Question about development in STM32MP157

[JMart.13]

Hi everyone, we are developing a project where we are planning to use a processor unit for the task, so, we are thinking of buying the STM32MP157D - DK1 for the development of the project, is the first time we are using such system and we have the following questions:

1) Can we use any operating system? like Ubuntu, Debian, etc.. apart of the OpenSTLinux? we are conscious about the yocto project and the fact we can make a "custom" linux from that, but, we would like to know that.

2) We can simulate in a virtual machine the OpenSTLinux OS?

3) How is the development process with these systems? Can we develop an application in python that manipulates the peripherals like we were programming a microcontroller or how does that work?

Thanks for the answers.

[KnarfB]

1) People have built Ubuntu/Debian ports for that MPUs, but I'm not aware of a general ready-to-use solution for that. The pros/cons heavily depend on your requirements: Using a fancy (Ubuntu like) GUI? Using Ubuntu/Debian package servers for updates? Using alot of STM32MP1 specific hardware interfaces and other advanced features (like secure boot, M4-core, etc..)?

3) A properly configured Linux kernel exposes the hardware interfaces in the standard Linux way, e.g. I2C and SPI devices, GPIO, CAN, ... which can be easily accessed from C code. Not sure about comprehensive coverage of all those interfaces in Python. Note, that you can allocate many peripherals to the integrated M4-core instead of Linux. Then, you can write MCU firmware for that as usual. Might be helpful for real-time stuff like motor control etc..

[JMart.13]

Hi @KnarfB​ Thanks for the answer.

1) Honestly, we don't require a user interface, that was just a question we made and was only curiosity.

2) We have made some test with RPI with an OS created with the YOCTO project and is working pretty well, I hope in the STM processor works well too.

Thanks again.