R-Car/Boards/SILK

Introduction
This is the official Wiki for Renesas R-Car E2 SILK board.

Refer to R-Car page for Renesas R-Car SoC family. Information on Renesas R-Car M2 Porter board is on a separate page.

Hardware
For more information go to R-Car/Boards/SILK:Hardware

Hardware Features

 * R-Car E2 SoC
 * ARM®Cortex-A7 Dual Core
 * SH-4A core (optional)
 * GPU: PowerVR SGX540
 * Various hardware IP blocks for video and audio processing
 * 1 GB DDR3 memory
 * Two SPI flash memory chips (selected by SW9)
 * 4 MB
 * 64 MB
 * 8GB eMMC chip MTFC8GLWDQ-3M AIT Z
 * WiFi+Bluetooth module
 * Audio codec: AK4643EN
 * Line In 3.5 mm jack
 * LineOut 3.5 mm jack
 * HDMI type A output
 * Max. resolutions support TBD
 * LCD connector (bottom side)
 * VGA output (DB-15F)
 * Analog Video In: ADV7180 Video Decoder
 * RCA jack
 * NTSC/PAL/SECAM autodetection
 * Two USB 2.0 ports
 * One USB type A connector can be switched to Host or Function mode by SW10
 * I2C EEPROM (Renesas R1EX24002ATAS0)
 * Dialog Semiconductor DA9063 Power Regulator
 * Power supply: 5V, TBD Amps
 * Dimensions: 140x120 mm

Where to buy
SILK board can be ordered from Digikey:

Click to buy SILK board

R-Car E2 SoC Documentation

 * R-CarM2/E2 Common chapter Manual
 * R-Car E2 Individual chapter

Official SILK board documentation

 * Setup Manual
 * Mini Monitor Manual
 * Hardware Manual
 * Circuit Manual
 * Parts list

Quick Start How To
This sections describes steps that are necessary to run a "Hello, World!" application using Yocto build. Both X11 and Wayland are supported.

Build Yocto image
Refer to Yocto for steps necessary for making a Yocto image.

Connect 5 V power supply to the board
Use 5 V power supply with a 5.5 mm barrel plug. The power supply should be able to provide TBD Amps.

Connect to serial console
Use a microUSB cable to connect the PC to R-Car E2 SILK board. CN13 ("DEBUG") must be used on SILK side. It is routed to SCIF2 in the R-Car E2 via a CP2102 interface converter chip.

On Linux, CP2102 driver is included with kernel versions >=2.6.12. Windows driver and sources can be found on Silicon Labs website.

Serial settings are 38400 8N1. Any standard terminal emulator program can be used.

On Linux:

picocom
sudo picocom -b 38400 DEVICE replace DEVICE with the proper tty device name, for example /dev/ttyUSB0. Running dmesg | tail can help locating proper device. After the successful connection, picocom should display: picocom v1.7

port is       : /dev/ttyUSB0 flowcontrol   : none baudrate is   : 38400 parity is     : none databits are  : 8 escape is     : C-a local echo is : no noinit is      : no noreset is     : no nolock is      : no send_cmd is    : sz -vv receive_cmd is : rz -vv imap is       : omap is       : emap is       : crcrlf,delbs,

Terminal ready

Use Ctrl+A, Ctrl+Q to exit picocom.

minicom
sudo minicom -b 38400 -D DEVICE replace DEVICE with the proper tty device name, for example /dev/ttyUSB0. Running dmesg | tail can help locating proper device. After the successful connection, minicom should display: Welcome to minicom 2.6.2

OPTIONS: I18n Compiled on Aug 7 2013, 13:32:48. Port /dev/ttyUSB0

Press CTRL-A Z for help on special keys Use Ctrl+A, Q to exit minicom.

Power on the board and go to U-Boot prompt
Short-press SW11 "Power" to switch the board on. Orange LED should lit up indicating that board has 3.3V power. Then you should see the following output in the terminal: SILK SPI_LOADER V0.07c 2014.10.20 DEVICE S25FL512 U-Boot 2013.01.01-g74b16ba-dirty (Dec 23 2014 - 15:31:50) CPU: Renesas Electronics R8A7794 rev 1.0 Board: Silk Board DRAM: 1 GiB MMC:  sh_mmcif: 0, sh-sdhi: 1 SF: Detected S25FL512S with page size 256 KiB, total 64 MiB In:   serial Out:  serial Err:  serial Net:  sh_eth Hit any key to stop autoboot: 3 Quickly hit any key to get into U-boot command prompt. Use SW5 Reset to reboot the board when necessary.

You should see the following: Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0 =>

Configure U-Boot to boot over TFTP + NFS or from a micro SD card
Refer to Yocto page for steps necessary for running Yocto.

Bootloader
R-Car E2 SoC can be booted from various sources. SILK board is booted from QSPI Flash device. SILK has two SPI Flash memory chips selectable by SW9. In a standard configuration 4MB Flash S25FL032 stores original MiniMonitor firmware (for backup/rescue purposes) and 64 MB FLash S25FL512 stores MiniMonitor (QSPI Loader) and U-Boot (main storage).

Updating U-Boot using MiniMonitor
You may want to update U-Boot in case of upgrade or if the board you received does not have the U-Boot flashed. Follow these steps carefully to flash U-Boot:   Set SW9 to pin 3 side. This selects 4MB SPI Flash with MiniMonitor as a boot device. MiniMonitor is loaded via SPI boot interface of R-Car E2.   Connect to serial console over microUSB. If using picocom, start it with the following command line options: sudo picocom -b BAUDRATE --send-cmd "ascii-xfr -vvs" DEVICE Refer to "Connect to serial console" section for more information.   Switch the board ON or reset it. You should see the following output on the console (version numbers can be different): SILK SPI_LOADER V0.05 2014.08.14 DEVICE S25FL032 SILK MiniMonitor SPI_BOOT Work memory DRAM (H'40200000-) 2014.08.15 Ver0.05 ** Program on DRAM (H'40000000-) **

>   Execute the ls command: ls You should be able to see the following output: Load Program to Spiflash memory (U6:S25FL512S) SW9 1pin-Side! Setting OK? (Push Y key) MiniMonitor is asking to flip SW9 to 1 pin side.   Switch SW9 to 1 pin side. This activates 64MB SPI Flash for U-Boot.   Enter y to confirm your setting.   MiniMonitor should ask now: Select area(1-2)> Answer 2 and Enter.   Mini monitor should display: Please Input User Program Start Address : Enter e6304000 for R-Car E2 and hit Enter. </li>  MiniMonitor should now display: Please send ! ('.' & CR stop load) Send uboot.srec file. It should be available in $WORK/build/tmp/deploy/images/silk/ folder which is generated by bitbake during Yocto build. Alternatively, you can download it from this site

picocom
Use Ctrl+A, Ctrl+S, then select uboot.srec file and hit Enter. Transmission should start immediately and the progress counter should be displayed: ascii-xfr -vvs /data/Renesas/SILK/build/tmp/deploy/images/silk/u-boot.srec ASCII upload of "/data/Renesas/SILK/build/tmp/deploy/images/silk/u-boot.srec"
 * file: /data/Renesas/SILK/build/tmp/deploy/images/silk/u-boot.srec

15.0 Kbytes transferred at 3732 CPS...

minicom
Use Ctrl+A, S, choose ascii, then locate uboot.srec file and hit Enter. Transmission should start immediately and the progress counter should be displayed: +-[ascii upload - Press CTRL-C to quit]-+ +---+ </li>  If there are some data in writing area, MiniMonitor will display: SPI Data Clear(H'FF) Check :H'0080000-00BFFFF Clear OK?(y/n) You can safely input "y" to override area 2 of 64MB SPI Flash. </li>  After writing is complete, MiniMonitor should display 658.0 Kbytes transferred at 3850 CPS... Done.
 * ASCII upload of "uboot.srec"          |
 * 23.0 Kbytes transferred at 3857 CPS   |
 * 23.0 Kbytes transferred at 3857 CPS   |
 * 23.0 Kbytes transferred at 3857 CPS   |

SPI Data Clear(H'FF) Check : OK SAVE SPI-FLASH....... complete! -- Save (Program Start Address & Size ) - SPI Data Clear(H'FF):H'040000-07FFFF Erasing..Erase Completed SAVE SPI-FLASH....... complete!
 * exit status: 0

=
SPI Flash Sector1 Save Information ========= Program Start Address : H'E6304000 Program Size         :  H'00036D44

=
============================================ </li>  Reboot R-Car E2 SILK board by pressing SW5 "Reset" button. Leave SW9 on 1 pin side. You should see U-Boot prompt now. SILK SPI_LOADER V0.05 2014.08.14 DEVICE S25FL512

U-Boot 2013.01.01-g74b16ba-dirty (Dec 10 2014 - 16:16:57)

CPU: Renesas Electronics R8A7794 rev 1.0 Board: Silk Board

DRAM: 1 GiB MMC:  sh_mmcif: 0, sh-sdhi: 1 SF: Detected S25FL512S with page size 256 KiB, total 64 MiB In:   serial Out:  serial Err:  serial Net:  sh_eth Hit any key to stop autoboot: 3 </li> </ol>

Flashing QSPI loader using MiniMonitor
You may want to flash QSPI loader in case you board does not have it pre-loaded. Follow these steps carefully to flash QSPI loader: <ol>  Set SW9 to pin 3 side. This selects 4MB SPI Flash with MiniMonitor as a boot device. MiniMonitor is loaded via SPI boot interface of R-Car E2. </li>  Connect to serial console over microUSB. If using picocom, start it with the following command line options: sudo picocom -b BAUDRATE --send-cmd "ascii-xfr -vvs" DEVICE Refer to "Connect to serial console" section for more information. </li>  Switch the board ON or reset it. You should see the following output on the console (version numbers can be different): SILK SPI_LOADER V0.05 2014.08.14 DEVICE S25FL032 SILK MiniMonitor SPI_BOOT Work memory DRAM (H'40200000-) 2014.08.15 Ver0.05 ** Program on DRAM (H'40000000-) **

> </li>  Execute the ls command: ls You should be able to see the following output: Load Program to Spiflash memory (U6:S25FL512S) SW9 1pin-Side! Setting OK? (Push Y key) MiniMonitor is asking to flip SW9 to 1 pin side. </li>  Switch SW9 to 1 pin side. This activates 64MB SPI Flash for QSPI loader. </li>  Enter y to confirm your setting. </li>  MiniMonitor should ask now: Select area(1-2)> Answer 1 and Enter. </li>

 MiniMonitor should now display: Please send ! ('.' & CR stop load) Send SILK_SPI_LOADER_V007c.mot file. It can be downloaded from this site Unzip the file before downloading.

picocom
Use Ctrl+A, Ctrl+S, then select SILK_SPI_LOADER_V007c.mot file and hit Enter. Transmission should start immediately and the progress counter should be displayed: ascii-xfr -vvs /data/Renesas/SILK/SILK_SPI_LOADER_V007c.mot ASCII upload of "/data/Renesas/SILK/SILK_SPI_LOADER_V007c.mot"
 * file: /data/Renesas/SILK/SILK_SPI_LOADER_V007c.mot

15.0 Kbytes transferred at 3732 CPS...

minicom
Use Ctrl+A, S, choose ascii, then locate SILK_SPI_LOADER_V007c.mot file and hit Enter. Transmission should start immediately and the progress counter should be displayed: +-[ascii upload - Press CTRL-C to quit]+ +--+ </li>  If there are some data in writing area, MiniMonitor will display: SPI Data Clear(H'FF) Check :H'00000000-0003FFFF,Clear OK?(y/n) You can safely input "y" to override area 1 of 64MB SPI Flash. </li>  After writing is complete, MiniMonitor should display SAVE SPI-FLASH....... complete! </li>  Reboot R-Car E2 SILK board by pressing SW5 "Reset" button. Leave SW9 on 1 pin side. </li> </ol> You can now flash U-Boot or proceed to loading operating system. </ol>
 * ASCII upload of "SILK_SPI_LOADER_V007c.mot"  |
 * 23.0 Kbytes transferred at 3857 CPS          |
 * 23.0 Kbytes transferred at 3857 CPS          |
 * 23.0 Kbytes transferred at 3857 CPS          |

Operating systems/distributions can be used on R-Car E2 SILK boards?
It known to run
 * Yocto, Android, Tizen (supported)
 * Buildroot (experimental)
 * Ubuntu (unsupported)