Quick Start
K8 can be powered by both Android and Linux. when Linux is in use, Like most Pi products, K8 can work in headless mode( no display connected, access via ssh ) and desktop mode( Ubuntu, Debian desktop).
To start using K8 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 K8 as a headless device accessed via network, please refer to SSH Connection.
Power Supply
| Power Mode | Voltage/Current |
|---|---|
| DC | 12V/1.5A( 1.5A is the baseline, or above) |
Power supply connection demonstrated:
Display
K8 supports HDMI and MIPI_LVDS display output.
| Interface | Maximum Resolution Support |
|---|---|
| MIPI_LVDS x2 | 1080P@60Hz |
| HDMI OUT x2 | 8k@60hz |
HDMI
Kickpi K8 is equipped with two HDMI output ports; simply insert the cable into either one.
MIPI
K8 is equipped with two MIPI_LVDS interfaces. The peripheral information of the MIPI_LVDS interface screens is as follows:
| Model | Size | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| AT101DS40I | 10.1-inch | 800x1280 |
| MX101BA1340 | 10.1-inch | 800x1280 |
| MX080B2140 | 8.0-inch | 800x1280 |
| F050008M01 | 5.0-inch | 720x1280 |
Warning
Installing or removing the MIPI display while the device is powered on may cause damage to the MIPI display or a short circuit. Please install or remove the MIPI display only when the device is powered off.
Boot Media
K8 comes with eMMC (embedded Multi Media Card) on-board by default, and has Android 13 AOSP operating system pre-installed. External boot media is not required. However, for subsequent use, if you want to change the operating system or sideload another OS from SD card, you need to prepare a SD card with ≥ 16GB storage capacity.
Keyboard and Mouse
Kickpi K8 is equipped with two USB 2.0 ports, and any USB port can be used to connect a keyboard and a mouse.
Buttons
K8 has 4 physical buttons on-board, each one has unique function, here are their usage description:
-
POWER: Short press to put device to standby/wakeup/(shutdown in Ubuntu). Long press to Powers off device.
-
RST: Short press to hot reset device once.
-
RECOVERY: RECOVERY button is detected by U-boot, not SoC's Init code, so it's function is implemented in U-boot. No matter what OS has been installed in eMMC(Android,Ubuntu,Debian,Armbian), Press and hold with a power-on action will put device into loader mode,cooperate with RockChip's flashing tool to install OS Image into eMMC (Armbian is a little different when using flashing tool to install Armbian into eMMC, please refer to "Armbian Image Installation"). Also, when the already installed OS is Android, press and hold RECOVERY button with a power-on action and with NO USB cable connected to perform Image installing, device will boot into Android recovery mode, there allow user to do factory reset and other things.
-
MASKROM: 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 RockChip's 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Debian12 | linaro | linaro |
| Debian12 | root | root |
| Ubuntu20.04 | kickpi | kickpi |
| Ubuntu20.04 | root | root |
Hardware Installation
In below installation diagram, we have installed the power supply, HDMI display, mouse, and keyboard to KickPi K8 (If in you scenario , K8 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).
Warning
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.
- K8 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
K8 supports Android, Ubuntu, Debian operating systems. When our released OS images been installed, each one use different desktop wallpaper.
Android13.0
Ubuntu20.04 xfce
Debian12 xfce
Installing Operating System
By default, Kickpi K8 has on-board eMMC and boots from eMMC directly. If you need to replace the system on eMMC or want to sideload another OS from other storage devices (e.g., microSD card), please read this chapter and proceed.
Obtaining Image
Obtain Kickpi K8 image files from OneDrive.
USB Installation
Install the image to the board's eMMC via USB Type-C. (For system installation or booting from a TF card, please refer to the following content.)
Preparation
- Hardware: Windows PC/Laptop, HDMI display (optional), Power adapter, USB flashing cable.
- Software: USB driver DriverAssitant, Installing tool RKDevTool, Image file.
Installation the USB Driver
1. Go to the extracted directory of DriverAssitant_v5.13.zip and run DriverInstall.exe. Click "Driver Install". A prompt will indicate successful installation.
Tip
If an older driver version is already installed, uninstall it first and then install the new driver to ensure the latest version is used.
Installation RKDevTool
1. Navigate to the RKDevTool unzipped directory and run RKDevTool.exe.
2. (Optional Operation) Change the RKDevTool default language (Optional). The default interface language is Chinese. Refer to the following steps to change it to English.
Installing Steps
1. Connect the USB flashing cable, Run RKDevTool and go to the Upgrade Firmware tab.
2. Make the board enter LOADER Mode or MASKROM Mode.
Note
MASKROM Mode: Typically used for forced image flashing after system damage.
LOADER Mode: Typically used for full image flashing and partition flashing.
When the board is powered off, press and hold the MASKROM (on the back of the board)/RECOVERY button, power on the board and connect the USB flashing cable. Release the MASKROM / RECOVERY button once RKDevTool detects the MASKROM / LOADER device.
When the board is powered on, plug in the USB flashing cable, press and hold the MASKROM (on the back of the board) / RECOVERY button, then press the RESET button briefly. Release the MASKROM/ RECOVERY button once RKDevTool detects the MASKROM / LOADER device.
3. Once RKDevTool recognizes the LOADER or MASKROM device, release the buttons.
4. Click Upgrade Firmware to go to the firmware upgrade interface. Click Firmware and select the image to flash.
5. Click Upgrade and wait for the flashing process to complete.
6. Installation completed, wait for the board to restart.
Success
When a display is connected to the board, do not power off the board immediately after installation completes – the system will boot up automatically. Please wait for the system to load the desktop normally!
When no display is connected to the board, do not power off the board immediately after installation completes – the system will boot up automatically and the LED status will change, with the green LED staying solid on and the blue LED flashing continuously !
SD Boot Card
K8 has a SD card slot ( microSD aka. TransFlash or TF ) which can also serves as a bootable device. In K8's boot sequence, SD card has higher priority, so K8 always try to boot from SD card first, when no one mounted, K8 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
- Hardware: Windows PC/Laptop, HDMI display (optional), SD card, SD card reader.
- Software: SDDiskTool, Image file.
SDDiskTool Installation
1. Navigate to the extracted SDDiskTool.zip directory and run SD_Firmware_Tool.exe.
2. (Optional Operation) SDDiskTool defaults to Chinese. The default language can be changed by modifying config.ini in the extracted SDDiskTool directory.
Note
Selected=1 (Chinese); Selected=2 (English)
Installing Steps
1. If your SD card is larger than 16GB, installation failure may occur. Please modify the file SDDiskTool/config.ini, specify the formatting format as NTFS, save the changes, and then restart SDDiskTool.
2. Create an SD boot card and follow the steps shown in the diagram to operate.
Note
During the creation of the SD Boot Card, SDDiskTool will ask if format the SD card, choose yes. When SD card formatting is over, it may prompt "burning failed" or "writing loader failed!", simply dismiss the dialog and recreate disk. This tool is a Rockchip official tool and has some minor bugs
3. As shown in the diagram, the SD boot card is created successfully.
4. Power off the board, insert the SD card into the board, power it on again, and check if the display loads the desktop normally.
Note
When Ubuntu boots from the SD boot card for the first time, it may stay in the command line interface for a long time (about 5 minutes) due to the SD card transfer speed. Please wait patiently for the Ubuntu system to load the desktop. When shutting down the Ubuntu system on the SD boot card for the first time, do not power off the board directly or reset it via the RST button, as this may cause it to stay in the command line interface for a long time on subsequent boots. Please shut down the system using the shutdown function in the graphical interface.
SD Installation Card
K8 has a SD card slot ( microSD aka. TransFlash or TF ) which can also serves as a bootable device. In K8's boot sequence, SD card has higher priority, so K8 always try to boot from SD card first, when no one mounted, K8 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
- Hardware: SD card, SD card reader.
- Software: SDDiskTool, Image file.
SDDiskTool Installation
1. Navigate to the extracted SDDiskTool_v1.78.zip directory and run SD_Firmware_Tool.exe.
2. SDDiskTool's UI use Chinese language as default. The default language can be changed by modifying config.ini in the extracted SDDiskTool_v1.74 directory.
Note
Selected=1 (Chinese); Selected=2 (English)
Installing Steps
1. If your SD card is larger than 16GB, installation failure may occur. Please modify the file SDDiskTool/config.ini, specify the formatting format as NTFS, save the changes, and then restart SDDiskTool.
2. Create an SD Installation card and follow the steps shown in the diagram to operate.
3. As shown in the diagram, the SD Installation card is created successfully.
4. Wait for the installing process to complete and check if it was successful. If successful, remove the SD card and restart the board.
Success
When installation is done, display will show "Please remove SD CARD!!!,wait for reboot". At this point, remove the SD card, wait for the system to reboot (for the first system boot, it may last several minutes, do not power off device, wait board boot into the desktop normally).
When no display is connected, after the blue and green LEDs are both steady on, remove the TF card, when removed, board will automatically reboot, and the blue LED will keep blinking after reboot .
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Debian11 | linaro | linaro |
| Debian11 | root | root |
| Ubuntu20.04 | kickpi | kickpi |
| Ubuntu20.04 | root | root |
Mobaxterm
Using Serial Port debugging tool connect K8 to get a console. please check pinout to find UART pins as shown in below diagram.
K8 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 1500000.
5. Start the session window.
As shown, after clicking OK, you will enter the command-line input window.
When K8 board is powered on and connected to the computer, Mobaxterm outputs boot information as follows.
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.
3. Run the command. Successful run indicates installation success.
4. Start ADB debugging.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Debian11 | linaro | linaro |
| Debian11 | root | root |
| Ubuntu20.04 | kickpi | kickpi |
| Ubuntu20.04 | 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 eth0to get IP address. - via serial port: Enter
ifconfig eth0in 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:
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
Cause: SD cards larger than 32GB need to use NTFS file system format.
Solution: Modify SDDiskTool_v1.74/config.ini, specify the format as NTFS, save, and restart SDDiskTool.
- 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: