3 Radxa ROCK Pi S

Contents

3.1 Board Overview

ROCK Pi S is a Rockchip RK3308 based SBC (Single Board Computer) by Radxa. It equips a 64 bits quad-core processor, USB, ethernet, wireless connectivity and voice detection engine at the size of 1.7 inch, make it perfect for IoT and voice applications. ROCK Pi S comes in two RAxM sizes 256 MiB or 512 MiB DDR3, and uses microSD card for OS and storage. Optionally, ROCK Pi S can provide on board storage version with 1/2/4/8 GiB NAND flash.

Fig. 3.8 ROCK Pi S Board

3.1.1 Photos

Fig. 3.9 ROCK Pi S Top View

Fig. 3.10 ROCK Pi S Bottom View

3.1.2 Specification

Table 3.5 ROCK Pi S Specification

Model	ROCK Pi S
Processor	SoC Rockchip RK3308 Quad Cortex-A35 ARM 64 bits processor frequency up to 1.3 GHz
Memory	256 MiB or 512 MiB DDR3
Storage	microSD(TF) optional on board 1/2/4/8 GiB NAND flash
Wireless	802.11 b/g/n WiFi Bluetooth 4.0 (RTL8723DS) External antenna
USB	1 × USB 2.0 Type-A HOST 1 × USB 3.0 Type-C OTG
Keys	1 × Maskrom 1 × Reset
Ethernet	100 Mbit/s Ethernet, optional PoE (additional HAT requried)
IO	26-pin expansion header 4 × I2C 3 × PWM 2 × SPI 3 × UART 1 × I2S 2 × 5V DC power in 2 × 3.3 DC power in
Power	USB Type-C DC 5V
Dimensions	43.18 mm × 43.18 mm (1.7 inch square)

3.1.3 Hardware Models

ROCK Pi S board comes with different versions. Not all versions are supported and tested with TanoWrt.

Table 3.6 ROCK Pi S Hardware Models

SKU	RAM	SD NAND	WiFi/BT	PoE	TanoWrt Support
RS308-D2	256 MiB	–	–	–	Yes (not tested)
RS308-D4	512 MiB	–	–	–	Yes (not tested)
RS308-D4W	512 MiB	–	RTL8723DS	–	Yes (not tested)
RS308-D4WP	512 MiB	–	RTL8723DS	Supported	Yes (not tested)
RS308-D4WPN8	512 MiB	1 GiB	RTL8723DS	Supported	Yes
RS308-D4WPN64	512 MiB	8 GiB	RTL8723DS	Supported	Yes (not tested)

3.2 Build Targets

3.2.1 Machines

Table 3.7 Supported Machines

Board[1]	Target YAML[2]	Machine[3]	Target Recipe(s)[4]	Running Media[5]	Installation Media[6]
ROCK Pi S	rock-pi-s-sd.yml	rock-pi-s-sd	tanowrt-image-full-swu	microSD card	–
	rock-pi-s-sdnand.yml	rock-pi-s-sdnand	tanowrt-image-full-swu-factory	internal SD NAND flash	microSD card

[1]

Target board.

[2]

Target YAML-file located in the kas/targets directory.

[3]

Target machine name stored in the MACHINE BitBake variable for selected Target YAML.

[4]

Recipes that will be built by default for the target. In Section 3.2.2, you can find list of supported recipes for the target images, which you can build in addition to the default recipes using optional --target option in build command (see Section 3.3).

[5]

External or internal data storage where the TanoWrt operating system is running.

[6]

External storage device for which an installation image is generated. When booting from the Installation Media, the TanoWrt system is installed on the Running Media storage.

3.2.2 Images

[7]

Image recipe name. This name can be used as argument for --target build command option (see Section 3.3 section).

3.3 Build

Please read the common information on how to perform a TanoWrt images build and preparing the build environment in section “Building TanoWrt”.

See also

• See section Section 3.2.1 to select the required target YAML file (<target-yml>).

• See section Section 3.2.2 to select the required root filesystem image recipe (<target-recipe>).

• See section Section 3.5 for detailed information about the produced build artifacts.

3.3.1 Examples

3.3.1.1 Build Default Images for ROCK Pi S Board

For microSD Card

$ kas build targets/kas/rock-pi-s-sd.yml

Default images will be produced to boot and run from the microSD card on the ROCK Pi S target board.

For Internal SD NAND Flash

$ kas build targets/kas/rock-pi-s-sdnand.yml

An initial factory installation image will be generated, intended to run from the microSD card. The installer image will install the default image to the internal SD NAND flash memory and further the ROCK Pi S board will boot and run from the SD NAND flash memory.

3.4 Partitioning Layouts

Images for ROCK Pi S board using default partitions layouts described here.

3.5 Produced Build Artifacts

All produced build artifacts are stored in the ~/tanowrt/build/tanowrt-glibc/deploy/images/<MACHINE> directory. Refer to table Produced Build Artifacts for a description of some common (not all) build artifacts.

Table 3.8 Produced Build Artifacts

Artifact	Target(s)	Description
Bootloader
idblock.img-<MACHINE>-sdcard	All	Rockchip IDBLOCK image for booting from SD card.
idblock.img-<MACHINE>-sdnand	rock-pi-s-sdnand.yml	Rockchip IDBLOCK image for booting from internal SD NAND.
Bootloader (U-Boot)
startup-<MACHINE>.img	All	U-Boot startup script.
startup-factory-<MACHINE>.img	rock-pi-s-sdnand.yml	U-Boot startup script for factory installation image.
u-boot-initial-env-<MACHINE>-sdcard	All	U-Boot initial environment image for SD card image.
u-boot-initial-env-<MACHINE>-sdnand	rock-pi-s-sdnand.yml	U-Boot initial environment image for internal SD NAND flash.
u-boot-<MACHINE>.bin-sdcard	All	U-Boot binary image for booting from SD card.
u-boot-<MACHINE>.bin-sdnand	rock-pi-s-sdnand.yml	U-Boot binary image for booting from internal SD NAND flash.
Linux Kernel and DTB
fitImage-<MACHINE>.bin	All	Flattened Image Tree (FIT) image with Linux kernel and Device Tree Blobs (DTB).
fitImage-<MACHINE>.ext4	All	FIT image packed into an ext4 file system image.
rk3308-rock-pi-s-<MACHINE>.dtb	All	Target Device Tree Blob (DTB).
Images
<rootfs-image>-<MACHINE>.sdcard.img	rock-pi-s-sd.yml	SD card image including all required partitions for booting and running the system. This image is ready to be written to the SD card using the dd utility or similar (see Writing Images).
<rootfs-image>-swu-factory-<MACHINE>.sdcard.img	rock-pi-s-sdnand.yml	SD card factory installation image. This image is ready to be written to the SD card using the dd utility or similar (see Writing Images).
<rootfs-image>-<MACHINE>.squashfs-lzo	All	Root filesystem image (squashfs with LZO compression).
<rootfs-image>-swu-<MACHINE>.swu	All	Firmware upgrade image.

Note

<MACHINE> in the artifacts path and artifact file names are replaced by the actual value of the MACHINE BitBake variable for the chosen target. <rootfs-image> is replaced by the actual read-only root filesystem image name.

For example, below is the complete list of artifacts produced by the rock-pi-s-sd.yml target build.

[~/tanowrt/build/tanowrt-glibc/deploy/images/rock-pi-s-sd]$ ls -gGh
total 184M
lrwxrwxrwx 2   84 Jun  7 06:29 fitImage -> fitImage--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.bin
-rw-r--r-- 2 3.7M Jun  7 06:29 fitImage--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.bin
-rw-r--r-- 2 5.5M Jun  7 06:29 fitImage-4.19.219+gitAUTOINC+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd.ext4
-rw-r--r-- 2 1.6K Jun  7 06:29 fitImage-its--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.its
lrwxrwxrwx 2   88 Jun  7 06:29 fitImage-its-rock-pi-s-sd -> fitImage-its--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.its
-rw-r--r-- 2 3.7M Jun  7 06:29 fitImage-linux.bin--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 2   94 Jun  7 06:29 fitImage-linux.bin-rock-pi-s-sd -> fitImage-linux.bin--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 2   84 Jun  7 06:29 fitImage-rock-pi-s-sd.bin -> fitImage--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.bin
-rw-r--r-- 2 5.5M Jun  7 06:29 fitImage-rock-pi-s-sd.ext4
lrwxrwxrwx 2   72 Jun  7 05:55 idblock.img-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard -> idblock.img-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19
-rwxr-xr-x 2 110K Jun  7 05:55 idblock.img-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19
lrwxrwxrwx 2   71 Jun  7 05:55 loader.bin-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard -> loader.bin-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19
-rwxr-xr-x 2 237K Jun  7 05:55 loader.bin-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19
-rw-r--r-- 2  41M Jun  7 06:29 modules--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.tgz
lrwxrwxrwx 2   83 Jun  7 06:29 modules-rock-pi-s-sd.tgz -> modules--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.tgz
-rw-r--r-- 2  63K Jun  7 06:29 rk3308-rock-pi-s--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.dtb
lrwxrwxrwx 2   92 Jun  7 06:29 rk3308-rock-pi-s.dtb -> rk3308-rock-pi-s--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.dtb
lrwxrwxrwx 2   92 Jun  7 06:29 rk3308-rock-pi-s-rock-pi-s-sd.dtb -> rk3308-rock-pi-s--4.19.219+git0+40b753b965-tano1.2.20.20.1.0-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607032704.dtb
-rw-r--r-- 2 2.2K Jun  7 11:40 startup.img
-rw-r--r-- 2   16 Jun  7 11:40 startup.img.version
lrwxrwxrwx 2   11 Jun  7 11:40 startup-rock-pi-s-sd.img -> startup.img
lrwxrwxrwx 2   19 Jun  7 11:40 startup-rock-pi-s-sd.img.version -> startup.img.version
-rw-r--r-- 2 5.1K Jun  7 12:02 tanowrt-image-full.env
-rw-r--r-- 2  53K Jun  7 12:02 tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.rootfs.manifest
-rw-r--r-- 2 945M Jun  7 12:03 tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.rootfs.sdcard.img
-rw-r--r-- 2  26M Jun  7 12:02 tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.rootfs.squashfs-lzo
-rw-r--r-- 2   24 Jun  7 12:03 tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.rootfs.version
-rw-r--r-- 2 362K Jun  7 12:02 tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.testdata.json
lrwxrwxrwx 2   62 Jun  7 12:02 tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd.manifest -> tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.rootfs.manifest
lrwxrwxrwx 2   64 Jun  7 12:03 tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd.sdcard.img -> tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.rootfs.sdcard.img
lrwxrwxrwx 2   66 Jun  7 12:02 tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd.squashfs-lzo -> tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.rootfs.squashfs-lzo
lrwxrwxrwx 2   60 Jun  7 12:02 tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd.testdata.json -> tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.testdata.json
lrwxrwxrwx 2   61 Jun  7 12:03 tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd.version -> tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.rootfs.version
-rw-r--r-- 2 2.2K Jun  7 12:02 tanowrt-image-full-sdimage-rockchip-swu-a-b.wks
-rw-r--r-- 2  34M Jun  7 12:03 tanowrt-image-full-swu-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.swu
lrwxrwxrwx 2   54 Jun  7 12:03 tanowrt-image-full-swu-rock-pi-s-sd.swu -> tanowrt-image-full-swu-rock-pi-s-sd-20220607090114.swu
lrwxrwxrwx 2   85 Jun  7 05:55 u-boot-initial-env-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard -> u-boot-initial-env-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19-tano7
-rw-r--r-- 2  459 Jun  7 05:55 u-boot-initial-env-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19-tano7
-rw-r--r-- 2  32K Jun  7 05:55 u-boot-initial-env-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19-tano7.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 2   89 Jun  7 05:55 u-boot-initial-env-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard.bin -> u-boot-initial-env-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19-tano7.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 2   85 Jun  7 05:55 u-boot-initial-env-sdcard -> u-boot-initial-env-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19-tano7
lrwxrwxrwx 2   89 Jun  7 05:55 u-boot-initial-env-sdcard.bin -> u-boot-initial-env-rock-pi-s-sd-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19-tano7.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 2   64 Jun  7 05:55 u-boot-rock-pi-s-sd.bin -> u-boot-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19-tano7.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 2   64 Jun  7 05:55 u-boot-rock-pi-s-sd.bin-sdcard -> u-boot-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19-tano7.bin
-rw-r--r-- 2 2.0M Jun  7 05:55 u-boot-sdcard-2017.09+gitAUTOINC+e3ca3c3805_fe66a9be19-tano7.bin

3.6 Writing Images

3.6.1 Writing Image to microSD Card

No special information about writing images to microSD card for ROCK Pi S board. See common instructions in Writing Images to SD Card or USB Flash Drive section.

Examples

Writing factory installation image for the rock-pi-s-sdnand.yml target to the microSD card /dev/mmcblk1:

$ dd if=tanowrt-image-full-swu-factory-rock-pi-s-sdnand.sdcard.img of=/dev/mmcblk1

Writing bootable image for the rock-pi-s-sd.yml target to the microSD card /dev/mmcblk1:

$ dd if=tanowrt-image-full-rock-pi-s-sd.sdcard.img of=/dev/mmcblk1

3.6.2 Writing Image to SD NAND Flash

For the initial flashing of the internal SD NAND memory it is recommended to use the special image of the initial factory installation. If you choose a build target (see Build Targets for details) that assumes using the factory installation image for the initial flashing of the device, a factory installation image (<rootfs-image>-swu-factory-<MACHINE>.sdcard.img) will be automatically generated during the build process (see Build). To write the factory installation image to an SD card, follow the instructions from Writing Images to SD Card or USB Flash Drive section.

When you boot device from the prepaired SD card with factory installation image the installation of TanoWrt to the internal SD NAND flash memory will be done automatically. The detailed installation log is available on the debug UART. After the installation is complete, the board will shut down automatically. When the device is turned on, the installed system will be booted from the internal SD NAND flash memory.

Caution

Be aware that during the installation all existing data on the internal SD NAND flash memory will be permanently lost.

3.7 Booting and Running

3.7.1 Booting from SD Card

1. Insert the micro SD card to the board.

2. Use a USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable, connect the board to your PC.

3. ROCK Pi S will boot, the green power led is on, and after a while, the blue led start blinking.

4. (Optional) Use a USB to TTL serial cable to make a connection between your PC and ROCK Pi S. See Serial Console section for details.

5. Log in to system using default credentials.

Attention

The internal SD NAND flash memory must be empty in order to perform a boot from the SD card. See Erasing Internal SD NAND Flash section for details about erasing internal SD NAND flash.

3.7.2 Booting from Internal SD NAND Flash

1. Use a USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable, connect the board to your PC.

2. ROCK Pi S will boot, the green power led is on, and after a while, the blue led start blinking.

3. (Optional) Use a USB to TTL serial cable to make a connection between your PC and ROCK Pi S. See Serial Console section for details.

4. Log in to system using default credentials.

3.7.3 Erasing Internal SD NAND Flash

You can erase the internal SD NAND flash memory in the following ways:

• Linux command line;

• U-Boot command line;

• special utilities and USB connection with PC.

Linux CLIU-Boot CLIUSB Connection with PC

Erasing SD NAND Using Linux Command Line

If the device has a bootable Linux system, you can erase the SD NAND by the following command entered in the Linux terminal:

[root@tanowrt ~]# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1k count=32768

Note that if the Linux distribution flashed on the SD NAND flash memory is not TanoWrt, the device name of the SD NAND flash memory may be different. You can usually find out the real device name by analysing the system boot log by running the command dmesg. For example:

[root@tanowrt ~]# dmesg | grep mmcblk
[    0.829147] mmcblk0: mmc0:21c9 XTSDA 990 MiB
[    0.840930]  mmcblk0: p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6
[    5.025192] mount_root: /dev/mmcblk0p1: p1, rw, start 8388608, size 8388608
[    5.033574] mount_root: /dev/mmcblk0p2: p2, rw, start 16777216, size 50331648
[    5.034476] mount_root: /dev/mmcblk0p3: p3, rw, start 67108864, size 310378496 [rootfs]
[    5.042884] mount_root: /dev/mmcblk0p4: p4, rw, start 377487360, size 50331648
[    5.045888] mount_root: /dev/mmcblk0p5: p5, rw, start 427819008, size 310378496
[    5.054576] mount_root: /dev/mmcblk0p6: p6, rw, start 738197504, size 298844160 [overlay]
[    5.055393] mount_root: root filesystem on the /dev/mmcblk0p3 partition of /dev/mmcblk0 (rw) device
[    5.083521] mount_root: founded suitable overlay partition /dev/mmcblk0p6
[    5.847535] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p6): recovery complete
[    5.849379] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p6): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
[    5.892056] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p6): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
[   13.972921] mmcblk1: mmc1:aaaa SS16G 14.8 GiB
[   13.987047]  mmcblk1: p1 p2

This output shows that device /dev/mmcblk0 is SD NAND flash memory and device /dev/mmcblk1 is SD card.

3.8 Serial Console

Note

The default baudrate of ROCK Pi S is 1500000 (1.5 Mbps), please check if your USB to TTL cable support 1.5 Mbps baudrate. Some model of CP210X and PL2303x have baudrate limitation, please check the specified model.

Connection

Connect the USB to TTL serial cable as described below. Don’t connect the VCC wire, connect only TX, RX and GND wires.

Signal	ROCK Pi S Board
	V1.0	V1.1 and later
RX	Pin 9	Pin 10
TX	Pin 11	Pin 8
GND	Pin 25	Pin 6

See Fig. 3.8 for example connection USB to TTL converter with ROCK Pi S V1.1 or later.

Serial Setting on Host PC

The default serial setting for ROCK Pi S U-Boot and kernel console is:

• baudrate: 1500000

• data bit: 8

• stop bit: 1

• parity: none

• flow control: none

3.9 Default Network Configuration

By default Ethernet port (eth0 interface) are joined into a bridge (br-lan interface). Bridge (br-lan) configured to obtain IP configuration via DHCP client. To see obtained IP configuration use the following command:

[root@tanowrt ~]# ifstatus lan | jsonfilter -e '@["ipv4-address"][0].address'
192.168.0.38

In this example, the device got the IP address 192.168.0.38 via DHCP.

Also you can connect to the board using USB network connection (usb0 interface). USB network interface configured with static IP address 192.168.128.1 with enabled DHCP server with pool with single IP address for client (your PC) 192.168.128.100.

WiFi module RTL8723DS currently is not supported in TanoWrt.

3.10 Web User Interface

The WebUI can be accessed via Ethernet port or USB network connection through HTTP(s) protocol. You must see something like this in browser after you logged in:

Fig. 3.11 LuCI WebUI Login Page

Fig. 3.12 LuCI WebUI Overview Page

3.11 Firmware Upgrade

No special information about firmware upgrade. Use produced .swu artifact for upgrading running system.

See also

See common instructions in Firmware Upgrade section.

3.12 Additional Information

Here are sections with various additional information about the Radxa ROCK Pi S board and the operation of TanoWrt on it.

• 3.12.1 ROCK Pi S U-Boot Boot Log
• 3.12.2 ROCK Pi S Linux Boot Log

3.13 References

1. ROCK Pi S (https://wiki.radxa.com/RockpiS)

2. GPIO Pinout for ROCK Pi S (https://wiki.radxa.com/RockpiS/hardware/gpio)