Minimalistic Jetson Orin Nano SD Image

Robotics & Edge Computing Jetson Systems Jetson Nano
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TLDR: Is there a download link to a ready-to-install Minimalistic SD Image for the Jetson Orin Nano with latest compatible JetPack?

According to the Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit Getting Started Guide you use NVIDIA JetPack image to install the Linux OS (with useful tools and drivers installed). Note that while the link shows JetPack 7…

Jetson Orin Nano Developer Guide pointing to JetPack 7
Jetson Orin Nano Developer Guide pointing to JetPack 71917×1024 130 KB

… I realised that JetPack 7.x is not compatible with the Jetson Orin Nano. The Jetson Orin Nano is compatible with up to JetPack 6.2.1.

Jetpack 7.1 cannot be installed on the Jetson Orin Nano, instead latest version is JetPack 6.2.1 at current
Jetpack 7.1 cannot be installed on the Jetson Orin Nano, instead latest version is JetPack 6.2.1 at current1914×1026 165 KB

Note that there is another tutorial which " supplements the official Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit Getting Started Guide." that refers to JetPack 6.2 (which I read as Jetson 6.2.x).

In the middle of this, how can we have a simple workflow to get a base image which:

  • (a) includes all the required latest JetPack libraries for the Jetson Orin Nano hardware,
  • (b) doesn’t include additional bloat like LibreOffice
  • (c) is easy to reproduce

Related posts:

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Hello @jetson.lover,

I would suggest you go with Yocto.
Setting up a custom meta-layer is relatively fast once you are familiar with Yocto, we’ve done several in the past and could create a minimalist distro in 1 to 2 weeks depending on system requirements.

After that, is the most reproducible setup you can get. Just with 1 command everyone with the meta-layer would be able to build the exact same image up to the specific commit versions used for each one of the packages.

The image would be also incredibly minimalistic given that you get to choose the packages that will be installed on the image.

Would you be opposed to exploring the Yocto route?

best regards,
Andrew
Embedded Software Engineer at ProventusNova

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Hello Andrew,

Thanks for sharing your experience with Yocto with custom meta-layers as a reproducible setup. I would prefer to stick to Ubuntu 22.04 (latest Ubuntu distro officially supported by NVIDIA via Jetpack 6.2.1 on the Jetson Orin Nano), especially since NVIDIA is not listed as a member on the Yocto Project homepage.

I would expect that, as the producer of the Jetson Orin Nano, NVIDIA themselves already provide a minimalist base image. Especially given that @dusty_nv has provided an extensive (although outdated) repository of CUDA containers.

But maybe I am mistaken?

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@jetson.lover,

Sure, it’s a pleasure to help!

Now, although NVIDIA is not listed as a member of the Yocto project homepage, they support yocto ver extensively. They have something called OE4T which is stands for Open Embedded For Tegra and is NVIDIA’s official meta-layer. It has a very active community and we have had clients use Yocto on industries like health care, defense and entertainment with a Jetson platform.

I am not sure if NVIDIA offers a minimalistic rootfs, my understanding is that they only offer the development rootfs that we all know and comes with a ton of stuff for people to play with.

That being said, if you wanted to create your own minimalistic image or a custom yocto distro without pouring hours of your team into it, just let me know and we could help you out with that.

best regards,
Andrew
Embedded Software Engineer at ProventusNova

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