Radxa Zero 3W

Summary

This video from explainingcomputers.com reviews the Radza 03W, a quad-core, zero form factor single board computer with various RAM and storage options. The host unboxes the 2GB RAM and 16GB eMMC storage variant, highlighting its competitive edge over the Raspberry Pi 02W, especially in terms of availability and USB-C connectivity. The review delves into the board's specifications, including the Rockchip RK3566 SoC and Wi-Fi 6 capabilities. The host encounters challenges while attempting to install an OS on the eMMC storage but provides a detailed performance analysis, including system boot-up, desktop experience, and browsing capabilities, demonstrating the board's potential despite some hurdles.

Takeaways

• 😀 The Rada 03W is a quad-core, single board computer competing with the Raspberry Pi 0W
• 💡 The 03W has 2GB RAM, 16GB onboard storage, WiFi, Bluetooth and USB 3.0 connectivity
• 🔌 It has a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core Arm processor running at up to 1.6GHz
• 📶 The default OS is Debian Bullseye with Xfce desktop environment
• 🖥️ It can handle web browsing, including YouTube playback, reasonably well
• 💾 Installing OS on eMMC storage instead of SD card should improve performance
• ❌ The instructions for writing OS images to eMMC didn't work successfully
• ⚙️ SD card performance was 64 MB/s , eMMC was faster at 161 MB/s
• 🔜 A model with Gigabit Ethernet instead of WiFi will be released soon
• 🆕 The Orange Pi 0 2W is another similar low-cost single board computer

Q & A

What single board computer is the Radsza 03w competing with?

The Raspberry Pi 0 2w is the main competitor to the Radsza 03w mentioned in the video.

What processors and GPU are used on the Radsza 03w?

The Radsza 03w uses a Rockchip RK3566 system-on-a-chip with four ARM Cortex-A55 cores and a Mali G522 MP2 GPU.

What kind of RAM and storage does the featured Radsza 03w have?

The Radsza 03w featured has 2GB of DDR4 RAM and 16GB of onboard eMMC flash storage.

What operating system is demonstrated running on the Radsza 03w?

Debian Linux with the Xfce desktop environment is shown running on the Radsza 03w in the video.

Does the Radsza 03w have hardware video acceleration?

Yes, Chrome on the Radsza 03w shows GPU hardware acceleration for video enabled.

Is the presenter able to boot the Radsza 03w from eMMC storage?

No, the presenter is unable to find the necessary bootloader to boot the Radsza 03w from its eMMC storage.

How does the eMMC storage speed compare to the microSD card speed?

The eMMC storage benchmarked at over 2.5x faster than the microSD card at 161 MB/s versus 64 MB/s.

What other single board computer is mentioned for an upcoming review?

The presenter mentions the Orange Pi 0 2w as another zero form factor board that will be reviewed soon.

What connectivity options does the Radsza 03w have?

The Radsza 03w has dual USB-C ports (USB 3.0 host and USB 2.0 data transfer), micro HDMI, WiFi 6, and Bluetooth 5.4.

What is the price range given for the different Radsza 03w models?

Prices range from $19 for a 1GB RAM variant with no eMMC, up to $68 for the highest spec 4GB/64GB model.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introducing the Radxa Rock 3w Single Board Computer

The first paragraph introduces the Radxa Rock 3w single board computer, describing its specifications including the Rockchip RK3566 quad-core SoC, 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC storage, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.4. It mentions pricing ranging from $19 to $68 depending on configuration. The paragraph also notes it competes with the Raspberry Pi 0 2w.

05:00

🖥️ Booting the Radxa Rock 3w into Debian Linux

The second paragraph shows booting the Radxa Rock 3w into Debian Linux with Xfce desktop in real time. It loads somewhat slowly with laggy desktop performance. The browser launches to display the product page and download options. The recommended Debian Buster image has no WiFi, but a forum post links to a working B4 image.

10:02

⚡ Hardware Acceleration and Performance Testing

The third paragraph demonstrates hardware acceleration in the Chromium browser, showing acceptable YouTube playback with some dropped frames. A terminal test shows the microSD card speed at 64 MB/s, while the eMMC is faster at 161 MB/s. However, the author has been unable to install an OS on the eMMC so far.

15:04

📝 Summary and Comparison to the Orange Pi 0 2w

The fourth paragraph concludes by mentioning the Radxa Rock 3w is one of several new zero form factor boards including the Orange Pi 0 2w to be covered next. It invites viewers to like, subscribe and stay tuned for more single board computer reviews.

Keywords

💡single board computer

A single board computer refers to a complete computer built on a single circuit board. They are small, affordable devices that are used for learning, prototyping, and building digital projects. The Raspberry Pi is a well-known example. In the video, the Radxa Rock 3W is introduced as a quad-core, single board computer that competes with the Raspberry Pi Zero W.

💡Radxa Rock 3W

The Radxa Rock 3W is the specific single board computer model that is reviewed in the video. It is a quad-core device with WiFi/Bluetooth capabilities and multiple RAM and storage options. It is portrayed as an alternative to the Raspberry Pi Zero W, with additional features like USB 3.0 support.

💡emmc storage

Embedded MultiMediaCard (eMMC) flash storage is a type of onboard storage commonly found on single board computers. The video's Radxa Rock 3W model has 16GB eMMC storage on board, which should allow for faster performance than booting from the microSD card. However, the author struggles to get the operating system running from eMMC.

💡Debian Linux

Debian Linux is the operating system distribution that is installed on the Radxa Rock 3W, specifically Debian 11 Bullseye with the Xfce desktop environment. The author chooses this distribution since it is the officially supported OS recommended by Radxa for the board.

💡boot process

The video shows the Radxa Rock 3W booting up Debian Linux in real time, from power on to arriving at the desktop environment. This demonstrates the boot speed and performance of the board and operating system during initialization.

💡GPU acceleration

GPU acceleration refers to hardware accelerated graphics rendering, typically by a graphics processing unit (GPU). The author shows that there is some level of GPU acceleration working in the Chromium web browser on the Radxa Rock 3W, allowing for a moderately smooth YouTube playback experience.

💡microSD card

The Radxa Rock 3W boots Debian Linux from a microSD card, as it is currently easier for OS installation than the onboard eMMC. However, the author attempts unsuccessfully to also get the OS running from the faster eMMC storage.

💡ARM architecture

The Radxa board uses a Rockchip RK3566 system-on-a-chip (SoC) which contains Arm Cortex-A55 CPU cores. ARM is a very common architecture used across many embedded devices and single board computers due to its power efficiency.

💡operating system installation

A major focus of the video is attempting to install and boot Debian Linux on both the microSD card and the onboard eMMC storage of the Radxa Rock 3W board. This proves difficult in the case of eMMC, with the author unable to find the necessary bootloader file.

💡technical specifications

The author provides some key technical specifications of the Radxa Rock 3W, including its quad-core Arm processor, 2GB of RAM, wireless connectivity, micro HDMI port, USB 3.0 support, and available operating system images.

Highlights

The Raza 03w is a quad-core, single board computer competing with the Raspberry Pi 02w, but offering USB3, onboard eMMC, and more RAM

The 03w has a Rockchip RK3566 quad-core ARM processor, Mali G522 GPU, 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, 40-pin GPIO

The 03w boots Dean GNU/Linux nicely, though the desktop is quite laggy without GPU acceleration

Chromium has hardware acceleration enabled, allowing reasonable YouTube playback at 1080p with some dropped frames

Installing an OS to eMMC is supposed to work via masking ROM mode, but the author couldn't get it working due to lack of a proper bootloader

The microSD card manages 64MB/s sequential reads, while eMMC hits 161MB/s - much faster

The 03w seems very promising, offering more power than a Pi Zero in a similar form factor, plus niceties like USB 3.0 and eMMC

OKdo/Radxa will soon offer a 03e model with Gigabit Ethernet instead of WiFi, plus a PoE hat, providing more options

Software is still early for this board, with some issues like lack of WiFi on earlier images

Documentation and support forums exist but have some gaps, like info on booting from eMMC

Debian Bullseye provides the best support currently, with Ubuntu images available but less tested

Pricing starts at $19 for a 1GB/no eMMC model up to $68 for a 4GB/64GB high end version

The Orange Pi 02W is a similar competitor that will be reviewed next

The author hopes to get OS boot working properly from eMMC in the future

The 03w brings more power and better connectivity than a Pi Zero to the ultra small form factor

Transcripts

[Music]

welcome to another video from explaining

computers.com

this time we're going to take a look at

this the radza

03w this is a quadcore zero form factor

single board computer with a number of

different RAM and onboard storage

options so let's go and take a closer

look right here we have our Rader

03w which has 2 GB of RAM 16 GB of

onboard emmc flash storage and which I

purchased from allnet for

$33 there models range from a 1 gab

variant with no emmc and a gpio header

for $19 up to an $864 board for

$68 just to confuse matters OK do and rs

also sell the same boards but call them

the Rock zero 3w so for example on OK do

our 2 GB Ram 16 GB emmc board cost £

3270 including

taxes but regardless let's open up our

exciting new single board computer just

take it out that wrapper like that open

up a little box there we are it's in an

anti-static bag it seems to be sort of

seal but easy to open no tools required

on this occasion let's get it out the

bag there we are our new single Bo

computer I always like opening up a new

single Bo computer and clearly this is a

competitor to a raspby pi 02w of which

I've got one over here this rather rare

board well as we can see if we flick

around to the same orientation one of

the differences is we have got USBC

ports on the rad to 03w rather than the

micro USB on the pi model and the other

big difference is that compared to the

Raspberry Pi 02w this board is actually

available you can buy different variants

of the rad 03w we still can't find rasp

Pi 02 WS which is a great

shame anyway let's turn attention to

this board here and at the heart of the

board we have a Rockchip RK

3566 system on a chip with four arm

cortex a55 cores clocked at up to 1.6

GHz as well as n Mali g522 e

GPU to one side of the S so we then find

our low power ddr4 ram here 2 GB and on

the other side is a wireless module that

offers Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth

5.4 next to this there was then both an

onboard antenna and also an antenna

connector and according to Rader's

documentation these are selectable V

software turning to the front edge we

find a micro HDMI connector that

supports 1080p at up to 60 frames a

second as well as USBC connector that

offers USB 3.0 host

connectivity and then there's also a

second USBC connector and this one can

be used to power the board although it

also offers USB 2.0 data transfer for

programming the

emmc finally on the top here we find a

40 pin colorcoded gpio header although

do note that not all models of RZA 30

come with a populated header it just

depends on the version of the board that

you

purchase if we turn the board over

underneath are a few exciting things not

least we find our emmc flash storage

here 16 GB and we also have here a micr

SD card slot and a CSI a camera serial

interface connector for connecting a

camera to the board and then finally

down here we've got a tiny switch this

is a mask ROM button and this is used

when programming the emmc flash

storage and so there we are the Rader

03w a very promising piece of Hardware

clearly competing with a raspber pi 02w

but offering usb3 connectivity onboard

emmc and significantly more

RAM finally it's worth noting that Rader

will soon also sell a

03e which is identical to a 03w except

that it's got a gigabit Ethernet port

rather than the wireless module and has

no emmc options and for good measure

there's also going to be a dedicated

power over Ethernet or Poe hat so very

exciting although right now it is the

03w that's actually available so let's

go and see how this board

[Music]

performs right I've now got everything

connected up so let's turn on the

power here we go and we'll do this boot

in real time so you can see how quickly

the radza 03w actually boots up

oh and we now have something on the

screen things are definitely happening

and we're booting into Dean Bullseye

with an xfc desktop and this is an image

for the same provided by Rader and I'll

say a bit more about it in a

second anyway we now need to log in the

default is Rader for the username and

rad s for the password as well like that

those are a default

this is not my first boot I have gone in

and made a few scaling changes so things

read better on video but hopefully in a

second we will arrive on my desktop it's

exciting isn't it watching this little

board boot up into a desktop Linux Dro I

know some people will say Chris no one

will use a desktop Dr on a board like

this but it's available so I want to

show you that it works and it's not too

bad it's reasonbly responsive this

obviously isn't the most powerful system

in the world if we open up for example a

fan manager like that there we are it's

uh think things are working as you can

see I don't think we've got GPU

acceleration on this desktop there if we

go to the menu you'll see it's a little

bit laggy in fact it's h very laggy as

you can see that but there's uh things

are working there's not too much

pre-installed we get down to settings

there's lots of settings for xfc ETC few

accessories something in development

couple of browsers small bit of

multimedia stuff but basically this is a

minimal Dr you can do with what you wish

so let's go to internet and launch the

uh Chromium browser see what's going on

there again we'll do this in real time

so you can see how well this works and

there we are it's not my default browser

I don't care go away why does software

ins system doing things like that anyway

as you can see we're on the web page for

the radza

03w and if we scroll down here we get to

a download section which is where we

logically go to find an operating system

and here as you can see we've got Debian

and auntu server well if we click on

Debian it takes us to a page out on

GitHub which has got various download

options come on there we are it is

working and if we look down here you'll

see there are four operating systems

available from ranser for the board

there is Dean xfce desktop that's the

one we're currently running which as you

can see this is the officially supported

tested and recommended OS for most users

that's obviously why I'm running this we

also have a CLI version and then we also

have Ubuntu available with a desktop or

without but it the services provided as

is except for critical issues we

certainly aren't intending to use that

and that's why I'm running

Debian this said if we scroll down here

you'll see the actual images we can

download which logically would be this

one here Dean Bullseye xfc desktop and

this is image B3 and if you use image B3

it works but you don't get any Wi-Fi and

if you go up here you see we have got

Wi-Fi we're obviously online that's how

we're online using Wi-Fi and so I had to

search around a bit to make this work

and the first thing I did was to go to I

went to the OK do software Hub remember

OK do sell this board as The Rock

03w if we just go to their site like

this you will see here are their

software images for the various rock

boards and if we go down to there is it

03w same images we just saw they are B3

images so that doesn't get you anywhere

but fortunately I managed to find going

around various places searching around I

got to this forum post which will come

in I'm sure come on Forum post you can

arrive and show us your lovely self is

he going to get there yes it is here we

are and this is clearly a forum post

about working images and down here there

is a link somewhere there it is to build

B4 and that's the one we're currently

running I don't know why that isn't

listed on the other pages but it's the

one that works including a Wi-Fi on this

board and in terms of what it can do you

might be interested to see if we go to

bookmarks again and we go to the GPU

internals for chromium or Chrome you

will see in a second here we are we have

got some Hardware acceleration here and

this is pretty typical of what we get

with software from Rader for their

boards they're pretty good at supporting

hardare acceleration for the GPU in the

browser rather than the desktop that's

the right way around I think I'd much

rather have it in the browser than the

desktop I've got to have a choice and so

that looks fairly reasonable and

therefore you might be thinking can this

board play a YouTube clip so I guess we

have to try and again people say you

wouldn't buy a board like this to play

YouTube but it's just interesting to see

what it can do so let's go to my sample

clip and I'll speed on through till the

clip is

playing there we go and boy did it take

YouTube a bit of time there to go full

screen but now it has we can there are

drop frames quite a lot of drop frames

but playback isn't too bad here in a

1080p certainly much better than I would

have expected massively better than you

get for example on a on a rasp Pi zero

board this is a this is not bad this is

actually watchable YouTube on a zero

form factor single board computer I'm

rather impressed with that so uh there

we are that's definitely a a positive if

with some drop frames but a positive for

the radza 03w

anyway let's come out of that now now

we've now we've got there we say goodbye

like that because I want to go to the

terminal let's go to the terminal down

there there is our terminal because

right now we're booting this operating

system from a micr SD card we do have

emmc on the board but the easier way to

install an operating system is to a micr

SD card however if I do an lsblk to L

block devices like that we can see we do

have on this system the 6 gab micro SD

card we booted from and emmc flash

storage it does look a little bit like

there's something on that doesn't it but

uh don't know what there is and why

we've got these two little partitions

there but anyway nothing nothing boots

from it so there we are so at the moment

we're running from microSD card I'd like

to see if I can get this board to boot

from emmc I'm not sure I can and I've

been searching around to try and find a

way to do it so I will go and have an

experiment and I'll come back to you

after that

greetings here I am back again a few

days later having spent many hours

trying and failing to install an

operating system on the emmc flash

storage here on the rad

03w and we go across to Windows here we

are in a browser these are some of the

instructions available from Rader

there's lots of documentation here I

just can't find any that helps me out we

have to use something called the arcade

development tools you can see we install

that as well as a driver tool that's all

installed and run no problems at all and

then we get to use this tool to in

theory put an image onto the device and

I've got that running here it is this is

in Chinese but the instructions on the

website are fortunately in English and

in theory what you do is to hold down

the mask ROM button on the board and

then plug it into your computer and then

you can use his software to a image

across to the emmc and what we need to

do is have both an operating system and

image and I've got one of those that's

the De Bu image I've been using from the

micro SD card but we also need a

bootloader file and that's where I'm

stuck I can't find a bootloader file for

the RADS Z 3w I can find one for other

Rader boards but not the 3w and

therefore at this point anyway I'm

admitting defeat in getting an operating

system to run from the emmc storage on

the r Zer

3w so let's go across to Dean running

still from a micr SD card on the board

and I realized I hadn't shown you eight

toop running on it in the last segment

so here's eight toop running along you

can see what htop showers memory use Etc

just thought you might find that

interesting I know some of you always do

so we'll I'll shown you that now and

then I'll get rid of it like that and I

also thought it'd be worth just testing

the speed of the drives on the system so

I've set up first of all to test the

speed of the micr SD card so let's do

that let's see what kind of speed we get

here very exciting oh it's doing its

stuff come on give us a number there we

are 64 is megabytes a second that's not

too bad for a Micro SD card on a single

board

computer but you cry what is the speed

of that emmc flash storage that so far

Chris has failed to install an operating

system on well let's just put that in

like that and run the test again and

there it goes what do you think it

should be faster the question is how

much faster and there we are oh 161

megabytes a second significantly faster

so when it is possible to put an

operating system onto the MMC storage on

this board it should be a lot more fluid

but there we are for now that is the end

of this test I don't always get things

working but I do hope to run an

operating system from the emmc flash

storage on this board in the

future the ratza 03w is one of several

zero form factor single board computers

to have launched in the past few months

with another being this the orange pi02

W which we'll take a look at in our next

single board computer

review but now that's it for another

video if you've enjoyed what you've seen

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soon

[Music]

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