Using a Physical Device

This guide covers building and flashing the Ocre runtime onto actual development boards. While simulated environments are great for initial testing, deploying to real hardware allows you to test your applications under authentic conditions and take advantage of board-specific features like sensors and networking capabilities.

Please refer to the Building and Flashing the Ocre Runtime section for your board in our in our Board Support section for your boards name, as well as any additional setup instructions should you need them.

Steps

1. Install Dependencies and Zephyr SDK

Complete the Install dependencies and the Install the Zephyr SDK sections for your host operating system from the Zephyr (v3.7.0) Getting Started Guide.

Currently the Ocre runtime is built on Zephyr 3.7.0. As a result, the links in the above section reference v3.7.0 documentation and not the latest documentation. It is advised to follow the links in this guide to ensure compatibility with your device.

2. Create a Virtual Python Environment (venv)

Create a Python virtual environment (venv) to isolate your Python project dependencies.

mkdir runtime && cd runtime
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

You may need to install the python3-venv package (or equivalent) on your host system beforehand.

3. Install WEST

Install the west CLI tool, which is needed to build, run and manage Zephyr applications.

pip install west

4. Initialize the workspace

Now, initialize the ocre-runtime repo.

west init -m https://github.com/project-ocre/ocre-runtime.git

Lastly, update the repo with the west utility.

west update

This step may take 5-10 minutes as it pulls all Zephyr Project board sources.

5. Install Additional Zephyr (pip) requirements

In order to build the Ocre runtime properly, you’ll need to install a few remaining requirements for Zephyr.

pip install -r zephyr/scripts/requirements.txt

6. Build the Ocre Runtime

Build the application for your specific board, replacing BOARD_NAME with your board’s name:

west build -b BOARD_NAME ./application -d build -- -DMODULE_EXT_ROOT=`pwd`/application

Your board’s name can be found in the Zephyr Supported Boards guide.

7. Flash the Ocre Runtime to Your Device

To flash the Ocre Runtime to your device follow these steps:

  1. Connect your board to your computer and ensure it’s recognized by your serial console. (See the Connecting to the Device section in the board support guide for your specific board for more details.)
  2. From your terminal, flash the application to your device: 
    west flash
  3. After flashing, restart/reset your board to run the application. If successful, you should see the following output on your console:

Troubleshooting

This section covers common issues you might encounter when building and flashing the Ocre runtime to physical hardware, along with their solutions.

  • Unsupported Board: If you’re unable to flash to your board, and it’s not listed in our Board Support, check out our Adding Board Support guide under the Board Support section. This guide will walk you through the process of adding support for your specific hardware.

Next Steps

Now that you have successfully built and flashed the Ocre runtime to your device, you’re ready to create your first Ocre application. Head over to Your First Container to get started building containerized applications.