Laird Connectivity is now EzurioUsing balenaOS with Nitrogen8M Mini
Published on March 31, 2020
We are pleased to announce a partnership with Balena and provide support for balenaOS on Nitrogen8M Mini. Use this guide to provision balenaOS on the Nitrogen8M Mini successfully. You can also try one of balena’s starter projects via balenaLabs on GitHub to test your newly provisioned board. Get more information on their website.
How to Use balenaOS with Nitrogen8M Mini
Please follow the steps below in order to get up and running with a balenaOS on Nitrogen8M Mini
1- Make a balenaCloud account
Follow the URL:
https://dashboard.balena-cloud.com/signup
Either signup with Google Single Sign-on, Github, or provide an email address to sign up.
After signing up, you will be redirected to complete your account creation process.
2- Create Application
Once signup is complete, you will be taken to a page where you can create your first application as shown below
After signup up, "Create application" and select Nitrogen8M Mini SBC as the Default Device Type. The balena team recommends users select Starter as Application Type, as it is fully-featured and the first ten devices are free of charge.
3- Add Device
After signing up, add a device by clicking "Add device."
A window will appear with default selections. We recommend using a Development image so that the serial console will be enabled (Production image has the console disabled).
4- Download balenaOS image
Click "Download balenaOS" at the bottom of previous screenshot. As a result, the Nitrogen8M Mini Balena BSP will be downloaded:
balena-cloud-<app_name>-nitrogen8mm-2.47.1+rev3-dev-v10.6.27.img.zip
5- Flash image
Extract the .zip image to generate the .img file and flash to SD Card using balenaEtcher:
6- Plug in Ethernet and power on device
Make sure you have a CAT-5 cable connected to the Ethernet port to access the internet.
7- Verify device shows up on balena Dashboard
After powering on device, it should connect to the to internet. After a few moments, you should see your device in the balenaCloud Dashboard via the following link:
https://dashboard.balena-cloud.com/apps
8- Verify Post Provisioning state
Click on your app (Test_App) under Applications. After powering on the OS will enter "Post Provisioning" state which means it will flash the internal eMMC with the OS. Once complete, you will see Post Provisioning status:
Note: The name "cool-sea" is an arbitrary name given to the device and can be modified.
9- Verify flashing to internal eMMC and online status
Now you may power off board, remove the SD card and reapply power. If flashing was successful, after a moment you should see the device online:
10- Remote controls
Finally, you can now click on the device (cool-sea link under Name field) and remotely reboot, open a console etc:
So there you have it! You are now up and running with a balenaOS on Nitrogen8M Mini.
Try a project using balena and the Nitrogen8M Mini
Now that you’ve successfully loaded balenaOS onto the Nitrogen8M Mini and have created an application on balenaCloud, put the board to the test!
To get more information about balena and its products, you can check out their website.
If you have any issues, please email support@boundarydevices.com