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The Flash-N-Go infrastructure (or FnG infrastructure) is a software product for NXP i.MX Edge devices created by SECO. Consisting of three parts: Flash-N-Go Boot, Flash-N-Go System and Flash-N-Go Update; it provides a convenient way of booting, flashing, testing and updating edge devices. FnG Infrastructure is available on the following series of devices:

  • Products of the SAN* family of devices with i.MX6: SANTARO, SANTOKA, SANTINO,…

  • NALLINO with i.MX6ULL

  • TANARO with i.MX8MM

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The current backing-storage type of Flash-N-Go is eMMC (using the Linux naming mmcblk0). In addition to the partitions for the basic Flash-N-Go components, there may be some more partitions depending on the system configuration.

Expand
titlei.MX6 Partition layout

The default partition layout for the Flash-N-Go on the iMX6 platform is:

Partition

File System

Contents

mmcblk0boot0

none

Flash-N-Go Boot

mmcblk0boot1

FAT32

XML based device configuration and touchscreen settings

mmcblk0p1

FAT32

Flash-N-Go System including

  • Linux Kernel

  • Ramdisk-file-system

  • boot-alt.cfg file

The target operating system kernel is usually installed in mmcblk0p2 FAT32 partition and uses a third partition mmcblk0p3 as a non-volatile rootfs partition. However other partition layouts are possible for the target OS like customer-specific partition layouts or Android-based multi-partition layouts.

Expand
titlei.MX8 Partition layout

On the imx8 based systems the default partition layout also contains the partitions for the target OS.

The following table contains all possible partitions. Depending on the selected setup it is possible that that the LINUXB, ROOTFSB and user partition are missing.

Partition

File System

Contents

mmcblk0p1

none

Bootloader   

U-Boot placeholder to make the bootloader placement visible

mmcblk0p2

none

Bootloader   

Uboot environment placeholder to make the usage visible

mmcblk0p3

VFAT

Config       

SECO specific config partition, contain xml and other persistent device data

mmcblk0p4

none

Extended Partition

mmcblk0p5

VFAT, 128M

FLASH-N-GO   

Flash-N-Go System Kernel and RAM FS

mmcblk0p6

VFAT, 128M

LINUX       

Kernel, devicetrees and boot.cfg for installation A

mmcblk0p7

VFAT, 128M

LINUXB       

Kernel, devicetrees and boot.cfg for installation B

mmcblk0p8

EXT4, ~1.2GB

ROOTFS 

Root Files System for installation A

mmcblk0p9

EXT4, ~1.2GB

ROOTFSB

Root filessystem for installation B

mmcblk0p10

not in use by default, ~1GB

User partition

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Booting Flash-N-Go System

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Alternatively, the bootselect tool can be used, available modes are regular for normal target OS and alternative for Flash-N-Go System.

Info

The bootmode switch needs to be held on each boot process. The selection made with bootselect is persistent.

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Expand
titleUsing bootselect tool

It is also possible to use abbreviation such as a for alternative and so on.

Code Block
languagebash
root@santaro:~# bootselect a
alternative
root@santaro:~# bootselect r
regular

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sconfig is a small command-line tool that offers functionalities for device configurations like network settings, screen rotation etc. The following code block shows a list of all possible parameters.

Expand
titlesconfig
Code Block
FLASH-N-GO:/ sconfig -h
Usage: /usr/bin/sconfig {start | list | init | <setting> [value]}
  Call without [value] to read a setting, call with [value] to write it.
Available settings:
  serialdiag switch serial debug console on or off
  dhcp switch DHCP on or off
  ip set IP address
  mask set subnet mask
  gateway set standard network gateway
  mac set MAC address
  name set device name
  serial set serial number (affects MAC address and device name)
  rotation set display rotation
If a 2.Ethernet is present, it may be configured via serial2, mac2, etc.

xconfig

xconfig is a command-line tool to manipulate the XML-configuration data directly. Care should be taken when using these commands as miss-configured or corrupted XML- configuration data might render a system unusable. The following code block shows a list of all possible parameters.

Expand
titlexconfig
Code Block
FLASH-N-GO:/# xconfig
Usage: $0 [command] [options]

Script to manipulate the XML-configuration data of GuF i.MX Boards
inside the NAND Flash.

xconfig expect one of the following commands to define its behavior:
  list           show the current contents of the XML-configuration as
                 obtained from NAND
  import         import an external XML-configuration file into the NAND
                 Flash
  addnode        add a new (empty) XML node
  delnode        delete XML node(s) and its/their children
  addattribute   add a new or change an existing attribute
  delattribute   delete an existing attribute
If no command and option given xconfig will display its version and exit.

Syntax:
  xconfig list [-v] [-p <path>]
        -v           show whole (sub)tree instead of summary, the format is
                     suitable to be used as input to "xconfig import"
        -s                       search for a specific pattern
        -l                       show long path syntax instead of xml
        --node       filter result by node name, basic wildcards are allowed
        --attribute  filter result by attribute name, basic wildcards are allowed
                     format is either 
                          --attribute linux* matches all nodes that have
                            an attribute starting with linux or
                          --attribute key="value" matching nodes that 
                            have an attribute 'key' with the value 'value'
        -p <path>    path to subtree, e.g.:
                     -p /configurationFile/variables/setting[@key='enable_serialdiag]
                     if omitted, the whole tree is shown
  xconfig import [-v] [-y] [-b] <file>
        -v           be verbose
        -y           assume yes - apply changes without user interaction
        <file>       path to file to import
        -b           deprecated - do not use
  xconfig addnode [-y] -p <path> -n <name>
        -y           same as above
        -p <path>    path to parent node
        -n <name>    name of new node
  xconfig delnode [-y] -p <path>
        -y           same as above
        -p <path>    path to node
  xconfig addattribute [-y] -p <path> -n <attr-name> -v <value>
        -y           same as above
        -p <path>    path to parent node
        -n <attr-name>   name of the attribute
        -v <value>   new value of attribute
  xconfig delattribute [-y] -p <path> -n <attr-name>
        -y           same as above
        -p <path>    path to parent node
        -n <attr-name>   name of the attribute
  xconfig listattributes -p <path>
        -p <path>    path to node
  xconfig getattribute -p <path> -n <attr-name>
        -p <path>    path to parent node
        -n <attr-name>   name of the attribute

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Note

Some features of on older devices are only supported by older releases of our FnG Infrastructure. For example, FnG Update will only work with FnG System 15 and below.

If you have an older device and need those features, please contact our Technical Support for the appropriate installation procedure.

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