I am Lao Wen, an embedded engineer who loves learning.Follow me to become even better together!“Excellent hardware design, comprehensive software documentation, and the lowest possible product prices are essential to create competitive embedded development board products in the market.”Do you agree with the above statement, fellow embedded enthusiasts?!Based on observations over the past few years, beginners and makers have increasingly high expectations for embedded development boards, requiring stable hardware, rich documentation, affordable prices, and excellent after-sales support! (both and and also)Many manufacturers are striving to find the best balance within this “impossible quadrilateral”!In any case, one word: the embedded development board market is becoming increasingly competitive!Even though this market is becoming more competitive, against the backdrop of the booming domestic semiconductor industry, the prices of chips today have seen significant performance leaps and cost improvements compared to a few years ago, leading to a growing number of high-cost-performance domestic chip solutions.For example, in the MPU processor chip field, there are Rockchip’s RK3506, Allwinner’s T113, and JIANGXIN’s D21X, etc. (If there are more quality domestic processor chip solutions, feel free to leave a comment.)Additionally, we previously introduced the Rockchip RK3506 chip; you can click the following article link for a review.With increasing pressure, cost reduction has been a priority in recent years, and entering embedded development must also consider cost first!For embedded software engineers, the completeness of software documentation is crucial. The documentation for the Rockchip RK3506B has been fully uploaded to the cloud drive, and those in need can access it here:http://www.openedv.com/docs/boards/arm-linux/RK3506B.html (Copy the link to your browser or click [Read the original text] to view the demo)I browsed the materials in the cloud drive and summarized the software documentation for RK3506B as follows:The documentation is mainly divided into two parts: Drive A contains basic development materials that need to be frequently referenced during development. Drive B mainly includes a ready-to-use development environment and a customized RK3506-SDK package.Expanding on the basic materials in Drive A, the various folders are sorted by number, allowing you to directly click on the content you need, making it convenient and quick!
The top-level directory of the documentation package includes a document titled “ATK-DLRK3506 Development Board Quick Start Guide.pdf”, indicating that this is an important document that should be read first. It uses a mind map to guide us on how to use the RK3506 documentation package, making it clear and straightforward!
(Following the flow of the mind map, you can basically get the development board up and running.)In the basic materials folder of Drive A, the manuals are all very important, but as an embedded software engineer, the first focus should be on the folders “10. User Manual” which contains “01. Development Documentation” and “02. Auxiliary Documentation”.I have read all the documents in the “10. User Manual” folder. Reiterating the various development steps and methods of the development board would not be very meaningful.Here, I will share my thoughts on some documents for reference by embedded enthusiasts.“01 [Zhengdian Atom] ATK-DLRK3506_SDK Development Manual V1.0.pdf”This document is not lengthy; it mainly describes how to install and compile the SDK, as well as how to flash the firmware image, essentially providing step-by-step operational instructions that can be executed directly.The preface of this document includes a note suggesting that one should have a certain foundation in embedded Linux development before learning to use this development board. If the foundation is lacking, it is recommended to first learn with the imx6ull.
“02 [Zhengdian Atom] Basics of Linux Driver Development V1.0.pdf” and “03 [Zhengdian Atom] ATK-DLRK3506 Embedded Linux Driver Development Guide V1.0.pdf” are two documents related to driver development.The Basics of Linux Driver Development is based on previous driver tutorials, extracting the most fundamental content. If you already have a certain development foundation, you can skip this document; if not, it is recommended to read it carefully.The Linux Driver Development Guide is relatively detailed and is a tutorial guide written specifically for the RK3506B chip. If you want to develop drivers using the RK3506B chip, it is recommended to read it carefully.
“04 [Zhengdian Atom] Linux_C Application Programming Reference Manual V1.0.pdf” and “05 [Zhengdian Atom] Basics of Embedded Qt Development V1.0.pdf” are documents about embedded Linux application development, containing the most detailed content.
However, since they are related to application programming and do not differ much from hardware platforms, these two documents are also provided for other Linux development boards from Zhengdian Atom, offering good reference value for embedded enthusiasts engaged in application development.
Since the ATK-DLRK3506B development board supports both Qt and LVGL graphical user interface file systems, two documents are also provided, namely the Embedded Qt Development Example and the LVGL Development Example.However, these two documents are relatively simple; the Qt development example provides applications for lighting up an LED and a USB camera. The LVGL development example provides cross-compilation deployment and LED lighting.I have communicated with the Zhengdian Atom team, and these two graphical interface example documents are still being written and improved.
In the “02. Auxiliary Documentation” folder, the following documents are about RK3506B:“01 [Zhengdian Atom] ATK-DLRK3506B Quick Experience V1.0.pdf”“02 [Zhengdian Atom] ATK-DLRK3XXX Virtual Machine User Guide V1.1.pdf”“05 [Zhengdian Atom] ATK-DLRK3506_SD Card Boot Reference Manual V1.0.pdf”When experimenting with the RK3506B development board, it is recommended to read these documents. The others summarize Linux development experiences, including environment setup, tool usage, firmware flashing, parameter configuration, etc., which are of significant reference value.
As for other folders in the cloud drive, such as program source code, schematics, core board materials, development tools, hardware materials, official documents, system images, etc., developers can find the desired documentation based on the corresponding folder names, and I will not elaborate on them here.In summary, a development board costing less than a hundred yuan can be judged based on the richness of its documentation. The hardware price of development boards is becoming increasingly competitive; once costs are reduced to a certain extent, they cannot be lowered further. Instead, the market competitiveness of development board products can be enhanced through comprehensive documentation and strong after-sales service.
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I am Lao Wen, an embedded engineer who loves learning.Follow me to become even better together!