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FAQ
Luckfox Pico boards with an RV1103 or RV1106 chip (Pico, Mini, Plus, Pro, Max, Ultra and similar). The firmware detects the board by itself. The author has tested the Pico and Pico Plus; others use the same code but are not yet verified on real hardware. See Boards, and please send a Board report if you try one.
No. deploy.sh / deploy.ps1 download a ready-made release and install it. Compiling is only for developers (Building).
No. It sits on top of the standard Luckfox Buildroot image and replaces only the camera app (rkipc). You can go back at any time:
sh /oem/picocam/uninstall.sh && reboot.
No. PicoCam needs the Buildroot image (it uses its camera drivers). The installer tells you if it finds Ubuntu. Flash the Buildroot image (Install guide, step 1).
Board login: user root, password luckfox (Luckfox's default). The PicoCam web page has no default: you choose the admin
password at first start, and by default it also becomes the root password. If you turn that off in System > Security, root keeps
its old password.
The one that came with your board (for example the 3 MP SC3336) and others that Luckfox's stock camera app supports. The sensor and its largest resolution are detected automatically.
Not for live view, RTSP, ONVIF, alerts or AI. You need one for recording and for a permanent event history.
See Troubleshooting. Usually: a charge-only cable, or your PC has no fixed address
(172.32.0.100) on the new USB adapter.
Yes: Network & Time > USB link. Confirm within 60 seconds or it reverts. Your PC's address must then be in the same network.
On boards that have Wi-Fi hardware and a Wi-Fi-enabled image, PicoCam works over the Wi-Fi connection like any other network. It does not set up the Wi-Fi password itself yet: configure Wi-Fi with Luckfox's tools first.
HTTPS uses a certificate the camera made for itself, which no browser knows. Choose Advanced > Continue. The connection is still
encrypted. You can upload your own certificate in System > Security, or just use http:// on your home network. (The lowest-delay live view
needs HTTPS; with plain HTTP the page uses a slightly slower method.)
Possible, not recommended to expose directly. Use a VPN (WireGuard, Tailscale) to your home network instead. If you must forward a port, use HTTPS, a long unique password, and the IP allow-list in System > Security.
VLC buffers one second by default. Set Network caching to 150-300 ms (Connecting). The web live view is about 0.3 s.
Use H.264 for the sub stream (Video & Audio) or a Chromium browser with hardware H.265. Recording and NVRs are fine with H.265.
The camera, encoders and AI share a fixed pool called media memory. If a pipeline is too big, video keeps working and the AI page says why. Lower the main-stream resolution, use fewer stages, or raise the media memory where the board allows it (Boards).
It was converted for the other chip (RV1103 vs RV1106). Convert again with --platform matching System > Overview. See Models.
The ready-made reader is trained on Indian plates. For other formats train or find a text-reading model and add it as your own model (Models).
No. These boards have no microphone.
To the SD card when there is one. Without a card: on SPI NAND boards they stay in RAM (lost on reboot) so the flash is not worn out; on eMMC boards they go to internal storage. You can switch it in Storage & Recording on SPI NAND boards.
It is probably exFAT (common for 64 GB and larger). Use Format in Storage & Recording (FAT32 or ext4). This erases the card.
Press Safely remove first. Recording files survive a sudden power cut (only the last few seconds are lost), but the card's file system is happiest when it is unmounted.
Constant recording writes a lot. Use a name-brand "high endurance" card for continuous recording, or record on events only.
On the board: ssh root@<board-ip> then sh /oem/picocam/doctor.sh reset-password. It removes the accounts; the next visit to the web page asks for a
new password. Your settings and recordings stay. If you also forgot the board's root password (it was tied to the admin password), use ADB
(adb shell, if you left it on), or reflash.
It has login lockout, HTTPS, roles, an audit log and an IP allow-list, and every account change is logged. It still is a device on your network: use a strong password and do not expose it to the internet. Report problems privately (Security policy).
No. It contacts only the services you configure (an NTP server for the clock, your webhooks/MQTT/Telegram/email, an update only when you start one).
System > Maintenance > Update firmware with the newest picocam.tar.gz, or run the deploy script again. Settings are kept.
The previous version is kept. If the new one keeps crashing the camera goes back by itself after a few minutes. You can also press Roll back in System > Maintenance.
Run sh /oem/picocam/doctor.sh on the board; it lists the likely cause. The last crash report is in /userdata/picocam/crash.log. A setting that
keeps crashing the camera is replaced by the last settings that ran well.
System > Overview > Factory reset (keeps the network settings if you tick that), or on the board sh /oem/picocam/doctor.sh factory-reset.
sh /oem/picocam/uninstall.sh && reboot. Add --purge to also delete the settings.
Yes, MIT licence. The ready-made AI models have their own licences (NOTICE).
Try it on your board and send a Board report, report bugs, improve the docs, or send a pull request (Contributing).
This wiki is generated from the files in the repository (docs/). To fix a page, send a pull request against the matching file.
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