Quick Start

This guide will help you quickly get started with the Radxa NX5 Development Kit and quickly validate the features of Radxa NX5.

Product Image

The Radxa NX5 Development Kit consists of the Radxa NX5 compute module and Radxa NX5 IO Board, providing a complete hardware development platform for quick validation of compute module functionality, performance evaluation, and prototype system building to help users efficiently complete development and solution verification.

Note: The Radxa NX5 IO Board needs to be purchased separately by the user.

Prerequisites

You need to prepare the following hardware in advance:

• Radxa NX5 Development Kit
• Power supply: DC 5525 power adapter (5V input)
• System boot media: Onboard eMMC
• Data cable: Micro USB data cable (for flashing system to eMMC)
• Display device: HDMI cable and monitor
• Input devices: Keyboard and mouse (for GUI operation)

Recommended Accessories

• It is recommended to use a 5V/3A or higher DC power adapter for power supply.

Install the System

System Note

If you need to install the system to a microSD card, please refer to Install System to microSD Card

If both microSD card and onboard eMMC have systems installed, the system will boot from the microSD card first.

The quick start guide mainly introduces installing the system to the onboard eMMC of Radxa NX5.

Important Reminder

Installing the system will completely format the eMMC. All data will be permanently deleted!

Please confirm before proceeding:

• There is no important data on the eMMC, or you have completed a backup.

Install RKDevTool

RKDevTool is a software developed by Rockchip for USB flashing on Windows/Linux/MacOS platforms, designed to simplify and accelerate the development and debugging process for Rockchip series chips.

Windows

• Install Drivers

Download and extract the DriverAssistant v5.14 file.

Locate the DriverInstall.exe file and run it as administrator:

To install drivers: Click the Install Driver option

To uninstall drivers: Click the Uninstall Driver option

tip

If you have previously installed other versions of the driver, please uninstall them before installing the new one.

• Download RKDevTool

Download the RKDevTool utility, then extract the downloaded file. The RKDevTool.exe is the executable program - simply double-click to launch the software.

Linux

• Install rkdeveloptool

Open your system terminal or command line and run the following commands to install:

Linux$

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y libudev-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev dh-autoreconf pkg-config libusb-1.0 build-essential git wget
git clone https://github.com/rockchip-linux/rkdeveloptool
cd rkdeveloptool
autoreconf -i
./configure
make -j $(nproc)
sudo cp rkdeveloptool /usr/local/sbin/

• Verify Installation

After installing RKDevTool, you can check the version number using the following command:

Linux$

rkdeveloptool -V

MacOS

• Install HomeBrew

HomeBrew is a free and open-source package manager that simplifies the process of installing software for MacOS users.

If you don't have HomeBrew installed, you can install it using the following command:

MacOS$

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

• Install rkdeveloptool

Open your system terminal or command line and run the following commands to install.

Recommended

It is recommended to install directly via a third-party Homebrew Tap, no manual compilation needed:

MacOS$

brew tap IgorKha/rkdeveloptool
brew install rkdeveloptool

Compile from source (alternative)

If the Tap installation fails, you can also compile from source. macOS does not support $(nproc), use make directly. main.cpp uses variable-length arrays (VLA), macOS Clang does not allow VLA in C++ by default, so you need to declare the variable as const first.

MacOS$

brew install automake autoconf libusb pkg-config
git clone https://github.com/rockchip-linux/rkdeveloptool
cd rkdeveloptool
autoreconf -i
./configure
sed -i '' 's/int nSectorSize = 512;/const int nSectorSize = 512;/' main.cpp
make
cp rkdeveloptool /opt/homebrew/bin/

• Verify Installation

After installing RKDevTool, you can check the version number using the following command:

MacOS$

rkdeveloptool -V

Enter Maskrom Mode

About Maskrom Mode

In Rockchip platform development, RKDevTool is a commonly used flashing tool. We can enter Maskrom mode and use RKDevTool to flash the firmware.

tip

Maskrom mode is the "hardware first-aid kit" for embedded devices, enabling device recovery by directly accessing the chip's low-level interfaces.

Maskrom mode is a built-in low-level recovery mode in Rockchip chips. When the device cannot boot from any storage media (eMMC, SD card, etc.), we can use RockUSB protocol to rewrite the device firmware.

Entering Maskrom Mode

Our board features a dedicated Maskrom button. To enter Maskrom mode, press and hold the Maskrom button before powering on the board. The system will detect the button press and automatically enter Maskrom mode.

Detailed steps:

① : Press and hold the Maskrom button

② : Power on the board using the power adapter

③ : Release the Maskrom button

④ : Connect the board's OTG port to your computer's USB port using a data cable

After the board enters Maskrom mode, you can use the RKDevTool to verify the mode.

Verifying Maskrom Mode

Windows

On Windows, open the RKDevTool. The software will automatically detect if the board is in Maskrom mode.

If the board is in Maskrom mode, the bottom left corner of the software will display Found One MASKROM Device.

Linux / MacOS

On Linux/MacOS, you can use the RKDevTool to verify if the board is in Maskrom mode.

Use the rkdeveloptool ld command to check the Maskrom mode status.

Linux / MacOS$

sudo rkdeveloptool ld

If the terminal outputs a message similar to the following, the board is in Maskrom mode:

Linux / MacOS$

DevNo=1	Vid=0x2207,Pid=0x350e,LocationID=109 Maskrom

Install System to eMMC

This guide explains how to use the RKDevTool to flash a system image to an eMMC.

Note: Ensure the board is in Maskrom mode and properly recognized by the system.

Windows

On Windows, open the RKDevTool and follow these steps to install the system to the eMMC.

① : Select the corresponding Loader file for your board

② : Select the corresponding system image file for your board (extract the downloaded image archive before use)

③ : Choose the eMMC option as the system storage medium

④ : Check the Write by Address option

⑤ : Click the RUN button to execute all operations

⑥ : Monitor the operation progress through this interface

Disconnect the board from the PC, then power cycle the device. The system will automatically boot from the eMMC.

Linux / MacOS

On Linux/MacOS, use the terminal command line to install the system to the eMMC.

1. Run the Loader file

Replace demo.bin with the Loader file corresponding to your board.

Linux / MacOS$

sudo rkdeveloptool db demo.bin

2. Install the system image

Replace demo.img with the system image corresponding to your board.

Linux / MacOS$

sudo rkdeveloptool wl 0 demo.img

3. Reboot the system

Disconnect the board from the PC, then power cycle the device. The system will automatically boot from the eMMC.

Linux / MacOS$

sudo rkdeveloptool rd

Boot the System

After the system installation is complete, connect the HDMI display, then re-plug the power adapter to boot the system.

①: Connect the display and the board using an HDMI or DP cable

②: Connect a mouse or keyboard using the USB-A interface

③: Power the board using a 5V DC power adapter

If the board is powered normally, the Radxa NX5 system indicator LED and the Radxa NX5 IO Board power indicator LED will light up green. If the system boots normally, the Radxa NX5 system indicator LED will blink green, and the Radxa NX5 IO Board status indicator LED will blink blue.

Log In

When you first boot the system, you need to log in using the default username and password.

The default credentials for Radxa OS are:

Item	Value
Username	radxa
Password	radxa

Use the System

After successfully logging in, you can configure the system and develop on the Radxa NX5 Development Kit.