Build a .ko Driver Module for Seeed Jetson

When a required .ko driver module is missing from reComputer/reServer, compile it directly on the Jetson device. This guide uses the pl2303 USB-to-serial driver on JetPack 6.2 (L4T 36.4.3) as an example.

Hardware: Seeed Jetson device (reComputer/reServer) Software: JetPack 6.x (L4T 36.x), internet connection

Execution model

Run one phase at a time. After each phase:

• If output contains [STOP] → stop immediately, consult the failure decision tree
• If output ends with [OK] → tell the user "Phase N complete" and proceed

Replace <driver_name> with the actual driver (e.g. pl2303) throughout.

Phase 1 — identify L4T version and target driver (~30 s)

cat /etc/nv_tegra_release

Determine the L4T version (e.g. 36.4.3 = JetPack 6.2). Find the JetPack ↔ L4T mapping at: https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/jetpack-archive

Ask the user which driver module they need (e.g. pl2303, ch341, etc.).

[OK] when L4T version and target driver are confirmed.

Phase 2 — download and extract BSP source (~10 min)

Download public_sources.tbz2 for the matching L4T version from NVIDIA's L4T release page.

Extract all nested archives:

tar -xjf public_sources.tbz2
cd Linux_for_Tegra/source

find . -type f \( -name "*.tbz2" -o -name "*.tar.bz2" -o -name "*.tar.gz" -o -name "*.tgz" -o -name "*.tar.xz" \) -exec bash -c '
    dir=$(dirname "$1")
    filename=$(basename "$1")
    cd "$dir"
    if [[ "$filename" == *.tbz2 || "$filename" == *.tar.bz2 ]]; then
        tar -xjf "$filename"
    elif [[ "$filename" == *.tar.gz || "$filename" == *.tgz ]]; then
        tar -xzf "$filename"
    elif [[ "$filename" == *.tar.xz ]]; then
        tar -xJf "$filename"
    fi
    cd - > /dev/null
' _ {} \;

[OK] when extraction completes without errors.

Phase 3 — locate driver source file (~1 min)

sudo find . -type f -name "*<driver_name>*"
# Example: sudo find . -type f -name "*pl2303*"

Note the path — it indicates both the source file and the target install path.

[OK] when driver source file (e.g. pl2303.c) is found. [STOP] if not found — driver may not be in this BSP version.

Phase 4 — create build workspace (~1 min)

mkdir -p ~/ko_build && cd ~/ko_build
cp <path_to_driver_source>/<driver_name>.c .

Create a Makefile in the workspace:

obj-m += <driver_name>.o
all:
	make -C /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build M=$(PWD) modules
clean:
	make -C /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build M=$(PWD) clean

Replace <driver_name> with the actual name (e.g. pl2303).

[OK] when workspace contains both the .c source and Makefile.

Phase 5 — create kernel build symlink (~30 s)

sudo rm -rf /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build
sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)-ubuntu22.04_aarch64/3rdparty/canonical/linux-jammy/kernel-source \
  /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build

[OK] when symlink is created without errors. [STOP] if the headers path doesn't exist — install linux-headers-$(uname -r).

Phase 6 — compile the module (~1–5 min)

cd ~/ko_build
make

[OK] when .ko file is generated in the current directory. [STOP] on compile errors — see failure decision tree.

Phase 7 — install and load the module (~30 s)

Copy to the correct kernel module path. The target path prefix is always /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/ — the suffix matches the source tree structure.

# Example for pl2303 (USB serial driver):
sudo cp <driver_name>.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/usb/serial/

Load the module:

sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe <driver_name>

Verify:

modinfo <driver_name>

[OK] when modinfo shows the module details.

Failure decision tree

Reference files

• references/source.body.md — Original Seeed wiki with screenshots and step-by-step walkthrough