Ubuntu Desktop with RZ/V2H RDK

Ubuntu Desktop is supported together with the RZ/V2H RDK environment.

Main points:

Ubuntu Desktop environment is available on RZ/V2H RDK
GUI-based operation is supported
Can be used for development and evaluation
Suitable for desktop-style workflows on the board

This guide walks you through setting up Ubuntu Desktop on the RZ/V2H RDK.

Prerequisites

RZ/V2H RDK
SD card with the Ubuntu image flashed. Please refer to the Quick Setup Guide for instructions on how to prepare the SD card.
Monitor and micro-HDMI to HDMI cable
Internet connection

Detail Steps

The following sections provide detailed steps to set up and use the Ubuntu Desktop environment on the RZ/V2H RDK.

Hardware Connection

Connect the RZ/V2H RDK to a monitor using the micro-HDMI interface, and ensure that the board is powered on.

The following figure illustrates the typical desktop setup for the RZ/V2H RDK:

Boot the Board

Insert the flashed SD card into the RZ/V2H RDK board.
Set the boot option to SD card boot mode. The dip-switch 1 status from 1 to 5 should be ON-OFF-ON-ON-OFF.
Power on the board.

Disable Weston Service

Disable and mask the Weston service to prepare for desktop installation:

# Stop Weston service and related services
sudo systemctl stop weston.service weston-socket-fix.path weston-socket-fix.service

# Disable Weston service and related services
sudo systemctl disable weston.service weston-socket-fix.path weston-socket-fix.service

# Mask Weston service and related services to prevent them from being started by other services
sudo systemctl mask weston.service weston-socket-fix.path weston-socket-fix.service

Expand Root Filesystem

Expand the root filesystem using the parted tool to use the full SD card capacity.

If you have already expanded the root filesystem, you can skip this step.

# Install parted tool and resize partition
sudo apt update
sudo apt install parted

# Check current disk usage before resize
df -h

# Resize partition to 100% of disk
sudo parted /dev/mmcblk0 resizepart 2 100%

# Resize the filesystem
sudo resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p2

Install Ubuntu Desktop

Install the minimal Ubuntu desktop environment:

sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop-minimal --no-install-recommends -y

For a better user experience, you can also install additional packages such as fonts and fontconfig:

sudo apt install -y \
   fonts-ubuntu \
   fonts-ubuntu-console \
   fonts-dejavu-core \
   fonts-dejavu-extra \
   fonts-liberation \
   fonts-liberation2 \
   fonts-noto-core \
   fonts-noto-extra \
   fonts-noto-cjk \
   fonts-noto-color-emoji \
   fonts-noto-mono \
   fonts-open-sans \
   fonts-roboto \
   fonts-freefont-ttf \
   fonts-droid-fallback \
   fontconfig

Complete Setup

Reboot the device to start using Ubuntu Desktop:

sudo reboot

Notes

Ensure a stable internet connection during desktop installation.
The installation process may take some time depending on internet speed.
After installation and reboot, you should see the Ubuntu Desktop environment instead of Weston.

Troubleshooting

If boot fails, verify that SD card boot mode is correctly set.
For installation issues, check internet connectivity and available disk space.

Switch from `networkd` to `NetworkManager`

The default network manager for the Ubuntu image on RZ/V2H RDK is networkd.

If you want to switch to NetworkManager to support graphical network management, follow the steps below:

Note

Use the serial console for the operations below, as switching to NetworkManager may cause the network connection to drop temporarily, which can affect SSH access.

On the serial console, enter sudo mode:
```
sudo -i
```

Stop and disable networkd:

systemctl stop systemd-networkd
systemctl disable systemd-networkd
systemctl mask systemd-networkd

Install NetworkManager:
```
apt update
apt install network-manager
```

Check status:

systemctl status NetworkManager
nmcli device status

If NetworkManager is running and the network interfaces are listed, proceed to the next step.

Otherwise, enable and start NetworkManager:

systemctl unmask NetworkManager
systemctl enable NetworkManager
systemctl start NetworkManager

Back up the netplan configuration and edit it to use NetworkManager as the renderer:

cp -a /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml.bak

Edit the netplan file. For example:

vi /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml

Change:

renderer: networkd

to:

renderer: NetworkManager

Example:

network:
  version: 2
  renderer: NetworkManager
  ethernets:
    end0:
      dhcp4: true

Apply netplan:
```
netplan apply
```