Rockchip RK30xx Category - CNX Software

November 14, 2021November 17, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

How to flash firmware to Rockchip devices in Windows and Linux (2021 Edition)

We’ve written several articles detailing methods to flash firmware to Rockchip devices in Windows or Linux over the years, with tools like RKAndroidTool, RkFlashKit, upgrade_tool, or the open-source rkdeveloptool utility. This is mostly useful to flash another OS or if the device does not boot, as most products will now support OTA firmware updates. But following my review of Zidoo M6 with Android 11, I’ve now got a Linux image for the Rockchip RK3566 mini PC, so let’s revisit the firmware flashing methods in 2021. Zidoo sent me instructions for Windows, but since I’m a Ubuntu user, I flashed the firmware with the Linux tools used by Firefly. The same methods should work for the older processors such as RK3066, RK3288, and RK3399, besides the more recent Rockchip RK3566 and RK3568 processors. How to flash Rockchip firmware in Linux [Important update: If your device comes with both eMMC flash and […]

August 30, 2021October 21, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Linux 5.14 Release – Main changes, Arm, MIPS, and RISC-V architectures

Linus Torvalds has just announced Linux 5.14 release which happens to almost coincide with the anniversary of the initial announcement of the “small” project on August 25, 1991, about 30 years ago. Here’s Linux 5.14’s announcement: So I realize you must all still be busy with all the galas and fancy balls and all the other 30th anniversary events, but at some point you must be getting tired of the constant glitz, the fireworks, and the champagne. That ball gown or tailcoat isn’t the most comfortable thing, either. The celebrations will go on for a few more weeks yet, but you all may just need a breather from them. And when that happens, I have just the thing for you – a new kernel release to test and enjoy. Because 5.14 is out there, just waiting for you to kick the tires and remind yourself what all the festivities are […]

May 7, 2021 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Microwave oven runs Linux on Rockchip RK3308 for voice control

Linux is everywhere, even on Mars, but if there’s one home appliance I did not expect to find the open-source operating system, it would have been the microwave oven. But Farberware thinks differently and launched the FM11VABK microwave oven running Linux on a Rockchip RK3308 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor to handle Sensory’s TrulyHandsfree voice stack enable voice-assistant features on the Linux microwave oven. I don’t think I need to go through the full specs of the 1,100 Watts microwave oven and I’ll focus on the voice assistant instead. People who worry about connecting everything to the Internet will be glad to know Farberware FM11VABK does not require an Internet connection or a mobile app for control. Everything is processed locally through TrulyHandsfree technology without sacrificing privacy, and with faster response times. Sensory offers its “Custom Domain-Specific Voice Assistant” service to any manufacturers of home appliances, vehicle infotainment systems, set-top boxes, home […]

March 4, 2019April 22, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Linux 5.0 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS & RISC-V Architectures

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 5.0: Ok, so the last week of the 5.0 release wasn’t entirely quiet, but it’s a lot smaller than rc8 was, and on the whole I’m happy that I delayed a week and did an rc8. It turns out that the actual patch that I talked about in the rc8 release wasn’t the worrisome bug I had thought: yes, we had an uninitialized variable, but the reason we hadn’t immediately noticed it due to a warning was that the way gcc works, the compiler had basically initialized it for us to the right value. So the same thing that caused not the lack of warning, also effectively meant that the fix was a no-op in practice. But hey, we had other bug fixes come in that actually did matter, and the uninitialized variable _could_ have been a problem with another compiler. Regardless – all […]

December 3, 2017December 4, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Sega Genesis Flashback Retro Game Console is Powered by “Monkey King 3.6” Processor, Runs Android

Retro gaming is cool again with products like Nintendo NES Classic / SNES Classic, DIY solutions based on firmware like RetrOrangePi, and the upcoming Atari console among others. Another model is AtGames Sega Genesis Flashback, a smaller replica of Sega Model 1 Genesis with 85 pre-loaded games including the Sonic series, Mortal Kombat series, Phantasy Star series, and Shining Force series games. The console ships with two wireless controllers, connect to your TV via HDMI with 720p resolution, and includes a cartridge slot that works with Sega Genesis and Mega Drive cartridges. The console has been out for several months, and it would be an understatement to say reviews are not very positive with titles / bylines such as “do not buy” (partially because the console requires a power adapter….), This Genesis does not do what Nintendoes, or “More like Trashback“. But what caught my eyes is ETA Prime’s Sega Genesis Flashback HD […]

February 20, 2017May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Linux 4.10 Release – Main Changes, ARM & MIPS Architectures

Linus Torvalds has just released Linux 4.10: So there it is, the final 4.10 release. It’s been quiet since rc8, but we did end up fixing several small issues, so the extra week was all good. On the whole, 4.10 didn’t end up as small as it initially looked. After the huge release that was 4.9, I expected things to be pretty quiet, but it ended up very much a fairly average release by modern kernel standards. So we have about 13,000 commits (not counting merges – that would be another 1200+ commits if you count those). The work is all over, obviously – the shortlog below is just the changes in the last week, since rc8. Go out and verify that it’s all good, and I’ll obviously start pulling stuff for 4.11 on Monday. Linus Linux 4.9 added Greybus staging support, improved security thanks to virtually mapped kernel stacks, […]

August 11, 2016August 12, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Official Rockchip Github Account and Wiki Launched

Following the popularity of RK3066 and RK3188 processors in 2013, a community of developers for Rockchip Linux and Android development was created with corresponding linux-rockchip github account, mailing list and #linux-rockchip IRC channel, and now most of the information can be gathered from development board manufacturers like Firefly. However, I’ve just been pointed out to some VA-API driver for Rockchip RK32xx processor, on rockchip-linux (not linux-rockhip) github account, with the following tagline: An open source software for Rockchip SoCs, This site maintained by Rockchip The only person currently registered to this account, Jacob Chen (陈豪), is a software engineer working for Rockchip, so it does indeed look to be official. The github account also links to rockchip.wikidot.com with links to communication channels established by linux-rockchip community, and lots of entries about Linux, Android, U-boot, and so on, most of which are currently placeholders. So it still looks like work in […]

March 15, 2016May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Linux 4.5 Released – Main Changes, ARM and MIPS Architectures

Linus Torvalds released Linux Kernel 4.5 on Sunday: So this is later on a Sunday than my usual schedule, because I just couldn’t make up my mind whether I should do another rc8 or not, and kept just waffling about it. In the end, I obviously decided not to,but it could have gone either way. We did have one nasty regression that got fixed yesterday, and the networking pull early in the week was larger than I would have wished for. But the block layer should be all good now, and David went through all his networking commits an extra time just to make me feel comfy about it, so in the end I didn’t see any point to making the release cycle any longer than usual. And on the whole, everything here is pretty small. The diffstat looks a bit larger for an xfs fix, because that fix has […]