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Downloading and Installing the Operating System

When we have prepared the necessary items, we can start downloading and installing the operating system.

1. Downloading the Operating System​

Bianbu OS is the default operating system for BIT-BRICK K1. It is an operating system deeply optimized for RISC-V based on the Ubuntu community source code compilation.

Download address: Bianbu desktop for SDcard

The firmware ending with img.zip is the sdcard firmware, which can be written to the sdcard using the dd command or balenaEtcher after decompression.

note

that this firmware is not suitable for eMMC.

2. Installing the Operating System​

PC Configuration Requirements​

Operating System: Windows or Linux or MacOS
C Drive Space (or Linux/MacOS System Home Space): > 5GB

We will use the balenaEtcher tool to burn the firmware to the Micro SD card.

Installing balenaEtcher​

  1. Download the burning software for the Linux image - balenaEtcher, and the download address is https://www.balena.io/etcher/
  2. After entering the balenaEtcher download page, clicking the green download button will jump to the software download location

balena_download

  1. Then you can choose to download the Portable version of the balenaEtcher software. The Portable version does not require installation and can be used by double-clicking to open it.

balena_download

  1. If the installed version of balenaEtcher is downloaded, please install it before using it. If the Portable version of balenaEtcher is downloaded, just double-click to open it. The interface of balenaEtcher after opening is shown in the following figure

balena1

Using balenaEtcher to Burn the Image​

  1. First, prepare a TF card with a capacity of 16GB or more. The transfer speed of the TF card must be class 10 or above. It is recommended to use TF cards of brands such as SanDisk.
  2. Then insert the TF card into the computer using a card reader.
  3. Find the downloaded compressed package of the Linux operating system image file, ending with img.zip.
  4. The specific steps to use balenaEtcher to burn the Linux image are as follows
    • First, select the path of the Linux image file to be burned.
    • Then, select the drive letter of the TF card.
    • Finally, click Flash to start burning the Linux image to the TF card.

balena1

  1. The interface displayed during the process of burning the Linux image by balenaEtcher is shown in the following figure. In addition, the progress bar showing purple indicates that the Linux image is being burned to the TF card.

balena1_flashing

  1. After the Linux image is burned, balenaEtcher will also default to verify the image burned into the TF card to ensure that there is no problem during the burning process. As shown in the following figure, the display of the green progress bar indicates that the image has been burned successfully, and balenaEtcher is verifying the burned image.

balena1_flashing

  1. After the successful burning is completed, the display interface of balenaEtcher is shown in the following figure. If the green indicator icon is displayed, it means that the image has been burned successfully. At this time, you can exit balenaEtcher, then remove the TF card and insert it into the TF card slot of the development board for use.

balena1_flashing