Writing the encoder image and booting

By the end, your Jetson Nano will boot straight into the encoder and greet you with the wizard on the touch screen.

You need: the hardware from What you need · a microSD card · a computer with a card reader · 15 minutes

Steps

1. Open the encoder releases on GitHub and look for the latest one that comes with an image: not all of them do.
2. Download the file eirl-encoder-<version>-jetson-nano.img.xz. If the image is from an older version than the latest, no problem: as soon as it has internet, the encoder will offer you the latest one.
3. Write the card with balenaEtcher: pick the .img.xz as it is, without decompressing it, and the card. Etcher decompresses it and checks what it wrote. Everything on the card is erased.
4. Put the card in the Jetson Nano, plug the screen into the board’s HDMI and plug in the power.
5. Wait. The first boot takes a little longer: the system grows to the whole card and the encoder creates its identity, which is its name (eirl-encoder- and four characters) and its Wi-Fi’s.
6. Follow the first-boot wizard on the touch screen.

Don’t cut the power on the first boot

If your board’s firmware is older than the one the image needs, the first boot updates it, once: about 2 more minutes on the boot screen, and then the board restarts by itself. The screen doesn’t say yet that it’s updating. Keep it plugged in until the wizard shows up.

Want to check the download?

Every image is signed with the same key as the updates. How to verify the signature before writing it, in the GitHub README.

Updates

From here on, new versions arrive over the internet: you never write the card again. The encoder checks for them by itself and tells you in Settings, under Updates. They install when you press the button, and never while you’re live. If a new version doesn’t start, it goes back to the previous one by itself. The details are in Updating the encoder.

Not working?

The screen shows nothing. Check that the board is the 4 GB with the B01 carrier and that the screen is on the board’s HDMI. If it stays black, write the card again: a half-finished write doesn’t boot.

It restarts by itself while booting or soon after. It’s the power: 5 V 4 A through the barrel jack, with the J48 jumper and a short cable. A 2 A supply can’t take the boot with capture cards or modems plugged in.

It’s been on the boot screen for several minutes. If it’s the first boot, it may be updating the firmware: that’s about 2 minutes, and then it restarts by itself. Wait without unplugging it.

Next step

• The first-boot wizard.
• Broadcasting with the EnhancedIRL Encoder.