STM32MP25 Evaluation boards - Starter Package

Applicable for

This article shows how to start up a STM32MP257x-EV1 Evaluation boards (high-end development platforms for the STM32MP25 microprocessor devices). It is valid for the STM32MP257F-EV1 Evaluation boards: the part numbers are specified in the STM32MP25 microprocessor part numbers article.

It lists the required material, points to the board features description, and gives the step-by-step process to set up the system.

Finally, it proposes to run some basic use cases and to discover some of the board capabilities.

1. Starter Package content[edit source]

If you are not yet familiar with the STM32MPU Embedded Software distribution and its Packages, please read the following articles:

Which STM32MPU Embedded Software Package better suits your needs (and especially the Starter Package chapter)
STM32MPU Embedded Software distribution

If you are already familiar with the Starter Package for the STM32MPU Embedded Software distribution, the fast links to essential commands might interest you.

To sum up, this Starter Package provides:

the software image for the STM32MPU Embedded Software distribution, which includes:
- the binaries for the OpenSTLinux distribution
- one or more firmware example(s) for the STM32Cube MPU Package
the tool (STM32CubeProgrammer) to install this image on the STM32MP25 Evaluation board

Components of the Starter Package

2. Starter Package step-by-step overview[edit source]

The following steps are required to get the STM32MP25 Evaluation board up and running:
☐ Checking the material
☐ Assembling the board
☐ Installing the tools
☐ Downloading the image and flashing it on the board
☐ Booting the board

Once these steps are achieved, you are able to:

check the boot sequence
execute basic commands
run basic use cases
discover on your own the capabilities of the STM32MP25 Evaluation board

3. Checking the material[edit source]

Mandatory

PC	Linux or Windows operating systems. See PC prerequisites for more details on the required configurations
STM32MP257x-EV1 Evaluation board	High-end development platform for the STM32MP25 microprocessor device including: a MB1936 board
microSD^TM card	It is populated with OpenSTLinux distribution (Linux software), and provides extra storage capacity. A 8-Gbyte minimum MicroSD card is needed
USB type-C cable	It connects the STM32MP257x-EV1 Evaluation board to the PC through the USB type-C (ST-LINK/V3) connector
USB type-C cable	It connects the STM32MP257x-EV1 Evaluation board to an USB OTG device through the USB micro-AB connector

Optional

LCD screen	Several types of screen are possible : LVDS, DSI or HDMI
Power supply	(Optional) Power supply block (5V, 3A) for the MB1936 board.
USB keyboard and mouse	Thanks to the USB type A connectors, the STM32MP257x-EV1 Evaluation board can be equipped with a full-size keyboard and mouse
Ethernet cable	It can connect the STM32MP257x-EV1 Evaluation board to a network through the RJ45 connector
RS232 cable	It can connect the STM32MP257x-EV1 Evaluation board to the PC through the UART connector as an alternative of the ST-LINK/V2-1 connection
CAN cable	It can connect the STM32MP257x-EV1 Evaluation board to CAN devices through the CAN FD/TT connectors
Trace cable	It can connect the STM32MP257x-EV1 Evaluation board to an external tool through the Trace connector
JTAG cable	It can connect the STM32MP257x-EV1 Evaluation board to an external tool through the JTAG connector

Optionally, devices and extension boards might be plugged to the STM32MP257x-EV1 Evaluation board thanks to connectors such as:

the GPIO expansion connector
the PCIe connector
the Mikro bus connector
...

The following figure shows the material not included in STM32MP25 Evaluation board package, that is used in this Starter Package.

Recommended material for this Starter Package

4. Assembling the board[edit source]

STM32MP257x-EV1 - board assembly

5. Installing the tools[edit source]

5.1. Installing the STM32CubeProgrammer tool[edit source]

	STM32CubeProgrammer for Linux^® host PC	STM32CubeProgrammer for Windows^® host PC
Download	Version v2.15.0 Go on st.com to download the STM32CubeProgrammer software Download the archive file on your host PC in a temporary directory Uncompress the archive file to get the STM32CubeProgrammer installers: unzip en.stm32cubeprog.zip
Installation	Execute the Linux installer, which guides you through the installation process. $> ./SetupSTM32CubeProgrammer-2.15.0.linux The path to the STM32CubeProgrammer binary must be added to the PATH environment variable either in each Terminal program in which the STM32CubeProgrammer binary needs to be used, using the following command: $> export PATH=<my STM32CubeProgrammer install directory>/bin:$PATH or once for all by creating a link to the STM32CubeProgrammer binary in a directory already present in PATH. For example, if "/home/bin" is in the PATH environment variable, run the following command: $> ln -s <my STM32CubeProgrammer install directory>/bin/STM32_Programmer_CLI /home/bin/STM32_Programmer_CLI	Execute the Windows installer, which guides you through the installation process.
User manual	Instructions to follow for using the STM32CubeProgrammer can be found in user manual, UM2237 available from ST web site, or in STM32CubeProgrammer#How to flash with STM32CubeProgrammer article.
Detailed release note	Details about the content of this tool version are available from ST web site at Release Note .

5.2. Preparing the USB serial link for flashing[edit source]

It is recommended to use the USB (in DFU mode) for flashing rather than the UART, which is too slow.

Below indications on how to install the USB in DFU mode under Linux and Windows OS, respectively.

For Linux host PC or Windows host PC with VMWare:

The libusb1.0 package (including USB DFU mode) must be installed to be able to connect to the board via the USB port. This is achieved by typing the following command from the host PC terminal:

 sudo apt-get install libusb-1.0-0

To allow STM32CubeProgrammer to access the USB port through low-level commands, proceed as follows:

 cd <your STM32CubeProgrammer install directory>/Drivers/rules 

 sudo cp *.* /etc/udev/rules.d/

For Windows host PC:

Run the “STM32 Bootloader.bat” file to install the STM32CubeProgrammer DFU driver and activate the STM32 microprocessor device in USB DFU mode. This driver (installed by STM32 Bootloader.bat) is provided within the STM32CubeProgrammer release package. It is located in the DFU driver folder, \Drivers\DFU_Driver.

In case of issue, refer to How to proceed when the DFU driver installation fails on Windows host PC.

To validate the installation, the DFU driver functionality can be verified by following the FAQ instructions provided in how to check if the DFU driver is functional.

6. Downloading the image and flashing it on the board[edit source]

6.1. Image download[edit source]

Warning

Only microSD cards SanDisk Class 10 and UHS Speed Class 1 are verified. Others are not recommended.

The STM32MP2 image (binaries) is delivered through one tarball file named
- unknown revision for STM32MP257x-DK and STM32MP257x-EV1

Download and install the STM32MP2 image (binaries):

The software package is provided AS IS, and by downloading it, you agree to be bound to the terms of the software license agreement (SLA0048). The detailed content licenses can be found here.

STM32MP2 Starter Package image - STM32MP2-Ecosystem-v5.0.2 BETA release

Download

If you didn't retrieve yet the file unknown revision , please follow instructions on the downloading instructions page.

Installation

Go to the host PC directory in which you want to install the Starter Package (<Starter Package installation directory>); if you follow the proposition to organize the working directory, this means:

$ cd <working directory path>/Starter-Package

Download the tarball file in this directory
Uncompress the tarball file to get the binaries for the different partitions of the image, and the Flash layout files:

$ tar xvf unknown revision

Release note

Details of the content of this software package are available in the associated STM32 MPU OpenSTLinux release note.
If you are interested in older releases, please have a look into the section Archives

The binaries and the Flash layout files are in the <Starter Package installation directory>/unknown revision / directory:

stm32mp2
├── arm-trusted-firmware                       TF-A binaries for FSBL partitions and supported boot chains
│   ├── metadata.bin                           Meta data binary for METADATA partition for the supported boards
│   ├── tf-a-stm32mp257f-ev1-emmc.stm32        TF-A binary for FSBL partition (eMMC boot device) for STM32MP257F-EV1 → STM32MP25 Evaluation boards
│   ├── tf-a-stm32mp257f-ev1-nor.stm32         TF-A binary for FSBL partition (NOR boot device) for STM32MP257F-EV1 → STM32MP25 Evaluation boards
│   ├── tf-a-stm32mp257f-ev1-sdcard.stm32      TF-A binary for FSBL partition (microSD card boot device) for STM32MP257F-EV1 → STM32MP25 Evaluation boards
│   ├── tf-a-stm32mp257f-ev1-uart.stm32        TF-A binary for uart serial boot mode (STM32CubeProgrammer) for STM32MP257F-EV1 → STM32MP25 Evaluation boards
│   └── tf-a-stm32mp257f-ev1-usb.stm32         TF-A binary for usb serial boot mode (STM32CubeProgrammer) for STM32MP257F-EV1 → STM32MP25 Evaluation boards
├── fip                                        FIP binaries for FIP partitions and supported boot chains
│   ├── fip-stm32mp257f-ev1-optee.bin          FIP binary for FIP partition (optee boot chain) for STM32MP257F-EV1 → STM32MP25 Evaluation boards
│   └── fip-stm32mp257f-ev1-ddr.bin            FIP ddr binary for helping to flash (STM32CubeProgrammer) for STM32MP257F-EV1 → STM32MP25 Evaluation boards
├── flashlayout_st-image-weston                                 Flash layout files (description of the partitions) for the supported boot chains on supported boot devices and boards
│   ├── extensible                                              Flash layout files for microSD card boot device with no userfs partition but a rootfs partition extended to microSD card size
│   │   └── FlashLayout_sdcard_stm32mp257f-ev1-extensible.tsv   (recommended setup for package repository service) microSD card boot device with rootfs partition extended to microSD card size for STM32MP257F-EV1 → STM32MP25 Discovery kits
│   └── optee                                                   Flash layout files for optee boot chain
│       ├── FlashLayout_emmc_stm32mp257f-ev1-optee.tsv          eMMC boot device for STM32MP257F-EV1 → STM32MP25 Evaluation boards
│       ├── FlashLayout_nor-sdcard_stm32mp257f-ev1-optee.tsv    NOR boot device and microSD card device for STM32MP257F-EV1 → STM32MP25 Evaluation boards
│       └── FlashLayout_sdcard_stm32mp257f-ev1-optee.tsv        microSD card boot device for STM32MP257F-EV1 → STM32MP25 Evaluation boards
├── scripts
│   └── create_sdcard_from_flashlayout.sh
├── st-image-bootfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp2.ext4                            Binary for bootfs partition on eMMC and microSD card devices
├── st-image-bootfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp2.manifest
├── st-image-userfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp2.ext4                            Binary for userfs partition on eMMC and microSD card devices
├── st-image-userfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp2.manifest
├── st-image-vendorfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp2.ext4                          Binary for vendorfs partition on eMMC and microSD card devices
├── st-image-vendorfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp2.manifest
├── st-image-weston-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp2.ext4                            Binary for rootfs partition on eMMC and microSD card devices
├── st-image-weston-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp2.license
├── st-image-weston-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp2-license_content.html            License summary for all packages needed to feed all partitions
├── st-image-weston-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp2.manifest

6.2. Image flashing[edit source]

The STM32CubeProgrammer tool is used to flash the STM32MP25 Evaluation board with the downloaded image.

Several Flash devices (microSD, eMMC...) are available on this board: see the STM32 MPU Flash mapping article if you want to know more about the supported Flash memory technologies, and the Flash partitions. The steps below consider the microSD card as the Flash device.

As explained in the boot chain overview, the trusted boot chain is the default solution delivered by STMicroelectronics. Thus, the steps below use the image for the optee boot chain.

Let's flash the downloaded image on the microSD card:

Set the boot switches (1) to the off position
Connect the USB type-C (OTG) port (2) to the host PC that contains the downloaded image
Insert the delivered microSD card into the dedicated slot (3)
Connect the USB type-C (power supply) port (4) to the power connector or a host PC
Press the reset button (5) to reset the board

Evaluation board connections for flashing
STM32MP257A-EV1 shown here (picture is not contractual)

Go to the Starter Package directory that contains the binaries and the Flash layout files

 cd <Starter Package installation directory>/stm32mp2-openstlinux-6.1-yocto-mickledore-mp1-v23.06.21/images/stm32mp2

If you have followed the the proposition to organize the working directory, the command is
 cd Starter-Package/stm32mp2-openstlinux-6.1-yocto-mickledore-mp1-v23.06.21/images/stm32mp2

Information

The commands below are for a Linux host PC; however, they are similar for a Windows host PC except that STM32_Programmer_CLI is replaced by STM32_Programmer_CLI.exe.

Check that the STM32CubeProgrammer tool is installed and accessible; if not, go to the installation procedure (installing the tools)

 STM32_Programmer_CLI --h
      -------------------------------------------------------------------
                        STM32CubeProgrammer <tool version>                  
      -------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the device port location for the USB link

 STM32_Programmer_CLI -l usb

       -------------------------------------------------------------------
                         STM32CubeProgrammer <tool version>                  
       -------------------------------------------------------------------

=====  DFU Interface   =====

Total number of available STM32 device in DFU mode: 1

  Device Index           : USB1
  USB Bus Number         : 003
  USB Address Number     : 002
  Product ID             : DFU in HS Mode @Device ID /0x505, @Revision ID /0x100
  Serial number          : 003A00423836500B00343046
  Firmware version       : 0x0110
  Device ID              : 0x0505

Flash the microSD card with the image for the trusted boot chain

 STM32_Programmer_CLI -c port=usb1 -w flashlayout_st-image-weston/optee/FlashLayout_sdcard_stm32mp257c-ev1-optee.tsv

This operation takes several minutes (mainly depending of the rootfs size). A successful flashing outputs the following log:

Information

Please note that the logs that you will obtain, might be slightly different, especially if you use a different software release.

      -------------------------------------------------------------------
                        STM32CubeProgrammer <tool version>                  
      -------------------------------------------------------------------



USB speed   : High Speed (480MBit/s)
Manuf. ID   : STMicroelectronics
Product ID  : DFU in HS Mode @Device ID /0x505, @Revision ID /0x100
SN          : 003A00423836500B00343046
DFU protocol: 1.1
Board       : --
Device ID   : 0x0505

Start Embedded Flashing service



Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: tf-a-stm32mp257f-ev1-usb.stm32
  File          : tf-a-stm32mp257f-ev1--usb.stm32
  Size          : 204.38 KB 
  Partition ID  : 0x01 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:02.315

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x01 

Reconnecting the device ...

USB speed   : High Speed (480MBit/s)
Manuf. ID   : STMicroelectronics
Product ID  : DFU @Device ID /0x505, @Revision ID /0x1000, @Name /STM32MP257FAI Rev.A,
SN          : 003A00423836500B00343046
DFU protocol: 1.1
Board       : --
Device ID   : 0x0505
Device name : STM32MP257FAI Rev.A
Device type : 
Device CPU  : 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x01


Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: fip-stm32mp257f-ev1-ddr.bin
  File          : fip-stm32mp257f-ev1-ddr.bin
  Size          : 29.38 KB 
  Partition ID  : 0x02 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:00.015

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x02 

Reconnecting the device ...

USB speed   : High Speed (480MBit/s)
Manuf. ID   : STMicroelectronics
Product ID  : DFU @Device ID /0x505, @Revision ID /0x1000, @Name /STM32MP257FAI Rev.A,
SN          : 003A00423836500B00343046
DFU protocol: 1.1
Board       : --
Device ID   : 0x0505
Device name : STM32MP257FAI Rev.A
Device type : 
Device CPU  : 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x02


Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: fip-stm32mp257f-ev1-optee.bin
  File          : fip-stm32mp257f-ev1-optee.bin
  Size          : 2.44 MB 
  Partition ID  : 0x03 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:02.184

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x03 

Reconnecting the device ...

USB speed   : High Speed (480MBit/s)
Manuf. ID   : STMicroelectronics
Product ID  : USB download gadget@Device ID /0x505, @Revision ID /0x1000, @Name /STM32MP257FAI Rev.A,
SN          : 003A00423836500B00343046
DFU protocol: 1.1
Board       : --
Device ID   : 0x0505
Device name : STM32MP257FAI Rev.A
Device type : 
Device CPU  : 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x03

Flashlayout Programming ...
[==================================================] 100% 
Running Flashlayout Partition ...

Reconnecting the device ...

USB speed   : High Speed (480MBit/s)
Manuf. ID   : STMicroelectronics
Product ID  : USB download gadget@Device ID /0x505, @Revision ID /0x1000, @Name /STM32MP257FAI Rev.A,
SN          : 003A00423836500B00343046
DFU protocol: 1.1
Board       : --
Device ID   : 0x0505
Device name : STM32MP257FAI Rev.A
Device type : 
Device CPU  : 
Flashlayout partition started successfully


Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: tf-a-stm32mp257f-ev1-sdcard.stm32
  File          : tf-a-stm32mp257f-ev1-sdcard.stm32
  Size          : 207.66 KB 
  Partition ID  : 0x04 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:00.088

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x04 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x04


Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: tf-a-stm32mp257f-ev1-sdcard.stm32
  File          : tf-a-stm32mp257f-ev1-sdcard.stm32
  Size          : 207.66 KB 
  Partition ID  : 0x05 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:00.089

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x05 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x05


Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: metadata.bin
  File          : metadata.bin
  Size          : 96.00 B 
  Partition ID  : 0x06 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:00.006

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x06 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x06


Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: metadata.bin
  File          : metadata.bin
  Size          : 96.00 B 
  Partition ID  : 0x07 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:00.006

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x07 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x07


Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: fip-stm32mp257f-ev1-optee.bin
  File          : fip-stm32mp257f-ev1-optee.bin
  Size          : 2.44 MB 
  Partition ID  : 0x08 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:00.984

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x08 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x08


Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: st-image-bootfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp25-revab.ext4
  File          : st-image-bootfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp25-revab.ext4
  Size          : 64.00 MB 
  Partition ID  : 0x10 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:28.705

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x10 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x10


Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: st-image-vendorfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp25-revab.ext4
  File          : st-image-vendorfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp25-revab.ext4
  Size          : 48.00 MB 
  Partition ID  : 0x11 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:21.442

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x11 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x11


Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: st-image-weston-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp25-revab.ext4
  File          : st-image-weston-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp25-revab.ext4
  Size          : 746.66 MB 
  Partition ID  : 0x12 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:05:39.847

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x12 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x12


Memory Programming ...
Opening and parsing file: st-image-userfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp25-revab.ext4
  File          : st-image-userfs-openstlinux-weston-stm32mp25-revab.ext4
  Size          : 128.00 MB 
  Partition ID  : 0x13 

Download in Progress:
[==================================================] 100% 

File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:00:58.746

RUNNING Program ... 
  PartID:      :0x13 
Start operation done successfully at partition 0x13
Flashing service completed successfully

Go see the STM32CubeProgrammer article:

to use another Flash device than the microSD card one
to know more about the flashing operation

6.3. Image flashing via raw image[edit source]

The script create_sdcard_from_flashlayout.sh present with the downloaded image permit to generate a raw image ready to flash microSD on STM32MP25 Evaluation board.

Let's generate raw image and flash it on the microSD card:

Get the downloaded image
call the script create_sdcard_from_flashlayout.sh with the flashlayout of STM32MP25 Evaluation board as parameter

 ./script/create_sdcard_from_flashlayout.sh flashlayout_st-image-weston/optee/FlashLayout_sdcard_stm32mp257f-ev1-optee.tsv

Flash the microSD from the Linux PC via dd command (follow the instruction available at the end of execution of create_sdcard_from_flashlayout.sh script).

 dd if=FlashLayout_sdcard_stm32mp257f-ev1-optee.raw of=<microSD destination> bs=8M conv=fdatasync status=progress

For more information, see How to populate the SD card with dd command.

7. Booting the board[edit source]

STM32MP25 Evaluation boards - starting for the first time

Subpart - STM32MP2 - Starter Package

8. Examples[edit source]

The examples are under construction: few of them are proposed below; more examples will come with the next releases.

8.1. Examples running on Cortex-A35[edit source]

The table below gathers links towards articles proposing examples of peripherals usage.


Link to the example
Playing an audio/video local file
Playing an audio/video stream
Displaying an image
Running a simple 3D example (GPU usage)
Displaying a fullscreen camera preview
Taking a picture

8.2. Examples running on Cortex-M33[edit source]

Please read STM32CubeMP2 Package article.

9. Fast links to essential commands[edit source]

If you are already familiar with the Starter Package for the STM32MPU Embedded Software distribution, fast links to the essential commands are listed below.

Information

With the links below, you will be redirected to other articles; use the back button of your browser to come back to these fast links

Link to the command
Download and install the latest image
Set boot switches
Flash the image on the microSD card
Start a remote Terminal with Minicom
Get the board IP address
Start a remote Terminal over Ethernet
Copy a file from the host PC to the board over Ethernet

10. How to go further?[edit source]

Now that the image is flashed on the STM32MP25 Evaluation board, you might want to switch to the STM32MPU Developer Package, in order to modify or tune the STM32MPU Embedded Software distribution with your own developments.