Installation

Choose and install an operating system on your device. To appropriately follow this installation guide you will need to:

Choose an installation method
Download necessary files
Choose host machine
Follow flashing instructions

Image format

raw gpt image
- raw gpt image is the raw image with GPT partition table, the advantage is it's readable on PC, since it contains all the raw partitions, the image size is usually big. Raw GPT image format is mostly used by open source Linux distributions.
rkupdate image
- Rockhip's private image format, it uses Rockchip parameter for partitions and can be packed and extracted with Rockchip binary tools. Rkupdate format supports Android sparse image and partition compress, it's more effecient for mass deployment with Rockchip manufacturing tools. Rkupdate image format is mostly used with Android and Rockchip Linux BSP.

When downloading the image, check the file name suffix, -rkupdate.img and -gpt.img implies the format. You can also use file command to check the image format. For -rkupdate.img, file command just reads data but -gpt.img is bootable image sectors.

Methods of Installation

In most cases, you will be presented with two options when installing your new operating system onto your device:

eMMC USB upgrade Method(rkupdate or gpt image)
- The firmware will be downloaded from the USB to the device on board eMMC storage
Running on SD Card Method(gpt image only)
- The firmware will be written on a SD Card and insert on device to run.

Each method has it's own benifits, and requires different levels of experience.

eMMC USB upgrade Method(gpt or rkupdate image)

Rockusb is a custom USB protocal from Rockchip supported by all RK series SoC and can be used for firmware installation(USB to eMMC). This is for advanced users who are most likely familiar with command line tool or modifying/customizing source code and will need to download such updates to the board for test/execution.

This method requires the following hardware:

Device with power supply
Host machine (Linux/Mac)
USB type C to type A cable
USB serial to TTL cable(not required to perform flash)
USB Mouse and/or keyboard (not required to perform flash)
HDMI Monitor with full size HDMI cable (not required to perform flash)

Go to the Downloads page to get your bootloader, boot image, and root file system image (rootfs).

Choose host machine

Running on SD Card Method(gpt image)

The SD card method allows you to place a microSD card into a device to automatically boot and run. It will not affect your on board eMMC storage unless you intend to write the eMMC after booting up the SD card OS. This method is generally simpler than other methods and should be used by beginners.

This method requires the following hardware:

Host machine (Linux, Mac OS X, or Windows)
MicroSD card with 4GB or more of storage
USB Mouse and/or keyboard
HDMI Monitor with full size HDMI cable

Go to the Downloads page to get your SD card image.