In this article by Avirup Basu, the author of the book Intel Edison Projects, we will be covering the following topics:

• Setting up the Intel Edison
• Setting up the developer environment

(For more resources related to this topic, see here.)

In every Internet of Things(IoT) or robotics project, we have a controller that is the brain of the entire system. Similarly we have Intel Edison. The Intel Edison computing module comes in two different packages. One of which is a mini breakout board the other of which is an Arduino compatible board. One can use the board in its native state as well but in that case the person has to fabricate his/hers own expansion board. The Edison is basically a size of a SD card. Due to its tiny size, it's perfect for wearable devices. However it's capabilities makes it suitable for IoT application and above all, the powerful processing capability makes it suitable for robotics application. However we don't simply use the device in this state. We hook up the board with an expansion board. The expansion board provides the user with enough flexibility and compatibility for interfacing with other units. The Edison has an operating system that is running the entire system. It runs a Linux image. Thus, to setup your device, you initially need to configure your device both at the hardware and at software level.

Initial hardware setup

We'll concentrate on the Edison package that comes with an Arduino expansion board. Initially you will get two different pieces:

• The Intel® Edison board
• The Arduino expansion board

The following given is the architecture of the device:

Architecture of Intel Edison. Picture Credits: https://software.intel.com/en-us/

We need to hook these two pieces up in a single unit. Place the Edison board on top of the expansion board such that the GPIO interfaces meet at a single point. Gently push the Edison against the expansion board. You will get a click sound. Use the screws that comes with the package to tighten the set up. Once, this is done, we'll now setup the device both at hardware level and software level to be used further. Following are the steps we'll cover in details:

• Downloading necessary software packages
• Connecting your Intel® Edison to your PC
• Flashing your device with the Linux image
• Connecting to a Wi-Fi network
• SSH-ing your Intel® Edison device

Downloading necessary software packages

To move forward with the development on this platform, we need to download and install a couple of software which includes the drivers and the IDEs. Following is the list of the software along with the links that are required:

• Intel® Platform Flash Tool Lite (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html)
• Intel XDK for IoT (https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software)
• FileZilla FTP client (https://filezilla-project.org/download.php)
• Notepad ++ or any other editor (https://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v7.3.html)

Drivers and miscellaneous downloads

• Latest Yocto* Poky image
• Windows standalone driver for Intel Edison
• FTDI drivers (http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm)
• The 1st and the 2nd packages can be downloaded from (

  Different sections of Arduino expansion board of Intel Edison

  A small switch exists between the USB port and the OTG port. This switch must be towards the OTG port because we're going to power the device from the OTG port and not through the DC power port. Once it is connected to your PC, open your device manager and expands the ports section. If all installations of drivers were successful, then you must see two ports:

  • Intel Edison virtual com port
  • USB serial port

  Flashing your device

  Once your device is successfully detected an installed, you need to flash your device with the Linux image. For this we'll use the flash tool provided by Intel:

  1. Open the flash lite tool and connect your device to the PC:

     

     Intel phone flash lite tool

  2. Once the flash tool is opened, click on Browse... and browse to the .zip file of the Linux image you have downloaded.
  3. After you click on OK, the tool will automatically unzip the file.
  4. Next, click on Start to flash:

     

     Intel® Phone flash lite tool – stage 1

  5. You will be asked to disconnect and reconnect your device. Do as the tool says and the board should start flashing. It may take some time before the flashing is completed. You are requested not to tamper with the device during the process.
  6. Once the flashing is completed, we'll now configure the device:

     

     Intel® Phone flash lite tool – complete

  Configuring the device

  After flashing is successfully we'll now configure the device. We're going to use the PuTTY console for the configuration. PuTTY is an SSH and telnet client, developed originally by Simon Tatham for the Windows platform. We're going to use the serial section here.

  Before opening PuTTY console: Open up the device manager and note the port number for USB serial port. This will be used in your PuTTY console:

  

  Ports for Intel® Edison in PuTTY

  Next select Serialon PuTTY console and enter the port number. Use a baud rate of 115200. Press Open to open the window for communicating with the device:

  

  PuTTY console – login screen

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  Once you are in the console of PuTTY, then you can execute commands to configure your Edison. Following is the set of tasks we'll do in the console to configure the device:

  • Provide your device a name
  • Provide root password (SSH your device)
  • Connect your device to Wi-Fi

  Initially when in the console, you will be asked to login. Type in root and press Enter. Once entered you will see root@edison which means that you are in the root directory:

  

  PuTTY console – login success

  Now, we are in the Linux Terminal of the device. Firstly, we'll enter the following command for setup:

  configure_edison –setup

  Press Enter after entering the command and the entire configuration will be somewhat straightforward:

  

  PuTTY console – set password

  Firstly, you will be asked to set a password. Type in a password and press Enter. You need to type in your password again for confirmation. Next, we'll set up a name for the device:

  

  PuTTY console – set name

  Give a name for your device. Please note that this is not the login name for your device. It's just an alias for your device. Also the name should be at-least 5 characters long. Once you entered the name, it will ask for confirmation press y to confirm. Then it will ask you to setup Wi-Fi. Again select y to continue. It's not mandatory to setup Wi-Fi, but it's recommended. We need the Wi-Fi for file transfer, downloading packages, and so on:

  

  PuTTY console – set Wi-Fi

  Once the scanning is completed, we'll get a list of available networks. Select the number corresponding to your network and press Enter. In this case it 5 which corresponds to avirup171which is my Wi-Fi. Enter the network credentials. After you do that, your device will get connected to the Wi-Fi. You should get an IP after your device is connected:

  

  PuTTY console – set Wi-Fi -2

  After successful connection you should get this screen. Make sure your PC is connected to the same network. Open up the browser in your PC, and enter the IP address as mentioned in the console. You should get a screen similar to this:

  

  Wi-Fi setup – completed

  Now, we are done with the initial setup. However Wi-Fi setup normally doesn't happens in one go. Sometimes your device doesn't gets connected to the Wi-Fi and sometimes we cannot get this page as shown before. In those cases you need to start wpa_cli to manually configure the Wi-Fi.

  Refer to the following link for the details:

  http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/boards-and-kits/000006202.html

  Summary

  In this article, we have covered the areas of initial setup of Intel Edison and configuring it to the network. We have also covered how to transfer files to the Edison and vice versa.

  Resources for Article:

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  Further resources on this subject:

  • Getting Started with Intel Galileo [article]
  • Creating Basic Artificial Intelligence [article]
  • Using IntelliTrace to Diagnose Problems with a Hosted Service [article]

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