Serial Console for the Rock64

[inos]

finally I was able to change the baudrate by altering the dtb

Code:

## be careful and make a backup of the dtb file!

sudo apt install device-tree-compiler

# dtb -> dts
dtc -I dtb -O dts -o <dts file> <dtb file>

# change the settings
# here: within the fiq-debugger section
# set baudrate to 0x1c200

# dts -> dtb
dtc -O dtb -o <dtb file> <dts file>

and applying the code below within the u-boot console

Code:

env set baudrate 115200
saveenv

When starting up the board, the very first bytes are coming with the high baudrate until the environment is restored from the boot device but that's not a big problem.
Indeed, the high baudrate was the reason for the data-drop using the RPi 1.
Despite of the fact, that this solution doesn't survive kernel updates, for the time being I can live with this situation.

[jebivetar]

not sure why OP lists cp2102 as compatible when SILabs's own specsheet says the max is 1mbps and most implementations max out at 921k

[den.zavg]

For remote connect to rock64, an inexpensive esp8266 controller is perfect. It supports 1.5 Mbps (and more) and can work as a wifi -uart bridge.
It is possible to modify its firmware for automatic control of the mmc jumper as indicated in the "How to Write an Image to the eMMC Module Tutorial"

[scat70]

Hi!

P8 and P10 belong to UART2. I would like to use UART2 for a zigbee board and thus needs to move the serial console to UART1 on P15 and P18. As far as I know, only UART0 is already used otherwise, but UART1 should be free. However moving the getty in debian from UART2 to UART1 is an easy one, but how to reconfigure uboot to use UART1 for console output ? I tried to check the uboot config with fw_printenv, but obviously /etc/fw_env.config file contains the wrong offest or size for uboot. Can sombody advise the correct offset and sitze of uboot on rock64 ?

Many thanks!

[jekohk]

Hi,

I just received my RockPro64 and unfortunately am getting no display out of HDMI when I boot. Thus i'm trying to communicate with it over serial to see what's going on.

I did not want to wait 2 weeks for the Pine USB to Serial adapter to arrive so I ended up buying this adapter from Amazon https://www.adafruit.com/product/954

Unfortunately i'm still unable to get any input on my terminal from the board. I connected GND->GND, RX->TX and TX->RX, verified the device connected on ttyUSB0 and ran minicom with the following settings: `sudo minicom -s -D /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 1500000` but nothing.

Any tips would be much appreciated!

[hmuller]

Hi,

I just received my RockPro64 and unfortunately am getting no display out of HDMI when I boot. Thus i'm trying to communicate with it over serial to see what's going on.

I did not want to wait 2 weeks for the Pine USB to Serial adapter to arrive so I ended up buying this adapter from Amazon https://www.adafruit.com/product/954

Unfortunately i'm still unable to get any input on my terminal from the board. I connected GND->GND, RX->TX and TX->RX, verified the device connected on ttyUSB0 and ran minicom with the following settings: `sudo minicom -s -D /dev/ttyUSB0  -b 1500000` but nothing.

Any tips would be much appreciated!

Reduce the bits per second to 115200, it is doubtful your usbtty device will communicate at the speed you are asking it to.

[jekohk]

Hi,

I just received my RockPro64 and unfortunately am getting no display out of HDMI when I boot. Thus i'm trying to communicate with it over serial to see what's going on.

I did not want to wait 2 weeks for the Pine USB to Serial adapter to arrive so I ended up buying this adapter from Amazon https://www.adafruit.com/product/954

Unfortunately i'm still unable to get any input on my terminal from the board. I connected GND->GND, RX->TX and TX->RX, verified the device connected on ttyUSB0 and ran minicom with the following settings: `sudo minicom -s -D /dev/ttyUSB0  -b 1500000` but nothing.

Any tips would be much appreciated!

Reduce the bits per second to 115200, it is doubtful your usbtty device will communicate at the speed you are asking it to.

hmm still nothing unfortunately :/ I thought I read elsewhere on the forums that a USB with the CP2012 chipset would work with RockPro64 but maybe I was wrong? Really at a loss here, and hoping it's not a bad board I ordered.. anyone have suggestions for where to go from here? I do get a green light next to the power barrel and lights on the ethernet port so at least it looks like the board is getting power? But nothing from HDMI or USB ports (I tried plugging in multiple keyboards)

[belfastraven]

Hi,

I just received my RockPro64 and unfortunately am getting no display out of HDMI when I boot. Thus i'm trying to communicate with it over serial to see what's going on.

I did not want to wait 2 weeks for the Pine USB to Serial adapter to arrive so I ended up buying this adapter from Amazon https://www.adafruit.com/product/954

Unfortunately i'm still unable to get any input on my terminal from the board. I connected GND->GND, RX->TX and TX->RX, verified the device connected on ttyUSB0 and ran minicom with the following settings: `sudo minicom -s -D /dev/ttyUSB0  -b 1500000` but nothing.

Any tips would be much appreciated!

Reduce the bits per second to 115200, it is doubtful your usbtty device will communicate at the speed you are asking it to.

hmm still nothing unfortunately :/ I thought I read elsewhere on the forums that a USB with the CP2012 chipset would work with RockPro64 but maybe I was wrong? Really at a loss here, and hoping it's not a bad board I ordered.. anyone have suggestions for where to go from here? I do get a green light next to the power barrel and lights on the ethernet port so at least it looks like the board is getting power? But nothing from HDMI or USB ports (I tried plugging in multiple keyboards)

You do need to communicate with the rockchip devices at 1500000.  I could not verify that the cp2012 does support that--maybe some else can confirm for sure.   I assume you are booting the device from an SD card.  Which  distribution are you trying to run,  and how did you write it to the ssd?   I have sometimes had problems with HDMI output,  but have never had an issue with  the serial terminal.   I use picocom,  rather than minicom, "sudo picocom  /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 1500000".  Doesn't the -s on the minicom command put it into some kind of setup mode?   I've also seen some reviews of a particular CP2012 device where the reviewer has said that the the tx and rx wires on the device were switched and he had to switch the connections to get something to work, FWIW.

[t4_4t]

A note on cp2102 is given in the post (#22), a little before this thread.
(https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...2#pid36572)

> not sure why OP lists cp2102 as compatible.
> when SILabs's own specsheet says the max is 1mbps and most implementations max out at 921k.

---

Additional Information:
The description of the product you presented uses a mix of "cp2012" and "cp2102" in the chip name.
Perhaps "cp2012" is wrong and "cp2102" seems to be correct.

And the data sheet for "cp2102" is as follows
https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/...2102-9.pdf
And, as post #22 points out, "CP2102" supports only up to 1Mbps.

---

You need to select a product with a 1.5Mbps compatible chip.
For example, it is a product equipped with PL2303HX / CH340G etc.

[jekohk]

A note on cp2102 is given in the post (#22), a little before this thread.
(https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...2#pid36572)

> not sure why OP lists cp2102 as compatible.
> when SILabs's own specsheet says the max is 1mbps and most implementations max out at 921k.

---

Additional Information:
The description of the product you presented uses a mix of "cp2012" and "cp2102" in the chip name.
Perhaps "cp2012" is wrong and "cp2102" seems to be correct.

And the data sheet for "cp2102" is as follows
https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/...2102-9.pdf
And, as post #22 points out, "CP2102" supports only up to 1Mbps.

---

You need to select a product with a 1.5Mbps compatible chip.
For example, it is a product equipped with PL2303HX / CH340G etc.

ahh I see :/ I suspected this might be the case. 
Can anyone recommend a USB TTY connector that uses a compatible chip from Amazon/similar? Based on how long it took me to receive my initial RockPro64 board, I do not want to wait another 3 weeks for my USB TTY adapter to come from China or i'd just buy the one from the Pine store.