This tutorial details the steps required to boot Ubuntu 20.4.2 from SD Card on the Zedboard hardware.

The aims of this tutorial are as follows :-

Part 1 - Download files & setup project

1. Download ARM Ubuntu 20.04.2 filesystem
2. Setup environment
3. Create project area

Part 2 - Create PetaLinux project & configure it

4. Create PetaLinux project
5. Add Hardware Platform

Part 3 - Build & package PetaLinux

6. Build PetaLinux
7. Package project to produce boot image

Part 4 - Setup SD Card

8. Prepare SD Card
9. Copy files to SD Card

Part 5 - Hardware Deployment

10. Setup Zedboard hardware
11. Launch MiniCom terminal emulator
12. Check everything is working as expected

Download the following files from RCN-EE into ~/Downloads.

1. Ubuntu 20.04.2 Minimal ARM 17-Aug-2021 (196 MB)

Setup Xilinx design environment for the 2021.2 toolset.

Create the project directory structure and change the present working directory (pwd) to be inside the OS part.

Create a PetaLinux project using the Zynq FPGA template.

Configure the PetaLinux project to use the exported hardware platform from the zedboard_leds_switches Vivado project. The configuration menu now appears.

Select Image Packaging Configuration from the main menu. Select Root filesystem type (INITRO) from the sub menu. Set the Root filesystem type to EXT4 (SD/eMMC/SATA/USB) and then choose Select. Choose Exit to exit the sub menu. Choose Exit to exit the main menu. Choose Yes when prompted to save the new configuration.

Build the PetaLinux project (this takes around 20 minutes, hardware dependent).

Package the project to produce the boot image BOOT.BIN, this will include the first stage boot loader zynq_fsbl.elf, the programmable logic system.bit, the Linux boot loader u-boot.elf and the device tree blob system.dtb.

Insert a SD Card into Xubuntu via a slot on the machine or a USB adapter.

Launch GParted from the Whisper menu and enter the root credentials when prompted.

Select the SD Card device from the drop box in the top right of the GParted window.

Unmount all the partions on the SD Card by right clicking on each of them and selecting Unmount from the context menu. Delete all of the existing partitions by right clicking on each of them and selecting Delete from the context menu. Right click on the now unallocated area and select New from the context menu. In the Create new Partition dialog setup the first partition as follows and then click Add :-

1. Free space preceding (MiB): 4
2. New size (MiB): 500
3. Free space following (MiB): (the remaining space on the SD Card) (default)
4. Align to: MiB (default)
5. Create as: Primary Partition (default)
6. Partition name: (default)
7. Filesystem: fat32
8. Label: boot

Right click on the remaining unallocated area and select New from the context menu. In the Create new Partition dialog setup the second partition as follows and then click Add :-

1. Free space preceding (MiB): 0 (default)
2. New size (MiB): (the remaining space on the SD Card) (default)
3. Free space following (MiB): 0 (default)
4. Align to: MiB (default)
5. Create as: Primary Partition (default)
6. Partition name: (default)
7. Filesystem: ext4
8. Label: rootfs

Click on the Apply All Operations to commit the changes. All being well everything should complete successfully. Click Close on the Applying pending operations dialog. Close the GParted application.

The two new partitions (BOOT & rootfs) should now appear on the desktop, double click on each of them to mount on the system.

Copy the previous created PetaLinux files into the BOOT partition. Extract the previously downloaded Ubuntu 20.4.2 archive into the rootfs partition. Once the file copy is finished eject both the mounted volumes by right clicking on one of them on the desktop and selecting Eject Volume from the context menu.

Remove the SD Card from Xubuntu and insert it in the SD Card slot on the Zedboard.

Connect up the hardware as follows :-

1. Xubuntu PC USB ⇄ Zedboard USB JTAG/Debug
2. Xubuntu PC USB ⇄ Zedboard USB UART
3. Zedboard Ethernet ⇄ Router
4. Xubuntu PC Ethenet ⇄ Router
5. Router ⇄ Internet

Set the boot mode jumpers on the Zedboard for SD Card. Power on the Zedboard.

If not already running, open up a new terminal and launch the MiniCom terminal emulator.

All being well the following sequence of events should be observed :-

1. The blue done LED illuminates indicating the Programmable Logic (PL) has been programmed.
2. LED 7 and 1 illuminate indicating the bitstream from the updated zedboard_leds_switches project is in use.
3. The first stage boot loader kicks off on the Processor System (PS).
4. Ubuntu starts to boot and displays its boot log in the terminal emulator.
5. After a while the login prompt appears (shown below).

The following repeated error (if seen) will be fixed with a system update, so ignore it for now. Login using the credentials as shown (username : ubuntu, password : temppwd).

Check for local area network (LAN) connectivity (ping DHCP server). Check for wide area network (WAN) connectivity (ping Google). Find out what IP address the DHCP server issued and also what the MAC number is. As with all connected equipment it is highly recommended to assign a fixed IP address to the Zedboard via the DHCP server, in this case 192.168.2.87.

Do an initial update of the system and reboot to check all is well. Enjoy :-)