Video : Review of the Mekotronics R58-Mini and R58X-4G

[NicoD]

Hi all.
Here my review of the Mekotronics R58-Mini and R58X-4G.
These are my favorite RK3588 devices. Easiest to work with on a desk. Been my main-desktop for the last months.
I've been using MonkaBlyat his Armbian images.
It is stable, fun to work with, has GPU drivers and VPU. But it is using the dirty rockchip kernel.

So once armbian can be build for these devices, and mainline has matured these should be the best RK3588 devices for me at home. For on the road I've got the Kadas Edge2Pro.
Here's my video.

 

Mekotronics download page :
https://www.mekotronics.com/h-msgBoard.html

Armbian from MonkaBlyat for R58-Mini :
https://monka.systemonachip.net/r58-mini/Armbian_23.05.0-trunk_r58-mini_jammy_legacy_5.10.110.AFM.img.xz

Armbian from MonkaBlyat for R58X (4G/Pro) :
https://monka.systemonachip.net/r58x/Armbian_23.05.0-trunk_r58x_jammy_legacy_5.10.110.AFM.img.xz

RKDevTool and SPI boot loader for Armbian :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gg9So9nuVax_AC82UQJOq1mHBea3sQ4q/view?usp=share_link

Here all my gathered info :

Spoiler

Mekotronics R58X-4G

Armbian Jammy Gnome kernel 5.10.110-rockchip

Video flow

    Intro
    Open devices
    Go over specs
    Show how to install new image
    Benchmarks
    Termperatures
    Transfer rates
    remarks
    pros/cons
    closing

Benchmarks
7z decompression all cores : 16854
7z decompression small core : 1768 (core 0)
7z decompression big core : 2986 (core 1)

NicoD blender benchmark pro : 3m23s
NicoD blender benchmark 4G : 3m28s

Temperatures
R58-mini
Idle : 45C
Maxed out : 81C

R58X-4G
Idle : 41C
Maxed out : 65C

R58X-Pro
Idle : 47C
Maxed out : 80C

Transfer rates
eMMC 64GB read R58X-4G : 272.9 MB/s
eMMC 64GB write R58X-4G : 80-140 MB/s

eMMC 64GB read R58X-Pro/Mini : 325.8 MB/s
eMMC 64GB write R58X-Pro : 280-240 MB/s
eMMC 64GB write R58-Mini write : 320-280 MB/s

4G Samsung 980 NVMe read : 3.1 GB/s
4G Samsung 980 NVMe write : 623.2 MB/s

Pro Samsung 970 QVO USB3 -> SSD read : 395.5 MB/s
Pro Samsung 970 QVO USB3 -> SSD write : 374.9 MB/s

Pro USB-C with hub -> USB3 to SSD read : 391.3 MB/s
Pro USB-C with hub -> USB3 to SSD write : 375.6 MB/s

Mini SATA with ribbon read : 468.8 MB/s
Mini SATA with ribbon write : 521.3 MB/s

Power consumption

Remarks
!!! Core 0 is small, 1 - 4 big and 5 - 7 small | Other RK3588 devices have 0 - 3 small and 4 - 7 big
!!! HDMI ports can be buggy when waking up the device. Then need to replug the connector. The same switching with my HDMI switch. Using Armbian Jammy on R58X-4G
!!! External sound device needs to be selected every boot/reboot. Armbian Jammy R58X-4G

Instructions
Start with Armbian Jammy CLI/server
To install the wayland blob GPU driver
wget https://github.com/numbqq/mali-debs/blob/master/jammy/arm64/Edge2/wayland/linux-gpu-mali-wayland_1.0-g610-20220510_arm64.deb
and install it into the system with the command :
sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite linux-gpu-mali-wayland_1.0-g610-20220510_arm64.deb

For panfork and VPU
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:liujianfeng1994/panfork-mesa
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:liujianfeng1994/rockchip-multimedia
sudo apt update
sudo apt dist-upgrade
sudo apt install mali-g610-firmware rockchip-multimedia-config libv4l-rkmpp

Install Gnome desktop
sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop

And additional packages from multimedia repo : https://forum.radxa.com/t/introduction-to-rockchip-multimedia-ppa-for-ubuntu-jammy/14537
sudo apt install chromium-browser gstreamer1.0-rockchip clapper ffmpeg kodi moonlight-embedded moonlight-qt obs-gstreamer obs-studio

Build Box86/64, install Wine/PPSSPP and build Xonotic
https://github.com/NicoD-SBC/armbian-gaming

Pros/Cons
+++ My favorite RK3588 devices by far. Easy to work with. I love the layout and metal case.
+++ 4G has good I/O with fast NVMe + SATA + 2 x USB3(USB3+USB-C)
+++ Armbian progress is going well. Will be in armbian-build to build your own images. Pro it’s new devices will take some time. 10GbE doesn’t work yet.
+++ Has GPU and VPU drivers
— Still in development. Not yet for a novice Linux user.
— Only GbE. The Pro comes with 10GbE but uses the M.2 slot, so it’s a choice in having fast NVMe or 10GbE
— Has to use dirty Rockchip kernel
— No forum or good wiki

Board              | OS                            | Kernel         | Clockspeeds             | 7z b all cores     | 7z b core small core    | 7z b big core   | NicoD Blender    | Supertuxkart 
Khadas VIM2          Ubuntu 20.04 Gnome              5.18.0           1.4Ghz A53/1Ghz A53       7728                 900 (core 7)              1235 (core 0)     18m26s 2.79b       5fps    
Khadas VIM2          Armbian Kinetic server          6.1.0-meson64    1.4Ghz A53/1Ghz A53       7867                                           1252 (core 0) 
Khadas VIM3          Ubuntu 20.04 Gnome              5.18.0           1.8Ghz A53/2.2Ghz A73     10300                1636 (core 0)             2417 (core 5)     9m38s  2.79b       19fps   
Khadas VIM4          Ubuntu 22.04 Gnome              5.4.125          2.2Ghz A73/2Ghz A53       14138                1775 (core 7)             2299 (core 0)     5m46s              52fps     
Khadas VIM4          Debian 10 xfce4                 5.4.125          2.2Ghz A73/2Ghz A53       15113                1830 (core 7)             2334 (core 0)     7m15s  2.79b                                  
Station P1           Armbian Jammy xfce4             5.18.19          1.4Ghz A53/1.8Ghz A72     7607                 1248 (core 0)             1843 (core 5)     10m10s             7fps       
Odroid N2+           Armbian Jammy xfce4             5.10.139         2Ghz A53/2.4Ghz A73       11755                1761 (core 0)             2518 (core 5)     5m53s              18fps    
Odroid N2+           Armbian Kinetic server          6.1.0-meson64    2Ghz A53/2.4Ghz A73       11807                1764 (core 0)             2520 (core 5)     xxx                18fps
Odroid C2            Armbian kinetic server          6.1.0-meson64    1.5Ghz                    5173                 1320 (core 0)                           
Khadas Edge2         Ubuntu 22.04 Gnome              5.10.66          1.8Ghz A55/2.35Ghz*** A76 16901                1766 (core 0)             2930 (core 7)     3m25s              110fps (wayland)                             
NanoPi R6S           Ubuntu 22.04 Gnome Headless     5.10.110         1.8Ghz A55/2.3Ghz *** A76 16385                1449 (core 0)             2493 (core 7)     3m27s              110fps (wayland)                  
Mekotronics R58 mini Debian Bullseye x11 xfce4       5.10.110         1.8Ghz A55/2.2Ghz A76     16241                1758 (core 0)             2839 (core 1)     4m50s V2.83.5
Mekotronics R58 mini Debian Bullseye wayland         5.10.110         1.8Ghz A55/2.2Ghz A76     16803                1777 (core 0)             2879 (core 1)     4m35s              110fps (wayland) 
Mekotronics R58 mini Ubuntu 20.04 x11                5.10.66          1.8Ghz A55/2.2Ghz A76     16477                1765 (core 0)             2897 (core 1)     5m53s V2.82        4fps (llvmpipe)
Mekotronics R58 mini Manjaro Gnome                   5.10.66-28rk     1.8Ghz A55/2.2Ghz A76     16153                1572 (core 0)             2568 (core 1)
Mekotronics R58X-Pro Armbian Jammy Gnome             5.10.110-rk      1.8Ghz A55/2.3Ghz A76     16854                1768 (core 0)             2986 (core 1)     3m23s              110fps (wayland)
Mekotronics R58X-4G  Armbian Jammy Gnome             5.10.110-rk      1.8Ghz A55/2.2Ghz A76     16497                1767 (core 0)             2874 (core 1)     3m28s              79fps (panfork) 

 

 

[Bas]

Hi Nico if would be great to have official Linux support, thanks for the video and the links. Is it really stable? I downloaded Monka version of Armbian but have had not enough time to install. According to Geekbench the Rk3588 is about twice as fast as a fast nuc. It's really an interesting board. 

 

Bas