Awesome ASUS Tinker Board

A curated list of ASUS Tinker Board resources

⚠ Warning

I take no responsibility and I am not liable for any damage caused through use of this guide.

Hardware

Specifications

ASUS Tinker Board

Component	Details
CPU	Rockchip Quad-Core RK3288 processor
Memory	2GB Dual Channel DDR3
Graphic	Integrated Graphics Processor ARM® Mali™-T764 GPU
Storage	Micro SD(TF) card slot
LAN	RTL GB LAN
Wireless Data Network	802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth V4.0 + EDR
Audio	RTL ALC4040 CODEC
USB Ports	4 x USB 2.0
Internal I/O Ports	1 x 40-pin header : up to 28 x GPIO pins up to 2 x SPI bus up to 2 x I2C bus up to 4 x UART up to 2 x PWM up to 1 x PCM/I2S 2 x 5V power pins 2 x 3.3V power pins 8 x ground pins 1 x 2-pin contact pin : 1 x PWM 1 x S/PDIF 1 x 15-pin MIPI DSI 1 x 15-pin MIPI CSI
Accessories	Passive heatsink User manual
Weight	55g
Dimensions	85.60mm x 56mm x 21mm

Power Supply

According to the quick start guide (first edition):

1 x Micro USB cable and a 5V/2A USB power adapter with LPS marking

According to the ASUS Tinker Board official page's FAQ:

Tinker Board supports 5V/1~2.5A power input, but since the SoC’s performance is high, if the connected peripheral required huge power demand from the board, it might cause the power supply issue. Thus we strongly recommended to use the AC adaptor with 5V/2~2.5A power rating, plus LPS marking.

Battery supply is also possible, as long as the power output is no less than 5V/1A.

Tested Compatible Components

Category	Model Name
SD Card	Lexar® Professional 1000x microSDXC™ UHS-II (150MB/s) 64GB
Power Adapter	Samsung Travel Adaptor EP-TA10EWE 5.3V/2.0A
Case	akasa Pi ALUMINIUM CASE for Raspberry Pi (A-RA01-A1B)
Case	akasa Pi ALUMINIUM CASE for Raspberry Pi and Asus Tinker Board (A-RA02-A1B)

CSI Camera

• Prerequisite: TinkerOS v2.0+
• How-to

Configuration

Remote Connection

• SSH is enabled by default
  • How To Configure SSH Key-Based Authentication on a Linux Server
• VNC (How to Install and Configure VNC on Debian 11)
  • Preferences -> Tinker Board Configuration -> Interfaces -> VNC
    • Switch to Enable
    • Click Change VNC Password
  • From client, connect to: vnc://tinkerboard:5901

TinkerOS

A Debian-based distribution ensures a smooth and functional experience.

Flash OS Image

1. Download Etcher - a powerful cross-platform open source OS image flasher.
2. Download TinkerOS.
3. Uncompress the TinkerOS file, select the .img file in Etcher and flash it to the SD card. (Don't worry about the FS format, Etcher will make it FAT32 eventually.)

Authentication

username: linaro

password: linaro

Security

Securing your Raspberry Pi

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config

ChallengeResponseAuthentication no
PasswordAuthentication no
UsePAM no

SSH Banner

To use the shiny SSH banner

• Drop the banner file to /etc/ssh/sshd-banner
• Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config

  Banner /etc/ssh/sshd-banner

Download

To check your OS version:

cat /proc/version

Debian

Version	Release Date
V3.0.11-20211026	2022/07/11
V2.2.9	2021/08/03
V2.2.2 Beta	2021/03/30
V2.1.16	2020/09/08
V2.1.11	2020/03/30
V2.0.11	2019/08/22
V2.0.10	2019/05/31
V2.0.8	2018/11/22
V2.0.7	2018/06/28
V2.0.5	2018/03/20
V2.0.4	2017/12/11
V2.0.3 Beta	2017/10/30
V2.0.1 Beta	2017/08/21
V1.9 Beta	2017/07/12
V1.8 Beta	2017/04/18
V1.6 Beta	2017/04/01
V1.4	2017/03/10
V1.3	2017/02/07

Android

Version	Release Date
V14.4.0.14	2020/08/14
V14.4.0.5	2020/03/18
V14.3.2.82	2019/05/31
V14.2.2.73	2019/02/20
V14.1.2.50	2018/09/03
V13.14.0.95	2018/08/02
V13.13.0.74	2018/03/02
V13.12.0.43	2017/12/11
V13.11.0.5 Beta	2017/08/18
V13.11.0.2 Beta	2017/04/20
V13.11.0.3 Beta	2017/04/28
V13.11.0.4	2017/05/15

BalenaOS

BalenaOS is an operating system optimized for running Docker containers on embedded devices, with an emphasis on reliability over long periods of operation, as well as a productive developer workflow inspired by the lessons learned while building balena.

Getting Started on the Asus Tinker Board.

Armbian

Armbian is a minimal Debian based Linux with powerful configurator and software installer.

Download the OS image for Asus Tinker Board.

Docker

Official Guide

apt-get install docker.io
usermod -aG docker <your-user>
# add below line to /boot/armbianEnv.txt
# extraargs=systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=0
systemctl reboot -i

Links

• Official Page from ASUS
• Driver & Utility download page

Articles

• First Impressions: Asus Tinkerboard and Docker by Docker Captain Alex Ellis