Quick Start

KICKPI K8C supports both Android and Linux systems for power‑up and operation. When running Linux, it is consistent with mainstream Raspberry Pi series products – the K8C can work in headless mode (no display required, accessed via SSH) and desktop mode (with Ubuntu or Debian desktop systems).

To get started with the KICKPI K8C, you will need the following items:

• Power supply

• Display and display cable

• Boot media

• Camera

• Keyboard and mouse

Note

If you intend to use the K8C as a headless device and access it over the network, refer to the SSH connection section below.

Tools Preparation

Power Supply

Power Mode	Voltage / Current
DC 12V	12V / 1.5A (1.5A is the baseline; it is recommended not to go lower)

Installation diagram:

Display

The KICKPI K8C has 2 HDMI output ports (you can use either one) and 1 MIPI_LVDS interface.

HDMIMIPI

Warning

Installing or removing the display while the board is powered on may cause damage or short circuits. Please install/remove the display only when the board is powered off.

Boot Media

Most KICKPI boards come with eMMC (embedded Multi Media Card) by default, so no additional boot media is required – they are shipped with Android pre‑installed.

There are two scenarios where you may need to use a boot media:

① The KICKPI board you purchased does not have eMMC and you need to boot from a TF card (refer to the image installation chapter for creating one).

② The KICKPI board has eMMC, but you want to install a new OS onto the board via a TF card, or bypass eMMC and boot directly from the TF card (refer to the image installation chapter for creating one).

Keyboard and Mouse

The KICKPI K8C has 1 USB 3.0 and 1 USB 2.0 port. You can connect a keyboard and mouse to any of the USB ports.

Camera

The K8C has one MIPI CSI camera interface and is pre‑configured for the KICKPI official IMX415 camera.

Camera Model	Specifications
IMX415	FPC 0.5 22PIN 4LANE X1

Buttons

The KICKPI K8C has 4 physical buttons:

• POWER: Short press: device enters suspend/wake mode (under Ubuntu, this performs shutdown). Long press: forcibly powers off the device.

• RST: Short press: performs a warm reset of the device.

• RECOVERY: The RECOVERY button is recognised by U‑Boot, not by the SoC's initialisation routine, so its function is implemented in U‑Boot. Regardless of which OS is already installed on the eMMC (Android, Ubuntu, Debian, Armbian), press and hold this button while powering on to enter Loader mode. With the Rockchip flashing tool, you can then flash a system image to the eMMC. Additionally, when the device is running Android and no USB cable is connected, long‑pressing the RECOVERY button while powering on will boot the device into Android Recovery mode, where you can perform factory resets and similar operations.

• MASKROM: This button is located on the bottom of the board and is used for flashing a system image to the onboard eMMC. Press and hold this button while powering on – the SoC initialisation routine will switch the device to MASKROM mode. With the Rockchip flashing tool, you can then flash an image to the eMMC. MASKROM mode makes the SoC initialisation routine treat the eMMC as completely blank, even if no U‑Boot is written to the eMMC, or if U‑Boot is corrupted and cannot function. This mode provides a way to reprogram the eMMC even if the device is bricked.

WiFi / Bluetooth

The K8C board supports Android, Debian, and Ubuntu operating systems. This section describes how to connect to Wi‑Fi and Bluetooth via the graphical interface in different system environments.

Note

This section only provides a simple demonstration. For command‑line testing of WiFi/Bluetooth/mobile networks (only some boards support mobile networks), please refer to the network testing chapter in the functional testing section.

AndroidDebianUbuntu

Pull down the notification bar on the desktop, turn on Bluetooth and WiFi, and long‑press to enter the connection interface.

Quick Start

Users and Passwords

For all Linux distribution images we release, the default usernames and passwords for each distribution are as follows:

System	Username	Password
Debian	kickpi / root / linaro	kickpi / root / linaro
Ubuntu	kickpi / root	kickpi / root
Armbian	kickpi / root	kickpi / root

Hardware Installation

In this installation diagram, we have connected power, an HDMI display, a mouse, and a keyboard to the Kickpi K8C (if you only have power, you can determine whether the system has booted successfully by checking the LED status).

Warning

The FPC antenna has exposed metal on its surface – it must not come into direct contact with the circuit board. The antenna may also generate electromagnetic interference that can disturb DDR signal transmission. Please place the antenna away from the DDR and SoC with spatial isolation.

LED Status

If no display is connected, you can check the system status by observing the LEDs.

• The board has two LED indicators: the green LED is the power indicator and the blue LED is the heartbeat indicator.

Success

Normal state: green LED stays on, blue LED blinks.

Failure

If the green LED turns off after power‑up, check whether the power supply is normal or if there is a short circuit on the board. The green LED is powered directly from the DC supply and is not controlled by any external circuit. If the blue LED is off or stays solid (no blinking), the kernel has panicked or crashed. The blinking function of the blue LED is controlled by the kernel driver. All operating system images we release (Android, Ubuntu, Debian, Armbian) use this same LED logic.

System Desktop

The K8C supports Android, Ubuntu, and Debian. If you are unsure which OS is installed, you can identify it by the desktop appearance after booting.

AndroidUbuntu 20.04 xfceDebian 11 xfce

Installing the Operating System

The Kickpi K8C comes with onboard eMMC flash and boots directly from the eMMC by default. If you need to replace the OS installed on the eMMC, or sideload another OS via other storage devices (such as a TF card), please refer to this chapter and follow the steps.

Warning

The Android system currently does not support booting from a TF card.

Obtaining the Image

Download the K8C image from the OneDrive (click to download).

USB Installation

Install the image to the onboard eMMC via USB Type‑C (for TF card installation or booting from a TF card, see the sections below).

Tools Required

• Hardware: Windows PC / laptop, HDMI display (optional), power adapter, USB flash cable.
• Software: USB driver DriverAssitant, flashing tool RKDevTool, image file.

USB Driver Installation

1. Navigate to the extracted directory of DriverAssitant_v5.13.zip and run DriverInstall.exe. Click "Install Driver" and wait for the installation success prompt.

Tip

If an older version of the driver is already installed, you can uninstall it first and then install the latest version.

RKDevTool Installation

1. Navigate to the extracted directory of RKDevTool_v3.30_for_window.zip and run RKDevTool.exe.

2. (Optional) Change the language of the flashing tool. The default interface is Chinese – you can change it to English as shown below.

Installation Steps

1. Run RKDevTool and go to the Upgrade Firmware tab.

2. Put the board into LOADER mode or MASKROM mode.

Note

MASKROM mode: commonly used to force‑flash an image when the system is corrupted.
LOADER mode: commonly used for full‑image flashing and partition flashing.
With the board powered off, press and hold the MASKROM / RECOVERY button, then connect power and the USB flash cable. Once RKDevTool detects a MASKROM / LOADER device, release the button.
With the board powered on, insert the USB flash cable, press and hold the MASKROM / RECOVERY button, then briefly press the RST button. RKDevTool will detect a MASKROM / LOADER device – release the button.

3. Once RKDevTool detects a LOADER or MASKROM device, release the button.

4. Click Upgrade Firmware to switch to the firmware upgrade interface. Click Firmware and select the *img image to flash.

5. Click Upgrade and wait for the flashing to complete.

6. Installation complete – wait for the board to reboot.

Success

If a display is connected, do not power off immediately after installation – the system will boot automatically. Wait until the desktop appears!
If no display is connected, do not power off immediately – the system will boot automatically and the LED status will change: the green LED stays on and the blue LED blinks continuously!

SD Boot Card

The K8C has one SD card slot (compatible with micro SD cards, also known as TransFlash or TF cards). This slot can also be used as a bootable device. In the K8 boot order, the SD card has higher priority, so the device will try to boot from the SD card first; if no bootable SD card is found, it will boot from the onboard eMMC. Since the chip manufacturer's official tools use the term SD (micro SD card) rather than TF card, this document consistently uses "SD card" – TF and SD are interchangeable in this context.

Two types of boot cards can be created using the chip manufacturer's tools: an SD boot card works like a portable operating system (e.g., Windows PE) and is mainly used for maintenance, troubleshooting, and verifying custom system configurations. The second type is an SD installation card, which is used when you want to flash a new system image to the onboard eMMC via an SD card. This card contains a dedicated script that partitions the eMMC, formats the file system, and copies the image files. Make sure to choose the correct type according to your needs.

Tools Required

• Hardware: Windows PC / laptop, HDMI display (optional), power adapter, SD card, SD card reader.
• Software: SDDiskTool, image file.

Warning

The Android system currently does not support booting from a TF card.

SDDiskTool Installation

1. Navigate to the extracted directory of SDDiskTool_v1.78.zip and run SD_Firmware_Tool.exe.

2. (Optional) SDDiskTool defaults to Chinese. You can change the default language by editing config.ini in the extracted SDDiskTool_v1.78 directory.

Note

Selected=1 (Chinese); Selected=2 (English)

[Language]
Kinds=2
Selected=1
LangPath=Language\

Installation Steps

1. Create an SD boot card by following the steps shown in the diagram.

Note

During the creation of an SD boot card, SDDiskTool will confirm whether to format the SD card. If the SD card formats successfully, it may show an "installation failed" prompt – just re‑create the card.
If SDDiskTool fails to format, please refer to the FAQ section below.

2. As shown, the SD boot card is created successfully.

3. Power off the board, insert the SD card, re‑apply power, and observe whether the display enters the desktop normally.

Note

When booting Ubuntu from an SD boot card for the first time, the system may stay at the command line for a while (about 5 minutes) due to SD card transfer speed – please be patient. When shutting down Ubuntu from an SD boot card for the first time, do not directly cut power or press the RST button, as this may cause the system to stay at the command line for a long time on the next boot. Use the shutdown function in the graphical interface instead.

SD Installation Card

The K8 has one SD card slot (compatible with micro SD cards, also known as TransFlash or TF cards). This slot can also be used as a bootable device. In the K8 boot order, the SD card has higher priority, so the device will try to boot from the SD card first; if no bootable SD card is found, it will boot from the onboard eMMC. Since the chip manufacturer's official tools use the term SD (micro SD card) rather than TF card, this document consistently uses "SD card" – TF and SD are interchangeable in this context.

Two types of boot cards can be created using the chip manufacturer's tools: an SD boot card works like a portable operating system (e.g., Windows PE) and is mainly used for maintenance, troubleshooting, and verifying custom system configurations. The second type is an SD installation card, which is used when you want to flash a new system image to the onboard eMMC via an SD card. This card contains a dedicated script that partitions the eMMC, formats the file system, and copies the image files. Make sure to choose the correct type according to your needs.

Tools Required

• Hardware: SD card, SD card reader.
• Software: SDDiskTool, image file.

SDDiskTool Installation

1. If your SD card is larger than 16 GB, installation may fail. Edit SDDiskTool_v1.78/config.ini to set the format to NTFS, save, and restart SDDiskTool.

USER_DISK_FS=NTFS

2. Navigate to the extracted directory of SDDiskTool_v1.78.zip and run SD_Firmware_Tool.exe.

3. (Optional) SDDiskTool defaults to Chinese. You can change the default language by editing config.ini in the extracted SDDiskTool_v1.74 directory.

Note

Selected=1 (Chinese); Selected=2 (English)

[Language]
Kinds=2
Selected=1
LangPath=Language\

Installation Steps

1. Create an SD installation card by following the steps shown in the diagram.

Note

During the creation of an SD installation card, SDDiskTool will confirm whether to format the SD card. If the SD card formats successfully, it may show an "installation failed" prompt – just re‑create the card.
If SDDiskTool fails to format, please refer to the FAQ section below.

2. The SD installation card is created successfully.

3. Power off the board, connect the display, insert the TF installation card, and re‑apply power. The display will show a progress bar and messages such as "check userdata/oem partition success".

Success

When installation is complete, the display will show "Please remove SD CARD!!!, wait for reboot". At this point, remove the SD card and wait for the system to reboot (do not power off immediately during the first boot – wait for the desktop to appear).
If no display is connected, when both the blue and green LEDs are solid on, remove the SD card and wait for the system to reboot – the blue LED should start blinking.

System Configuration

In this section, you can use Mobaxterm for serial debugging, ADB for Android development and debugging, and SSH for remote connections.

Accounts and Passwords

The system does not require a username or password on the very first boot. On subsequent boots or reboots, login is required. The default username and password are the same – for example, if the username is kickpi, the password is also kickpi.

System Type	Username	Password
Debian	kickpi / root / linaro	kickpi / root / linaro
Ubuntu	kickpi / root	kickpi / root
Armbian	kickpi / root	kickpi / root

Serial Debugging

Connect to the K8 device using a serial debugging tool to obtain a console interface. Refer to the pinout diagram to locate the UART pins – the pin definition is shown below.

K8C DEBUG Pins

• Pin diagram

• Physical view

Tools Required

• Software: Mobaxterm
• Hardware: Serial debug cable (USB‑TTL cable).

Note

Red: VCC (not needed); Green: TX (transmit); White: RX (receive); Black: GND (ground). If you get no output in Mobaxterm, simply swap the green and white wires and try again.

Hardware Installation

• Diagram

Mobaxterm Configuration

1. Click Session to create a new session.

2. Choose Serial as the session type.

3. Select the COM port number (open Windows Device Manager → Ports to find the COM number).

4. Set Speed (bps) to 1500000.

5. After clicking OK, you will enter the command‑line window.

When the board is powered on and connected to the PC, Mobaxterm will output boot messages as shown below.

ADB

Android systems support ADB (Android Debug Bridge), a development and debugging bridge tool that allows connection to the device via USB or network. It enables app installation, file transfer, command execution, and other device management and debugging operations.

Tools Required

• Hardware: USB Type‑C cable
• Software: ADB_Tool

Hardware Installation

Connect one end of the USB Type‑C cable to the board and the other end to your host PC.

ADB Installation

1. Extract the archive, for example to D:\ADB\adb-tools on Windows.

2. Open a CMD window and navigate to the extracted directory.

cd D:\ADB\adb-tools

3. Run the following command to verify ADB is installed.

adb --version

4. Start ADB debugging.

.\adb.exe shell

SSH

SSH stands for Secure Shell – an encrypted network protocol whose core purpose is to securely log into remote servers, execute commands, or transfer files over insecure networks.

Accounts and Passwords

Default usernames and passwords for different systems:

System	Username	Password
Debian	kickpi / root / linaro	kickpi / root / linaro
Ubuntu	kickpi / root	kickpi / root
Armbian	kickpi / root	kickpi / root

Obtaining the IP Address

DHCP automatically assigns an IP address – no manual configuration is needed. You can obtain the board's IP address via several methods.

• From within the system: Connect a display, log in, and use ifconfig eth0 to get the IP.
• Via serial: In the serial terminal, enter ifconfig eth0 to get the IP (refer to the Mobaxterm section above for serial connection details).

SSH Connection

In a command line, type the following to connect via SSH:

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

• SDDiskTool fails to format the user partition?

Cause: SD cards larger than 32 GB require the NTFS file system.

Solution: Edit SDDiskTool_v1.74/config.ini to set the format to NTFS, save, and restart SDDiskTool.

USER_DISK_FS=NTFS

• ROOT login fails?

1. Verify the configuration:

Run the following command – if the output is PermitRootLogin yes, the configuration is correct:

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

2. Configure root login:

Modify the 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