Skip to main content

Flash Canonical Ubuntu 24.04 using Qualcomm Launcher

Qualcomm® Launcher is a user-friendly, GUI-based tool designed to simplify the process of downloading and flashing operating systems onto Qualcomm®-based development kits. This section provides step-by-step guidance to flash the Renesas USB firmware and replace the existing OS with a certified Canonical Ubuntu 24.04 server image.

User steps:

1️⃣ Install Qualcomm Launcher​

a. Visit QSC web portal: https://softwarecenter.qualcomm.com/catalog/item/Qualcomm_Launcher
b. Select the appropriate OS type and architecture based on your host machine.
c. Choose the latest version and click Download to get the installer.

d. Navigate to your download folder and run the installer: "Qualcomm_Launcher.x.x.x.Windows-AnyCPU.exe".
e. Once installed successfully, you will see the Qualcomm Launcher application interface.

2️⃣ Flashing Operations​

a. In the Launcher, select the Development Kit as Rubik Pi and the Target Operating System as Ubuntu.
b. Put the device into EDL mode (instructions are available within the app). Once in EDL mode, the Rubik Pi 3 device will be detected.

c. Click Flash button to begin updating the Renesas USB firmware.
d. A progress screen will display the status of the USB firmware flashing process.

e. After successful USB firmware flashing, the following confirmation screen will appear.

note

In the log message section, you can observe the platform image being downloaded and the flash build being constructed in the background.

f. Once the installer is waiting for user action to put the device into EDL mode, you will see the following screen.

g. As soon as the device is placed into EDL mode, the flashing operation begins automatically. You will then see the following screen.

h. After the OS image is successfully flashed, the following confirmation screen will appear.

3️⃣ Configure the device​

a. After the OS image flashing is complete, the launcher will reboot Rubik Pi 3 device into the newly installed operating system. You can now proceed to configure the device.
b. Click Configure Login, and the following screen will be displayed.

note

If the MicroUSB COM port on the host system is currently in use by another tool (e.g., PuTTY, Tera Term), please close it before proceeding.

c. Once the Micro-USB cable is connected (as shown in the screen above), the launcher will prompt you to configure the Wi-Fi.

d. Configure the Wi-Fi by entering the SSID and password.

e. Click Finish Setup and verify that the following screen appears.

After successfully setting up Wi-Fi, the user can choose one of the following paths for application development:

  • IDE Method: Use the Visual Studio Code Extension. Please refer to the IDE section for details.
  • Manual Method: Follow the manual setup process as outlined below.

4️⃣ Manual method​

1️⃣ SSH Connection​

a: Get the IP address for RPi3.
b: On your host machine, use SSH to connect to the device.

ssh ubuntu@<IP Address>

2️⃣ Upgrade Pre-built Packages​

This command will upgrade to the latest pre-built packages on the device.

sudo apt upgrade -y

If you haven’t previously installed the PPA packages, please run the following steps to install them:

git clone -b ubuntu_setup --single-branch https://github.com/rubikpi-ai/rubikpi-script.git 
cd rubikpi-script  
./install_ppa_pkgs.sh
Details

The script installs the following

  • Install AI samples application packages.
    (gstreamer1.0-plugins-base-apps, gstreamer1.0-qcom-python-examples, gstreamer1.0-qcom-sample-apps gstreamer1.0-tools, libqnn-dev, libsnpe-dev, qcom-adreno1, qcom-fastcv-binaries-dev qcom-libdmabufheap-dev, qcom-sensors-test-apps, qcom-video-firmware, qnn-tools, snpe-tools tensorflow-lite-qcom-apps, weston-autostart, xwayland)
  • Install Rubikpi3 Camera, wiringrp and wiringrp_python packages.
  • Install generic developer tool related packages.
    (ffmpeg, net-tools, pulseaudio-utils, python3-pip, selinux-utils, unzip, v4l-utils)
  • Perform "sudo apt upgrade" operation.
tip

If you encounter package installation failures, run the following command: 'apt --fix-broken install'
If you encounter following error, rerun the install_ppa_pkgs.sh script.
GPG error: http://apt.thundercomm.com/rubik-pi-3/noble ppa InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available:

After successful running the install_ppa_pkgs.sh, you can observe the following screen on Display Monitor.

3️⃣ Verify the SW version​

Run the following commands in the device shell to verify the version:

cat /etc/os-release

Output:

NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="24.04"
VERSION="24.04.2 LTS (Noble Numbat)"
VERSION_CODENAME=noble
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=noble
LOGO=ubuntu-logo

Run the following command to check the Linux version:

uname -a

Output:

Linux ubuntu 6.8.0-1055-qcom #55-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Wed Sep 17 02:03:34 UTC 2025 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux
Qualcomm Launcher Fails to Start or Crashes
  • Confirm that you downloaded the correct version for your OS and architecture.
  • If you still see the issue follow the Manual Flash

🧭 Next Steps
After the image is flashed, refer to the Application Development and Execution Guide.