Difference between revisions of "Rockpi4/FAQs"

Revision as of 17:25, 18 April 2019

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General

Where can I buy ROCK Pi 4?

Currently you can buy model B from Allnet. Check the Buy page.

Where is ROCK Pi 4 Model A, I can't buy it from anywhere?

At the time of writing(17th, Nov), ROCK Pi Model A is still in production now. We will announce it when model A is ready to ship.

What's the difference of Model A and Model B?

The model B has PoE header, 802.11ac wifi, bt 5.0 while the model A doesn't have. The form factor is compatible.

What's the prices for different models and what includes?

The suggested retail price for ROCK Pi is

RAM	1GB	2GB	4GB
ROCK Pi 4 Model A	$39	$49	$65
ROCK Pi 4 Model B	$49	$59	$75

The package includes only the main board. See the picture.

Hardware

How to mount M.2 SSD?

We have made a M.2 extended board to put the M.2 SSD on top of ROCK Pi4. It looks like this. See picture here and here.

What M.2 SSD are supported?

SSD comes in different form factors, listed below

Form Factor	Description
Mini PCIE	physical not compatible
M.2 B Key	physical not compatible
M.2 M Key	Most of M Key SSD on the market are NVMe protocol(PCIe x4 lanes), supported, few PCIe AHCI SSD is also supported. SATA protocol(nearly none) is not supported.
M.2 B&M Key	Some of B&M Key SSD are NVMe protocol(PCIe x2 lanes), supported. Some B&M Key SSD are SATA protocol, not supported.

ROCK Pi 4 expose a M.2 M key connector, it's compatible with NVMe or PCIe AHCI protocol. SATA protocol SSD are not supported. So far what we tested:

- Known working -

Samsung EVO series(M key, NVMe), work well on ROCK Pi 4, fast speed
KingSpec NVMe M.2 2280(M key, NVMe), works well
MaxMemory NVMe M.2 128G(B&M key, NVMe), works well

- Known to have issues -

Asgard 256GB (M key, NVMe) - Formatting fails with some FSs, performance degrades quickly, Formatting via USB and using on NVMe seems to work but reliability is questionable.

- Known not working -

HP EX900(B&M Key, NVMe), detection failed on ROCK Pi 4, works with PC.

How to solve board heat issue?

We have made a giant heatsink at the bottom. You can check the picture 1 and 2.

Can I use the Raspberry Pi Camera?

Yes. Currently the Raspberry Pi V2 camera, IMX219, 800Mp is supported. It works with Debian and Android. Please note that the camera is supported on Android tablet version only for now.

Can I use the Raspberry Pi Display?

Yes. The touch and the LCD works on ROCK Pi 4. Both Debian and Android. Same as camera, touchscreen is supported on Android tablet version only.

Can I use the Raspberry Pi PoE HAT for ROCK Pi model B?

No. The official Raspberry Pi PoE HAT is not mechanical compatible with ROCK Pi 4 model B, besides, the official Raspberry Pi PoE HAT can not provide enough power for ROCK Pi 4. We plan to release our own PoE HAT and make it compatible with Raspberry Pi 3B+.

Is the GPIO on 40pin header 1.8V or 3.3V

The GPIO is 3.3V level

Is there I2S on 40pin header?

The I2S signal is 12/35/36/38/40 pins of the header, which is the same as Tinker Board. It should be compatible with Raspberry Pi but we haven't actually tested and DAC HAT.

Can I power the RockPi 4 Model B using only the USB 3.0 OTG port?

No. Because with USB 3.0 OTG power from PC or power supply, the power might be not enough(the voltage is only 5V, so we need high current to meet power demand, not all USB type A are designed for big current) and it's risky when flashing the firmware from USB3 OTG. So we just don't design this feature. That's why we support USB PD or QC on ROCK Pi 4, it can increase the voltage so the current is less or with the same current but gain more power.

How much mA can i get from the USB 3 and 2 ports for charging or use a 2.5" disk?

The upper USB3.0 OTG has one dedicated current limit control which is 1.45A. The rest USB 3.0 HOST and the two USB 2.0 HOST share a current limit control of 3A together.

OS

Can I run Windows on ROCK Pi 4?

No.

What Android verison running on ROCK Pi? Can I install Google Play apps?

Currently ROCK Pi 4 have two android 7.1 based images, Android TV interface image and Android tablet interface image. Both support Google Play Store. The Android tablet like version supports touchscreen and Camera and HDMI. The Android TV version supports HDMI. Newer Android 9 is working in progress now.

Can I install Android on USB 3 or M.2 SSD?

Currently Android is running on eMMC and microSD card only. Running on USB3 or NVMe SSD is a little bit trouble some since the CPU can not load USB/NVME directly to boot. So we must put an external bootloader in SPI flash or eMMC or microSD card to loader the image in USB 3 or NVMe SSD. ROCK Pi 4 has reserved SPI flash on board but currently not mounted by default shipping. We are still considering it since if the program in SPI flash is corrupted, it will be trouble some for user since the SPI flash is not removable. We will work on Android running on USB 3 or NVMe SSD.

Do you support Armbian?

We now have a preview release of Armbian image, you can download it from Rockpi4/downloads

@@ Line 68: / Line 68: @@
 * KingSpec NVMe M.2 2280(''M key, NVMe''), works well
 * MaxMemory NVMe M.2 128G(''B&M key, NVMe''), works well
+'''- Known to have issues - '''
+* Asgard 256GB  (M key, NVMe)  - Formatting fails with some FSs, performance degrades quickly, Formatting via USB and using on NVMe seems to work but reliability is questionable.
 '''- Known not working - '''