driver

IMX708 Camera Driver for JetPack 6.2

Out-of-tree driver for the Sony IMX708 camera sensor (Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3) on NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano running JetPack 6.2 (L4T R36.4.x).

⚠️ Read this first — JetPack 6.2 specifics

This README documents the standard RidgeRun driver flow, which targets JetPack 6.0. On JetPack 6.2, three of those steps do not work as written, and the top-level installation guide is the authoritative path:

1. Use the corrected overlay, not the bundled dts/ one. The overlays in this directory carry RidgeRun's original CSI parameters (channel@1, discontinuous_clk="yes", lane_polarity="6"), which cause uncorr_err: request timed out on JP6.2. Use ../../docs/overlays/imx708-nvidia-csi.dts (channel@0, discontinuous_clk="no", lane_polarity="0").
2. Pre-merge the overlay into the base DTB with fdtoverlay and use an FDT line in extlinux.conf. The OVERLAYS directive and jetson-io are ignored by the UEFI boot flow on JP6.2 — see scripts/apply_overlay.sh and scripts/fix_extlinux.sh.
3. Capture with v4l2-ctl, not nvarguscamerasrc. The nvargus examples below require ISP tuning files that don't exist for the IMX708; use the raw Bayer + Python path from the installation guide.

The build/install steps below (the kernel module) are still correct — you do need nv_imx708.ko from here. It's only the overlay/boot/capture steps that differ on JP6.2.

Important: CAM1 Port Only

JetPack 6.2 only supports the IMX708 camera on the CAM1 port, NOT CAM0.

Connect your camera ribbon cable to the CAM1 connector on the Jetson Orin Nano (contacts facing toward the heatsink).

Port Mapping

Port	CSI Interface	I2C Bus	jetson-io Selection
CAM0	serial_a	Bus 2	IMX477-A
CAM1	serial_c	Bus 9 (via cam_i2cmux)	IMX477-C

Prerequisites

• Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit
• JetPack 6.2 (L4T R36.4.3) installed and booted
• IMX708-based camera (e.g., Arducam 12MP IMX708 Wide-Angle, Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3)
• Camera connected to CSI CAM1 port

Quick Start

1. Install Dependencies

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential device-tree-compiler nvidia-l4t-kernel-headers

2. Build the Driver

cd NVIDIA-Jetson-IMX708-RPIV3/driver
./build.sh

Or using make directly:

make

3. Install

sudo ./build.sh install

Or:

sudo make install

4. Configure the device tree

JetPack 6.2: skip jetson-io — its "Camera IMX477-C" mode causes capture timeouts, and the overlay it writes is ignored by UEFI. Instead, build the corrected overlay and pre-merge it into the base DTB:

dtc -@ -I dts -O dtb -o imx708-nvidia-csi.dtbo \
    ../../docs/overlays/imx708-nvidia-csi.dts
sudo fdtoverlay -i <base-dtb> -o <merged-dtb> imx708-nvidia-csi.dtbo
# then point the FDT line in extlinux.conf at <merged-dtb> and reboot

../../docs/installation.md has the exact DTB paths. scripts/apply_overlay.sh + scripts/fix_extlinux.sh can automate the merge and boot wiring — adjust the OVERLAY/DTB variables at the top of those scripts to match the corrected overlay you built.

For reference, the standard JetPack 6.0 flow (does not work on JP6.2) was:

cd /opt/nvidia/jetson-io/
sudo python3 jetson-io.py
# Select "Camera IMX477-C" (C = CAM1 port)
# Save and reboot

5. Reboot

sudo reboot

6. Validate

After reboot, run the validation script:

./scripts/validate.sh

Or check manually:

# Check I2C - camera should appear at 0x1a on bus 9
sudo i2cdetect -y -r 9

# Check module loaded
lsmod | grep imx708

# Check dmesg for probe
dmesg | grep imx708

# List video devices
v4l2-ctl --list-devices

Expected I2C output (bus 9 for CAM1):

     0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f
00:                         -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
10: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1a -- -- -- -- --
...

Usage

JetPack 6.2: the nvarguscamerasrc pipelines below need ISP tuning files that don't exist for the IMX708 and will fail with black frames or errors. Use the Raw Bayer Capture (v4l2) method plus the Python processing in ../../docs/installation.md. The nvargus examples are retained for JetPack 6.0 / ISP-tuned setups.

Display Preview

SENSOR_ID=0
FRAMERATE=14
gst-launch-1.0 nvarguscamerasrc sensor-id=$SENSOR_ID ! \
    "video/x-raw(memory:NVMM),width=4608,height=2592,framerate=$FRAMERATE/1" ! \
    nvvidconv ! xvimagesink

MP4 Recording

gst-launch-1.0 -e nvarguscamerasrc sensor-id=0 ! \
    "video/x-raw(memory:NVMM),width=4608,height=2592,framerate=14/1" ! \
    nvv4l2h264enc ! h264parse ! mp4mux ! \
    filesink location=test_recording.mp4

JPEG Snapshots

gst-launch-1.0 -e nvarguscamerasrc num-buffers=10 sensor-id=0 ! \
    "video/x-raw(memory:NVMM),width=4608,height=2592,framerate=14/1" ! \
    nvjpegenc ! multifilesink location=snapshot_%03d.jpg

Raw Bayer Capture (v4l2)

v4l2-ctl -d /dev/video0 \
    --set-fmt-video=width=4608,height=2592,pixelformat=RG10 \
    --set-ctrl bypass_mode=0 \
    --stream-mmap \
    --stream-count=5 \
    --stream-to=capture.raw

Supported Features

Resolution and Framerate

Mode	Resolution	Framerate
0	4608x2592	2-14 fps

Controls

• Gain (analog)
• Exposure time
• Frame rate
• Group hold

File Structure

driver/
├── src/
│   ├── nv_imx708.c          # Main driver source
│   ├── imx708_mode_tbls.h   # Mode register tables
│   └── Makefile
├── include/
│   └── imx708.h             # Driver header
├── dts/
│   ├── tegra234-camera-imx708-orin-nano.dts       # CAM0 device tree
│   └── tegra234-camera-imx708-orin-nano-cam1.dts  # CAM1 device tree
├── scripts/
│   ├── validate.sh          # Installation validation (7 tests)
│   ├── diagnose_full.sh     # Comprehensive diagnostic (15 sections)
│   ├── apply_overlay.sh     # Apply DTB overlay to boot partition
│   └── fix_extlinux.sh      # Fix extlinux.conf bootloader config
├── Makefile                 # Main build Makefile
├── build.sh                 # Build script
└── README.md                # This file

Troubleshooting

Camera not detected on I2C

1. Verify camera is connected to CAM1 (not CAM0)
2. Verify the active FDT entry points to the pre-merged DTB described in ../../docs/installation.md
3. Power cycle the Jetson (full shutdown, not just reboot)
4. Check cable orientation: contacts facing the heatsink

Module fails to load

Check kernel version matches:

uname -r
modinfo src/nv_imx708.ko | grep vermagic

If mismatch, rebuild with correct headers.

No /dev/video0

1. Verify overlay is loaded:

   cat /proc/device-tree/tegra-camera-platform/modules/module0/badge

2. Check I2C communication:

   sudo i2cdetect -y -r 9
   # Should show device at 0x1a

3. Check GPIO state:

   sudo cat /sys/kernel/debug/gpio | grep -iE "gpio-62|PJ"

4. Check device tree:

   sudo dtc -I fs -O dts /proc/device-tree 2>/dev/null | grep -A10 "imx708\|imx477"

Full diagnostic

./scripts/diagnose_full.sh

nvarguscamerasrc fails

This is expected without ISP tuning files. Use v4l2src for raw capture instead:

gst-launch-1.0 v4l2src device=/dev/video0 ! \
    'video/x-bayer,width=4608,height=2592,format=rggb' ! \
    bayer2rgb ! videoconvert ! xvimagesink

Alternative: Arducam Official Installer

Arducam provides an official installer for IMX708 on JetPack 6.2:

cd ~
wget https://github.com/ArduCAM/MIPI_Camera/releases/download/v0.0.3/install_full.sh
chmod +x install_full.sh
./install_full.sh -m imx708

Note: Only CAM1 port is supported.

Uninstall

./build.sh uninstall

Then revert your boot configuration and reboot. On JetPack 6.2 that means restoring the original FDT line in /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf (or its .backup) so it points at the stock DTB rather than the merged …-imx708-nvidia-csi.dtb. On JetPack 6.0 setups, remove the OVERLAYS line instead.

Credits

• Original driver by RidgeRun Engineering
• JetPack 6.2 port based on RidgeRun's JP6.0 patch
• Sony IMX708 sensor documentation

License

GPL-2.0. This driver is derived from RidgeRun's nv_imx708 driver and the Linux kernel. The full license text is in COPYING; the controlling copyright and license notices are in each source file's header (NVIDIA, RidgeRun, and Raspberry Pi Ltd).

Support

For issues with this port, please open an issue on the repository.

For commercial support and additional camera drivers, contact RidgeRun at https://www.ridgerun.com/contact