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Quick Start

This chapter is designed to help you get started quickly with the Radxa ROCK Pi S. Follow this tutorial to begin.

Product Overview​

Prerequisites​

To complete all the steps in this quick start guide, you'll need to prepare the following hardware in advance:

  • Development Board: Radxa ROCK Pi S
  • Boot Media: MicroSD Card
  • MicroSD Card Reader: For reading/writing the MicroSD card
  • USB to UART Serial Cable: For serial debugging and login
  • Power Supply: 5V Type-C power adapter or Type-C to Type-A cable connected to a PC
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  • USB to UART Serial Cable

You can use this to access system output, verify successful boot, and log into the ROCK Pi S system.

  • Power Supply

The ROCK Pi S board only supports 5V power input. A minimum current of 1A is recommended to ensure stable operation of all peripherals.

  • MicroSD Card Reader

ROCK Pi S V1.5 supports eMMC for system installation and booting. If you install the system to eMMC, a MicroSD card reader is not required.

Install the Operating System​

Choose the installation tutorial that matches your ROCK Pi S version.

ROCK Pi S V1.3 supports MicroSD card installation and system booting.

Use the System​

After installing the system image, you can use a 5V Type-C power adapter or Type-C to Type-A data line to connect to the PC to start the system.

Serial Login​

We recommend using the Tabby software for serial login and debugging, supporting Windows, Linux, and MacOS platforms.

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  • ROCK Pi S Serial Parameters

Baud Rate: 1500000

Data Bits: 8

Stop Bits: 1

No parity

Hardware Connection​

danger

When using a USB-to-serial adapter with the ROCK Pi S, ensure the pins are connected correctly to prevent hardware damage.

It is not recommended to connect the VCC pin (red wire) of the USB-to-serial adapter, as incorrect connection may damage the board.

Connect the USB end of the USB-to-serial adapter to your PC, and the other end to the GPIO pins of the ROCK Pi S.

Pin FunctionConnection Method
ROCK Pi S: GND (Pin 6)Connect to GND (black wire)
ROCK Pi S: UART0_TX (Pin 8)Connect to RX (white wire)
ROCK Pi S: UART0_RX (Pin 10)Connect to TX (green wire)

Using Tabby​

Tabby is a powerful cross-platform serial debugging tool that supports various protocols including serial port and SSH.

Installing Tabby​

Download and install Tabby from the official website.

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  • Windows

According to your system architecture, choose the .exe file for installation.

  • Linux

Choose the .deb file for installation based on your system architecture.

  • MacOS

Choose the .dmg file for installation based on your system architecture.

Tabby Serial Connection​

Double-click the Tabby software icon to open it.

Configure the serial connection:

① --> Settings: Click to open settings

② --> Profiles & connections: Click to configure connection options

③ --> New profile: Click to add a new configuration

Select a base configuration as template: Choose any Serial template. You can modify parameters like device name, serial port number, and baud rate in the configuration interface.

After selecting the Serial template, modify the following parameters:

① --> Name: Set the connection name (recommended to use the product name)

② --> Device: Set the serial port device (usually /dev/ttyUSB0 if only one serial device is connected)

③ --> Baud rate: Set to 1500000

④ --> Save: Save the configuration

Click the run button to connect to the serial device:

After successful connection, press Enter to see the login information. Then log in using the system's username and password (the password won't be displayed as you type - press Enter after entering it).

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If you encounter the Error: Permission denied, cannot open /dev/ttyUSB0 error when opening the serial port, follow these steps to resolve the issue:

  1. Check if the serial port device is correctly connected

  2. Check the serial port device permissions

As an example, if the serial port device permissions are insufficient, you need to run the following command in the terminal command line to grant all users permission to access the serial port device.

Host-Linux$
sudo chmod 777 /dev/ttyUSB0
  1. Check if the serial port device is being used by another program