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Debian 13

This document explains how to use Debian 13 (trixie) on Radxa Orion O6 / Orion O6N and install the open-source driver stack through the CIX community repository.

Scope
  • This document only applies to Debian 13 (trixie)
  • This stack is intended for kernel development, driver validation, and early community testing
  • For stable daily use or production deployment, prefer the official Radxa system images; for the stable CIX driver stack, refer to the closed-source branch based on kernel 6.6

Overview​

The CIX open-source driver solution is based on a mainline development kernel and mainly installs:

  • linux-image-7.0.0-rc5-generic
  • linux-headers-7.0.0-rc5-generic
  • cix-npu-driver-dkms
  • cix-vpu-driver-dkms

Compared with flashing a full DD image, this method is easier to install, update, and remove through apt, so it is better suited to development and validation work.

Prerequisites​

Before you begin, make sure:

  • Your device BIOS is already updated:
  • You have prepared a USB flash drive with at least 8GB capacity
  • You have a computer available to download the image and write it to the USB drive
  • Your current user has sudo privileges
Required BIOS Setting

After flashing the BIOS, enter BIOS Setup and enable the option below. Otherwise, some drivers may fail to load under the 7.0 kernel:

Device Manager -> Platform Configuration -> Compliance Configuration -> Enable ACPI SCMI

Install Debian 13​

1. Download the Debian 13 installation image​

Download a Debian 13 arm64 installation image. If you want a desktop system directly, choose an installer image with GNOME. If you use netinst, you can also select the GNOME desktop environment during installation.

Use the official Debian image directory:

2. Write the image to a USB drive​

Write the downloaded Debian 13 installation image to a USB drive. You can use any of the following tools:

  • Balena Etcher
  • Rufus
  • dd

3. Boot from the USB drive and install the system​

Insert the USB drive into the device, select USB boot from the BIOS boot menu, and complete the installation by following the Debian installer.

Recommended target media:

  • Orion O6: install to an NVMe SSD
  • Orion O6N: install to an NVMe SSD or UFS module

4. First boot into the system​

After installation, boot into Debian 13 and confirm:

  • the system has working network access
  • the current user has sudo privileges

Then continue with the next section to configure the CIX PPA and install the open-source drivers.

Configure the CIX PPA and Install the Open-Source Driver Stack​

1. Enable backports and install required packages​

The open-source driver stack depends on newer firmware from Debian 13 backports:

echo "deb https://deb.debian.org/debian trixie-backports main contrib non-free non-free-firmware" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-trixie-backports.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install firmware-misc-nonfree libgl1-mesa-dri -t trixie-backports

2. Run the CIX setup script​

curl -fsSL -o cix-repo-community.sh https://archive.cixtech.com/cix-repo-community.sh
sudo sh ./cix-repo-community.sh

The script prompts you to choose an action. The common options are:

  • 1: install the closed-source driver stack
  • 2: install the open-source driver stack
  • 3: remove the installed CIX driver stack

If you want to install the open-source driver stack described in this document, enter 2.

Review the script before execution

Download the script locally and review it before running sudo sh, instead of piping remote content directly into a root shell.

3. Reboot​

sudo reboot

Verify the Installation​

After rebooting, run:

uname -r
dpkg -l | grep firmware-misc-nonfree
dpkg -l | grep cix

Under normal conditions, uname -r should report 7.0.0-rc5-generic.

Repository and Important Paths​

The CIX setup script automatically:

  • imports the repository GPG key
  • writes the CIX APT source entry
  • installs the open-source kernel and DKMS drivers
  • updates the default GRUB boot target

Related paths:

  • APT source: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/cix-deb-repo.list
  • GPG key: /usr/share/keyrings/cix-deb-repo.gpg
  • GRUB config: /etc/cix/grub-config.env

Maintenance​

Update the system​

Use the following command sequence as the recommended update path:

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade

List installed CIX packages​

dpkg -l | grep cix
apt list --installed | grep cix

Search available packages​

apt search cix-

Remove the Open-Source Driver Stack​

Run the script again and choose option 3:

curl -fsSL -o cix-repo-community.sh https://archive.cixtech.com/cix-repo-community.sh
sudo sh ./cix-repo-community.sh

The script removes the open-source kernel packages, CIX-related configuration, and attempts to restore the system to its previous state.

References​

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