Update with Boot Image

In some cases, updating the DevKit firmware using standard methods may not be possible or sufficient. This includes scenarios such as:

  • The DevKit’s internal storage is corrupted or fails to boot.

  • You need to prepare multiple bootable SD cards or removable drives for deployment.

In these situations, you can use the sima-cli bootimg command to download and write a complete bootable image to a removable device (e.g., SD card or NVMe drive). Alternatively, you may use third-party tools like BalenaEtcher.

Note

This feature is supported only on the headless image. Customers who wish to flash the device with the full image using this procedure should first update to the headless image, then use the sima-cli update command to upgrade to the full image.

sima-cli bootimg -v 1.7.0 --boardtype [modalix|mlsoc]

This command performs the following steps:

  1. Downloads the bootable image for the specified board type (modalix or mlsoc) and SDK version.

  2. Scans your host system for removable storage devices.

  3. Prompts you to confirm which device to write to.

  4. Writes the boot image directly to the selected device.

After the process completes, you can safely eject the SD card and insert it into the DevKit. On next boot, the DevKit will start from the new image.

Important Notes:

  • This command must be run on a Linux or macOS host.

  • An internet connection is required to download the image.