Quick Start

K2B can be powered by both Android and Linux. when Linux is in use, Like most Pi products, K2B can work in headless mode( no display connected, access via ssh ) and desktop mode( Ubuntu).

To start using K2B as a Linux interactive computer , you need to prepare the following items:

• Power Supply
• Display and Display Cable
• Boot Media
• Keyboard and Mouse

Note

If you want to use K2B as a headless device accessed via network, please refer to SSH Connection.

Power Supply

K2B only supports 1 power mode.

Power Mode	Voltage/Current
Type - C	5V/2A(2A is the baseline, or above)

Power supply connection demonstrated:

Type - C

Display

Interface	Maximum Resolution Support
HDMI	4K@60Hz

Boot Media

The Kickpi K2B is available in two versions: on-board eMMC (embedded Multi Media Card) and no on-board eMMC. The on-board eMMC version comes pre-installed with the Android 12 operating system at the factory, requiring no additional boot media. However, for subsequent use (the no on-board eMMC version must be equipped with an SD card), if you wish to replace the operating system or boot from an SD card, you need to prepare an SD card with a storage capacity of ≥ 16GB.

no on-board eMMC

Keyboard and Mouse

K2B has 2 USB 2.0 ports. You can use any one of them to connect a keyboard or mouse.

Buttons

K2B has 3 physical buttons on-board, each one has unique function, here are their usage description:

• RST: Short press to hot reset device once.
• USER: Ubuntu Desktop Edition: A short press opens the Logout interface; Ubuntu Server Edition: A short press of the USER button shuts down the device directly; Android System: A short press turns off the screen.
• FEL: Located on the bottom side of the board. It is used in the scenario of installing OS Image to on-board eMMC,when pressed and hold with a power-on action, SoC's Init code will put device into MASKROM mode, cooperate with flashing tool to install Image into eMMC. MASKROM mode means cheating SoC init code into thinking eMMC has nothing programmed, even without U-boot or U-boot is corrupted and unable to work correctly. It give people a chance to reprogram eMMC after bricking it.

System Startup

User and Password

For any Linux distro Image we released, Default user and password for different distros are as follows:

System	Username	Password
Ubuntu2204	kickpi	kickpi
Ubuntu2204	root	root

Hardware Installation

In below installation diagram, we have installed the power supply, HDMI display, mouse, and keyboard to KickPi K2B (If in you scenario , K2B works as a headless device and without display, here is a way to tell how the device's working and trouble shoot issues via on-board LED).

Note

FPC Antenna has bare metal surface, should avoid direct contact with board. Antenna may also generate electromagnetic interference , harm DDR's signals, please place antenna spatially away from DDR and SoC.

LED Status Indicator

You can tell the system working status via the LED indicators.

• K2B board has two LED indicators. green LED is the power indicator, and blue LED is the heartbeat indicator.

Success

Green LED is steady on, blue LED is blinking.

Failure

If green LED is off when device is powered on, please check power supply or short circuit issue. green LED sucks current directly from DC power without any external control. If the blue LED is off or steady on(no blinking), kernel panic or died. Blinking is controlled by a kernel driver. All our released OS Image work this way: Android, Ubuntu,Debian,Armbian.

System Desktop

K2B supports Android, Ubuntu operating systems. When our released OS images been installed, each one use different desktop wallpaper.

Android12.0

The K2B supports Android TV and Android tablet operating systems, and the one shown in the figure is the Android TV operating system.

Ubuntu22.04 xfce

Installing Operating System

The Android image for the Kickpi K2B supports both SD card installation and USB installation, while the Ubuntu image currently only supports SD card installation. Motherboards equipped with an eMMC module come pre-flashed with the Android 12 system image by default at the factory.

Obtaining Image

Obtain Kickpi K2B image files from OneDrive.

├── K2B
│   ├── Android12.0_Tablet  
│   ├── Android12.0_TV      
│   ├── Ubuntu2204_desktop 
│   └── Ubuntu2204_server   

Android Image SD Card Installation

K2B has a SD card slot ( microSD aka. TransFlash or TF ) which can also serves as a bootable device. In K2B's boot sequence, SD card has higher priority, so K2B always try to boot from SD card first, when no one mounted, K2B then boot from on-board eMMC. Since SoC vendor's official Tools use terminology SD(microSD) instead of TF, so we use SD card in this context, TF and SD means the same thing.

With SoC vendor's tool, we can make 2 types of booting card. SD Boot Card works like a portable edition OS, e.g. windows PE. We use SD Boot Card to power device for some maintain and fix purpose. also can be used to verify your own customization. the second type is SD installation card. you create this kind of booting card when you try to use it to install new Image into on-board eMMC. it contains a specific script to create partition, format FS, copy files to eMMC. Make sure you understand what you need and create the right SD card.

Preparation

Note

Supported SD card filesystem formats: exfat, NTFS
SD Boot Card (SD Boot): Contains bootloader and complete system image, supports device booting directly from microSD card, used in scenarios like eMMC, dev debugging.
SD Installation Card (Upgrade Firmware): Stores firmware image and installation script, used to install or upgrade firmware to the device's on-board storage (e.g., eMMC).

• Hardware: Windows PC/laptop, HDMI Display (optional), USB TYPE-C cable(some cheap TYPE-C cable only provide current, make sure use the one capable of data exchange). some users reported when using double male TYPE-C to TYPE-C cable, installation failed sometimes, when switch to double male USB TYPE-A to TYPE-C, it's ok.

• Software: Installing tool PhoenixCard, Android image.

SD Boot Card

When both the eMMC and the SD boot card have system images installed, the system will boot from the SD card by priority.

1. Navigate to the PhoenixCard extracted folder and launch PhoenixCard.

2. Follow the steps shown in the diagram to flash the downloaded image onto the SD card.

Tip

During the operation, if PhoenixCard prompts to format the SD card, simply confirm the formatting.

3. The SD boot card is created successfully.

4. Power off the motherboard, insert the SD boot card into the TF card slot on the motherboard, reconnect the power supply, and wait for the system desktop to display normally on the monitor

Success

The green LED remains lit, and the blue LED blinks continuously (the blue LED will not light up immediately, please wait patiently).

SD Installation Card

1. Navigate to the PhoenixCard extracted folder and launch PhoenixCard.

2. Follow the steps shown in the diagram to flash the downloaded image onto the SD card.

Tip

During the operation, if PhoenixCard prompts to format the SD card, simply confirm the formatting.

3. The SD installation card is created successfully.

4. Power off the motherboard, insert the SD installation card into the TF card slot on the motherboard, and wait for the image installation to complete.

Success

A progress bar will be displayed on the monitor during the installation; the monitor will turn off upon completion, and both the green and blue LEDs will be off simultaneously. At this point, remove the SD card, power the motherboard back on, and wait for the system to restart.

Android Image USB Installation

Install the Android image via USB. Please check if the development board has an onboard eMMC. If it does not have one, you can skip this , in this scenario, board can only only boot from SD boot card.

Preparation

• Hardware: DC 12V independent power supply, USB A-to-C cable.

• Software: Installing tool PhoenixSuit, Android image.

Steps

1. The board enters the Installation Mode,the green LED stays on.

Note

Installation Mode:
When the board is powered off, long-press the FEL button on the bottom side of the board, then connect the power supply. The green light on the board will stay on, indicating successful entry into Installation mode.
When the board is powered on, first press and hold the FEL button,don't let loose, then press RST button. The green light will stay on, indicating successful entry into Installation mode.

2. Install driver, connect the computer via a USB A - to - C cable, open the computer's Device Manager, and follow the operations shown in the diagram.

Tip

Driver folder path: PhoenixSuit/Drivers/AW_Driver/

3. Open PhoenixSuit from the extracted folder in Administrator mode.

4. In the installing software, click "firmware" to select the image to be install (do not click "Upgrade").

5. Re-enter the installing mode on the development board, connect the USB, and when the software displays the screen as shown below, click "Yes" to start installing. Simply wait for the installing to complete successfully.

Note

Installation Mode:
When the board is powered off, long-press the FEL button on the bottom side of the board, then connect the power supply. The green light on the board will stay on, indicating successful entry into Installation mode.
When the board is powered on, first press and hold the FEL button,don't let loose, then press RST button. The green light will stay on, indicating successful entry into Installation mode.

6. Once the image is installed successfully, the board will restart automatically.

Ubuntu Image SD Installation

The Ubuntu image currently only supports SD card installing.

Preparation

• Hardware: SD card (recommended capacity larger than 16GB), SD card reader.
• Software: installing imager tool balenaEtcher, Ubuntu image.

Steps

1. Create an SD Boot Card: Insert the SD card into the computer, open balenaEtcher to write the Linux image.

2. After installing is complete, close the imager software.

3. Insert the installed SD card into the development board, power on the board. The development board will boot from the SD card. Connect an HDMI monitor to check if the desktop is the newly installed one .

Note

1. Boot code chooses SD card as the first booting device, then onboard eMMC in booting order.
2. If you only need to boot Ubuntu from the SD card, you can skip the subsequent installing steps.

4. Installing Ubuntu system from the SD boot card to onboard eMMC.

• Connect the board to an HDMI monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse, then open the Terminal Emulator.

• Enter the following command in the Terminal

sudo nand-sata-install 2 1
//Enter the password.
kickpi

• After entering the password, press Enter. The system will automatically start installing process. Wait for the installing to complete.

• After the installing is completed, select "Power off", press the Enter , and wait for the system to restart. Then, power off the device, remove the SD card, and power it on again to check if the Ubuntu system has been installed successfully.

System Configuration

In this chapter, you will use Mobaxterm for serial debugging, ADB for Android debugging, and SSH for remote connection.

Account and Password

Default usernames and passwords for different systems are as follows:

System	Username	Password
Ubuntu20.04	kickpi	kickpi
Ubuntu20.04	root	root

Mobaxterm

Using Serial Port debugging tool connect K2B to get a console. please check pinout to find UART pins as shown in below diagram.

K2B DEBUG UART Pins

• 2D Pin Diagram

• Physical Image

Tool Preparation

• Software: Mobaxterm
• Hardware: Serial Debug Cable aka. USB-TTL debug cable

Note

Red: VCC (no need to connect); Green: TX; White: RX; Black: GND. If you can't get Serial Port output in Mobaxterm, just switch Green and White wire and try again.

Hardware Installation

• Diagram

Mobaxterm Configuration

1. Click session to create a new session window.

2. Select the session window type as serial.

3. Select the serial COM port number (Check COM number by opening Windows Device Manager -> Ports interface).

4. Set Speed(bps) to 115200.

5. Start the session window.

As shown, after clicking OK, you will enter the command-line input window.

When the board is powered on and connected to the computer, Mobaxterm will display the information output of the development board during startup.

Connection successful. Press Enter in the command-line interface to input commands, successfully logging into the mainboard console.

ADB

Android system supports ADB functionality. ADB (Android Debug Bridge) is an Android system debugging bridge tool. It supports connecting to devices via USB or network, enabling device management and debugging operations such as app installation, file transfer, command execution, etc. ABD is a utility inside Google's Android platform-tools. you can download platform-tools from Google's developer site also.

Tool Preparation

• Hardware: USB Type-C Data Cable
• Software: download ADB_Tool

Hardware Installation

Connect one end of the USB TYPE-C data cable to the mainboard, the other end to the personal host.

ADB Installation

1. Extract the compressed package, e.g., to Windows path D:\ADB\adb-tools.

2. Open cmd window, switch to the extraction directory.

cd D:\ADB\adb-tools

3. Run the command. Successful run indicates installation success.

adb --version

4. Start ADB debugging.

.\adb.exe shell

SSH

SSH stands for Secure Shell, an encrypted network transmission protocol. Its core function is to securely remotely log into servers, execute commands, or transfer files in insecure network environments.

Account and Password

Default usernames and passwords for different systems are as follows:

System	Username	Password
Ubuntu2204	kickpi	kickpi
Ubuntu2204	root	root

IP Address Acquisition

DHCP automatically assigns IP addresses; no settings are needed. Device IP can be obtained in multiple ways.

• when there is Desktop: Connect the board to a display, log into the system, use ifconfig eth0 to get IP address.
• via serial port: Enter ifconfig eth0 in the serial terminal to get IP address (Serial connection refer to Mobaxterm chapter above).

SSH Connection

Enter the command in the command line to perform SSH connection:

ssh <username>@<IP>

Example:

PS C:\Users\16708> ssh kickpi@192.168.77.186
The authenticity of host '192.168.77.186 (192.168.77.186)' can't be established.
ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:635IZrLQdeYlWWl3SCdLxu9fxLEPmStBapj4APCjzZE.
This key is not known by any other names.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.77.186' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.
kickpi@192.168.77.186's password:
Welcome to Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS (GNU/Linux 6.1.75 aarch64)

 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com
 * Management:     https://landscape.canonical.com
 * Support:        https://ubuntu.com/pro

This system has been minimized by removing packages and content that are
not required on a system that users do not log into.

To restore this content, you can run the 'unminimize' command.
To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

kickpi@kickpi:~$

Q&A

• ROOT User Login Failed ?

1. Check if configuration was successful

Run the following commands. If the output is PermitRootLogin yes, it indicates configuration success:

console$ cat /etc/ssh/ssh_config | grep PermitRootLogin
PermitRootLogin yes
console$ cat /etc/ssh/sshd_config | grep PermitRootLogin
PermitRootLogin yes

2. Root user login configuration

Modify SSH configuration files:

console$ vim /etc/ssh/ssh_config
+ PermitRootLogin yes
console$ vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config
+ PermitRootLogin yes
console$ sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart