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voxl2

README.md

ModalAI Voxl2

This configuration package series configures Buildroot to produce a BSP image for the ModalAI Voxl2 model number MDK-M0054.

References:

Getting Started

To initialize the Voxl2 partition layout and other firmware files correctly, first flash the latest BSP package from ModalAI:

  1. Navigate to https://developer.modalai.com/categories
  2. Select "Voxl 2 Platform Releases"
  3. Click "download" on the entry voxl2_platform_1.3.1-0.8.tar.gz
  4. Extract the file: tar -zxf voxl2_platform_1.3.1-0.8.tar.gz
  5. Enter the directory: cd voxl2_platform_1.3.1-0.8
  6. Unplug the voxl2 from power and USBC.
  7. Using something soft, hold down the SW1 button on the board.
  8. While holding the button, connect the power to the board.
  9. After about 5 seconds, release button SW1.
  10. Run the install script: ./install.sh

After following these steps, your system should be in factory-reset state.

To compile SkiffOS, set the comma-separated SKIFF_CONFIG variable:

$ export SKIFF_CONFIG=modalai/voxl2,skiff/core
$ make configure                   # configure the system
$ make compile                     # build the system

Once the build is complete, we will use Fastboot to flash the system to a device. This will flash apq8096-sysfs.ext4 to the sysfs partition and apq8096-boot.img to the boot partition.

$ sudo bash
$ make cmd/modalai/voxl/flashusb  # tell skiff to use fastboot to flash

SkiffOS will use the existing userdata partition as its persist partition. The flash script will not overwrite this partition, and can be used to update the system later without clearing user data.

Partitions

SkiffOS produces unsigned images for the sysfs and boot partitions, and uses existing aboot, cache, persist, userdata, recoveryfs from the factory.

SkiffOS will use the userdata partition as its persist partition. It will not overwrite this partition during the flash script, so the flash script can be run multiple times without overwriting any container data.

To update the bootloader and other partitions, download & flash the system image according to the vendor docs, then run the SkiffOS flash script.

Skiff Core: Default Ubuntu-based Image

The default configuration, skiff-core-voxl2, uses Ubuntu as the base image, and installs the voxl2 platform debs from the ModalAI packages server.

This is done with a Dockerfile on the target device on first boot. None of the packages are downloaded during the SkiffOS build process.

Skiff Core: Importing Vendor-provided Image

The vendor-provided system image can be imported to a skiff-core container. The drivers provided in the container will then provide all proprietary features:

# Extract the modalai files.
gzip -c -d voxl2_platform_1.3.1-0.8.tar.gz | tar -xf-
cd ./voxl2_platform_1.3.1-0.8
cd ./system-image

# Decompress the sysfs image.
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/data --workdir /data -it alpine:edge sh -c "apk add android-tools && simg2img qti-ubuntu-robotics-image-m0054-sysfs.ext4 sysfs.ext4"

# Mount the base system image.
mkdir -p mtpt
sudo mount -o loop -t ext4 ./sysfs.ext4 ./mtpt

# Import the base docker image.
cd ./mtpt
sudo tar -c . | docker import - skiffos/skiff-core-voxl2:base

# Unmount.
cd ..
sudo umount ./mtpt

# Use a dockerfile to adjust the image with some fixups.
cd /opt/skiff/coreenv/skiff-core-voxl2
docker build -f Dockerfile.minimize -t skiffos/skiff-core-voxl2:latest .

# Force skiff-core to load the new image.
# NOTE: this will delete your existing core container!
docker rm -f core
systemctl restart skiff-core

# You can delete the source files now.
# The Docker image is called skiffos/skiff-core-voxl2:latest

License Acknowledgment

The ModelAI packages are provided under various licenses. Skiff does not directly redistribute any parts of the toolkit, but will download them from the upstream sources via Buildroot packages as part of the build process. Buildroot produce a bundle of license files with "make br/legal-info". It is the responsibility of the end user to follow all applicable licenses' terms.