A10-OLINUXINO-LIME and A10-OLINUXINO-LIME-4GB Open-source single-board Android/Linux mini-computer USER’S MANUAL Revision H, March 2015 Designed by OLIMEX Ltd, 2015 All boards produced by Olimex LTD are ROHS compliant
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual DISCLAIMER © 2015 Olimex Ltd. Olimex®, logo and combinations thereof, are registered trademarks of Olimex Ltd. Other product names may be trademarks of others and the rights belong to their respective owners. The information in this document is provided in connection with Olimex products. No license, express or implied or otherwise, to any intellectual property right is granted by this document or in connection with the sale of Olimex products.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual Table of Contents DISCLAIMER............................................................................................................. 2 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW........................................................................................5 1. Introduction to the chapter.......................................................................................................5 1.1 Features....................................................................
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.3 PWR jack................................................................................................................................23 6.4 USB_OTG connector.............................................................................................................24 6.5 USB_HOST connectors.........................................................................................................26 6.6 Ethernet.............................................
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW 1. Introduction to the chapter Thank you for choosing this OLinuXino single board computer from Olimex! This document provides a user’s guide for the Olimex A10 LIME board. As an overview, this chapter gives the scope of this document and lists the board’s features. The document’s organization is then detailed.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 1.2 Target market and purpose of the board The boards from the OLinuXino family are easy to setup and powerful. It is possible to use them in almost any application as a host board.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 1.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual CHAPTER 2: SETTING UP THE OLINUXINO BOARD 2. Introduction to the chapter This section helps you set up the OLinuXino development board for the first time. Please consider first the electrostatic warning to avoid damaging the board, then discover the hardware and software required to operate the board. The procedure to power up the board is given, and a description of the default board behavior is detailed. 2.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual Recommended items: - External USB hub – to split the USB_HOST mounted on the board; you need that to connect more USB devices - External power supply unit – 5V DC, 5W required – for optimal power - A10-OLinuXino-LIME-BOX – an aesthetic box specially made for the board that protects it from dust and accidental short-circuits - USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F – for Android/Linux debugging on UART0 Additional items include: - A10-OlinuXino-LIME-UEXT and CABLE-IDC40-15cm and C
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 2.3 Powering the board There are three possible ways of powering A10-OLinuXino-LIME – via external supply providing 5V DC at the power jack, from 5V USB port via USB_OTG connector or from 3.7V Li-Po battery via the LIPO_BAT. Note that the board might consume up to 650mA of current at 5V when there are no peripherals connected to the USB hosts. Make sure your power supply is able to provide at least 1A before.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 2.4 Button functions The bellow three buttons usually are supported under both Android and Debian: PWR – used to perform software turn off, software turn on; used to turn on board when powered by battery – has to be held down for at least 5 seconds to perform each action RESET – used for hardware reset of the board – it is not recommended RECOVERY – used to wake up the board from sleep It is recommended to always make a soft “turn off” of the board.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual ./change_display_A10_lime.sh and choose the resolution and the interface (LCD, HDMI or VGA). The supported resolutions are listed below. For LCD: 1. 4.3" (480×272) 2. 7" (800×480) 3. 10" (1024×600) For HDMI: 0. 480i 1. 576i 2. 480p 3. 576p 4. 720p50 5. 720p60 6. 1080i50 7. 1080i60 8. 1080p24 9. 1080p50 10. 1080p60 For VGA (please note that the VGA lacks a connector – more instructions on the VGA signals might be found in the chapter 6): 0. 1680×1050 1.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual yourself, following the schematics of the display and the board or purchase it from us. With newer Olimex-made displays you can use a single cable with 0.05'' step. The new revsions of displays have both 0.1'' step connector and 0.05'' step connectors. If your Olimex-made display has only a single 0.01'' step connector you would need two 40 pin cables (CABLE-40-40-10CM and CABLE-IDC40-15cm) that connect to a small adapter board called A10-OLinuXino-LIME-UEXT.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual If the input signal is to high, you will at least destroy the port! The algorithms for writing a value to a GPIO port and reading such a value are pretty similar. The usage of GPIO ports follows the algorithm (we would use GPIO #49 for demonstration purposes): 1. Export GPIO 49: echo 49 > /sys/class/gpio/export Note that you can export GPIOs in range with: for i in `seq 1 1 230`; do echo $i > /sys/class/gpio/export; done 2. Set input/output GPIO 49 2.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 2.9 Software support We maintain Linux and Android images for SD card which might be downloaded for free and modified as the user wishes. The latest images and updates are featured at the wiki article of the device: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A10-OLinuXino-LIME. We usually try to provide details on how to build the Linux and the Android images at our wordpress page: http://olimex.wordpress.com/.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual CHAPTER 3: A10-OLINUXINO-LIME BOARD DESCRIPTION 3. Introduction to the chapter Here you get acquainted with the main parts of the board. Note the names used on the board might differ from the names used below to describe them. For the actual names check the A10OLinuXino-LIME board itself. 3.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 3.2 Layout (bottom view) At the bottom are located mainly the buttons and microSD card connector. You should be careful of the surface that you use to place the board.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual CHAPTER 4: THE ALLWINNER A10 MICROCONTROLLER 4. Introduction to the chapter In this chapter is located the information about the heart of OLinuXino – its microcontroller. The information is a modified version of the datasheet provided by its manufacturers. 4.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual More information can be found on Allwinner's web site at the following web-address: http://www.allwinnertech.com/en/product/A10.html. A good source of information on the processor is the linux sunxi wiki article: http://linuxsunxi.org/A10.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual CHAPTER 5: CONTROL CIRCUITY 5. Introduction to the chapter Here you can find information about reset circuit and quartz crystals locations, the power supply circuit is also briefly discussed. 5.1 Reset The board has hardware reset controlled by the AXP209 power system management IC. It is a good practice to perform software reset of the board.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual CHAPTER 6: CONNECTORS AND PINOUT 6. Introduction to the chapter In this chapter are presented the connectors that can be found on the board all together with their pinout and notes about them. Jumpers functions are described. Notes and info on specific peripherals are presented. Notes regarding the interfaces are given. 6.1 Communication with LIME The direct communication method is via the serial interface.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.2 MicroSD card connector The micro SD card slot is primarily used for booting the operating system. The board works with micro SDHC cards up to 32GB of storage. As a general precaution be careful with the SD cards you purchase. There is a big percentage of fake cards due to the low effort required to counterfeit popular brands and the big demand for SD cards worldwide. When in doubt – try the same operation with another card from another brand.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual SD/MMC1 connector Pin # Connector signal name Wire name (processor pin) 1 DAT2/RES SD0-D2 (K19) 2 CD/DAT3/CS SD0-D3 (K20) 3 CMD/DI SD0-CMD (L19) 4 VDD - 5 CLK/SCLK SD0-CLK(L20) 6 VSS2 - 7 DAT0/DO SD0-D0(M19) 8 DAT1/RES SD0-D1(M20) Additionally, there are the WP and CP switches that are responsible, respectively, for sensing whether the card is locked for reading and whether there is a card inserted. 6.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.4 USB_OTG connector The main way of changing the firmware image located on the NAND of A10-OLinuXino-LIME4GB is via the USB-OTG connector. How to change the firmware is explained after the hardware details. The part of the schematic related to the USB_OTG is shown below: The USB_OTG features Low Loss Power Distribution Switch SY6280 which protects the board in case the devices you have plugged to the USB_OTG attempt to draw more current than 523mA combined.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual The connector case is also grounded. We have configured an Android image with settings suitable for A10-OLinuXino-LIME. Then using PhoenixSuit tools we uploaded the image to the board via the USB OTG. The image is available for users to try and tweak the settings. The images can be downloaded from the wiki article at: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A10-OLinuXino-LIME. The board variant without NAND needs an SD card with bootable OS – Android or Linux.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.5 USB_HOST connectors The part of the schematic related to the USB_HOST connectors is listed below: There are two USB host connector featured on the board. They are called USB_HOST1 and USB_HOST2. Each of them has own connector, both situated near the Ethernet connector. Each of connector has own low loss power distribution switch SY6280 which protects the board in case the devices you have plugged to the board try to draw more current than 523mA combined.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual - 10/100Mbps operation - Full/half duplex operation - Supports auto crossover detection - Adaptive equalization - IEEE 802.3/802.3u compliant - Supports IEEE 802.3u clause 28; 1.8V - Operation with 3.3V IO signal tolerance and much more The Ethernet connector is grounded according to the standard (check GND1 and GND2 lines on the schematics). If you use Linux then the Ethernet connector might be used for SSH connection to the board.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual Ethernet Pin # Signal name 1 TD+ 2 TD- 3 VDD 4 NC 5 NC 6 VDD 7 RD+ 8 RD- The RJ45 connector has a small yellow and a small built-in LEDS and they are described below: LED Color Usage Right Green Link status Left Yellow Activity status Page 28 of 45
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.7 HDMI connector The part of the schematic that describes the HDMI module is shown below: Note that there are different Linux images depending whether the HDMI TV works at 50Hz or 60Hz refresh rate. If you board runs Android there is a specific option to set the appropriate HDMI output.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.8 SATA connector and power The part of the schematic describing the SATA module is shown below: SATA connector Pin # Signal name Processor pin 1 GND - 2 SATA-TXP T20 3 SATA-TXM T21 4 GND - 5 SATA-RXM U21 6 SATA-RXP U20 7 GND - There is a 5V_SATA_PWR connector that is suitable for powering 5V hard-disks trough the board. To keep the low form factor we have placed the small JST connector. You can make an adapter cable accordingly.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.9 GPIO ports There are four GPIO ports which are used generally to access unused by the board's peripherals pins. However, there are exceptions – some of the pins might be used to easily peripherals or their levels. Three of the GPIO connectors have 40 pins and the last one has 20 pins. Note that all GPIO connectors have 0.05'' (50 mil) step between pins. Olimex sells a compatible extension cable for these connectors named CABLE-40-40-10CM.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual LCD_VSYNC (AC9) and LCD_HSYNC (AB9) If you inspect the schematics of a board with VGA connector (like A20-OlinuXino-MICRO) carefully you would notice that there are two extra transistors on the synchronization lines. Those are transistors meant to shift the levels to 5V. The 3.3V levels from the processor might work but the standard requires 5V levels of VSYNC and HSYNC.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.9.2 GPIO-2 (General Purpose Input/Output) 40pin connector The GPIO pins are led out on a separate 40pin connecter. They allow the user to attach additional hardware, check readings or perform hardware debug. The GPIO-2 connector numbers are printed at the bottom of the board for your convenience. GPIO-2 connector GPIO pin# Signal name Processor pin# GPIO pin# Signal name Processor pin# 1 5V - 2 GND - 3 3.3V - 4 LDO3_2.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.9.3 GPIO-3 (General Purpose Input/Output) 40pin connector GPIO-3 connector GPIO pin# Signal name Signal name Processor pin# 1 5V Processor pin# - GPIO pin# 2 GND - 3 3.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.10 LCD_CON 40pin connector The LCD_CON pins are led out on a separate 40pin connecter for the ease of connecting an LCD. We have tested the ability of the board to interact with such a display. They allow the user to attach additional hardware, check readings or perform hardware debug. Important: you need additional 40PIN ribbon cable to connect an Olimex display and the LCD_CON.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.11 Jumper description Please note that most the jumpers on the board are SMT type. If you feel insecure of your soldering/cutting technique it is better not to try to adjust the jumpers since it is possible to damage the board. Board jumpers Jumper name NAND_E Type Default position Function Controls whether the NAND memory module is enabled or disabled.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 6.12 Additional hardware components The components below are mounted on OLinuXino but are not discussed above. They are listed here for completeness: Reset button – used to reset the board Power button – used to reset the board Recovery button – used to reset the board 512MB = 1× [4Gb (256M x 16bit)] DDR3 SDRAM – the exact memory used currently in the board is SAMSUNG K4B4G1646D-BCK0 The DDR3 memory part name in the schematic might be outdated.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual CHAPTER 7: SCHEMATICS 7. Introduction to the chapter In this chapter is located information about the schematics describing logically and physically A10OLinuXino-LIME. 7.1 Eagle schematic OLinuXino schematics may be found it on the OLinuXino's GitHub repository: https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO/tree/master/HARDWARE/A10-OLinuXino-LIME. You can download the whole repository as .zip without having a GitHub account.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 7.2 Physical dimensions Note that all dimensions are in mils.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual CHAPTER 8: REVISION HISTORY AND SUPPORT 8. Introduction to the chapter In this chapter you will find the current and the previous version of the document you are reading. Also the web-page for your device is listed. Be sure to check it after a purchase for the latest available updates and examples. 8.1 Document revision Document revision Changes Modified page A, 30.05.14 Initial manual release B, 26.08.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 8.2 Board revision Remember to check the schematics and the board design files to compare the differences. Board revision Notable changes A Initial release of the board B R12, R13 (ODT, RST) resistors are now mounted (were NA before) with 0R value otherwise the board doesn't start. C 1. PC3/PB1 is now properly labeled as PC3/PB8 both on the schematic and the print 2. Added R73 – 10M in parallel to the 32768 crystal 3.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 8.3 Useful web links and purchase codes The web page you can visit for more information about your device are: Product page: https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A10/A10-OLinuXino-LIME/ Wiki article of the board: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A10-OLinuXino-LIME A place for general questions, FAQ or friendly talk: https://www.olimex.com/forum/ You can get the latest updates on the software at: https://github.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 8.4 Frequently asked questions Q: I power my board, it shows a logo and then nothing happens. A: This might be due to a number of reasons but it is recommended to try the following: 1. Download latest official image from our wiki (either Android or Debian for SD card), and upload it to an SD card again. There are instructions how to do it in the other questions below. Try if the board works now. 2.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual You can also enable auto detection of Ethernet on power-up by removing the comment #auto eth0 in /etc/network/interfaces in the Linux image. Q: How to generate boot-able SD-card Debian Linux image for A10-OlinuXino? Check our blog post with step by step instructions (here: http://olimex.wordpress.
OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual 8.5 Product support For product support, hardware information and error reports mail to: support@olimex.com. All document or hardware feedback is welcome. Note that we are primarily a hardware company and our software support is limited. Please consider reading the paragraph below about the warranty of Olimex products. All goods are checked before they are sent out.
