# Getting Started with BeagleV™ - StarLight

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BeagleV™ - StarLight is the first affordable RISC-V computer designed to run Linux. It is fully open-source with open-source software, open hardware design and RISC-V open architecture. It is a joint effort by Seeed Studio, BeagleBoard.org® and StarFive.

It is powered by RISC-V SiFive U74 Dual-Core 64-bit RV64GC ISA SoC running at 1.5GHz with 4GB/ 8GB LPDDR4 RAM variants and has rich I/O peripherals such as USB 3.0 ports, 40 pin GPIO header, Gigabit Ethernet Connector, Micro-SD card slot and much more. BeagleV™ - StarLight also has rich AI features with Neural Network Engine and NVDLA Engine. It has onboard audio and video processing capabilities and has MIPI-CSI and MIPI-DSI connectors for video hardware. It has wireless capabilities with Wi-Fi and BLE and has a wide software compatibility including support for Fedora.

# Features
- Truly open-source hardware, software and RISC-V open architecture
- Powerful and rich AI features with Neural Network Engine and NVDLA Engine
- Abundant I/O peripherals
- Wireless connectivity with Wi-Fi and BLE
- Onboard video and audio processing
- Wide software compatibility including support for Fedora
- Integrated with Seeed Fusion Service for customization and mass production

# Specifications

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# Hardware Overview

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- **1.** RISC-V SiFive U74 Dual-Core 64-bit RV64GC ISA SoC
- **2.** 4GB LPDDR4 RAM
- **3.** 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2 (BLE)
- **4.** 40 Pin GPIO Header
- **5.** MIPI-DSI Connector
- **6.** PMIC
- **7.** USB Type-C Connector
- **8.** LCD to HDMI IC
- **9.** HDMI 2.0 Connector
- **10.** 2 x MIPI-CSI Connector
- **11.** Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45 Connector)
- **12.** 2 x USB 3.0 Host Type-A
- **13.** 2 x USB 3.0 Host Type-A
- **14.** 3.5mm Audio Jack (4-pole stereo audio output)
- **15.** Micro-SD SDXC Card Slot

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# Pinout Diagram
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# Getting Started - Hardware Required
You need to prepare the following hardware before getting started with the BeagleV™ - StarLight

- BeagleV™ - StarLight
- 16GB (or more) micro-SD card
- micro-SD card reader
- Computer (PC/Mac/Linux)
- USB To Serial Converter (3.3V I/O) or Ethernet Cable
- Power Adapter (5V/3A)
- USB Type-C Cable
 
# Getting Started - Connecting a Fan
BeagleV™ - StarLight tends to run hot even with a heat sink installed. So it's recommended to use a fan with BeagleV™ - StarLight. You can connect a 5V fan to the board as follows:
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**Note: **You can also connect the red wire (+) to pin 2 (5V) and connect the black wire (-) to pin 9/14/20/25/30/34/39 (GND)

# Getting Started - Software Set Up
## Flash Fedora OS to Micro-SD Card
Now we need to burn **Fedora** (which a Linux distribution) on to a micro-SD card, so that it can run on the BeagleV™ - StarLight. Follow the steps below according to your operating system.
 
Start by downloading the **Fedora image** from [here](https://github.com/starfive-tech/beaglev_fedora "here").

### For Windows
- **Step 1.** Insert a micro-SD card to the computer using a **micro-SD card reader** connected to the computer, or by using a **built-in card reader** on a laptop
- **Step 2.**Download **Zstandard-CLI** software by visiting the links below:
	- [Zstandard-CLI for windows 32-bit](https://github.com/facebook/zstd/releases/download/v1.4.9/zstd-v1.4.9-win32.zip "Zstandard-CLI for windows 32-bit")
	- [Zstandard-CLI for windows 64-bit](https://github.com/facebook/zstd/releases/download/v1.4.9/zstd-v1.4.9-win64.zip "Zstandard-CLI for windows 64-bit")

[Click here](https://github.com/facebook/zstd/releases/tag/v1.4.9 "Click here") to visit the github repo

- **Step 3.**Extract the .ZIP file
- **Step 4.**Copy the Fedora-riscv64-vic7100-dev-raw-image-Rawhide-202104161415.n.0-sda.raw file and paste inside zstd directory that you just extracted
- **Step 5.**Open **Windows Powershell** and navigate to the zstd directory

Example:
		cd D:Downloadszstd

- **Step 6.**Type the following command to **unzip** the **Fedora image**

./zstd.exe -d Fedora-riscv64-vic7100-dev-raw-image-Rawhide-202104161415.n.0-sda.raw.zst -o Fedora-riscv64-vic7100-dev-raw-image-Rawhide-202104161415.n.0-sda.raw

**Note:** Now your image file is named Fedora-riscv64-vic7100-dev-raw-image-Rawhide-202104161415.n.0-sda.raw
- **Step 7.**Visit [this link](https://www.balena.io/etcher/ "this link") to download **BalenaEtcher**. We will use BalenaEtcher software to flash the Fedora image to a micro-SD card
- **Step 8.**Install BalenaEtcher and open it
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- **Step 9.**Click on **Flash from file** and point to the location of the image that we just unzipped: Fedora-riscv64-vic7100-dev-raw-image-Rawhide-202104161415.n.0-sda.raw
- **Step 10.**Click on **Select target** and select the connected micro-SD card 
- **Step 11.**Finally, click on **Flash!**

### For Mac/Linux
- **Step 1.**Insert a micro-SD card to the computer using a **micro-SD card reader** connected to the computer, or by using a **built-in card reader** on a laptop
- **Step 2.**Open a **terminal window** on Mac/Linux
- **Step 3.**Type the following to update the **packages list**

sudo apt-get update

- **Step 4.**Type the following to install **zstd** package which we will use to unzip our Fedora image file

sudo apt-get install zstd

- **Step 5.**Navigate to the location of the downloaded **Fedora** image directory before

Example:
		cd Downloads/

- **Step 6.**Run the following command to **unzip** the Fedora image

zstd -d Fedora-riscv64-vic7100-dev-raw-image-Rawhide-202104161415.n.0-sda.raw.zst

- **Step 7.** **Burn** the Fedora image to the micro-SD card by running the following command

sudo dd if=Fedora-riscv64-vic7100-dev-raw-image-Rawhide-202104161415.n.0-sda.raw of=/dev/sdc bs=8M status=progress && sync

Note:
		1.of=/dev/sdc corresponds to the location of the connected micro-SD card. You can find this by running lsblk command
		2.The whole burning process will take about 20 minutes

## Log in to Fedora OS on BeagleV™ - StarLight
### Method 1: Using SSH over Ethernet

After installing Fedora, you can log in to Fedora using an **SSH connection** over the local network

- **Step 1.**Insert the **micro-SD card** with the **Fedora image** into the BeagleV™ - StarLight and power on
- **Step 2.**Connect one end of an Ethernet cable to the RJ45 connector on the BeagleV™ - StarLight and the other end of the cable to a router
- **Step 3.**Unplug the Ethernet cable from BeagleV™ - StarLight, plug again

**Note:** This is a known issue and will be fixed in the future
After that, your router will assign an **IP address** to the BeagleV™ - StarLight and it will be connected to the **internet**.
#### For Windows
- **Step 1.**Log in to your router (usually you need to enter 192.168.1.1 on the web browser to enter the router)
- **Step 2.**Go to **DHCP configuration** and find the **IP address** of the BeagleV™ - StarLight.

**Note:** You can easily find the IP address of the BeagleV™ - StarLight by referring to it's **Host Name: fedora-starfive**

- **Step 3.**Download and install **Putty** by visiting [this link](https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html "this link")

**Note:** Putty is an SSH and telnet client where you can use it to connect to the Carrier Board via SSH. You can skip this step if you already have Putty installed

- **Step 4.**Open Putty to log in to Fedora
- **Step 5.**Select **SSH** under the **Connection Type**
- **Step 6.**Configure the settings as follows:
	- Host Name: IP address of your BeagleV™ - StarLight
	- Port: 22
- **Step 7.**Click open
- **Step 8.**Enter the credentials as follows:
		Username: riscv
		Password: starfive

Now you have connected with the BeagleV™ - StarLight via SSH using windows!

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#### For Mac/Linux
- **Step 1.**Log in to your router (usually you need to enter **192.168.1.1** on the web browser to enter the router)
- **Step 2.**Go to **DHCP configuration** and find the **IP address** of the BeagleV™ - StarLight.

- **Step 3.**Open a terminal window and type the following

ssh riscv@192.168.1.xxx

**Note:** 192.168.1.xxx is the IP address of the BeagleV™ - StarLight
- **Step 4.**Type the password as starfive in the prompt

riscv@192.168.1.xxx's password: starfive

Now you have connected with the BeagleV™ - StarLight via SSH using Mac/Linux!
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### Method 2: Using a USB to Serial Converter
You can log in to Fedora OS using a **USB to Serial Converter**. Please follow the guide below.
#### For Windows
- **Step 1.**Insert the micro-SD card with the Fedora image from before into BeagleV™ - StarLight
- **Step 2.**Connect one end of the USB Type-C cable to the USB Type-C port on the BeagleV™ - StarLight and connect the other end of the cable to the power adapter
- **Step 3.**Connect the jumper wires from the USB to Serial Converter to the 40-Pin GPIO header of the BeagleV™ - StarLight as follows

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- **Step 4.**Connect the USB to Serial Converter to the PC
- **Step 5.**Open **Device Manager** by typing Device Manager in the windows search box
- **Step 6.**Click on the drop-down arrow from **Ports (COM & LPT)** and find the name of the connected serial port (ex: **COM4**)

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- **Step 7.**Download and install **Putty** by visiting [this link](https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html "this link")
**Note:** Putty is an SSH and telnet client where you can use it to connect to the Carrier Board via SSH. You can skip this step if you already have Putty installed
- **Step 8.**Open Putty to connect the PC to the Carrier Board
- **Step 9.**Select **Serial** under the **Connection Type**
- **Step 10.**Configure the settings as follows:
 - Serial line: COM4 (choose your COM port)
 - Speed: 115200

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- **Step 11.**Click **Open**
- **Step 12.**Turn on the power from the wall power socket to power on the BeagleV™ - StarLight
- **Step 13.**Type username and password in the prompt as follows:
		Username: riscv
		Password: starfive

Now you have connected with the BeagleV™ - StarLight via serial communication using windows!

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![](././../../images_dir/1619765927/19.png)
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#### For Mac/Linux
- **Step 1.**Insert the micro-SD card with the Fedora image from before into BeagleV™ - StarLight
- **Step 2.**Connect one end of the USB Type-C cable to the USB Type-C port on the BeagleV™ - StarLight and connect the other end of the cable to the power adapter
- **Step 3.**Connect the jumper wires from the USB to Serial Converter to the 40-Pin GPIO header of the BeagleV™ - StarLight as follows

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![](././../../images_dir/1619766068/20.png)
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- **Step 4.**Connect the USB to Serial Converter to the PC and turn on the power to BeagleV™ - StarLight
- **Step 5.**Open a **terminal window** on Mac/Linux
- **Step 6.**Type the following to update the **packages list**
		sudo apt-get update
- **Step 7.**Type the following to install **minicom**
		sudo apt-get install minicom
- **Step 8.**Type the following in the terminal to view the connected serial devices
		dmesg | grep tty

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![](././../../images_dir/1619766309/21.png)
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- **Step 9.**Connect to the serial device by typing the following
		minicom -D /dev/ttyACM0 -b 115200

**Note:** The baud rate is set to 115200

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- **Step 10.**Turn on the power from the wall power socket to power on the BeagleV™ - StarLight
- **Step 11.**Type username and password in the prompt as follows:
		Username: riscv
		Password: starfive
Now you have connected with the BeagleV™ - StarLight via serial communication using Mac/Linux!

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# FAQ
## What is JH7100 and JH7110?
JH7100 is a beta version test chip which targets prior developers to contribute to the RISC-V community in a very early time. So when we design this SoC, we also took this chance to verify the performance and put our experience into JH7110. JH7100 has some known issues. Therefore we are ready to fix these issues on JH7110 and make JH7110 SoC ready for mass production.

## Why Ethernet speed does not reach up to 1Gbps?
Our testing result is TX: 301Mbps, RX: 285Mbps. This is related to the design issue of JH7100 chipset, and we will fix this issue in JH7110 chipset design.

## Why USB 3.0 Host speed is lower than the specification?
When we read and write SSD via USB 3.0 Host port, the testing speeds are:
 
A: 67.7MB/s B: 71.6MB/s C: 65.8MB/s D: 74.3MB/s
 
This is related to the design issue of JH7100 chipset, and we will fix this issue in JH7110 chipset design.

## Why the read speed of SD card is slower than the specification?
Our testing result is 22MB/s. This is related to the design issue of JH7100 chipset, and we will fix this issue in JH7110 chipset design.

## Why the board is very hot when running?
We did not take low power functioning into consideration when designing the JH7100 chipset. This will be improved in JH7110 chipset design. Currently we have installed a cooling fan on the board for heat dissipation.

## Why some of the displays cannot be driven via the HDMI port?
It is probable that some of the old model displays can not work with the board's HDMI port. This is because the driver is not compatible with all displays. We suggest using new displays manufactured in the last 2 years. We will keep developing software drivers to support more display models.

## How to check the temperature of CPU?
You can enter the following commands to check the CPU temperarature

cat /sys/devices/platform/soc/124a0000.tmpsensor/temp1_input

# Resources
- **[ZST] **[Fedora Image - 202104161415](https://rcn-ee.net/rootfs/fedora/Fedora-riscv64-vic7100-dev-raw-image-Rawhide-202104161415.n.0-sda.raw.zst "Fedora Image - 202104161415")

# Tech Support
Please submit any technical issue into [StarFive GitHub repo](https://github.com/starfive-tech/beaglev_fedora/issues "StarFive GitHub repo") or [BeagleBoard forum](https://forum.beagleboard.org/ "BeagleBoard forum").

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