Ubuntu on Microchip PIC64GX Curiosity Kit

Test environment

Hardware information

• Microchip PIC64GX Curiosity Kit
• USB Type-C to Type-C Cable (comes with the kit)
• SanDisk Ultra microSD UHS-I Card 32GB (comes with the kit)

OS info

• Ubuntu 24.10
  • Link: https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/24.10/release/ubuntu-24.10-preinstalled-server-riscv64+pic64gx.img.xz
  • Docs: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RISC-V/Microchip%20PIC64GX1000%20Curiosity%20Kit

Other info

• PIC64GX Hart Software Services
  • Repo: https://github.com/pic64gx/pic64gx-hart-software-services
• Board reference document: https://www.microchip.com/en-us/development-tool/curiosity-pic64gx1000-kit-es
  • PDF: https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/MPU64/ProductDocuments/SupportingCollateral/PIC64GX_Curiosity_Kit_User_Guide.pdf
• QuickStart Card: https://onlinedocs.microchip.com/oxy/GUID-6C67D962-A70D-4AD9-94B5-2AFDB8EFFD59-en-US-2/GUID-453EE85E-64C1-483D-9619-5CADA8E3FD8B.html

(Optional) Update Hart Software Services (HSS)

According to Ubuntu Wiki, Ubuntu depends on HSS v2024.06 or later.

If your board comes with a version older than this, you’ll need to upgrade HSS manually.

You can obtain the latest HSS source code from MicroChip’s official repo: https://github.com/pic64gx/pic64gx-hart-software-services

Write image to microSD

Use Rufus/Win32DiskImager/dd or any thing you like to write the image to microSD card.

xzcat ubuntu-24.10-preinstalled-server-riscv64+pic64gx.img.xz | sudo dd bs=1M conv=fsync status=progress of=/dev/sdX

Powering up the board

Use the stock USB Type-C to Type-C cable, connect the board to your PC.

The board should power on automatically, and the onboard USB-UART chip should also connect to your PC, which provides 3 serial ports.

On Windows there will be 3 COM ports, while on Linux you should get /dev/ttyUSB{0,1,2}

Serial Port Function	Windows	Linux
HSS Console	The first COM port	/dev/ttyUSB0
U-Boot & Linux Console	The second COM port	/dev/ttyUSB1
AMP Console	The third COM port	/dev/ttyUSB2

Use any tool you like, connect to the serial port and check boot logs.

On the first boot, Ubuntu will invoke cloud-init. Limited by the performance of the development board, startup may take several minutes, which is expected.

Username: ubuntu

Password: ubuntu

You will be prompted to change the password upon first login, follow the instructions.

Expected Results

The system should boot normally and allow login through the serial console.

Actual Results

CFT

Test Criteria

Successful: The actual result matches the expected result.

Failed: The actual result does not match the expected result.

Test Conclusion

CFT