Get Started: Coral USB Accelerator

Complete guide for installing the Coral Edge TPU USB Accelerator on Debian with Python 3.13

1. Install Edge TPU Runtime

The Edge TPU Runtime is the driver software your system needs to communicate with the Coral USB Accelerator.

Add Repository Key

curl -fsSL https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt/doc/apt-key.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/coral-edgetpu.gpg

Add Repository to Package List

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/coral-edgetpu.gpg] https://packages.cloud.google.com/apt coral-edgetpu-stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/coral-edgetpu.list

Update Package Lists and Install Runtime

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libedgetpu1-std

2. Install pyenv

Since PyCoral only supports Python 3.9, but your system has Python 3.13, we'll use pyenv to manage multiple Python versions in parallel.

Install Build Dependencies

These packages are needed to compile Python from source:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libbz2-dev \
libreadline-dev libsqlite3-dev wget curl llvm libncurses5-dev \
libncursesw5-dev xz-utils tk-dev libffi-dev liblzma-dev git

Download and Install pyenv

curl https://pyenv.run | bash

Add pyenv to Shell

echo 'export PYENV_ROOT="$HOME/.pyenv"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH="$PYENV_ROOT/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(pyenv init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc

Reload shell:

source ~/.bashrc

3. Install Python 3.9

Now we'll compile Python 3.9.18 with pyenv:

pyenv install 3.9.18

4. Set up Virtual Environment

Now we'll create a project folder and set up an isolated virtual environment:

Create Project Folder

mkdir ~/coral-project
cd ~/coral-project

Set Python 3.9 for This Project

pyenv local 3.9.18

Verify:

python --version

Create Virtual Environment

python -m venv coral-env

Activate Virtual Environment

source coral-env/bin/activate

Your terminal prompt should now show (coral-env) at the beginning.

5. Install PyCoral

Now we'll install PyCoral and all required packages in the virtual environment:

Install NumPy 1.x

pip install "numpy<2"

Install PyCoral

pip install --extra-index-url https://google-coral.github.io/py-repo/ pycoral~=2.0

This automatically also installs:

• tflite-runtime (TensorFlow Lite)
• pillow (Image processing)
• Other required dependencies

6. Test Installation

Let's verify that everything works!

Download Test Data

mkdir -p test_data examples
cd ~/coral-project

# Example script
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google-coral/pycoral/master/examples/classify_image.py -O examples/classify_image.py

# Model and labels
wget https://github.com/google-coral/test_data/raw/master/mobilenet_v2_1.0_224_inat_bird_quant_edgetpu.tflite -O test_data/mobilenet_v2_1.0_224_inat_bird_quant_edgetpu.tflite

wget https://github.com/google-coral/test_data/raw/master/inat_bird_labels.txt -O test_data/inat_bird_labels.txt

# Test image
wget https://github.com/google-coral/test_data/raw/master/parrot.jpg -O test_data/parrot.jpg

Connect USB Accelerator

Now plug in your Coral USB Accelerator. The LED should light up.

Run Classification

python examples/classify_image.py \
  --model test_data/mobilenet_v2_1.0_224_inat_bird_quant_edgetpu.tflite \
  --labels test_data/inat_bird_labels.txt \
  --input test_data/parrot.jpg

Done!

Your Coral USB Accelerator is now ready to use!

Next Steps

• Explore more examples: PyCoral Examples
• Train your own models: Coral Model Guide
• Use pre-trained models: Coral Model Zoo

Useful Commands

Action	Command
Activate virtual environment	source ~/coral-project/coral-env/bin/activate
Deactivate virtual environment	deactivate
Check Python version	python --version
Show installed packages	pip list
Edge TPU detected?	lsusb | grep "Global Unichip"

Troubleshooting

Problem: "No module named 'pycoral'"

Solution: Make sure the virtual environment is activated:

source ~/coral-project/coral-env/bin/activate

Problem: "Failed to load delegate from libedgetpu.so.1"

Solution: Edge TPU Runtime not installed or USB not connected:

sudo apt-get install libedgetpu1-std
lsusb | grep "Global Unichip"

Problem: NumPy 2.0 Error

Solution: Downgrade NumPy to version 1.x:

pip install "numpy<2"

Problem: Python 3.9 Installation Fails

Solution: Check build dependencies and install readline:

sudo apt-get install libreadline-dev
pyenv uninstall 3.9.18
pyenv install 3.9.18