Android Debug Bridge (ADB)

Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is a command-line tool that lets you communicate with the development board from your host computer. For most users, it is the recommended way to access the board in headless mode.

note

ADB is available only after the board starts successfully and the ADB daemon is running. Because of this, it can only be used to interact with a running Linux system. For example, it cannot be used to interact with U-Boot.

important

Make sure that the board is connected as described in the Connect the Board section.

To use ADB, follow the instructions below:

Linux

note

The instructions below assume a Debian-based Linux distribution and were verified on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

To install ADB, run the following command:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install android-tools-adb

To access the board using ADB, run the following command in the terminal:

adb shell

After running the command, you should see a shell prompt from the board.

ADB can also be used to copy files to and from the board. To copy the file from the host to the board, run the following command:

adb push <host-path> <board-path>

To copy the file from the board to the host, run the following command:

adb pull <board-path> <host-path>

Windows

To set up ADB on Windows, follow the instructions below:

1. Download the latest Platform Tools package from the official URL.
2. Extract the downloaded ZIP file to a location of your choice.
3. Open a terminal in the extracted directory.

To access the board using ADB, run the following command in the terminal:

./adb shell

After running the command, you should see a shell prompt from the board.

ADB can also be used to copy files to and from the board. To copy the file from the host to the board, run the following command:

./adb push <host-path> <board-path>

To copy the file from the board to the host, run the following command:

./adb pull <board-path> <host-path>