Scope of this Beta engineering release is for RDK-B community to explore and understand RDK-B running on Banana pi R4.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can i use this release for production - Not recommended
Does it cover all features - Yes
what release version i can use for deployment - 2025Q2 release is planned for deployment
Can i share this Beta release with my OEM's/Operators/SI's/SoC's - You are free to share
Can i contact RDKM team if i have any queries/to give any feedback - Yes
Is this Beta engineering release fully tested - Yes we have done End to End testing
Can i use Beta release for my development/New enhancements - Yes
Does beta release support 6.x linux kernel,If no what is the plan - Beta release support 5.4 kernel and we are planning linux kernel 6.1 upgrade with upcoming mediatek BSP release
Does beta release support EasyMesh/Wi-Fi 7 - No,We plan Post beta release
Copy the built binary to necessary path in meta-cmf-bananapi and change the SRC_URI to pint to the binary
ERROR: bootloader-prebuild-r0 do_fetch: Bitbake Fetcher Error: FetchError('Unable to fetch URL from any source.', 'https://artifactory.rdkcentral.com/artifactory/RDKB-Platform/BPI-R4/uboot-2024.04/bpi-r4_sdmmc_bl2.img;name=bl2')
Flashing instructions(NAND flash)
Pre-requirements: Install tftp server in you local machine and copy the image to tftp server location
Step 1: Power on the BPi board Step 2:You will see U-Boot Boot Menu procedure (ie, startup system, upgrade firmware, ...) Step 3:Select the second option upgrade firmware -> Run image after upgrading? (Y/n): Y Step 4:Next on Available load methods select 0 which is TFTP client. Step 5:Setup device network Input U-Boot's IP address: (same network as tftp server, eg:192.168.2.1) Input TFTP server's IP address: (tftp server IP address) Input IP netmask: 255.255.255.0 Input file name: rdk-generic-broadband-image-bananapi4-rdk-broadband-sysupgrade.bin (BPI image in bin format) Step 6:Then enter, image will be downloaded from tftp server to BPI and will start flashing the image to BPI device if success.
Flashing instructions(SD card)
Tested machines - Linux,MacOs
Copy wic.bz2 from build machine
MacOs
Install Balena etcher and flash using it
Linux
bzip2 -d <Path to ImageName.wic.bz2>
sudo -E bmaptool copy --nobmap <Path to ImageName.wic> <Path to SD card device file>
Does it support multiple creations - As of now we have not created any VAP's.Technically that is possible based on requirement.
Cellular Network highlights
Tested in North America & APAC regions
Flashing mechanism
Primary
NAND flash supported in Beta Engineering release
Secondary
SD flash supported in Beta Engineering release
Prerequisites:You may need to compile your own uboot and copy files to build system before build.The reason is uboot code is not fully open.as of now we are not authorized to host binaries in RDKM(SD Monolitic image build and flashing steps for BPI R4.)
2 Comments
Curtis Gailey
Currently the SD card build does not work:
Chandrakanth Pokuru
Hi Curtis,
Please follow Note section in SD build instructions (
https:
//wiki.rdkcentral.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=354648448
)Thanks,
Chandrakanth