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First boot and connect

Prepare

  1. r24: confirm a programmed microSD is seated (32 GB or larger if you flashed it yourself). r30: onboard eMMC.
  2. Fit sub-GHz antennas or dummy loads (antennas and power).
  3. BOOT SEL in normal position for that revision (table).

Power on

  1. Connect power on the USB-C Power Delivery port. Do not boot yet if you also need a USB data cable.
  2. For dashboard access from a laptop, connect a second USB-C cable from the USB data port to the computer.
  3. Hold the power button for about 8 seconds until the readiness LED turns green.
  4. Wait about one minute for services to start. The green LED means the board is up; the dashboard is ready a little later.

A reset button does not pick up a new BOOT SEL position. After moving switches, remove power, wait a second, and reapply.

Join the management LAN

The board is a Wi-Fi access point by default, and the USB data connection appears on the computer as a new Ethernet interface. Both sit on the same bridge.

  • SSID: Kaonic /{SERIAL_SUFFIX}/ where the suffix is the Base32 serial tail written by kaonic-init
  • Board address: 192.168.10.1/24
  • DHCP: pool starts at .10, 100 addresses (br0)
  • USB gadget (when connected) is on the same bridge

Open the dashboard

In a browser, go to http://192.168.10.1/. The gateway listens on port 80 and redirects to HTTPS on port 443.

The first visit may show a certificate warning because the device uses its own certificate. Continue to the site, or install the device CA from the System page.

If the page does not load:

  • Wait the full minute after the green LED.
  • Try a private window, another browser, or disable HTTPS-only extensions.
  • Confirm you are on the Kaonic Wi-Fi or the USB Ethernet interface, not a different LAN.

Page-by-page use is in Gateway and VPN.

SSH (developers)

ssh root@192.168.10.1

Password: root until you change it.

The SSH daemon is Dropbear. See hardening.

Switch Wi-Fi to station mode

On the device, or from the dashboard Network page:

wifi_mode.sh sta 'YourSSID' 'YourPassphrase'
wifi_mode.sh status

Back to AP:

wifi_mode.sh ap

Scripts also live at /home/root/wifi_mode.sh depending on image layout. In station mode the board may not stay at 192.168.10.1.