Hopefully, this guide will clear up any installation problems for you or just make it easy to install JetPack 4.2 onto your Nvidia Jetson TX2.
The Setup
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Nvidia Jetson TX2 developer kit
- two ethernet cables
- a host PC
- a keyboard and mouse (you’ll need one for the Jetson to set it up and one for your host PC)
- A USB Hub for your Jetson (to plug in the keyboard and mouse)
- Potentially a network switch
I did not end up using a network switch but this could be necessary if you do not have enough Ethernet ports available.
Once you have the Jetson turned on and your host computer turned on, you’ll want to connect the two via micro-USB. This cable came with the developer kit. You’ll want the smaller end plugged into the Jetson and the other end plugged into your PC.
Installation
Working with your host PC, you’ll want to download the SDK manager from this link. Once, you have installed it, open it and it should prompt you to log into your Nvidia developer account. If you do not have one, they are free to make, just make sure you do not make an account through Google or Facebook (or whatever social media they let you do it through) because you will not be able to figure out your password for the SDK manager (The reset password option on Nvidia’s website is super finicky and it literally just does not work). In order to make an Nvidia developer account, you’ll first have to make an Nvidia account and then from there upgrade it to a developer account.
Once you have logged into the SDK manager through your developer account, your screen should show the following on your host PC (from here, you can check out this link to install, but if you run into the same installation issues that I ran into, I would keep reading this instead!):
Change your target hardware to Jetson TX2 and choose your appropriate configurations. Move on to Step 2 and accept the licenses and change the paths to your downloads if you would like. Select continue and proceed to Step 3.
Enter your sudo password and allow the downloads/installations to occur (if not everything installs, take a look at the section of this article named “For Installation Errors”). The SDK manager will prompt you to do an automatic setup for the Jetson TX2. It should look similar to the image below:
The first time I flashed Jetpack 4.2 onto the Jetson, I had to do a manual setup. I would only do a manual setup if all else fails. Before flashing it on, you have to set up the TX2. Make sure once you are done with the setup on the TX2, you run the command, “ifconfig”, in the terminal of the TX2 to change the IP address to the eth0 IP address. This will allow for your Automatic Setup to work. Enter your username and password and click Flash.
I would like to reiterate that the IP address that is initially provided for the Jetson will not work. You must change it to the eth0 IP address. If it installs successfully, you can go to step 4 and be done! If not, take a look below.
For Installation Errors
There is a chance that you’ll run into the same installation errors that I did when I was trying to install SDK components on the Jetson TX2, so I would recommend taking a look at this link to fix a JSON file. If you don’t feel like looking at that link, I’ll walk you through it right here.
Open the SDKM level 3 json configuration file. The typical location is the following:
~/Downloads/nvidia/sdkm_downloads/sdkml3_jetpack_l4t_42.json
Use your favorite text editor (vim, nano, etc.) and open this file giving yourself sudo permissions so that you can edit it (An example command in linux would be sudo vim sdkml3_jetpack_l4t_42.json).
Find the following and implement the changes as needed:
You will also want to modify the following sections:
Save these changes and then run through SDK manager all over again using the eth0 IP address and everything should install correctly. Hopefully, Jetpack 4.2 is installed and you’ll be able to use the prebuilt libraries on the Jetson TX2. Enjoy!
