I work on applications which need a device that will survive in a farm shed that is open to all weathers. The ASUS PE100A an ARM64 device which, with the right parts has an operational temperature range of -20~60°C should be fine for New Zealand conditions. The devices are usually shipped with Windows 10 IoT Core or Yocto but an Ubuntu image (which this post uses) is also available.
The Ubuntu install is distributed as a zip file which contains the NXP IMX flashing utility (uuu.exe), installation scripts and the device image. I won’t cover the process in detail as the very helpful local ASUS support person and the readme file were more than sufficient.
After remembering to reset the DIP switches before powering up the device it booted to a simple console.
I then created a new user, set the password, updated the users permissions and manually installed the .Net Core runtime (using a hybrid of the Microsoft and these instructions). I then had a device that I could SSH into, copy files to with WinSCP and run simple console applications on.
I then deployed my ONNX Object Detection console application to the device and it wouldn’t start. I had forgotten to install support for System.Drawing.Common with
sudo apt-get install -y libgdiplus
The version of the application which draws Minimum Bounding Boxes(MBRs) on the output images was only slightly slower that the version which didn’t. (the PE100 has a 16G on board eMMC so disk access is going to be fairly quick)
The required operational temperature range and price point make the PE100A good platform for our product.
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Hello, I’m impressed with this project. I also live in NZ and have purchased PE100A. I have spent many hours unsuccessfully trying to get the Ubuntu OS running.
Would be able to provide any advice? Or instructions. Anything would be much appreciated, Thanks Grayson
Hi Grayson,
This is the email from Jack the very helpful local(NZ) ASUS engineer which got me started.
The link is dead see if you can source the Ubuntu image from ASUS otherwise I’ll see what I can do.
Bryn
From: …
Sent: Wednesday, 25 August 2021 12:20 PM
To: …
Subject: RE: Regarding your enquiry about IMX8M development board
Hi Bryn,
That is totally fine.
Please kindly refer to external link to access Ubuntu image.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YkTqffcPuyk_evOYZqa6i3jW9V0TN4Ca/view?usp=sharing
Image-imx8mq-pe100a-ubuntu0704.zip
Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.14.98-rt55-00012-ga6b1dd306672 aarch64)
How to re-flash OS image:
1. Download OS image and unzip file
2. Ensure device is power-off, connect Type-C cable to PE100A, and Type-A to your host PC (Windows, for example)
3. Power on PE100A
In case of PE100A is factory delivery (only uboot), screen like below, execute “flashall.cmd” then wait to complete os re-flashing.
In case of PE100A is other OS installed, in PE100A console, execute “reboot-bootloader” to enter flash mode, then do “flasshall.cmd” to complete re-flashing.
4. After re-flash successfully, you will see this screen. Please be aware that Ubuntu desktop environment is not fully functional because of i.mx8m’s limitation. (for example X11 package is not supported)
Make SSH and file transfer available
1. In Ubuntu terminal, execute “useradd ”
2. “passwd ” to change password
3. “usermod -aG sudo ” to add SUDO group
4. Use “hostname –I” to check local ip address
5. In Windows host pc, use Putty , WinSCP or alternative tools access the IP
The Root password for this beta is:
• Account: root
• Password: root
Should you need anything else, please feel free to let us know at any time.
Regards,
…
Thanks for the response,
I think I’m missing the script which runs with flashall.cmd along with the correct ubuntu image. I have reached out to ASUS AU support last week just awaiting their response,
If you had a copy of “Image-imx8mq-pe100a-ubuntu0704.zip” that would be great? I will continue to try to get ASUS if you are unable to find it,
Thanks Grayson
Check your email
Hello, thanks for this, would you mind to send me a link with the ubutu zip file please ? thanks Rgds Noel
Hi
Check you inbox, link valid for a week
Bryn