TOBI is the TI Out of Box Installer for Texas Instruments Sitara starter kit evaluation modules. It boots a small RAM-resident Linux environment, presents a terminal UI, downloads a selected OS image, streams/decompresses it directly to target media, and prepares the installed image for boot.
TOBI supports these starter kits and EVMs:
| Board | Yocto MACHINE |
Catalog SDK |
|---|---|---|
| SK-AM62P-LP | am62pxx-evm |
PROCESSOR-SDK-LINUX-AM62P |
| SK-AM62-LP | am62xx-lp-evm |
PROCESSOR-SDK-LINUX-AM62X |
| SK-AM62-SIP | am62xxsip-evm |
PROCESSOR-SDK-LINUX-AM62X |
| SK-AM62B | am62xx-evm |
PROCESSOR-SDK-LINUX-AM62X |
| BeaglePlay | beagleplay-ti |
PROCESSOR-SDK-LINUX-AM62X |
| SK-AM62A-LP | am62axx-evm |
PROCESSOR-SDK-LINUX-AM62A |
| TMDS62LEVM | am62lxx-evm |
AM62L-LINUX-SDK |
| SK-AM64B | am64xx-evm |
PROCESSOR-SDK-LINUX-AM64X |
| TMDS64EVM | am64xx-evm |
PROCESSOR-SDK-LINUX-AM64X |
| SK-AM68 | am68-sk |
PROCESSOR-SDK-LINUX-AM68 |
| SK-AM69 | am69-sk |
PROCESSOR-SDK-LINUX-AM69 |
The catalog also includes Armbian community downloads for supported boards that have matching Armbian board pages as a separate Community section.
Download the image for your board from TOBI 2026.10.5. This release uses tag v2026.10.5 and filenames such as TOBI-2026.10.5-SK-AM62P-LP.img.xz and TOBI-2026.10.5-BeaglePlay.img.xz; the board names match the table above. Download SHA256SUMS as well and verify the image checksum before writing it. The release contains the eleven board images and that checksum file.
2026.10.5 is a version bump for testing automatic updates from v2026.10.2-r2. After Welcome and proxy configuration, TOBI offers Install or Skip before the OS list. Install updates the verified current boot media and requires a manual reboot; Skip opens the OS list. Automatic updates, illustrated boot guides, post-flash QR codes, and SK-AM69 Boot0 preparation first appeared in revision 2. The original v2026.10.2 release predates those features and needs a manual SD update.
Write the image to a microSD card with an image-writing tool, select the board's SD boot mode, and power on with a debug UART connected. TOBI runs from RAM; select an OS and the target eMMC, then confirm the installation.
There are eleven board labels and ten Yocto machine builds. SK-AM64B and TMDS64EVM share am64xx-evm; their release filenames identify the intended board separately. The SK-AM62-SIP image uses the AM6254ATL BSP configuration.
After a successful eMMC installation, TOBI shows the detected board's switch settings and power-on instructions. Press G to display a QR code for the illustrated board guide; serial consoles print the same instructions and URL. Power off before changing switches or removing the recovery SD card, then reconnect power. Instructions remain available locally without a network connection.
The board-guide source builds a GitHub Pages site at https://texasinstruments.github.io/TOBI/. A repository administrator must enable Pages with GitHub Actions before the QR destinations are live. The application and website share docs/boot-guide.json, so board IDs, settings, and URLs stay consistent. The centered diagrams use zero-based BOOTMODE bit numbers, with tables mapping them to the physical switch numbers printed on the board. ON means toward the physical switch's ON marking. Each guide includes an official TI board photo. The guide records official references and revision caveats, including incorrect switch labels in some AM62B/SIP manual figures.
TOBI writes partitioned images to the eMMC user data area. AM62 starter kits, TMDS62LEVM, and TMDS64EVM can select MMCSD, port 0, filesystem (FS) mode for this layout. Hardware eMMC boot reads Boot0/Boot1 instead and requires a separate bootstrap. SK-AM64B and SK-AM68 have no onboard eMMC; their guides say so explicitly. See the TI filesystem boot explanation and each board guide's manual references.
BeaglePlay uses a USR button rather than configurable boot DIP switches. Its released-button straps select eMMC Boot0; pressing USR during power-on selects SD filesystem boot. SK-AM69's stock switches also require hardware eMMC boot instead of direct filesystem ROM boot. For TOBI recovery images on either board, TOBI provisions only the first-stage tiboot3.bin loader in Boot0 and verifies it by reading it back; the remaining stages load from the user-area filesystem. After success, remove the SD card while powered off. Leave BeaglePlay's USR released; on SK-AM69 set SW2.1 OFF, SW2.2 ON and SW2.3 ON, leaving SW2.4 unchanged. Third-party images require compatible bootloaders and cannot use this recovery-only bootstrap automatically. See BeaglePlay's boot configuration and TI's AM69-SK eMMC preparation.
If eMMC boot preparation reports a warning, TOBI stops with an error even if the image write completed. Correct the reported problem before trying to boot, and keep the SD recovery card available. Successful eMMC installs wait on the completion screen without an automatic reboot countdown; Enter still provides a manual reboot, while the instructions call for powering off to remove the SD card and set boot mode. A successful download and write does not establish that every board, image, and boot-switch combination has been tested on hardware.
After the welcome screen and any proxy setup, TOBI checks the loaded catalog for a newer stable TOBI release for the detected board. The update prompt shows the running and available versions, the current boot media, and Install / Skip choices.
Install rewrites the current boot media with the new board image, erasing all data on that device. TOBI verifies the boot source before writing and waits for a manual reboot after installation; the running RAM environment keeps its old version until reboot. Skip opens the OS list and suppresses another update prompt for the rest of that session.
New images pass the boot card's hardware CID from U-Boot to Linux so SD and eMMC copies can be distinguished even when their partition UUIDs match. Older boot environments can use a unique root=PARTUUID as a fallback. If the boot media cannot be identified uniquely, the system is not running from RAM, or that media is mounted, automatic installation is unavailable and Skip remains usable. This feature is available in images built from this change; previously published TOBI binaries cannot acquire it merely by refreshing their catalog.
catalog.json board definitions and downloadable-image catalog
tobi/ standalone Rust TUI application
meta-tobi/ Yocto layer for packaging TOBI into a RAM installer image
yocto/ build notes and helper scripts for TI Processor SDK Linux
docs/ shared board boot instructions and GitHub Pages site builder
The public OS catalog is hosted from this GitHub repository:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TexasInstruments/TOBI/master/catalog.json
TOBI uses that URL by default. For local testing or private catalogs, pass another source:
cargo run --manifest-path tobi/Cargo.toml -- --manifest /path/to/catalog.json --mode mock
cargo run --manifest-path tobi/Cargo.toml -- --manifest https://example.com/catalog.json --mode mockThe Yocto initramfs also uses the hosted catalog by default. It can be overridden at boot with:
tobi.manifest=https://example.com/catalog.json
or by setting TOBI_MANIFEST_URL in the initramfs environment.
The production image does not embed a downloadable-image catalog. If the board cannot reach the hosted catalog, TOBI falls back to local-image flashing only and asks the user to attach FAT32 media with a compatible image file.
When a proxy is needed, TOBI prompts for UTC system time first so TLS validation can succeed even if automatic time sync failed. It then lets the user choose the TI proxy (http://webproxy.ext.ti.com:80) or enter a manual proxy URL.
TOBI is licensed under GPL v2 only (GPL-2.0-only). See LICENSE.
Ubuntu 22.04 is the recommended Linux host baseline for this project.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential ca-certificates curl git pkg-config libssl-dev liblzma-dev
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
. "$HOME/.cargo/env"
cd tobi
cargo test
cargo build --release
cargo run -- --mode mockRunning TOBI with no arguments starts the production path: --mode live with write permissions enabled. Use --mode mock for local UI testing; mock mode never writes to a real block device. Use --no-allow-write to inspect live device detection without allowing writes.
From the repository root, build and run the TUI app in Docker:
docker build -f tobi/Dockerfile -t tobi .
docker run --rm -it tobiFrom the repository root, preview the UART interface using the local catalog:
cargo run --manifest-path tobi/Cargo.toml -- \
--manifest catalog.json --mode mock --serial-uiOn an x86_64 Linux host, build natively and let Yocto cross-compile the ARM image:
./yocto/scripts/build-tobi-ubuntu-x86_64.sh
./yocto/scripts/build-tobi-sd-image-ubuntu-x86_64.shBuild a specific board image by setting MACHINE:
MACHINE=am64xx-evm ./yocto/scripts/build-tobi-sd-image-ubuntu-x86_64.shBuild all currently defined board images:
./yocto/scripts/build-tobi-all-sd-images-ubuntu-x86_64.shThe x86_64 flow cross-compiles the standalone tobi binary to AArch64, then runs BitBake as a native x86_64 process. This is the preferred Docker flow for x86_64 hosts.
On Apple silicon, both the Rust app and the TI Yocto image can be built in native ARM64 Ubuntu Docker without Rosetta:
./yocto/scripts/build-tobi-ubuntu-arm64.sh
./yocto/scripts/build-tobi-sd-image-ubuntu-arm64.shBuild a specific board image by setting MACHINE:
MACHINE=am64xx-evm ./yocto/scripts/build-tobi-sd-image-ubuntu-arm64.shBuild all currently defined board images:
./yocto/scripts/build-tobi-all-sd-images-ubuntu-arm64.shThe Yocto helper uses Docker named volumes for the TI SDK checkout, downloads, sstate cache, and build home so BitBake runs on a Linux filesystem instead of macOS' default case-insensitive filesystem.
Build or provide an AArch64 Linux tobi binary first. On an ARM64 Linux host:
cd tobi
cargo build --release
mkdir -p ../out/aarch64-linux
cp target/release/tobi ../out/aarch64-linux/tobiThen set up TI Processor SDK Linux and add meta-tobi:
git clone https://git.ti.com/git/arago-project/oe-layersetup.git tisdk
cd tisdk
./oe-layertool-setup.sh -f configs/processor-sdk/processor-sdk-master-12.00.00.07.04-config.txt
cd build
. conf/setenv
bitbake-layers add-layer /absolute/path/to/meta-tobi
echo 'TOBI_PREBUILT = "/absolute/path/to/out/aarch64-linux/tobi"' >> conf/local.conf
MACHINE=am62pxx-evm bitbake tobi-sd-imageThe expected deploy artifacts are:
tobi-initramfs-am62pxx-evm.rootfs.cpio.xz
tobi-sd-image-am62pxx-evm.rootfs.wic.xz
tobi-sd-image-am62pxx-evm.rootfs.wic.bmap
Replace am62pxx-evm with another supported machine to generate that board's TOBI image.
The SD image is user-flashable. It boots TOBI into RAM and leaves the target eMMC free to be overwritten by the installer.
When flashing to eMMC, TOBI runs a post-flash boot patcher before reboot. It mounts the installed boot partition, updates uEnv.txt for recognized TI Yocto, TI Debian, and Armbian layouts so U-Boot selects the eMMC MMC index and rootfs partition, and adds an extlinux/extlinux.conf eMMC bootflow fallback for Armbian-style images whose built-in U-Boot environment starts on SD. When installing a TOBI image, it preserves the /recovery kernel, initramfs, DTB paths, and TOBI boot arguments while selecting eMMC. The TUI shows this as an explicit install phase, and the success popup includes the patch result and changed boot settings.
TOBI's TI U-Boot environment keeps SD preferred while it is present, but selects eMMC before importing the first FAT partition's uEnv.txt when SD cannot be rescanned, allowing the installed TOBI recovery configuration to be found with the SD card removed.
The Yocto layer patches TI U-Boot 2026.01 for MACHINE=beagleplay-ti with a
centered TI-red splash for three seconds followed by a ten-second menu on both
the debug UART and HDMI:
- Boot an OS from the SD card (
mmc1, default). - Boot an OS from eMMC (
mmc0). - Start TOBI Recovery, searching SD and then eMMC.
The regular OS entries support TI's legacy uEnv.txt path followed by standard U-Boot bootflow discovery for boot.scr, extlinux, and EFI. A missing device, filesystem, boot file, or recovery component reports the error and returns to the menu instead of dropping out of the boot flow.
TOBI SD images place the kernel, initramfs, and board DTB under the boot partition's /recovery directory. That directory normally appears as /boot/recovery after Linux mounts the boot partition. The root uEnv.txt remains compatible with an unmodified TI U-Boot and points it at the recovery payload.
To add the same payload to another WIC image from a layer that depends on meta-tobi, inherit the opt-in class in that image or its .bbappend:
inherit tobi-recoveryThe class adds recovery/Image, recovery/uInitrd, and the machine DTBs to IMAGE_BOOT_FILES. Check the target WKS boot-partition size before enabling it. It is intentionally not injected into every TI image by default yet: TOBI is a write-capable recovery environment, adds meaningful image size, and needs a defined signing and update policy for secure production systems.
Build a BeaglePlay image with:
MACHINE=beagleplay-ti ./yocto/scripts/build-tobi-sd-image-ubuntu-x86_64.shThe layer carries a video-only IT66121 bridge port and extends TI's TIDSS driver to activate the AM625 DPI pipeline. U-Boot reads the monitor EDID and falls back to 1280x720 at 60 Hz when EDID is unavailable. It emits DVI-compatible TMDS video over the HDMI connector; HDMI audio, HDCP, and runtime hot-plug handling are out of scope. Output remains multiplexed to the UART, so a missing or unsupported display does not remove serial access. Linux uses its normal DRM/TIDSS and IT66121 drivers after boot.
Directly chain-loading a second K3 u-boot.img is deliberately not part of this first version. On AM62x, ROM, tiboot3.bin, tispl.bin, TF-A/OP-TEE, and A53 U-Boot form a staged handoff, and a second U-Boot can depend on state supplied by the earlier stages. The supported path here is to let TOBI U-Boot boot the selected distro's normal OS configuration. Keeping a fully separate stock TI U-Boot should instead use a board-supported alternate boot source or bootloader slot and reboot into that chain.