General questions on the bring up of Rugged SOM, eMMC variant

BotBlox Hardware
,
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– Copied from customer email –

We recently received the BB-SOM-A-1 rugged som with emmc memory option instead of microSD. I have been going through the getting started page linked below and had some questions:

  1. Does the emmc come with bloxOS already installed or will I need to flash via Mfgtool? I cannot seem to get any serial output from the som as is.

  2. If I flash the som via J6 are the pins in that connector as follows:

  3. i know the 5V is 5V

  4. does N correspond to Data -

  5. does P correspond to Data+

  6. does G correspond to GND?

  7. I am using the following device for usb to uart for serial connections.
    Pmod USBUART Reference Manual - Digilent Reference
    Does that mean to flash the emmc memory (if it does not come pre-flashed) I need a device similar to this?
    USB Micro-B Breakout Board : ID 1833 : $1.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

  8. Can you connect to the som via uart if the som is not connected to the switchblox rugged (BB-SWR-G-1-PC)?

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  1. Does the emmc come with bloxOS already installed or will I need to flash via Mfgtool? I cannot seem to get any serial output from the som as is.

Currently it ships without bloxOS installed, you’ll need to install it by following the steps in the notion page.

  1. If I flash the som via J6 are the pins in that connector as follows:
    a i know the 5V is 5V: Yes
    b does N correspond to Data - : Yes
    c does P correspond to Data+ : Yes
    d does G correspond to GND? : Yes

  2. I am using the following device for usb to uart for serial connections.
    Pmod USBUART Reference Manual - Digilent Reference
    Does that mean to flash the emmc memory (if it does not come pre-flashed) I need a device similar to this?
    USB Micro-B Breakout Board : ID 1833 : $1.95 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

Flashing the SOM is done over USB on J6. From that point onwards, you interact with it on the UART port on J2.

The USB to UART device you sent will work. For the USB connection to the board, we typically make our own cable by cutting a USB cable and soldering it to the Molex 4 pin. your approach of using the breakout board will also work.

Yes you can connect to the SOM via UART without SwitchBlox Rugged, but you’ll need both assembled to run the initial switch setup.