Advice on transitioning from Pi Zero W to a ATSAMA5D27-WLSOM1

[martind]

Hi,

I'm looking for some community advice on switching to the ATSAMA5S27-WLSOM from a Pi Zero W based proof of concept gateway:

Here are my questions:
- availability of python packages for ATSAMA5D27
- suggested low-power modes - ULP1 with the RTC as the only wakeup source vs ULP0 with more clock sources running
- buildroot vs Yocto - is this a question of preference and which system one is comfortable with
- is there a GPIO indicating status of the OS running e.g. Raspbian has a IO configuration that mimics the state of the OS from boot to shutdown

Here are the details of my application as it runs on the pi zero W gateway:
- Cellular BLE gateway device, headless
- Custom carrier board with RTC where the RTC alarm powers up the Pi Zero W (using carrier boards power supply)
- Bluez Dbus API used to communicate with the on board Bluetooth adapter to run a GATT server
- ModemManager and NetworkManager used to manage cellular connection
- Main application runs as a systemd service
- Main application wakes up on RTC alarm, collects data from remote sensor units over BLE, transmits over cell, sets RTC alarm and the n shutsdown. Cycle repeats every 10 minutes or so
- Secondary bluetooth adapter configured as USB CDC device to scan for BLE Coded Phy remote sensor units

Thanks in advance,
Martin

[blue_z]

- availability of python packages for ATSAMA5D27

Python can run on Linux, and Linux can run on a SAMA5D27 board (assuming that there's enough memory).
So I don't understand the question.
If you're referring to (prebuilt) installable packages, then that would depend on what Linux distro you could get running on a target board. Microchip/Atmel assumes its customers will build their own custom kernel and rootfs (rather than use a distro), and installable packages might not ever be used.

- suggested low-power modes - ULP1 with the RTC as the only wakeup source vs ULP0 with more clock sources running

See Using Ultra Low Power mode 1 (ULP1) on SAMA5D2.
Note that Linux may not support all wake-up sources.

- buildroot vs Yocto - is this a question of preference and which system one is comfortable with

Perhaps, but there are other non-subjective factors.
There are many descriptions of the pros and cons of each build system that can be found online.

- is there a GPIO indicating status of the OS running e.g. Raspbian has a IO configuration that mimics the state of the OS from boot to shutdown

The Microchip demos for Xplained boards configure (in the Device Tree) a gpio-LED with a heartbeat trigger to indicate that the system is active.
If you want something more sophisticated, then try porting that indicator code.

Regards