Android Pie 9.0.0 for Nitrogen8M Mini

Android 9 Pie for Boundary Devices Nitrogen8M Mini¶

Introduction¶

The Nitrogen8M_Mini SBC is the latest in the Boundary Devices line of i.MX based Nitrogen platforms, leveraging the recently released i.MX 8M_Mini family of applications processors from NXP. It includes an accessory kit option with a 5V Power Supply, 8GB microSD card, Battery, and Serial Console Cable. The Nitrogen8M_Mini is designed for mass production use with a guaranteed 10 year life span, FCC Pre-scan results, and a stable supply chain. Industrial temperature and conformal coating options are available.

Release Notes¶

Here are some important remarks about our build:

Android 9.0 with Linux Kernel 4.14
Based on NXP release: p9.0.0_1.0.0-ga
Compatible with the Nitrogen8M Mini single board computer
Compatible with the BD080MCC1 MIPI display (8 inches)
Userdebug build with permissive SELinux and disabled DM Verity
Android Verified Boot disabled
Android A/B partitions disabled
This is an unsupported release. For commercial support please contact us.

The build includes the following Kynetics applications:

Update Factory: https://www.kynetics.com/fleet-management-update-factory
SPI handler
GPIO handler

F-Droid is also included to allow installing Android applications directly from the device using the ethernet or the wifi connection.

Flash Instructions¶

The following steps will guide you through the installation of Android 9 on the Nitrogen8M Mini.

Hardware Requirements¶

Nitrogen8M Mini single board computer (2GB of RAM)
BD080MCC1 MIPI Display (8 inches)
The serial console cable adapter for the Boundary boards
A host computer running GNU/Linux, MacOS or Windows
Micro USB cable - used with fastboot and adb

Software Requirements¶

Follow this link: Kynetics Android 9.0 binary archive, to download the latest binary image.
Android platform tools installed on the host computer

Software Preparation¶

On Linux systems, connect the serial cable from the board to the host computer.

Connect also the Micro USB cable from the micro USB connector of the board to the host computer to use fastboot. A USB 2.0 cable is recommended, as U-Boot could have some issues with USB 3.0 cable.

Then, enter fastboot mode on the Nitrogen8M Mini board:

From U-Boot prompt, enter the following command:
```
=> fastboot 0
```

From the Host PC:

$ unzip BoundaryDevices_Nitrogen8MM-AndroidOS-p9.0.0_1.0.0-ga-dev-1.0-SNAPSHOT-[date].zip -d nitrogen8mm_p900
$ cd nitrogen8mm_p900
nitrogen8mm_p900$ sudo ./flash_fastboot.sh

After the reboot, enter fastboot mode again and update U-Boot. This is necessary to get ADB working: From the U-Boot prompt:

=> run upgradeu

Enjoy the Art of Coding™