Install Ubuntu on the Sipeed LicheeRV Dock

The LicheeRV board can be used in different configurations. We currently only supply an image for the LicheeRV with Dock.

Using the pre-installed server image

  1. Download one of the supported images:

  2. Flash the pre-installed server image to a microSD card (see Flash images to a microSD card)

  3. Insert the microSD card into the board

  4. Connect to the serial UART console (see Connect to a UART console)

  5. Power on the board

  6. Wait for an output line confirming that cloud-init has finished running; this service is responsible for generating SSH keys, and creating the default user:

    [  291.932176] cloud-init[1282]: Cloud-init v. 22.3.4-0ubuntu1 finished at Thu, 20 Oct 2022 08:25:11 +0000. Datasource DataSourceNoCloud [seed=/var/lib/cloud/seed/nocloud-net][dsmode=net].  Up 291.79 seconds

  7. Login with the user ubuntu and the default password ubuntu; you will be asked to choose a new password

Create a swap file

The available RAM of the LicheeRV is quite small. It is advisable to create a swap file.

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1M count=1024 conv=fsync
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile

Add the following line to /etc/fstab to make the swap memory available at boot:

/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0

Wi-Fi configuration

Install drivers

This step is only required for kernel versions earlier than 6.7. It is not required for Ubuntu 24.04.

  1. To enable Wi-Fi, the DKMS package licheerv-rtl8723ds-dkms is needed on lower kernel releases. If your LicheeRV is connected to the network via a USB Ethernet adapter, that is easy:

    sudo apt update
sudo apt install licheerv-rtl8723ds-dkms

  2. If your LicheeRV is not connected to the network, you must download the relevant licheerv-rtl8723ds-dkms_*.deb file from the licheerv-rtl8723ds-dkms Launchpad page and write it to the SD card.

  3. Once you have booted the device the package can be installed with

    sudo dpkg -i licheerv-rtl8723ds-dkms_*.deb

    The installation process requires building a kernel module and takes at least an hour.

Configure Netplan

  1. Configure Netplan to connect to your local network. Below is an example configuration:

    network:
    version: 2
    renderer: networkd
    wifis:
        wlan0:
            dhcp4: yes
            dhcp6: yes
            access-points:
                "YOUR_SSID":
                    password: "YOUR_PASSWORD"

    Store this configuration under a file matching the pattern /etc/netplan/filename.yaml, for example /etc/netplan/wifi-config.yaml. This file must be owned by, and only accessible to, the root user:

    sudo chown root:root /etc/netplan/wifi-config.yaml
sudo chmod 600 /etc/netplan/wifi-config.yaml

  2. Either reboot or execute the following commands to load the kernel module and apply the configuration:

    sudo modprobe 8723ds
sudo netplan apply
sudo systemctl restart systemd-networkd.service

    You should now be connected to your wireless network.

Cloud-init seed

Sample files for a cloud-init seed are present on the FAT partition labeled “CIDATA”. See Configure your board for headless use for more information.

Limitations

  • Microphone does not work

  • The following kernel modules are used for reading from the SD card:

    • mmc-block

    • sunxi-mmc

    They must either be built into the kernel or must be included in the initial RAM disk via /etc/initramfs-tools/modules or via a file in /usr/share/initramfs-tools/modules.d/.