Radxa OS
Radxa provides its own customized version of Debian 12 Linux (Bookworm). The distro is called Radxa OS and runs KDE Plasma with X.Org. I definitely prefer KDE to XFCE which is often provided with single board computers provided that the computer has sufficient RAM.
Here’s an image of KDE Plasma running on the ROCK 4D.
My ROCK 4D SBC has 2GB of RAM. In the example below, I’m running KDE Plasma, I have Chromium (with a single tab), Kate, Konsole, Dolphin running. Spectacle is being used to capture the image. As top shows, I’m already using swap with these apps running.
For desktop use, I recommend getting a model with more RAM.
As Radxa OS is based on Debian, you might expect to upgrade the system using the command sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. But for system upgrades this may result in incomplete updates or system instability. It’s recommended to upgrade the system using Rsetup, Radxa’s system setup utility. I looked at this tool in my series for the ROCK 5T so I won’t repeat that information here. It’s fine to use apt to install applications.
Running Rsetup prompted 168 packages to be updated.
I’ll want to remotely login to the machine. openssh-server is already installed on the system, but the service needs enabling.
$ sudo systemctl start ssh
And to enable SSH automatically on boot up, issue the command:
$ sudo systemctl enable ssh
Find the IP address of the ROCK 4D with the command:
$ ip a
The line starting inet shows my local IP is 192.168.1.209. I can log into the machine with SSH (or XPipe) to that IP address.
On the next page, I’ll interrogate the system using the inxi utility.
Next page: Page 3 – Interrogation of the system
Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Introduction
Page 2 – Radxa OS
Page 3 – Interrogation of the system
Complete list of articles in this series:
TABLE
How much does the 2GB version cost?
On AliExpress the 2GB model costs £28.89.
Other models:
4GB £39.29
8GB £57.79
16GB £96.99