Radxa Zero 3W
Summary
TLDRThis 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
😀 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.
🖥️ 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.
⚡ 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.
📝 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡single board computer
💡Radxa Rock 3W
💡emmc storage
💡Debian Linux
💡boot process
💡GPU acceleration
💡microSD card
💡ARM architecture
💡operating system installation
💡technical specifications
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
here please press that like button if
you haven't subscribed Please Subscribe
and I hope to talk to you again very
soon
[Music]
a
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