Warning: This page is designed to be used with a 'release' URL parameter.

This page is using the default release RELEASE_SUMO_V1.0_DART-MX8M.
To view this page for a specific Variscite SoM and software release, please follow these steps:

Visit variwiki.com
Select your SoM
Select the software release

DART-MX8M SPI

In this example we will show how to configure and test SPI1 on DART-MX8M. The SPI pins on external connector J16 are used for SPI loopback test.

1 Kernel configuration

Verify that the i.MX SPI driver (CONFIG_SPI_IMX) is enabled in your kernel configuration:

In menuconfig: Device Drivers -> SPI support -> <*> Freescale i.MX SPI controllers

Verify that the User mode SPI driver (CONFIG_SPI_SPIDEV) is enabled in your kernel configuration:

In menuconfig: Device Drivers -> SPI support -> <*> User mode SPI device driver support

2 Device Tree configuration

The default DART-MX8M SPI configuration is for resistive touch controller on CS0. For the purpose of loop back test the configuration should be modified to use a different CS line.

2.1 Add spidev node

Edit arch/arm64/boot/dts/freescale/fsl-imx8mq-var-dart-common.dtsi to modify cs-gpios property and add spidev node.
GPIO1_12 will be used in this example to control SPI CS0.

&ecspi1 {
	#address-cells = <1>;
	#size-cells = <0>;
 	pinctrl-names = "default";
	pinctrl-0 = <&pinctrl_ecspi1>;
        cs-gpios = <&gpio1 12 0>;
        fsl,spi-num-chipselects = <1>;
	status = "okay";

        spidev@0 {
               compatible = "spidev";
               spi-max-frequency = <12000000>;
               reg = <0>;
        };
};

2.2 Configure SPI1 pins

&iomuxc {
	imx8m-var-dart {
                ...
		 pinctrl_ecspi1: ecspi1grp {
			fsl,pins = <
				MX8MQ_IOMUXC_ECSPI1_SCLK_ECSPI1_SCLK		0x11
				MX8MQ_IOMUXC_ECSPI1_MOSI_ECSPI1_MOSI		0x11
				MX8MQ_IOMUXC_ECSPI1_MISO_ECSPI1_MISO		0x11
				MX8MQ_IOMUXC_ECSPI1_SS0_GPIO5_IO9	        0x11
                                MX8MQ_IOMUXC_GPIO1_IO12_GPIO1_IO12	        0x11
			>;
		};
                ...
	};
};

3 Recompile the kernel

Compile the kernel (only if kernel configuration was changed) and device tree and update the SOM.

4 Compile SPI test application

There's an SPI test utility in the kernel source tree: tools/spi/spidev_test.c
To cross compile it, use the following command:

$ $CC ./tools/spi/spidev_test.c -o ./spidev_test

4.1 SPI 1 External Connector

SPI 1 will be accessible on the following EVK pins:

J16.2 - SPI1.SCLK
J16.4 - SPI1.SS0
J16.6 - SPI1.MOSI
J16.8 - SPI1.MISO

5 Run SPI Test

Copy spidev_test binary to DART-MX8M.
Loop SPI1.MOSI and SPI1.MISO by putting a jumper on J16.6 and J16.8
Configure GPIO5_9 (the default CS0 pin) as output with value 1 to prevent it from interfering with new CS0 pin

 # echo 137 > /sys/class/gpio/export 
 # echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio137/direction 
 # echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio137/value

Run SPI test tool

# ./spidev_test -v -D /dev/spidev0.0

The output of successful test should look like this:

spi mode: 0x20
bits per word: 8
max speed: 500000 Hz (500 KHz)
TX | FF FF FF FF FF FF 40 00 00 00 00 95 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF F0 0D  | ......@....�..................�.
RX | FF FF FF FF FF FF 40 00 00 00 00 95 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF F0 0D  | ......@....�..................�.

6 Using multiple SPI CS lines

The i.MX8M SPI controllers support up to 4 chip select lines.
In the example below GPIO1_12 and GPIO1_15 are used to control CS0 and CS1 respectively.
When selecting CS GPIO pins make sure they are not used to control other peripherals.

&ecspi1 {
	#address-cells = <1>;
	#size-cells = <0>;
 	pinctrl-names = "default";
	pinctrl-0 = <&pinctrl_ecspi1>;
        cs-gpios = <&gpio1 12 0>,
                   <&gpio1 15 0>;
        fsl,spi-num-chipselects = <2>;
	status = "okay";

        chip1@0 {
               reg = <0>;
               ...
        };

        chip2@1 {
               reg = <1>;
               ...
        };
};

&iomuxc {
	imx8m-var-dart {
                ...
 		pinctrl_ecspi1: ecspi1grp {
			fsl,pins = <
				MX8MQ_IOMUXC_ECSPI1_SCLK_ECSPI1_SCLK		0x11
				MX8MQ_IOMUXC_ECSPI1_MOSI_ECSPI1_MOSI		0x11
				MX8MQ_IOMUXC_ECSPI1_MISO_ECSPI1_MISO		0x11
				MX8MQ_IOMUXC_GPIO1_IO12_GPIO1_IO12	        0x11
                                MX8MQ_IOMUXC_GPIO1_I015_GPIO1_IO15	        0x11
			>;
		};
                ...
	};
};