In the first part I explained the initial setup of the Jetson Nano 2GB Developer Kit. This second part should help with additional (but required) hardware like the fan and csi camera.

Preparation

If you are still connected via SSH (or serial) and the Jetson Nano is still running, you have to shut it down now.

# shutdown
$ sudo shutdown -h 0

Connect the fan and the camera and make sure that all connections are made correctly! If you are not sure, look for the respective video on this very helpful website. As soon as you are done, you can restart the Jetson Nano and connect.

Note: The screws that come with the fan are too big. So I simply used cable ties. Otherwise I can really recommend this fan.

Fan

As soon as you have started and logged in again, you should check whether the fan is basically running.

# turn on fan
$ sudo sh -c 'echo 255 > /sys/devices/pwm-fan/target_pwm'

# turn off fan
$ sudo sh -c 'echo 0 > /sys/devices/pwm-fan/target_pwm'

If that worked, the easiest way use the code provided on GitHub to start/stop the fan on certain temperatures fully automatically.

# clone repository
$ git clone https://github.com/Pyrestone/jetson-fan-ctl.git

# change into cloned repository
$ cd jetson-fan-ctl

# start installation
$ sudo ./install.sh

# check service (optional)
$ sudo systemctl status automagic-fan

You can also change the values for your own needs.

# edit via vim
$ sudo vim / etc/automagic-fan/config.json

# restart service after changes
$ sudo systemctl restart automagic-fan

Note: The space between slash and etc is wrong! But my provider does not allow the correct information for security reasons.

From now on, your Jetson Nano should be protected against too quickly overheating. If you want to determine the current values ​​yourself, simply call up the following commands.

# show thermal zones
$ cat /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone*/type
$ cat /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone*/temp

Camera

The CSI camera don’t need any additional installation of packages, all you need is already installed. So after booting up, you can start right away.

Important: Do not attach the CSI camera while the device is running!

# list video devices
$ ls -l /dev/video0
crw-rw----+ 1 root video 81, 0 Jan  9 12:07 /dev/video0

An additional package allows you to find out the possibilities of the camera.

# install package (optional)
$ sudo apt install -y v4l-utils

# list information (optional)
$ v4l2-ctl --list-formats-ext

Take a picture

# take picture and save to disk
$ nvgstcapture-1.0 --orientation=2 --image-res=2

# Press j and ENTER to take a picture
# Press q and ENTER to exit

# list stored pictures
$ ls -lh nvcamtest_*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 lupin lupin 20K Jan  9 15:39 nvcamtest_7669_s00_00000.jpg

Now record a video. Be careful with your disk space!

# take video and save to disk
$ nvgstcapture-1.0 --orientation 2 --mode=2

# Press 1 and ENTER to start record
# Press 0 and ENTER to stop record
# Press q and ENTER to exit

$ ls -lh *.mp4
-rw-rw-r-- 1 lupin lupin 3,0M Jan  9 15:52 nvcamtest_8165_s00_00000.mp4

That’s it for this time.