ClearFog CN9130 Base Quick Start Guide

Revision and Notes

Date

Owner

Revision

Notes

07 Dec 2021

1.0

Initial release

12 Nov 2024

Yazan Shhady

1.1

Updated the block diagram to reflect the uSIM connection within the M.2 module.

28 Nov 2024

Yazan Shhady

1.2

Add Clearfog-Base CN9130 schematics rev 1.4

Introduction

The following quick start guide provides background information about the ClearFog Base product which use the CN9130 System on module.

The guide will give a technical overview about the product and by the end of it you should be able to boot an operating system and begin testing your application.

Hardware Setup

Product Specifications

SOM CPU

OCTEON CN9130

Processor

64-bit Cortex A72

Core Frequency

up to 2.2GHz

Memory & Storage

64bit DDR4 W/O ECC, Up to 8GB at 2400MT/s

M.2**

MicroSD and 8GB eMMC (Optional)***

Connectivity

1 x mPCIE PCIe X1 Gen3.0

1 x USB 3.0 port

2 x Port dedicated Ethernet

1 x SFP+ 10GbE

I/O & Misc.

mikroBUS

Indication LEDs

User Push Buttons

PoE expansion header

RTC Battery

FTDI (Console Only)

OS Support

Linux, OpenWrt/LEDE, Yocto

Power

Wide range 9V-32V

Dimensions

103mm x 75mm (PCBA)

125mm x 80mm x 31mm (enclosed)

Enclosure

Optional Metal Enclosure

Buy Now

Please Note : (**) M.2 includes USB 3.0, SATA, GNSS, 3G modules support (in carrier Base only) (***) Assembly option on the SOM

Supported with CN9130 SOM. For more detailed information about our CN9130 SOM series please visit this user manual : CN9130 SOM Hardware User Manual .

Block Diagram

The following figure describes the ClearFog Base Block Diagram.

Visual features overview

Please see below the features overview of the connector side of the ClearFog Base (CN9130 SoM assembled).

Print side connector overview of the ClearFog Base.

Software Setup

Cable setup and prerequisites

Here is what you will need to power up the board:

Linux or Windows PC
ClearFog Base with SOM
12V Power adapter (ClearFog Base has wide range input of 9V-32V, it is recommended to use 12V power adapter)
Micro USB to USB for console, the ClearFog Base has an onboard FTDI chip.
IP router or IP switch

Recommended Cables

The following is a list of industry-standard cables, sorted by type, with the necessary compliance requirements that have been proven to work well with the ClearFog product family (ClearFog Base / Pro).

These examples are the cables which SolidRun uses for testing, and should provide enough information to source products from your preferred cable vendor.

Ethernet cable: Monoprice 24AWG Cat6A 500MHz STP
USB Cable: SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Type A Male to Female Extension Cable in Black
SFP connector: GigaLite GE-GB-P1RT-E SFP module with Monoprice 24AWG Cat6A 500MHz STP cable

Boot Select

Before powering up the board for the first time it is recommended to select the boot media. In order to configure the boot media, please refer to ClearFog CN9130 Boot Select .

Booting from an SPI card

The switches on the boot source selector must be set as follows:

Switch 1

Switch 2

Switch 3

Switch 4

Switch 5

OFF

The following shows how to set the switches on the boot source selector:

Once you set the switches, you can apply the following for booting from an SPI card and loading the Ubuntu from an SD card.

Please Note: The SPI including U-Boot by default.

1. Downloading the Ubuntu 20.04 image

wget https://solid-run-images.sos-de-fra-1.exo.io/CN913x/cn913x_build/20240603-f591a0b/ubuntu-cn9130-cf-base-mmc:1:0.img.xz

For more Ubuntu releases, please visit Ubuntu Releases for CN913x.

2. Writing the image to the SD card

Use the following commands for writing the image to an SD card:

xz -dc ubuntu-cn9130-cf-base-mmc:1:0.img.xz | dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4k conv=fdatasync

For more information, please visit Flashing an SD Card.

Note: Plug a micro SD into your Linux PC, the following assumes that the micro SD is added as /dev/sdX and all it’s partitions are unmounted.

3. SD card insertion

Please Insert the SD card into your device.

4. Power connection

Connect your power adapter to the DC jack, and then connect the adapter to mains supply.

5. Serial Connection

Please insert the micro USB into your device, then you can refer to Serial Connection for installing necessary serial connection software in Linux/Windows.

In u-boot prompt, to continue booting from SD card, run the following:

setenv get_images "load mmc 1:1 $kernel_addr_r boot/Image /
load mmc 1:1 $fdt_addr_r boot/cn9130-cf-base.dtb /
setenv root 'root=/dev/mmcblk1p1 rootwait rw' /
setenv ramdisk_addr_r -"
saveenv
boot

Please Note: Boot is made from SPI by default, so in order to continue booting from an SD card, the above commands should be run only once (in the fist boot).

Once you installed the necessary serial connection software and ran the above commands , you should be able to see the following:

In order to be able to log in , please insert “root” as a username and password as follows:

6. Final stages

The following stages need to be done in order to finalise the imaging:

Run fdisk /dev/mmcblk1 if using SD, or run if using fdisk /dev/mmcblk0 eMMC.
Recreate the first partition by deleting it and then creating a new partition that starts at block 131072 and extends to the end of the drive (or less depending on your needs).
Write the new partition, when prompt about ‘Do you want to remove the signature?’ then answer with yes.
Run resize2fs /dev/mmcblk1p1 if using SD Card, or Run resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p1 if using eMMC.
In this stage the root partition should be big enough to start populating it; but first update the RTC clock.
Connect the RJ45 to your network with internet access (and DHCP server); and then run dhclient .
Update the RTC clock by running ntpdate pool.ntp.org and then hwclock -w.
Run apt-update and then populate the root filesystem as you wish.

Please see below an example of resizing the filesystem :

Install to eMMC

The switches on the boot source selector must be set as follows:

Switch 1

Switch 2

Switch 3

Switch 4

Switch 5

OFF

1. Downloading the Ubunto image

wget https://solid-run-images.sos-de-fra-1.exo.io/CN913x/cn9130-cf-base_config_1_ubuntu-4cbe176.img.xz

2. Writing the image to eMMC

xz -dc cn9130-cf-base_config_1_ubuntu-4cbe176.img.xz | dd of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4k conv=sync

3. Power connection

Connect your power adaptor to the DC jack, and then connect the adaptor to the main supply.

4. Serial Connection

Please insert the micro USB into your device, then you can refer to Serial Connection for installing the necessary serial connection software in Linux/Windows.

5. Set the boot command to load the image from the eMMC device:

In U-boot prompt, run the following commands only in the first boot:

setenv get_images "load mmc 0:1 $kernel_addr_r boot/Image /
load mmc 0:1 $fdt_addr_r boot/cn9130-cf-pro.dtb /
setenv root 'root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootwait rw' /
setenv ramdisk_addr_r -"; saveenv; boot

Use ‘root’ as a username and password to be able to log in.

6. Final stages

The following stages need to be done in order to finalize the imaging:

Run fdisk /dev/mmcblk1 if using SD, or run if using fdisk /dev/mmcblk0 eMMC.
Recreate the first partition by deleting it and then creating a new partition that starts at block 131072 and extends to the end of the drive (or less depending on your needs).
Write the new partition, when prompt about ‘Do you want to remove the signature?’ then answer with yes.
Run resize2fs /dev/mmcblk1p1 if using SD Card, or Run resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p1 if using eMMC.
In this stage the root partition should be big enough to start populating it; but first update the RTC clock.
Connect the RJ45 to your network with internet access (and DHCP server); and then run dhclient .
Update the RTC clock by running ntpdate pool.ntp.org and then hwclock -w.
Run apt-update and then populate the root filesystem as you wish.

Please see below an example of resizing the filesystem :

SFP Modules

For some SFP modules that were tested on SolidRun CN913x Platforms see SFP Modules: Tested on CN913x.

SIM Card Slot

3MB

clearfog-base-schematics-rev1.4.pdf

PDF

Open

clearfog-base-schematics-rev1.4.pdf

[ClearFogCX CN9K Schematics.pdf](attachments/ClearFog CX CN9K Schematics.pdf)

It is possible to utilize a Cellular connection by inserting a SIM card into the SIM card slot. Please observe that a GSM Cellular modem needs to be installed utilizing the mini PCIe connection in order to exploit the cellular connection.

Please Note If you your ClearFog has dual SIM card slots, an additional cellular modem will need to be installed in the mini PCIe connection in order to utilize the 2nd SIM connection.

TLV EEPROM Support

Starting from April 01. 2022, the EEPROMs on Carriers, SoMs and COM-Express Modules are being programmed with identifying information such as the product name and SKUs to allow for programmatic identification of hardware. Check our CN913x EEPROM documentation for additional information.