Rockchip Tutorials & Engineering Guides

Step-by-step tutorials and debug checklists for Rockchip SoCs, written by engineers for engineers.

AndroidIntermediate

Android Kiosk Mode on Rockchip Devices (Lock Task, Device Owner, Boot to App)

Turn a Rockchip Android board into a single-purpose kiosk: device-owner provisioning, lock-task mode, booting straight into your app, and what to bake into the ROM instead.

6 min read · RK3588, RK3588S, RK3576
LinuxIntermediate

Build Mainline U-Boot for Rockchip (RK3588, RK3568, RK3399)

Build a mainline U-Boot image with TF-A and the Rockchip DDR blob, then write it to SD, eMMC or SPI flash.

7 min read · RK3588, RK3588S, RK3568
LinuxIntermediate

Build the Rockchip Linux Kernel (Vendor BSP and Mainline)

Cross-compile a Rockchip kernel on an x86 host, install the Image, DTB and modules, and know when to choose the vendor BSP or mainline.

8 min read · RK3588, RK3588S, RK3576
LinuxBeginner

Configure GPIO on Rockchip: Pin Numbering, Device Tree and libgpiod

Convert GPIO3_B5-style names to Linux line numbers, drive pins with libgpiod, and describe them properly in the device tree with pinctrl and overlays.

7 min read · RK3588, RK3588S, RK3576
AI & NPUIntermediate

Convert YOLO to RKNN and Run It on the RK3588 NPU

Export YOLO to ONNX, quantise and convert it to .rknn with RKNN-Toolkit2 on an x86 host, then run it on the board with RKNN-Toolkit-Lite2, using all three RK3588 NPU cores.

10 min read · RK3588, RK3588S, RK3576
BeginnerBeginner

Flash Any Rockchip Board with rkdeveloptool (Linux & macOS)

Build rkdeveloptool from source, set up udev permissions, and flash raw images, partitions and SPI flash on Rockchip boards.

6 min read · All SoCs
BeginnerBeginner

How to Identify a Rockchip SoC (from Linux, U-Boot, USB or the Chip Marking)

Five quick ways to find out exactly which Rockchip SoC and board you are dealing with, even on an unknown device.

4 min read · All SoCs
Hardware DebuggingAdvanced

RK3588 PCIe Not Detecting NVMe: A Step-by-Step Debug Checklist

NVMe missing from lsblk? Work through software, device tree, power/reset and signal integrity in the right order to find why the PCIe link isn't training.

9 min read · RK3588, RK3588S, RK3568
BeginnerBeginner

Rockchip Boot Process Explained: BootROM, TPL, SPL, BL31, U-Boot and Linux

A stage-by-stage walkthrough of how a Rockchip SoC boots, where each piece lives on flash, and how to tell from the serial log which stage failed.

9 min read · All SoCs
Hardware DebuggingAdvanced

Rockchip Ethernet PHY Debugging: RGMII Delays, MDIO and Link Problems

No link, link but no traffic, or heavy packet loss on a Rockchip GMAC? Diagnose PHY detection, RGMII timing, clocks and reset in a systematic order.

8 min read · RK3588, RK3588S, RK3576
Hardware DebuggingIntermediate

Rockchip USB Device Not Detected: Host, OTG, VBUS and PHY Checklist

A USB port that shows nothing in lsusb usually has a role, power or PHY problem. Here is the order to check them on Rockchip SoCs.

6 min read · RK3588, RK3588S, RK3576
BeginnerBeginner

What Is MaskROM Mode? Rockchip Recovery and Loader Mode Explained

MaskROM is the Rockchip BootROM's USB recovery mode, the reason Rockchip boards are nearly unbrickable. Learn how to enter it, how it differs from Loader mode, and how to flash from it.

7 min read · All SoCs

Stuck on a problem a guide doesn't cover?

Our engineers debug Rockchip boards, BSPs and AI pipelines for product teams. Tell us what you're seeing.