Been looking around for a solid resource on how to get Tensorflow to run on the Jetson TK1. Most what I found was how to get TF 0.8 to run, which was the last TF version to allow usage of cuDNN 6 that is the latest version available for the TK1.
The TK1 is an aging platform with halted support, but it is still a cheap option for high-powered embedded compute. Unfortunately, being so outdated it’s impossible to get the latest and greatest of DNN to work on the CUDA GPU on the TK1, but we can certainly use the CPU!
So a word of disclaimer – this compiled TF version will not use the GPU, just the CPU. However, it will let you run the most recent NN architectures with the latest layer implementations.
Cross compilation for the TK1 solves the acute problem of space on the device itself, as well as speed of compilation. On the other hand it required bringing up a compilation toolchain, which took a while to find.
I am going to be assuming a Ubuntu 16.04 x86_64 machine, which is what I have, and really you can do this in a VM or a Docker container just as well on Windows.