AXIOM Beta Firmware Version 2.0
1 Prepare Micro SD Card
- Get a new Micro SD card (4GB is enough, bigger is fine as well, but the partitions are not yet automatically resized when a bigger SD card is detected).
- Acquire the latest automatically built firmware image from: https://github.com/apertus-open-source-cinema/axiom-beta-firmware/releases - don't be alarmed by the name "Unstable Development Snapshot" it just means the firmware has been automatically built without human interaction.
- Download, install and start Etcher: https://www.balena.io/etcher/
- Flash the acquired image to a new Micro SD card with Etcher (we highly recommend not overwriting the Micro SD card you currently use in your AXIOM Beta).
- After flashing put the Micro SD card into the AXIOM Beta Microzed SD card slot and power up the Beta.
2 Notes
This new firmware is still in development so expect issues and bugs.
This is the list of current issues/bugs: https://github.com/apertus-open-source-cinema/axiom-beta-firmware/issues
If you find a new bug or have ideas for improvement please add it as github issue (please first check it has not been reported yet).
- Default user is now operator and password: axiom
- Sudo is required to change system/camera settings (like running the various scripts)
- All camera related programs and scripts are now prefixed with
axiom_
(for example to runset_gain.sh
use runaxiom_set_gain.sh
). These scripts/binaries are now executable from anywhere. To find their actual location you can use:which axiom_set_gain.sh
or if you want to use the script without caring about where its actually stored you can use:$(which axiom_start.sh)
for example to show the content:cat $(which axiom_start.sh)
. kick_manual.sh
was renamed toaxiom_start.sh
halt_manual.sh
was renamed toaxiom_stop.sh
cmv_snap3
was renamed toaxiom_snap
axiom_sequencer-start.sh
starts the continuous image acquisition (HDMI output).axiom_sequencer-stop.sh
stops the continuous image acquisition (HDMI output).- For example :
./cmv_snap3 -e 20ms -z
is now done by typingsudo axiom_snap -e 20ms -z
- For example :
- Image build log is located in each image under:
/var/build.log
- Devicetree source can be found at
/boot/devicetree.dts
. To recompile it after any changes usedtc -O dtb -o /boot/devicetree.dtb /boot/devicetree.dts
- To interrupt the autoboot from u-boot send
Ctrl-C
over serial quickly after a boot / reboot (try holding it down) axiom_file_check.sh
does an integrity check of /usr, /etc and /opt- Binaries are linked in:
/usr/axiom/bin
- Scripts are linked in:
/usr/axiom/script
/opt/axiom-firmware
contains scripts and binaries- Every AXIOM Beta currently has the same MAC address - a random one should be generated on the first boot, but this is not implemented yet.
- Second Micro SD card slot is enabled by default.
- Factory Calibration Routines have been forked for firmware 2.0: Factory_Calibration_(firmware_2.0)
2.1 FPGA Bitstreams
- FPGA bitstreams are located in
/usr/lib/firmware
and softlinked to from/opt/bitstreams/
- *.bit files (from old firmware) need to be converted to *.bin files (for new firmware) with:
/opt/axiom-firmware/makefiles/in_chroot/to_raw_bitstream.py -f input_file.bit output_file.bin
and copied to/lib/firmware
- make sure to load new bitstreams as root (
sudo su
) and not withsudo
or useecho $BITSTREAM_NAME | sudo tee /sys/class/fpga_manager/fpga0/firmware
Further documentation:
- https://github.com/apertus-open-source-cinema/axiom-beta-firmware/blob/master/README.md
- https://github.com/apertus-open-source-cinema/axiom-beta-firmware/blob/master/software/scripts/README.md
- AXIOM Beta main page.
2.1.1 Switch HDMI Modes (50p/60p <-> 25p/30p)
run:
sudo axiom_halt.sh
Create a copy of axiom_start.sh with a new name eg. axiom_start30.sh
cp $(which axiom_start.sh) axiom_start30.sh
In it replace this line:
echo axiom_fpga_main.bin > /sys/class/fpga_manager/fpga0/firmware
by this line (choosing appropriate files: _30 for 25P/30p or _60 for 50p/60p modes):
echo cmv_hdmi3_dual_30.bin > /sys/class/fpga_manager/fpga0/firmware
copy /opt/bitstreams/cmv_hdmi3_dual_30.bin to /lib/firmware:
sudo cp /opt/bitstreams/cmv_hdmi3_dual_30.bin /lib/firmware
execute the new script:
sudo axiom_start30.sh
3 Capture Still Images
There is a command-line tool available on the camera called axiom_snap that allows you to capture still images and takes various parameters. The still images are captured in a raw image format called RAW12 or raw16 (deprecated - the CMV12000 only provides 12 bit so using raw16 is not recommended) which is basically just raw pixel data dumped into a file plus an optional metadata block containing image sensor configuration (it is recommended to always store the metadata as it can be useful for the DNG conversion with raw2dng - also its just a tiny amount of data [128x16bit] and might come in handy at a later image processing step.) Note that axiom_snap cannot be utilized via serial console (minicom, screen, etc.). If you want to write images to your host computer, use SSH connection instead.
3.1 axiom_snap parameters
The following parameters are available:
axiom_snap -h This is axiom_snap cmv_snap3 V1.11 options are: -h print this help message -8 output 8 bit per pixel -2 output 12 bit per pixel -d dump buffer memory -b enable black columns -p prime buffer memory -r dump sensor registers -t enable cmv test pattern -z produce no data output -e <exp> exposure times -v <exp> exposure voltages -s <num> shift values by <num> -S <val> writer byte strobe -R <fil> load sensor registers
Examples
Images can be written directly to the cameras internal micro SD card like this (10 milliseconds exposure time, 12bit, include metadata registers):
axiom_snap -e 10ms -r -2 > image.raw12
You can also use axiom_snap to change exposure time (to 5 milliseconds in this example) without actually capturing an image, for the that -z parameter is used to not produce any data output:
axiom_snap -z -e 5ms
That axiom_snap writes data to STDOUT makes it very versatile, we can for example capture images from and to a remote Linux machine connected to the Beta via Ethernet easily (lets assume the AXIOM Betas camera IP is set up as: 192.168.0.9 - SSH access has to be set up for this to work with a keypair - this does not work over the serial/USB console)
ssh operator@192.168.0.9 "axiom_snap -2 -r -e 10ms" > snap.raw12
To pipe the data into a file and display it at the same time with imagemagick on a remote machine:
ssh operator@192.168.0.9 "axiom_snap -2 -r -e 10ms" | tee snap.raw12 | display -size 4096x3072 -depth 12 gray:-
Use imagemagick (tested with Version 6 and 7) to convert raw12 file into a color preview image:
cat test.raw12 | convert \( -size 4096x3072 -depth 12 gray:- \) \( -clone 0 -roll -1-1 \) \( -clone 0 -roll -1+0 \) \( -clone 0 -roll +0-1 \) -sample 2048x1536 \( -clone 2,3 -average \) -delete 2,3 -swap 0,2 -combine test_color.png
Use imagemagick (tested with Version 6 and 7) to convert raw12 file into a color preview image (swapped lines from a bug in an earlier version of cmv_snap3):
cat test.raw12 | convert \( -size 4096x3072 -depth 12 gray:- \) \( -clone 0 -roll -1-1 \) \( -clone 0 -roll -1+0 \) \( -clone 0 -roll +0-1 \) -sample 2048x1536 \( -clone 2,3 -average \) -delete 2,3 +swap -combine test_color.png
With raw2dng compiled inside the camera you can capture images directly to DNG, without saving the raw12:
axiom_snap -2 -b -r -e 10ms | raw2dng snap.DNG
Note: Supplying exposure time as parameter is required otherwise axiom_snap will not capture an image. The exposure time can be supplied in "s" (seconds), "ms" (milliseconds), "us" (microseconds) and "ns" (nanoseconds). Decimal values also work (eg. "15.5ms").