As the balena platform sees more and more use in edge AI applications, we continue to add compatibility for the latest AI-focused hardware and software. With that in mind, we’re pleased to announce balenaOS support for the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 64 GB and JetPack 6 for all of our Orin-based OS versions.
AGX Orin 64GB
Balena has supported the 32 GB version of the AGX Orin Developer Kit since it was introduced almost two years ago. The AGX Orin Dev kit is now produced solely with 64GB of RAM, and contains a different kernel device tree than the older 32GB version. This, along with some other low level changes required the new “jetson-agx-orin-devkit-64gb“ balena device type to properly support it. This device type is in production now, and ready to use!
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In addition, balenaOS for the Seeed reComputer J3010-Edge AI Device with NVIDIA Jetson OrinImage may be NSFW.
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Nano 4GB module has also recently been released.
JetPack 6
JetPack is NVIDIA’s collection of software for Jetson devices that includes the board support package (BSP) also known as L4T (Linux For Tegra). Each version of balenaOS for Jetson devices includes the kernel and bootloaders from a specific version of the BSP. (For more details regarding JetPack, BSP and L4T as it relates to balena, check out our post about Jetson devices on balena.)
NVIDIA recently released version 6 of JetPack which includes L4T 36.3. This version of JetPack is compatible with all Jetson Orin dev kits and production models supported on the balena platform (AGX Orin 32/64GB, Orin Nano 8GB, Orin NX 16GB, Seeed J3010, Seeed J4012). Accordingly, versions of balenaOS for these devices now include the BSP from JetPack 6. Note that all future releases of balenaOS for these device types will use L4T 36.x / JetPack 6 i.e. there will be no future balenaOS releases using L4T 35.x / JetPack 5 for these device types. (All other supported Jetson devices such as the TX2, Jetson Nano, and Xavier will continue to have balenaOS releases based on earlier JetPack versions.)
Upgrade Path
If you’re upgrading your Orin device from an earlier version of balenaOS to one that is based on JetPack 6, NVIDIA has specific recommendations in order to achieve the best results:
- If your device is provisioned with balenaOS < v5.3.21 (< L4T 35.5.0) then you need to upgrade in two steps: first upgrade to balenaOS v5.3.21+rev2, then to v5.3.21+rev3.
- If your device is on balenaOS v5.3.21+rev2 then upgrade to v5.3.21+rev3 before upgrading to a JetPack 6-based version of balenaOS.
These steps ensure that both bootchains are updated to L4T 35.5.0, as required by the Jetpack 6 BSP, and also provides a more resilient host OS upgrade process.
To sum up
- BalenaOS for the NVIDIAJetson AGX Orin Devkit 64GB is now in production and ready to use.
- BalenaOS (starting with v6) for all supported Orin device types is based on JetPack 6 (L4T 36.3)
- If upgrading from an earlier version of balenaOS based on JetPack 5 or older, follow the recommended steps
- If you’re starting a new fleet/project on the balena platform, it’s recommended to use an Orin device on JetPack 6 (balenaOS v6 or later).
- For more information about getting started with Jetson devices on balena, check out this blog post. In the near future we will also update the jetson-sample-new example to use JetPack 6 / L4T 36.x.
If you have any questions, there are lots of ways to get in touch with us. If you are a current customer you can contact support or your account manager. If you are a new customer you are welcome to comment below, use the forums, or email solutions@balena.io.
The post Introducing balena Support For The NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin 64 And JetPack 6 appeared first on balena Blog.