The Radxa X5 is the newest product in the ‘X’ series of Single Board Computers (SBC) by Radxa.
This board is an upgrade from the ‘X4’ which had an Intel N100 CPU. With the newer CPU type, this board has better performance.
Specifications
The ‘X5’ has the following hardware specs:
Linux Installation
Since the SBC is not a typical ARM processor, you can install any 64-bit version of Linux. The SBC will also support Windows as well.
I tried Linux Mint 22.3 with XFCE. I downloaded the ISO from the Linux Mint website, used Balena Etcher to flash the ISO to a USB flash drive.
For the X5, I connected an HDMI to the micro HDMI port, connected a mouse, keyboard and RJ45 Ethernet connection.
After inserting the USB flash drive into one of the USB ports, I booted the system, and it started the installation of Linux Mint. It will go to the Embedded MultiMediaCard (eMMC). If you have installed the NVMe (2230), you should be prompted for the location to use for installation. Keep in mind the two naming conventions:
If you need to change the boot device, you can press the Delete key during boot to enter the BIOS. Go to the ‘BOOT’ tab and select the device that you want to boot from and then save the settings and reboot.
Cooling
Be sure to use a heat-sink to prevent the CPU from overheating. I used the heat-sink with an active fan that is connected to the board. The model I used is the AE016, which is listed as a heat-sink for the Radxa X4.
Be sure to note that this heat-sink does not use thermal paste, but has a thermal pad. The X5 can be screwed into the heat-sink after you add the spacer screws to the heat-sink first. Keep in mind to start the screws in the X5, but do not tighten them until they are all screwed in or the other screws are hard to insert.
The heat-sink is shown in Figure 1; the X5 is mounted under the heat-sink upside-down.
FIGURE 1
AirSonic
Now, for my system, I installed Linux Mint 22.3 XFCE. With this installed on an NVMe, I set up a streaming audio server to work like Spotify. With this streaming server, you can connect from Android devices and other computers.
So, first, let’s get AirSonic set up on the X5 under Linux Mint.
To get AirSonic running, you need to install Java on your system, preferably version 1.8.
To see if it is installed, you can try the following command to see:
If version 1.8 is not present, then you need to install it. Check the distro you have for the command:
Ubuntu/Debian
Fedora/CentOS
-or-
Arch
Gentoo
After the Java Runtime Environment is installed, you need to verify that the proper HOME is set:
The output should list any versions of Java installed. Be sure to select version 8 (1.8), which is at ‘/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-amd64/jre/bin/java’.
You should reboot now.
We now need to download the AirSonic file, and the command is:
You should probably run the command from within the ‘Downloads’ folder, so the file is placed into the ‘Downloads’ folder and not the ‘Home’ folder. Either way works; it’s whichever way you like.
After it is downloaded, you should be ready to run it after you change a few more settings.
You need to create a user that will be responsible for the ‘Airsonic’ program. Your current user should be fine; you do not need root privileges.
You will need to make a folder for use by ‘Airsonic’ and set the owner to the user you wish to control it. The following commands will set this up, but the ownership is given to the current user and their group, which you can change:
You can set up the music you want to stream within the program. Whichever user you use as the owner of ‘Airsonic’, just use its ‘Music’ folder in the Home directory. For example, I used my account named ‘jarret’ as the owner. I place all my MP3 files in the folder ‘home/jarret/Music’.
Now, everything should be ready for ‘Airsonic’. Be sure to be logged in as the user you have set as the owner for ‘Airsonic’, or switch to the specific user in the terminal with the ‘su’ command.
The command to start ‘Airsonic’ is:
The default port used by ‘Airsonic’ is 8080, but you can switch it if you need to use a different port. Some other services may already use port 8080. In our example, we will switch it to port 4040:
Give the Java code a bit to complete its initial setup and get started. You should see that the terminal will show no more output being generated.
We can access the service and get items set up to start. You should note that all user accounts are configured in the ‘Airsonic’ app and not within Linux.
The terminal window you run the command should be left alone. If you close it, it will stop the service. If you are streaming music, such as to an Android phone, it will buffer quite a bit and continue playing for a while, depending on the app you use and how you configure it.
So, let’s open the configuration window and set up the ‘admin’ password and a test user, as well as the music files.
After the installation is complete, the username to use is ‘admin’ with a password of ‘admin’. For security, you will need to change it.
In a browser, you need to use the URL of ‘http://localhost
ort’. If we use port 4040, the URL would be ‘http://localhost:4040’ and you should see a screen similar to Figure 2.
FIGURE 2
Here, you can click on the first item to change the password for the ‘admin’ user. You should then see a screen similar to Figure 3. Here, you click on the checkbox next to ‘Change password’, which is toward the bottom of the list.
FIGURE 3
After you change the password and verify it, click on ‘Save’.
Once you have saved the password, the screen should change to allow you to add a user to the ‘Airsonic’ database. The option for ‘Select User’ should be ‘- New user -’. You can set the permissions for the new user as you need. Towards the bottom of the list, you must set the Username, E-Mail and password before you click on ‘Save’.
For any user to access files, you need to click on an option under ‘Allow access to these media folders’. If no entries are listed, then we must work on option 2 as shown in Figure 2, ‘Set up media folders’. You can get to this option by clicking on the ‘tab label’ at the top of the window that is titled ‘Media folders’. You can see the options shown in Figure 4.
FIGURE 4
The name of the file is ‘Music’ and the folder is at ‘/home/jarret/Music’. Once you make the change, click on ‘Save’. You can have multiple folders set up and then give access to specific folders for each user.
Once you have the folders set up, you’ll need to go back to the ‘Users’ tab and allow access to specific folders. Be sure you click on ‘Save’ after you change each user.
From anywhere on the network, you can access the ‘Airsonic’ server and access the music from any PC. Just open a web browser and go to the server and the specified port number, as we covered before.
From an Android phone or tablet, you can get the app ‘Amcfy Music’. When setting up the app, there is an option for ‘Subsonic’ which you set up with the server and port number. Be sure to start with ‘http://’.
As long as you have access to your Wi-Fi network, you can play the music from your ‘Airsonic’ server.
I played from multiple sources at once and had no issues with this service on the Radxa X5. The SBC is definitely powerful enough to handle this service.
Conclusion
The Radxa X5 is a very powerful, tiny board. You can run any x86-64 bit distro you wish.
If you need a tiny board to run x86-64 Linux, this is one board you will want to try.
This board is an upgrade from the ‘X4’ which had an Intel N100 CPU. With the newer CPU type, this board has better performance.
Specifications
The ‘X5’ has the following hardware specs:
- CPU
- Intel N150
- 4 Core
- GPU
- Intel Graphics - Alder Lake N
- Up to 1000 MHz
- Display
- 2x Micro HDMI Ports
- 4K at 60 Hz
- RAM
- Up to 16 GB
- LPDDR5
- Network
- 2.5 GbE RJ45
- Wi-Fi 6
- has a connection with a cable for an antenna
- Bluetooth 5
- has a connection with a cable for an antenna
- Storage
- 128 GB eMMC
- M.2 Key 2230 NVMe
- Ports
- 4 USB-A
- 3 USB 3.2 (blue)
- 1 USB 2.0 (black)
- RJ45 Ethernet
- 2x Micro HDMI
- 3.5mm headphone jack with microphone input
- USB-C port for power
- 4 USB-A
Linux Installation
Since the SBC is not a typical ARM processor, you can install any 64-bit version of Linux. The SBC will also support Windows as well.
I tried Linux Mint 22.3 with XFCE. I downloaded the ISO from the Linux Mint website, used Balena Etcher to flash the ISO to a USB flash drive.
For the X5, I connected an HDMI to the micro HDMI port, connected a mouse, keyboard and RJ45 Ethernet connection.
After inserting the USB flash drive into one of the USB ports, I booted the system, and it started the installation of Linux Mint. It will go to the Embedded MultiMediaCard (eMMC). If you have installed the NVMe (2230), you should be prompted for the location to use for installation. Keep in mind the two naming conventions:
- mmcblk - eMMC
- nvme0n1 - NVMe
If you need to change the boot device, you can press the Delete key during boot to enter the BIOS. Go to the ‘BOOT’ tab and select the device that you want to boot from and then save the settings and reboot.
Cooling
Be sure to use a heat-sink to prevent the CPU from overheating. I used the heat-sink with an active fan that is connected to the board. The model I used is the AE016, which is listed as a heat-sink for the Radxa X4.
Be sure to note that this heat-sink does not use thermal paste, but has a thermal pad. The X5 can be screwed into the heat-sink after you add the spacer screws to the heat-sink first. Keep in mind to start the screws in the X5, but do not tighten them until they are all screwed in or the other screws are hard to insert.
The heat-sink is shown in Figure 1; the X5 is mounted under the heat-sink upside-down.
FIGURE 1
AirSonic
Now, for my system, I installed Linux Mint 22.3 XFCE. With this installed on an NVMe, I set up a streaming audio server to work like Spotify. With this streaming server, you can connect from Android devices and other computers.
So, first, let’s get AirSonic set up on the X5 under Linux Mint.
To get AirSonic running, you need to install Java on your system, preferably version 1.8.
To see if it is installed, you can try the following command to see:
Code:
java -versionIf version 1.8 is not present, then you need to install it. Check the distro you have for the command:
Ubuntu/Debian
Code:
sudo apt install openjdk-8-jreFedora/CentOS
Code:
sudo yum install java-1.8.0-openjdk-or-
Code:
sudo dnf install java-1.8.0-openjdkArch
Code:
sudo pacman -S jre8-openjdkGentoo
Code:
emerge --ask dev-java/openjdk:8After the Java Runtime Environment is installed, you need to verify that the proper HOME is set:
Code:
sudo update-alternatives --config javaThe output should list any versions of Java installed. Be sure to select version 8 (1.8), which is at ‘/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-amd64/jre/bin/java’.
You should reboot now.
We now need to download the AirSonic file, and the command is:
Code:
wget https://github.com/airsonic/airsonic/releases/download/v10.6.2/airsonic.warYou should probably run the command from within the ‘Downloads’ folder, so the file is placed into the ‘Downloads’ folder and not the ‘Home’ folder. Either way works; it’s whichever way you like.
After it is downloaded, you should be ready to run it after you change a few more settings.
You need to create a user that will be responsible for the ‘Airsonic’ program. Your current user should be fine; you do not need root privileges.
You will need to make a folder for use by ‘Airsonic’ and set the owner to the user you wish to control it. The following commands will set this up, but the ownership is given to the current user and their group, which you can change:
Code:
sudo mkdir /var/airsonic
sudo chown -R $USER:$GROUP /var/airsonicYou can set up the music you want to stream within the program. Whichever user you use as the owner of ‘Airsonic’, just use its ‘Music’ folder in the Home directory. For example, I used my account named ‘jarret’ as the owner. I place all my MP3 files in the folder ‘home/jarret/Music’.
Now, everything should be ready for ‘Airsonic’. Be sure to be logged in as the user you have set as the owner for ‘Airsonic’, or switch to the specific user in the terminal with the ‘su’ command.
The command to start ‘Airsonic’ is:
Code:
jar -jar airsonic.warThe default port used by ‘Airsonic’ is 8080, but you can switch it if you need to use a different port. Some other services may already use port 8080. In our example, we will switch it to port 4040:
Code:
jar -Dserver.port=4040 -jar airsonic.warGive the Java code a bit to complete its initial setup and get started. You should see that the terminal will show no more output being generated.
We can access the service and get items set up to start. You should note that all user accounts are configured in the ‘Airsonic’ app and not within Linux.
The terminal window you run the command should be left alone. If you close it, it will stop the service. If you are streaming music, such as to an Android phone, it will buffer quite a bit and continue playing for a while, depending on the app you use and how you configure it.
So, let’s open the configuration window and set up the ‘admin’ password and a test user, as well as the music files.
After the installation is complete, the username to use is ‘admin’ with a password of ‘admin’. For security, you will need to change it.
In a browser, you need to use the URL of ‘http://localhost
ort’. If we use port 4040, the URL would be ‘http://localhost:4040’ and you should see a screen similar to Figure 2.FIGURE 2
Here, you can click on the first item to change the password for the ‘admin’ user. You should then see a screen similar to Figure 3. Here, you click on the checkbox next to ‘Change password’, which is toward the bottom of the list.
FIGURE 3
After you change the password and verify it, click on ‘Save’.
Once you have saved the password, the screen should change to allow you to add a user to the ‘Airsonic’ database. The option for ‘Select User’ should be ‘- New user -’. You can set the permissions for the new user as you need. Towards the bottom of the list, you must set the Username, E-Mail and password before you click on ‘Save’.
For any user to access files, you need to click on an option under ‘Allow access to these media folders’. If no entries are listed, then we must work on option 2 as shown in Figure 2, ‘Set up media folders’. You can get to this option by clicking on the ‘tab label’ at the top of the window that is titled ‘Media folders’. You can see the options shown in Figure 4.
FIGURE 4
The name of the file is ‘Music’ and the folder is at ‘/home/jarret/Music’. Once you make the change, click on ‘Save’. You can have multiple folders set up and then give access to specific folders for each user.
Once you have the folders set up, you’ll need to go back to the ‘Users’ tab and allow access to specific folders. Be sure you click on ‘Save’ after you change each user.
From anywhere on the network, you can access the ‘Airsonic’ server and access the music from any PC. Just open a web browser and go to the server and the specified port number, as we covered before.
From an Android phone or tablet, you can get the app ‘Amcfy Music’. When setting up the app, there is an option for ‘Subsonic’ which you set up with the server and port number. Be sure to start with ‘http://’.
As long as you have access to your Wi-Fi network, you can play the music from your ‘Airsonic’ server.
I played from multiple sources at once and had no issues with this service on the Radxa X5. The SBC is definitely powerful enough to handle this service.
Conclusion
The Radxa X5 is a very powerful, tiny board. You can run any x86-64 bit distro you wish.
If you need a tiny board to run x86-64 Linux, this is one board you will want to try.
