Arch Mix

Vendor: Seeed Studio
Features: External Flash, External RAM, RGB LED, USB, microSD
Source on GitHub: mimxrt/SEEED_ARCH_MIX
More info: Website

Installation instructions

The Seeed Arch Mix board is delivered without firmware. The best option to install MicroPython is installing a UF2 bootstrap loader first, which then can be used to install and update MicroPython. The bootloader has to be installed only once.

For initial deployment of the bootloader a few preparation steps are required, which have to be done once.

  1. Get the NXP program sdphost for your operating system, e.g. from https://github.com/adafruit/tinyuf2/tree/master/ports/mimxrt10xx/sdphost. You can also get them from the NXP web sites.

  2. Get the UF2 boot-loader package https://github.com/adafruit/tinyuf2/releases/tag/0.20.1/tinyuf2-imxrt1050_evkb-0.21.0.zip and extract the files tinyuf2-imxrt1050_evkb-0.21.0.bin. You may as well go for a newer release.

Now you have all files at hand that you will need for updating.

  1. Get the firmware file you want to upload with the .uf2 extension from the MicroPython download page.

  2. At the Seeed Arch Mix board, connect the RX pin (J3-19) with 3.3V, and change the DIP switches 3 an 4 at SW1 from 1-0 to 0-1.

  3. Push Reset.

  4. Run the commands:

sudo ./sdphost -u 0x1fc9,0x0130 -- write-file 0x1000 tinyuf2-imxrt1050_evkb-0.21.0.bin
sudo ./sdphost -u 0x1fc9,0x0130 -- jump-address 0x2000

Wait until a drive icon appears on the computer (or mount it explicitly). When using the above mentioned bootloader, it has the label RT1050BOOT. Then the UF2 bootloader is permanently installed.

Using sudo is Linux specific. You may not need it at all, if the access rights are set properly, and you will not need it for Windows.

  1. At the Seeed Arch Mix board, disconnect the RX pin (J3-19) with 3.3V, and change the DIP switches 3 an 4 at SW1 back to 1-0.

  2. Once the upload of the bootloader is finished or when it is already installed, push Reset twice.

The bootloader should start and show a drive icon. Do not push too fast. The i.MX RT MCU have no dedicated Reset Pin and are reset through power cycling, which may be slow. Copy the .uf2 version of MicroPython to this drive to install or update MicroPython. If after steps 1-4 the bootloader drive is already shown, you do not have to reset again.

Once the UF2 bootloader is installed, only step 6 is required to deploy MicroPython. If MicroPython is already installed, the bootloader can as well be invoked by calling machine.bootloader() or switching the USB baud rate at the PC to 1200 baud and back.

If at any time the flash content is corrupted you can always start over from the beginning.

Firmware

Releases

v1.24.1 (2024-11-29) .hex / [.bin] / [Release notes] (latest)
v1.24.0 (2024-10-25) .hex / [.bin] / [Release notes]
v1.23.0 (2024-06-02) .hex / [.bin] / [Release notes]
v1.22.2 (2024-02-22) .hex / [.bin] / [Release notes]
v1.22.1 (2024-01-05) .hex / [.bin] / [Release notes]
v1.22.0 (2023-12-27) .hex / [.bin] / [Release notes]
v1.21.0 (2023-10-05) .hex / [.bin] / [Release notes]
v1.20.0 (2023-04-26) .hex / [.bin] / [Release notes]
v1.19.1 (2022-06-18) .hex / [.bin] / [Release notes]
v1.18 (2022-01-17) .hex / [.bin] / [Release notes]

Preview builds

v1.25.0-preview.295.g30acb16ad (2025-02-11) .uf2 / [.bin] / [.hex]
v1.25.0-preview.288.g3b6252466 (2025-02-11) .uf2 / [.bin] / [.hex]
v1.25.0-preview.284.gb11ba39c5 (2025-02-11) .uf2 / [.bin] / [.hex]
v1.25.0-preview.283.g11c9656fa (2025-02-10) .uf2 / [.bin] / [.hex]
(These are automatic builds of the development branch for the next release)