Intel Edison Tutorial 1:

Introduction

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

Table of Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................................... 3
Things Needed ................................................................................................................ 3
Edison Overview ............................................................................................................ 4
Assembling the Edison board with the Arduino Breakout Board ............................. 5
Updating Firmware ......................................................................................................... 8
Running an Arduino Sketch ........................................................................................ 13
Appendix: Firmware Update Troubleshooting .......................................................... 16
Reference ...................................................................................................................... 16

Revision history
Version

Date

Comment

1.0

9/16/2015

First Draft

1.1

9/23/2015

Initial Release

1.2

12/12/2015

Troubleshooting section is added.

1.3

1/5/2016

Firmware update section is modified.

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

Introduction
In this tutorial, you will:
1. Go over a brief overview of the Intel Edison,
2. Assemble your Edison board with the Arduino breakout board,
3. Learn to update the firmware for the Intel Edison, and
4. Learn to upload Arduino sketches to the Intel Edison.

Things Needed
1. An Intel Edison with Arduino-compatible breakout
2. Two micro USB cables
3. A powered USB hub or an external power supply
4. A computer

Windows, Mac, or Linux

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

Edison Overview

Figure 1. The Intel Edison

Key Features
High performance, dual-core CPU and single core micro-controller supports complex data
collection in a low power package
Integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low-Energy* (LE), memory, and storage simplifies
configuration and increases scalability
40 multiplexed GPIO interfaces with expansion board options for total project design and
flexibility
Managed online community for project ideas and engagement with other product users
Intel product expert support and open source community software tools
Access to device-to-device and device-to-cloud connectivity framework to enable cross
device communication and a cloud based, multi-tenant, time-series analytics service
Information taken from https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/www/us/en/do-ityourself/edison.html.
You may find inspiring Intel IoT (Internet-of-things) projects at
http://www.instructables.com/id/intel/.

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

Assembling the Edison board with the Arduino Breakout

Board
1. Inside the box, you should have one Edison board, one Arduino Breakout board, four screws,

four corner spacers, and two nuts.

2. Place your Edison board on the bottom left corner.
3. Press on the Edison board just below where it says What will you make? until you feel a

snap. The board must firmly sit on the Arduino breakout.

Figure 2. Contents in the box

4. Use the nuts to secure the Edison board.

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

Figure 3. Close-up View of Edison Board

5. Attach the corner placers with the screws on the four corners of the Arduino Breakout.

Figure 4. Close-up View of Corner Placer

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

Figure 5. Screws Placement

6. Now, the board is assembled! Lets look at some of ports and switch on the right side of the

breakout board.

Figure 6. Ports

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

Updating Firmware
Note: The method provided in this section may be different from Intels official method. Please
adhere to the steps described below to avoid problems. If you cannot finish this section
successfully, refer to Appendix for troubleshooting.
1. Toggle the switch (refer to Figure 6) to enable device mode.
2. Connect a micro USB cable to the multi-gadget micro USB port and follow either of two

options below to connect your Edison to your computer.

1. Important: If you have a powered USB hub, please connect the USB hub to your

computer and the USB cable to the USB hub. Otherwise, your Edison may not be
supplied with enough power and reboot occasionally.
2. If you are using an external power supply for your Edison, a powered USB hub may not

be necessary. Your Edison can be directly connected to your computer.

3. The board will power on. Wait for it to finish booting. You can look at the on-board LEDs

that indicates the booting progress as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Close-up View of Board

4. Unplug the USB cable from the Edison boards multi-gadget port and make sure the Edison

is turned off (the on-board LEDs must be off).

5. Then, follow the steps below for your computers OS. (Windows on page 9, Mac OS X on

page 10, and Linux on page 11)

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

Windows
1. Follow the instruction on https://software.intel.com/en-us/get-started-edison-windows-32-

step2 to install the USB drivers (CDC, RNDIS, and DFU).

2. Download the latest Yocto complete image at https://software.intel.com/en-us/iot/hardware/e

dison/downloads.
3. Extract the downloaded file to a folder.
4. Download dfu-util.exe at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jhzwqm355guccj9/AACvh1Nrv69N

Kt-LZXWtCDyia?dl=0.
5. Put dfu-util.exe into the folder you extracted the image to.
6. Double-click on a Windows Batch file named flashall in the folder.
7. When you see a message Please plug and reboot the board, plug a USB cable into the multi

-gadget port and wait for a few second for your Edison to finish booting.
8. Do NOT unplug the cable while the installation process is running.

Figure 8. Firmware Installation

9. Once this process is successfully finished, your Edison now runs the latest firmware.
10. You are now ready to build systems on this platform!

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

Mac OS X
1. Download the latest Yocto complete image at https://software.intel.com/en-us/iot/hardware/e

dison/downloads.
2. Extract the downloaded file to a directory.
3. Open Terminal.
4. Navigate to the directory you extracted the image to. If you are not familiar with the comman

d line, refer to page 6 of Tutorial 2.

5. $ ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/ins

tall)"
6. $ brew install dfu-util coreutils gnu-getopt

Figure 9. Terminal Output

7. $ sudo ./flashall.sh
8. Enter your Mac login password when you are asked for password.
9. If you get an error message permission denied, enter chmod +x flashall.sh and then

repeat Step 7.
10. When you see a message Please plug and reboot the board, plug a USB cable into the multi

-gadget port and wait for a few second for your Edison to finish booting.
11. Do NOT unplug the cable while the installation process is running.

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

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Figure 10. Firmware Installation

12. Once this process is successfully finished, your Edison now runs the latest firmware.
13. You are now ready to build systems on this platform!

Linux (Ubuntu)
1. Download the latest Yocto complete image at https://software.intel.com/en-

us/iot/hardware/edison/downloads.
2. Extract the downloaded file to a directory.
3. Open Terminal.
4. Navigate to the directory you extracted the image to. If you are not familiar with the

command line, refer to page 6 of Tutorial 2.

5. $ sudo apt-get install dfu-util
6. Enter your Ubuntu login password when you are asked for password.
7. $ sudo ./flashall.sh
8. If you get an error message permission denied, enter chmod +x flashall.sh and then

repeat step 7.

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

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9. When you see a message Please plug and reboot the board, plug a USB cable into the

multi-gadget port and wait for a few second for your Edison to finish booting.
10. Do NOT unplug the cable while the installation process is running.

Figure 11. Firmware Installation

11. Once this process is successfully finished, your Edison now runs the latest firmware.
12. You are now ready to build systems on this platform!

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

12

Running an Arduino Sketch

Installing Arduino IDE
Windows and Linux users should follow the steps below. Linux users may refer to
https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/install-arduino-ide-on-intel-iot-platforms and proceed to
Running Blink Example
1. Download Arduino software from http://www.arduino.cc/en/main/software (Windows users:

Download Windows ZIP file for non admin install).

2. (Windows users only) If you dont have 7zip already, download from http://www.7zip.org/

and install 7zip.

3. Unzip the downloaded file. (Windows users: right-click and choose 7-zip -> extract to

arduino-)
4. Open the Arduino software.
5. Choose Tools -> Board -> Boards Manager.
6. In the list of boards, choose Intel i686 Boards and install.

Figure 12. Choose Board

7. Your Arduino IDE is ready!

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

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Running Blink Example

1. Power on the board, toggle the switch to choose device mode, and connect a micro USB

cable to the multi-gadget USB port and your computer.

2. Open Arduino IDE.
3. Go to Tools -> Board and select Intel Edison at the bottom of the list.
4. Find out what port the Edison board is using, then go to Tools -> Port and select the port.

Windows: The port is likely to be COM3 or higher and named Intel Edison Virtual
COM Port.

Figure 13. Select COM Port on Windows

Mac: The port is likely to be /dev/cu.usbmodemxxxx.

Figure 14. Select COM Port on Mac

Linux: The port is likely to be /dev/ttyACM0. If it is not available, refer to

https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-iot-platforms-blink-led-arduino-ide.

5. Go to File -> Examples -> 01.Basics -> Blink to open Blink sketch. This sketch writes

High and Low to the on-board LED to make it blink.

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

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6. In the upper left corner, click on the icon with the check mark to verify the code and then,

click on the icon with right arrow to upload the sketch to the board.

Figure 15. Check and Run

7. You should see Transfer complete message at the bottom.

Figure 16. Transfer Complete

8. If not, check the board selection and the port selection (steps 3 and 4).
9. You should see a blinking LED on your board.

Figure 17. Blinking LED

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

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Appendix: Troubleshoot Firmware Updating

Step 1. Please make sure your Edison is supplied with enough power.
l Use a powered USB hub or an external power supply.
Step 3. Please make sure your Edison is in device mode.
l The switch near the USB port on your Edison needs to be in down position.
Step 4. If you use a Windows machine, please check if the USB drivers are installed properly.
1. Connect your Edison to your computer via multi-gadget port.
2. Open Device Manager.
3. If you can find Edison listed under Other devices with ! in a yellow triangle, y
ou need to re-install the drivers.
4. Right-click on Edison and click on uninstall.
5. Follow the instruction on https://software.intel.com/en-us/get-started-edison-window
s-32-step2 to manually install the drivers.
Step 5. Please check whether your computer recognizes your Edison as a mass storage device. If
your computer does not, the firmware installation was interrupted and the image is corrupted.
Try Updating Firmware section again and please keep the USB cable unplugged for few
minutes after the installation process is finished.

References
1. https://software.intel.com/en-us/iot/library/edison-getting-started
2. https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/flash-tool-lite-user-manual
3. https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/install-arduino-ide-on-intel-iot-platforms
4. https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-iot-platforms-blink-led-arduino-ide

Intel Edison Tutorial 1: Introduction

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