Architectures/AArch64/Hardware/Mustang

Applied Micro "Mustang" (X-C1) QuickStart Guide

Note: An official release of Fedora is in preparation. That build has transitioned to an EFI-based boot and will shortly support ACPI for device enumeration. Consequently, the use of U-Boot and DeviceTree in this image should be considered transitory, deprecated, and due for replacement with the standardized ARM server boot architecture in the next release.

This page contains some Quickstart instructions for getting up and running with an early engineering build of Fedora 19 on the Applied Micro "Mustang" development board. This Mustang build is based upon the Fedora 19 AArch64 bootstrap software builds, with the addition of a kernel and DeviceTree from the interim Applied Micro 1.08.12 engineering software release, packaged together into a single downloadable image for easy installation onto a hard disk or SSD. Applied Micro are currently working on upstreaming support into the mainline Linux kernel. In due course this image will be deprecated in favor of a standard Fedora build.

Pre-requisites for downloading and installing the Mustang Build

Prior to downloading and installing the Mustang build, you will require access to the following equipment:

• An existing Linux system, for example a laptop or desktop system
• A USB hard disk enclosure, or a spare disk bay in a Linux system
• A USB serial "null modem" cable (or USB serial adapter with "null modem" cable), or a serial port and a "null modem" cable

Hook up the Mustang board

Prior to installing Fedora, verify that the Mustang board is correctly hooked up and ready for use. To do this, perform the following:

• Attach a USB serial cable to your Linux system (or use a serial port), along with a "null modem" cable (shipped with the Mustang board).
• Attach the other end of the serial cable to the DB9 connector on the rear of the Mustang system.
• Attach an Ethernet cable into the first Ethernet port on the Mustang system, which is located furthest away from the DB9 connector, atop the two USB connectors. This is the port that Linux will recognize as "eth0" when booted.
• Attach the power cable to the Mustang board.

Install the "minicom" package onto your Linux system:

$ sudo yum install minicom

Run the "minicom" command:

$ minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0

Replace "/dev/ttyUSB0" with the name of the serial interface, which in the case of a single serial port is "ttyUSB0" or "ttyS0".

Configure minicom using the "ctrl-a-o" key sequence. Remove the modem initialization string, and set the serial port to a speed (baud) of 115,200, with 8 bits, 1 stop bit, and no hardware flow control.

Power on the Mustang board and watch for output from the serial interface. Once you have confirmed that the Mustang board is hooked up correctly, power it off and continue with the following steps.

Download the Mustang Build

The first step is to download the Mustang build. This can be found at the following location:

• ftp://ftp.ges.redhat.com/private/jcm/apm/f19_remix/apm_f19_v4.tar.xz

Extract the Mustang Build

Once you have downloaded the Mustang build, you will need to extract the archive file. Use the following command from a Linux system:

$ tar xvfJ apm_f19_v4.tar.xz

This will extract the following files:

apm_f19_v4.img.xz
config_jcm15
mustang_linux_src_1.08.12-beta_rc.tar.xz

The first file is a compressed disk image that will be written to the hard disk installed within the Mustang board case. The other two files contain the Linux kernel configuration and source (should you - optionally - wish to rebuild the kernel that ships within this image).

Extract the disk image:

$ xz -dk apm_f19_v4.img.xz

This will extract the following files:

apm_f19_v4.img

Copy the disk image to the Mustang board

Warning: Be careful to choose the correct device name below since using the wrong device name could overwrite data on your Linux system instead of the removable disk drive.

The Mustang board ships in a case containing a 500GB hard disk. Carefully remove this disk drive from the case. Then install it into either a removable USB enclosure, or into a spare disk bay within your Linux system. Linux should detect this drive and assign a name, such as "/dev/sdc". You can determine the name using the "dmesg" or (preferably) "lsblk" commands.

Copy the disk image onto the hard disk:

$ dd if=apm_f19_v4.img of=/dev/sdX bs=1M

Replace "/dev/sdX" with the name of the device, for example "/dev/sdc".

Once this operation has completed, ensure that the drive is ejected safely from your Linux system:

$ sync
$ eject /dev/sdX

Replace "/dev/sdX" with the name of the device, for example "/dev/sdX".

Configure the Mustang board to boot Fedora

Reinstall the hard disk drive into the Mustang case. Next, power on the system and interrupt the boot sequence when the countdown begins. Type the following commands: