updating files: 100% (70687/70687), done.
$ cd linux

The source code has been taken from the master branch which is pointing on the latest branch we use.

Information

 Note that you can also add this Linux4SAM repository as a remote GIT repository to your usual Linux git tree. It will save you a lot of bandwidth and download time:

$ git remote add linux4microchip https://github.com/linux4microchip/linux.git
$ git remote update linux4microchip
Fetching linux4microchip
From https://github.com/linux4microchip/linux
 * [new branch]                linux-6.6-mchp -> linux4microchip/linux-6.6-mchp
* [new branch]                linux-6.12-mchp -> linux4microchip/linux-6.12-mchp
* [new branch]                master     -> linux4microchip/master

If you want to use another branch, you can list them and use one of them by doing this:

$ git branch -r
  linux4microchip/linux-6.1-mchp
  linux4microchip/linux-6.1-mchp+fpga
  linux4microchip/linux-6.6-mchp
  linux4microchip/linux-6.6-mchp+fpga
  linux4microchip/linux-6.12-mchp
  linux4microchip/master
$ git checkout -b linux-6.12-mchp --track remotes/linux4microchip/linux-6.12-mchp
Branch linux-6.12-mchp set up to track remote branch linux-6.12-mchp from linux4microchip.
Switched to a new branch 'linux-6.12-mchp'

Setup ARM Cross Compiler

  • First step is to dowload the ARM GNU Toolchain:

    wget -c https://developer.arm.com/-/media/Files/downloads/gnu/13.2.rel1/binrel/arm-gnu-toolchain-13.2.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz 

  • Next step is to add the ARM GNU Toolchain into your system:

    tar -xf arm-gnu-toolchain-13.2.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
    export CROSS_COMPILE=`pwd`/arm-gnu-toolchain-13.2.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf/bin/arm-none-linux-gnueabihf-

    or

    tar -xf arm-gnu-toolchain-13.2.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf.tar.xz
    export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-none-linux-gnueabihf-
    export PATH=$PATH:/YOUR/PATH/TO/arm-gnu-toolchain-13.2.Rel1-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf/bin/
    • Information

       If you already have an old ARM GNU Toolchain need to clean up the PATH with:

      export PATH=${PATH/':/YOUR/PATH/TO/arm-gnu-toolchain-VERSION-x86_64-arm-none-linux-gnueabihf/bin/'/}
          

    Configure and Build the Linux kernel

    Now you have to configure the Linux kernel according to your hardware. We have two default configuration at91 SoC in arch/arm/configs

    arch/arm/configs/at91_dt_defconfig
    arch/arm/configs/sama5_defconfig
    arch/arm/configs/sama7_defconfig
    • at91_dt_defconfig: for SAM9 (ARM926) series chips
    • sama5_defconfig: for SAMA5 series chips
    • sama7_defconfig: for SAMA7 series chips

     

At this step, you can modify default configuration using the menuconfig

  • $ make ARCH=arm menuconfig

    Now, in the menuconfig dialog, you can easily add or remove some features. Once done, Move to <Exit> with arrows and press this button hitting the Enter key to exit from this screen.

    Build the Linux kernel image, before you build you need set up the cross compile toolchain, check this section.

    $ make ARCH=arm

    [..]

      Kernel: arch/arm/boot/Image is ready
      Kernel: arch/arm/boot/zImage is ready

    Now you have an usable compressed kernel image zImage.

    If you need an uImage you can run this additional step:

    make ARCH=arm uImage LOADADDR=0x20008000

    [..]

    Kernel: arch/arm/boot/Image is ready
    Kernel: arch/arm/boot/zImage is ready
    UIMAGE  arch/arm/boot/uImage
    Image Name:   Linux-6.12.22-linux4microchip-20
    Created:      Thu May 22 18:05:21 2025
    Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
    Data Size:    5688984 Bytes = 5555.65 KiB = 5.43 MiB
    Load Address: 20008000
    Entry Point:  20008000
    Kernel: arch/arm/boot/uImage is ready
    make ARCH=arm dtbs

    [..]

      DTC     arch/arm/boot/dts/microchip/at91-sama5d27_som1_ek.dtb
      DTC     arch/arm/boot/dts/microchip/at91-sama5d27_wlsom1_ek.dtb
      DTC     arch/arm/boot/dts/microchip/at91-sama5d29_curiosity.dtb
      DTC     arch/arm/boot/dts/microchip/at91-sama5d2_icp.dtb
      DTC     arch/arm/boot/dts/microchip/at91-sama5d3_eds.dtb
      DTC     arch/arm/boot/dts/microchip/at91-sama7d65_curiosity.dtb
      DTC     arch/arm/boot/dts/microchip/at91-sama7g54_curiosity.dtb
      DTC     arch/arm/boot/dts/microchip/at91-sama7g5ek.dtb

    [..]

    If the building process is successful, the final images can be found under arch/arm/boot/ directory.

Build Yocto Project rootfs from sources

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Using SAM-BA to flash components to board

NAND Flash demo - Memory map

demo_nandflash_map_lnx4sam6x.png

 

Install SAM-BA software in your PC

In addition to the official SAM-BA pages on http://www.microchip.com, we maintain information about SAM-BA in the SoftwareTools page.

Warning

use SAM-BA 3.9.y onwards. You can download it here: SAM-BA 3.9.1 release page.

 

Launch SAM-BA tools

  • According to this section make sure that the chip can execute the SAM-BA Monitor.

In addition to the Qt5 QML language for scripting used for flashing the demos, most common SAM-BA action can be done using SAM-BA command line.

For browsing information on the SAM-BA command line usage, please see the Command Line Documentation that is available in the SAM-BA installation directory: doc/index.html or doc/cmdline.html .

SAM-BA includes command line interface that provides support for the most common actions:

  • reading / writing to arbitrary memory addresses and/or peripherals
  • uploading applets and using them to erase/read/write external memories

The command line interface is designed to be self-documenting.

The main commands can be listed using the "sam-ba --help" command:

SAM-BA Command Line Interface Tool v3.9.1 (linux - x86_64-little_endian-lp64)
Copyright 2025 Microchip Technology

Usage: sam-ba [options]

Options:
  -v, --version                             Displays version information.
  -h, --help                                Displays this help.
  -l, --loglevel <log_level[:options:...]>  Set verbose log level.
  -x, --execute <script.qml>                Execute script <script.qml>.
  -p, --port <port[:options:...]>           Communicate with device using
                                            <port>.
  -d, --device <device[:options:...]>       Connected device is <device>.
  -b, --board <board[:options:...]>         Connected board is <board>.
  -m, --monitor <command[:options:...]>     Run monitor command <command>.
  -a, --applet <applet[:options:...]>       Load and initialize applet
                                            <applet>.
  -c, --command <command[:args:...]>        Run command <command>.
  -t, --tracelevel <trace_level>            Set applet trace level to
                                            <trace_level>.
  -L, --applet-buffer-limit <SIZE>          Set applet buffer limit to <SIZE>
                                            bytes (default 131072).
  -w, --working-directory <DIR>             Set working directory to <DIR>.
  -u, --utils <tool[:args:...]>             Launch a tool <tool> .

If you get the following error, it indicates a symbol mismatch or unresolved symbol when the sam-ba executable is being loaded

$ sam-ba -v
sam-ba: symbol lookup error: sam-ba: undefined symbol: _ZdlPvm, version Qt_5

Check for Qt libraries inside the extracted SAM-BA directory.

$ cd path/to/sam-ba
$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$(pwd)/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

Additional help can be obtained for most commands by supplying a "help" parameter that will display their usage.

For example "sam-ba --port help" will display:

Known ports: j-link, serial, secure

Command that take an argument with options (port, monitor, applet) will display even more documentation when called with "help" as option value.

For example "sam-ba --port serial:help" will display:

Syntax:
   serial:[<port>]:[<baudrate>]
Examples:
   serial                serial port (will use first AT91 USB if found otherwise first serial port)
   serial:COM80          serial port on COM80
   serial:ttyUSB0:57600  serial port on /dev/ttyUSB0, baudrate 57600

Configure NAND ECC

Using default PMECC parameters

Information

when choosing the board variant with the -b parameter of SAM-BA, the default PMECC configuration for the NAND populated on the board is valid. You can verify its value by running the command that reads one byte in a dummy file (named test.bin in the following command):

Warning

before accessing the NAND flash, you have to initialize the external RAM:

# sam-ba -p serial -b sam9xx5-ek -a extram 
# sam-ba -p serial -b sam9xx5-ek -a nandflash -c read:test.bin:0:1
Opening serial port 'ttyACM0'
Connection opened.
Compatible device detected: SAM9G35.
Detected memory size is 268435456 bytes.
Page size is 2048 bytes.
Buffer is 131072 bytes (64 pages) at address 0x2000a000.
NAND header value is 0xc0c00405.
Supported erase block sizes: 128KB
Executing command 'read:test.bin:0:1'
Read 1 bytes at address 0x00000000 (100.00%)
Connection closed.

You can figure out that the default PMECC parameter for this sam9xx5-ek board is 0xc0c00405.

Information

Note that if you connect a serial console to the SoC RomCode default UART, you can see even more details about the NAND ECC parameters given by the SAM-BA Applet:

Applet 'NAND Flash' from softpack 3.8 (v3.8).
Initializing NAND ioSet1 Bus Width 16
PMECC configuration: 0xc0c00405
Sector size: 512
Sectors per page: 4
Spare size: 64
ECC bits: 2
ECC offset: 48
ECC size: 16
PMECC enabled
Buffer Address: 0x2000a000
Buffer Size: 67065856 bytes
NAND applet initialized successfully.

If you want to change the default PMECC parameters you can simply specify another value on the SAM-BA command line with the -a nandflash argument as shown below:

# sam-ba -p serial -b sam9xx5-ek -a nandflash:help
Syntax: nandflash:[<ioset>]:[<bus_width>]:[<header>]
Parameters:
   ioset      I/O set
   bus_width  NAND bus width (8/16)
   header     NAND header value
Examples:
   nandflash                 use default board settings
   nandflash:2:8:0xc0098da5  use fully custom settings (IOSET2, 8-bit bus, header is 0xc0098da5)
   nandflash:::0xc0098da5    use default board settings but force header to 0xc0098da5
For information on NAND header values, please refer to SAMA5D4 datasheet section \"12.4.4 Detailed Memory Boot Procedures\".

By reading this in-line documentation we can specify the NAND PMECC parameter with this command:

# sam-ba -p serial -b sam9xx5-ek -a nandflash:::0xc0c00405
Opening serial port 'ttyACM0'
Connection opened.
Compatible device detected: SAM9G35.
Detected memory size is 268435456 bytes.
Page size is 2048 bytes.
Buffer is 131072 bytes (64 pages) at address 0x2000a000.
NAND header value is 0xc0c00405.
Supported erase block sizes: 128KB
Connection closed.

Programming components into NAND

Program AT91Bootstrap binary

Run SAM-BA with USB connection (equivalent to serial) and erase the beginning of the NAND flash and then write AT91Bootstrap binary:

# sam-ba -p serial -b sam9xx5-ek -a nandflash -c erase::0x40000 -c writeboot:at91bootstrap.bin
Opening serial port 'ttyACM0'
Connection opened.
Compatible device detected: SAM9G35.
Detected memory size is 268435456 bytes.
Page size is 2048 bytes.
Buffer is 131072 bytes (64 pages) at address 0x2000a000.
NAND header value is 0xc0c00405.
Supported erase block sizes: 128KB
Executing command 'erase::0x40000'
Erased 131072 bytes at address 0x00000000 (50.00%)
Erased 131072 bytes at address 0x00020000 (100.00%)
Executing command 'writeboot:at91bootstrap.bin'
Prepended NAND header prefix (0xc0c00405)
Appending 1380 bytes of padding to fill the last written page
Wrote 14336 bytes at address 0x00000000 (100.00%)
Connection closed.

Program U-Boot binary

Run SAM-BA with USB connection (equivalent to serial) and erase the U-Boot section in the NAND flash memory map and then write U-Boot binary:

# sam-ba -p serial -b sam9xx5-ek -a nandflash -c erase:0x40000:0x80000 -c write:u-boot.bin:0x40000
Opening serial port 'ttyACM0'
Connection opened.
Compatible device detected: SAM9G35.
Detected memory size is 268435456 bytes.
Page size is 2048 bytes.
Buffer is 131072 bytes (64 pages) at address 0x2000a000.
NAND header value is 0xc0c00405.
Supported erase block sizes: 128KB
Executing command 'erase:0x40000:0x80000'
Erased 131072 bytes at address 0x00040000 (25.00%)
Erased 131072 bytes at address 0x00060000 (50.00%)
Erased 131072 bytes at address 0x00080000 (75.00%)
Erased 131072 bytes at address 0x000a0000 (100.00%)
Executing command 'write:u-boot.bin:0x40000'
Appending 640 bytes of padding to fill the last written page
Wrote 131072 bytes at address 0x00040000 (24.81%)
Wrote 131072 bytes at address 0x00060000 (49.61%)
Wrote 131072 bytes at address 0x00080000 (74.42%)
Wrote 131072 bytes at address 0x000a0000 (99.22%)
Wrote 4096 bytes at address 0x000c0000 (100.00%)
Connection closed.

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