Page Comparison

Table of Contents

...

The Flash-N-Go infrastructure (or FnG infrastructure) is a software product for NXP i.MX Edge devices created by SECO Nothern Europe. It has been used for SAN* devices like, Santoka, Santino, Santaro,…Consisting . 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. Where is …:

Products of the SAN* family of devices with i.MX6: SANTARO, SANTOKA, SANTINO,…
NALLINO with i.MX6ULL
TANARO with i.MX8MM

...

What is …

...

Flash-N-Go System?

Flash-N-Go System is a volatile versatile Linux distribution to aid with the initial installation, production test and upgrade tasks but is limited to a small set of features. It is sometimes coined referred to as a management or recovery system. Flash-N-Go System is the backbone of the Flash-N-Go infrastructure.

...

In production, Flash-N-Go System is used to conduct the production test. This de-couples the testing process from the target-end system and makes it possible to test devices with customer-specific OS configurations, with limited testing capabilities.

...

Flash-N-Go Boot?

Flash-N-Go Boot is a simple, non-interactive and open-source bootloader for i.MX6 and i.MX6ULL devices. With its condensed functionalities, it is capable of initializing the RAM dynamically and booting Linux, Android, and Windows CE.

...

By using Flash-N-Go Boot it is possible to use different DDR-memory hardware without adapting the bootloader to the specific RAM configuration, and this makes the SD-RAM equipment of embedded board very flexible. Pre-initialization and matching of the bootloader to board or RAM isn’t necessary.

...

Flash-N-Go Update?

The Flash-N-Go Update software tool provides an all-in-one update solution for Flash-N-Go System based i.MX6 devices.

Normally coming as a USB flash drive, it uses an auto-start feature of the device to bring up the graphical update process. The available operating systems can be directly downloaded if the device is setup up with internet access and by this provides a way to implement an OTA update behaviour.

Flash-N-Go Update is deprecated and is no longer being supported by SECO.

...

Basic Flash-N-Go Architecture

The following figure shows the basic boot-up and file system structure of a Flash-N-Go Boot based system.

...

The shared device-specific data is currently well-supported on iMX6 and iMX6ULL devices. However, i.MX8 devices may use this scheme in the future as well.

...

Partition layout

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

title	i.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

title	i.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

...

Booting

...

Flash-N-Go

...

System

There are two possible options for booting the device into Flash-N-Go System instead of booting the target OS. The first one is pressing down and holding the bootmode switch while the power supply is switched on. The location of the bootmode switch is shown in the following figure

...

Alternatively, the bootselect tool can be used, which is usually provided by Flash-N-Go compatible operating systems using Flash-N-Go System as well as by available modes are regular for normal target OS and alternative for Flash-N-Go System itself.

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

...

Configuration tools

Several tools on the Flash-N-Go System solution are provided for configuring, testing and flashing the devices.

bootselect

...

This tool offers the possibility to switch the boot target between the flashed operation system (e.g. Linux, Windows Embedded) on the device and Flash-N-Go System itself. The following code block shows a list of all possible parameters:

Expand

title	Using bootselect tool

Code Block

language	bash

FLASH-N-GO:/ bootselect -h
Usage: bootselect [-qv] [<bootmode>]
When called without parameters, bootselect reads the
current boot-mode setting from the RTC-register
Options:
  <bootmode>  Writes the given boot-mode into the RTC-register
              May be one of: initialized regular regularB alternative invalid
  -v Turns on debug messages on stderr
  -vv Turns on info messages on stderr
  -q Turns off warning messages on stderr
  -qq Turns off all messages

on stderr

...

 on stderr

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

Code Block

language	bash

FLASH-N-GO:/ bootselect regular
regular

...

root@santaro:~# bootselect a
alternative
root@santaro:~# bootselect r
regular

Expand

title	Available modes for bootselect

regular: target OS

regularA (or regularB): target OS A or B (in case of A-B partitioning)

alternative: Flash-N-Go System

...

Code Block

language	bash

FLASH-N-GO:/ bootselect alternative alternative

oneshot (or oneshotA, oneshotB): boot once into the desired mode, then switch to the fallback

oneshot: regular, then alternative
oneshotA; regularA, then regularB
oneshotB: regularB, then regularA

Info
The `bootselect` tool is also part of SECO Nothern Europe formerly Garz & Fricke operating systems which use Flash-N-Go Boot as bootloader. Thus the selection may be done at OS runtime

...

too.

sconfig

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

title	sconfig

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

title	xconfig

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

the attribute

attribute

...

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.

Manual System Update

The manual system update considers a manual operating system (OS) installation via a console. The progress can be done locally using mass storage devices or using a network connection. The update process described here requires an Ethernet connection of the device to a development PC, either directly or via intranet. Also, a TFTP-Server or HTTP-Server is required on the development PC. There are several, also free, TFTP-Servers and HTTP-Servers online available. Please make sure that the timeout settings of the TFTP-Server are set to 60 seconds at a minimum. . The progress can be done locally using mass storage devices or using a network connection.

The installation of target OSes, and Flash-N-Go System and Flash-N-Go Boot should work via console one- or two-liners. All device partitioning, deployment actions should be done by shell scripts executed by the simple command. See Booting Flash-N-Go System for instructions on how to boot into the management system.

Expand

title	Accessing the target system via serial console

Before updating the target operating system we first need access to the device. The easiest way to access the target is via the serial console. Simply connect the first RS-232 port of your target system with a COM port of your PC or a USB-to-RS-232 converter using a null-modem cable. With the serial connection set up start your favourite terminal program (e.g. minicom or tera term) with the following settings:

115200 baud
8 data bits
no parity
1 stop bit
no hardware flow control
no software flow control

From the very first moment when the target is powered, you should see debug messages in the terminal if the standard configuration is set.

Establish a network connection

The Ethernet can be set up with the sconfig command-line tool, see also sconfig.

...

Code Block

language	bash

sconfig dhcp on
reboot

Note
It is also necessary to install a TFTP-server or HTTP-server on a host PC.

...

Installation via network

Info
Our latest releases can be found here (FnG-System) and here (Yocto)

The common concept of the installation is always similar.

Set the download source variable TFTP (or URL for newer installation script versions)
Download the installation script (with curl) and
Execute the installation script (with sh).

These concatenating these steps the installation can be done in one-liner commands.

Example 1: Install Yocto Daisy 15.0

Download all files within the Linux-Yocto/Releases/Yocto-15.0-r4523-9/prebuilt_images folder of the SECO Nothern Europe support server (formerly known as Garz & Fricke FTP server).

GUF-Yocto-15.0-r4523-9-SANTARO-boot.cfg
GUF-Yocto-15.0-r4523-9-SANTARO-fng-install.sh
GUF-Yocto-15.0-r4523-9-SANTARO-imx6-santaro-x1.dtb
GUF-Yocto-15.0-r4523-9-SANTARO-imx6-santaro-x2.dtb
GUF-Yocto-15.0-r4523-9-SANTARO-linuximage.bin
GUF-Yocto-15.0-r4523-9-SANTARO-modules.tgz
GUF-Yocto-15.0-r4523-9-SANTARO-pkg.py
GUF-Yocto-15.0-r4523-9-SANTARO-root.tar.gz

To start the upgrade process use:

Code Block

breakoutMode	wide
language	bash

export TFTP=tftp://<TFTP-Server IP> ; curl $TFTP/GUF-Yocto-15.0-r4523-9-SANTARO-fng-install.sh | sh

Info
Replace `<TFTP-Server IP>` with the IP address of your TFTP-server

Example 2: Upgrade to Flash-N-Go System 8.0

Download the Flash-N-Go System files listed below from the Flash-N-Go/FNGSystem/FNGSystem8.0 folder of the support server.

Flash-N-Go-System-8.0-python-3.1.4.ext2
Flash-N-Go-System-8.0-self-init.sh
Flash-N-Go-System-8.0-self-update.sh
Flash-N-Go-System-8.0.cpio.gz
GF_Bootlogo_Flash-N-Go-System.png
boot-alt.cfg
fng_wipe_emmc.sh

Additionally, download the Kernel Files files listed below from the Flash-N-Go/FNGSystem/FNGSystem-8.0/GUFYocto-35.0-r5982-0 directory of the support server. Place them in a subfolder of the TFTP-Server root folder named GUF-Yocto-35.0-r5982-0

GUF-Yocto-35.0-r5982-0-IMX6GUF-imx6dl-santaro.dtb
GUF-Yocto-35.0-r5982-0-IMX6GUF-imx6dl-santino-lt.dtb
GUF-Yocto-35.0-r5982-0-IMX6GUF-imx6dl-santino.dtb
GUF-Yocto-35.0-r5982-0-IMX6GUF-imx6dl-santoka.dtb
GUF-Yocto-35.0-r5982-0-IMX6GUF-imx6q-santaro.dtb
GUF-Yocto-35.0-r5982-0-IMX6GUF-imx6q-santoka.dtb
GUF-Yocto-35.0-r5982-0-IMX6GUF-linuximage.bin
GUF-Yocto-35.0-r5982-0-IMX6GUF-modules.ext4
ParamFile.txt
md5sums.txt

To start the upgrade process use the following lines

...

breakoutMode	wide
language	bash

...

Execute the installation script (with sh).

These concatenating these steps the installation can be done in one-liner commands.

Info
The examples below are using our server as an example. Customer can download the files and host on their own server in case only local network is available.

Example 1: Install Yocto Kirkstone 25.0

Set the variable location, then call curl to download it to pipe to sh

Code Block

breakoutMode	wide

FNG="https://secostorage.blob.core.windows.net/seco-ne-public/HMI/Linux-Yocto/Releases/Yocto-kirkstone-25.0/seco-mx6/fng-install.sh"
curl --location "$FNG" | sh -s -- --url="$(dirname "$FNG")"

The parameter url of the script should point to the location of the folder where the installation files are located.

Example 2: Install Flash-N-Go System 51

The process is similar to installing the target OS

Code Block

breakoutMode	wide

FNG="https://secostorage.blob.core.windows.net/seco-ne-public/HMI/Flash-N-Go/FNGSystem/FNGSystem-51.0/seco-mx6/fngsystem-self-update.sh"
curl --location "$FNG" | sh -s -- --url="$(dirname "$FNG")"

Offline installation

It is also possible to install FnG System as well as the target OS offline.

To do that, simply download and copy the installation script as well as the corresponding files to a USB stick. After that, simply boot the device into FnG System, mount the USB stick and directly call the script.

...

Security Considerations

The Flash-N-Go System is designed as a management system to install and update target operating systems and change the device configurations. Thus it runs with root privileges. This may be a concern for some scenarios. Therefore some security considerations are necessary.

...

License

Expand

title	The license for the three tools of Flash-N-Go tool suite is as follows:

Flash-N-Go Boot (the boot loader): This package is published under GPLv2 license. This license information is listed in various places: In the Flash-N-Go manual, as well as contained in the source-package itself in the files COPYING and CREDITS, all available from the website: https://support.garz-fricke.com/projects/Santaro/Flash-N-Go/overview.html
- The tool “FnG-Boot” is just a single package, i.e. a “package list” is trivial: Just one source code package, also provided on the download page, e.g. GF_iMX6x-FNGBoot-v13.0r3797-src-full.tgz on https://support.garz-fricke.com/products/Santaro/Flash-N-Go/FNGBoot/FNGBoot-v13.0r3797/
- The source code is a derived work from the “u-boot” bootloader project, which is itself released under GPLv2. All additional code is authored solely by Garz&Fricke / SECO.
- Hence the tool and its source code is completely licensed under GPLv2
Flash-N-Go System (the minimal yocto OS distribution): The releases (provided on the same web-page as above) include a full package list including license information for each package.
- This package list is provided in the Release Notes files, just as for the regular Garz&Fricke/SECO Yocto Rocko. See e.g. https://support.garz-fricke.com/products/Santaro/Flash-N-Go/FNGSystem/FNGSystem-16.0/Flash-N-Go-System-16.0-release-notes.html
- The yocto source package (e.g. Flash-N-Go-System-16.0-0-IMX6GUF-bsp.tar.bz2) contains the yocto layer source with license information and text in the respective COPYING files.
- The set of all license texts can also be downloaded in the download area for each release e.g. here https://support.garz-fricke.com/products/Santaro/Flash-N-Go/FNGSystem/FNGSystem-16.0/temp/Flash-N-Go-System-

8

- 16.0-

self-update.sh | -s -- --ParamFile=GUF-Yocto-35.0-r5982-0/ParamFile.txt

Info
Replace `<TFTP-Server IP>` with the IP address of your TFTP-server

Example 3: Upgrade Flash-N-Go Boot to version 13.0

Download the Flash-N-Go Boot files listed below from the Flash-N-Go/FNGBoot/FNGBoot-v13.0r3476/ directory of the support server.

GF_iMX6x-FNGBoot-v13.0r3797_26-09-2019.bin
fng_boot_update.sh
md5sums.txt

Code Block

language	bash

export TFTP=<TFTP-Server IP>; curl tftp://$TFTP/fng_boot_update.sh | sh

Info
Replace `<TFTP-Server IP>` with the IP address of your TFTP-server

Security Considerations

...

- 0-IMX6GUF-fngsystem-image-licenselist.html
- In summary: The Flash-N-Go System distribution is compiled from a large set of packages with different licenses according to the Release Notes package list.
Flash-N-Go Update (the updater tool): This package is published under Apache v2 licsense. It is an original Garz & Fricke project. The project is also no longer maintained. It is a python tool and, as such, is distributed as full source-code.
- The copyright of the source code is completely within Garz&Fricke, now SECO.
- The license (Apache v2) is noted on the download page, right next to the source code download location https://support.garz-fricke.com/projects/Santaro/Flash-N-Go/overview.html or, directly for the latest version in the file LICENSE-2.0.txt https://support.garz-fricke.com/products/Santaro/Flash-N-Go/FNGUpdate/Flash-N-Go-Update-7.0-r8760/

Version	Old Version 17	New Version Current
Changes made by	Bernd Mierzowski	Hai Nam Tran
Saved on	04. Aug 2023	13. Sep 2024

Versions Compared

Key

What is …

Flash-N-Go System?

Flash-N-Go Boot?

Flash-N-Go Update?

Basic Flash-N-Go Architecture

Partition layout

Booting

Flash-N-Go

System

Configuration tools

bootselect

sconfig

xconfig

Manual System Update

Establish a network connection

Installation via network

Example 1: Install Yocto Daisy 15.0

Example 2: Upgrade to Flash-N-Go System 8.0

Example 1: Install Yocto Kirkstone 25.0

Example 2: Install Flash-N-Go System 51

Offline installation

Security Considerations

License

Example 3: Upgrade Flash-N-Go Boot to version 13.0

Security Considerations