1.2.1 RDK X3

Before using the RDK X3 development board, the following preparations need to be made.

Preparation

Power Supply

RDK X3
RDK X3 Module

The RDK X3 development board is powered by a USB Type C interface. It requires a power adapter that supports 5V/3A to power the board. It is recommended to use the recommended power adapter model in the Basic Accessories List section.

caution

Please do not power the development board through the USB interface of a computer, as it may cause abnormal power failure and repeated restarts due to insufficient power supply.

For more troubleshooting, please refer to the Common Questions section.

Storage

RDK X3
RDK X3 Module

The RDK X3 development board uses a Micro SD card as the system boot medium, and it is recommended to use a storage card with a capacity of at least 8GB to meet the storage requirements of the Ubuntu system and application software.

Display

RDK X3
RDK X3 Module

The RDK X3 development board supports HDMI display interface, and connects the development board and monitor via HDMI cable to support graphical desktop display.

Network Connection

RDK X3
RDK X3 Module

The RDK X3 development board supports Ethernet and Wi-Fi network interfaces, and users can use either interface for network connection.

System burning

The RDK suite currently provides the Ubuntu 20.04/22.04 system image, which supports desktop graphical interaction.

Image download

RDK X3
RDK X3 Module

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du1EypDtxMY&list=PLSxjn4YS2IuFUWcLGj2_uuCfLYnNYw6Ld&index=15

Click Download image to enter the version selection page, select the corresponding version directory, and enter the file download page. Take downloading the 2.0.0 version of the system image as an example:

After downloading, unzip the Ubuntu system image file, such as ubuntu-preinstalled-desktop-arm64.img.

Version description:

Version 2.0: Made based on the RDK Linux open source code package, supporting the full range of hardware such as RDK X3 and X3 module.

After downloading, unzip the Ubuntu system image file, such as ubuntu-preinstalled-desktop-arm64.img

Version description:

Version 2.0: Made based on the RDK Linux open source code package, supporting the full range of hardware such as RDK X3 and X3 module.

tip

desktop: Ubuntu system with a desktop, can be connected to an external screen and operated with a mouse
server: Ubuntu system without a desktop, can be operated remotely through serial or network connection

System Burning

RDK X3
RDK X3 Module

tip

Before burning the Ubuntu system image, please make the following preparations:

Prepare a Micro SD card with a capacity of at least 8GB
SD card reader
Download the image burning tool balenaEtcher (available for download here)

balenaEtcher is a PC-side boot disk creation tool that supports multiple platforms such as Windows/Mac/Linux. The process of creating an SD boot card is as follows:

Open the balenaEtcher tool, click the Flash from file button, and select the extracted ubuntu-preinstalled-desktop-arm64.img file as the burning image.
Click the Select target button and select the corresponding Micro SD storage card as the target storage device.
Click the Flash button to start burning. When the tool prompts Flash Complete, it means the image burning is complete. You can close balenaEtcher and remove the storage card.

The RDK X3 Module supports booting the system from two modes: eMMC and SD card:

Using SD card: If you want to burn the system to an SD card (not booting from eMMC mode), follow the same steps as RDK X3 for burning the system.
Using eMMC: You need to use the D-Robotics hbupdate tool. (This method is mainly described below)

The hbupdate tool supports two versions: Windows and Linux, which start with hbupdate_win64 and hbupdate_linux respectively. The tool download link is: hbupdate.

Note

Extract the compressed tool package, and do not include spaces, Chinese characters, special characters, etc. in the extraction path.
The tool communicates with the RDK X3 module through the USB port, so you need to install the USB driver in advance. See the following description for specific steps.

For PCs using the Windows system, before using the flashing tool, you need to confirm whether the fastboot driver program has been installed. Please follow the steps below to check:

(1) Ground the Boot pin of the RDK X3 carrier board using a jumper cap. Refer to the figure below for the pin position.

(2) Connect the Micro USB interface of the carrier board to the computer via a USB cable. Refer to the figure below for the interface position.

(3) Power on the device and observe the port status of the computer device manager. If the USB download gadget unknown device appears, you need to update the device driver; otherwise, you can skip the following steps.

(4) Download and extract the driver package android_hobot.zip. The download link is android_hobot.

(5) Go to the extracted directory and run 5-runasadmin_register-CA-cer.cmd as an administrator to complete the registration of the driver program.

(6) Double-click the USB download gadget unknown device, select the driver package extraction directory, and then click Next.

(7) After the driver installation is complete, the device manager will display the fastboot device Android Device.
After confirming that the PC device manager displays the fastboot device Android Device, run hbupdate.exe to open the burning tool, and follow the steps below to burn the system:

(1) Select the development board model, which is a required field.
- RDK_X3_2GB: RDK X3 (Sunrise X3), 2GB RAM version, only supports burning the minimal system image
- RDK_X3_4GB: RDK X3 (Sunrise X3), 4GB RAM version, only supports burning the minimal system image
- RDK_X3_MD_2GB: RDK X3 Module, 2GB RAM version
- RDK_X3_MD_4GB: RDK X3 Module, 4GB RAM version
(2) Click the Browse button to select the image file to be burned, this is a required option.

(3) Click the Start button to start the flashing process, and follow the popup prompts to continue:
- When burning the image, it is necessary to connect the BOOT pin to the ground using a jumper cap. The pin position can be referred to in the Function Control Interface.
- Connect the Micro USB interface to the computer, and the computer device manager will recognize the Android Device as described in the previous section for installing USB download drivers.
- After the burning is completed, disconnect the power supply, disconnect the connection cable from the computer, and remove the BOOT jumper cap, then re-power on.
- If the startup is normal, the ACT LED on the hardware will enter the state of two fast flashes followed by one slow flash.
(4) Check the upgrade results
- When the image burning is successful, the tool will prompt as follows:
- When the image burning fails, the tool will prompt as follows, and at this time, you need to check if the Android Device device exists in the PC device manager.

caution

If the burning process is interrupted, please follow the above steps to restart.

Start the system

RDK X3
RDK X3 Module

First, keep the development board powered off, then insert the prepared memory card into the Micro SD card slot of the development board, and connect the development board to a monitor using an HDMI cable. Finally, power on the development board.The default environment configuration will be performed when the system starts up for the first time. The entire process takes about 45 seconds, and after the configuration is completed, the Ubuntu system desktop will be displayed on the monitor.

Explanation of Development Board Indicator Lights

Red indicator light: When it is on, it indicates normal hardware power-on.
Green indicator light: When it is on, it indicates that the system is booting up. When it is off or flashing, it indicates that the system booting process is complete.

If there is no display output on the development board for a long time (more than 2 minutes) after power-on, it means that the development board failed to start. In this case, users can check the system status through the indicator lights using the following methods:

Green light stays on: It indicates that the system failed to start. Users can check if the power adapter meets the requirements and try to remake the system image.
Green light is off or flashing: It indicates that the system has started successfully, but the display service failed to start. Users need to confirm if the connected display meets the specification requirements.

RDK X3 Module supports two modes of system startup: eMMC mode and SD card mode.

If the eMMC on the module does not have a system image burned, you can insert an SD card with the system image to the carrier board to start the system from the SD card.
If the eMMC on the module already has a system image burned, you can switch between eMMC and SD card startup by following these steps:
1. By default, the system starts up from the eMMC.
2. To disable eMMC booting and switch to SD card startup, log into the system and execute the following command to remove the boot flag from the second partition of eMMC, then restart the system for the change to take effect:
```
sudo parted /dev/mmcblk0 set 2 boot off
sudo reboot
```
1. In uboot, you will find that there is no boot partition on the eMMC and it looks for the boot partition on the SD card. The system is booted from the SD card. After logging into the system, you can execute the mount command to see that the root file system is mounted on the second partition of the SD card, and the config partition also uses the first partition of the SD card.
```
/dev/mmcblk2p2 on / type ext4 (rw,relatime,data=ordered) 
/dev/mmcblk2p1 on /boot/config type vfat
```
To switch back to eMMC startup from SD card startup:

When the system is started from the SD card and the system has already been burned to the eMMC, execute the following command to restore the eMMC startup. Restart the system for the change to take effect.
```
sudo parted /dev/mmcblk0 set 2 boot on
sudo reboot
```

After the Ubuntu Desktop version system is fully booted, the system desktop will be displayed on the monitor via the HDMI interface, as shown in the following figure:

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some common issues when using the development board for the first time:

Power on failure: Please ensure that the recommended power adapter is used for power supply; please also ensure that the Micro SD card or eMMC of the development board has been flashed with the Ubuntu system image.
No response from USB Host interface: Please make sure that no data cable is connected to the Micro USB interface of the development board.
Hot-plugging storage card during usage: The development board does not support hot-plugging of Micro SD storage cards. If an accidental operation occurs, please restart the development board.

Important Notices

Do not plug and unplug any devices other than USB, HDMI, and Ethernet cables when they are powered on.
The Type C USB interface of RDK X3 is only used for power supply.
Use USB Type C power cables from reputable brands; otherwise, power supply abnormalities may occur, leading to system power failure.

tip

For more problem-solving, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions section, and you can also visit the D-Robotics Developer Forum for assistance.

Note

The RDK X3 Module comes with a pre-installed test version of the system image. To ensure the use of the latest version of the system, it is recommended to refer to this document to complete the burning of the latest version of the system image.

1.2.1 RDK X3

Preparation​

Power Supply​

Storage​

Display​

Network Connection​

System burning​

Image download​

System Burning​

Start the system​

Frequently Asked Questions​

Important Notices​