Rockchip RK3588 TRM, Android 12 firmware & SDK released

Firefly ITX-3588J mini-ITX motherboard powered by Rockchip RK3588 processor was introduced at the beginning of the month, and now the company has started selling samples for the Core-3588J system-on-module and taken the opportunity to release the Rockchip RK3588 TRM (technical reference manual), Android 12 firmware, and the SDK.

Firefly Core-3588J module

Before we check out the new documentation and Android software development kit, let’s have a quick look at Firefly Core-3588J module specifications:

• SoC – Rockchip RK3588 octa-core processor with  four Arm Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, four Arm Cortex-A55 cores, ArmMali-G610 MP4 quad-core GPU with support for OpenGL ES3.2, OpenCL 2.2, Vulkan1.1, 6 TOPS NPU, 48MP ISP, 8Kp60 video decoding, 8Kp30 video encoding
• System Memory – 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB LPDDR4/LPDDR4x/LPDDR5 memory
• Storage – 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB eMMC flash
• 314-pin MXM 3.0 edge connector for peripherals interfaces including HDMI 2.1 outputs, HDMI 2.0 input, Ethernet, PCIe 3.0/2.0, SATA, USB 3.0, etc…
• Supply voltage – 4V (TBC)
• Dimensions – 82 x 53 mm (10-layer PCB); 2x holes for 45mm heatsink
• Temperature Range – Operating: -20°C to 60°C; storage:-20°C-70°C

Firefly is currently offering two variants: 4GB RAM and 32GB storage for $229, and 8GB/64GB for $309, both available on the Firefly store. Hopefully, the price will go down sharply over time as the Rockchip RK3588 processor becomes more widely available.

Rockchip RK3588 TRM, Android 12 firmware & SDK

While we’ve had the RK3588 datasheet for several months, most of the technical information is in the technical reference manual, which has just been released into two files:

• Rockchip RK3588 TRM V1.0-Part1-20220309.pdf – 2,287 pages document with a system overview, CRU module (for clocks), CPU, GPU, VPU, General register files (GRF), PMU, MCU subsystem, and more.
• Rockchip RK3588 TRM V1.0-Part2-20220309.pdf – 3,706 pages document with descriptions of the interconnect, dynamic memory interface (DMC), mobile storage host controller (i.e. SD/MMC controller), raster graphics acceleration, video output processor (VOP), PCIe controller (apparently limited to 1GB addressing), and so on

You’ll find the files on Firefly ITX-3588J’s documentation page (update: the TRM is not shown anymore, but it can be found on Radxa website instead) together with the link for Android 12 firmware for HDMI display (LCD image is coming later).

The Android 12 SDK with the source code for the bootloader, Linux kernel, and other resources for Android 12 is listed as well but requires you to send an email to Firefly. But you may not even have to, as one person has released the full RK3588 Android SDK on Gitlab.

[Updated on July 17, 2022 with link to SDK]

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