ag123

tried mining feathercoin, git clone https://github.com/ghostlander/cpuminer-neoscrypt lots of missing dependencies to build that apt install automake autoconf-archive pkg-config libtool libcurl4-openssl-dev but once done it is autogen.sh, configure, make next register on https://www.mining-dutch.nl/ then run ./minerd -D --algo=neoscrypt --url=stratum+tcp://mining-dutch.nl:9993 -u username.worker1 -p d=10 a whopping 1.1 k hash/s on each core, well not very impressivve, but it mines i think this is no Neon SIMD Stop monitoring using [ctrl]-[c] Time CPU load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq Tcpu C.St. 20:22:02 1416 MHz 3.90 100% 0% 0% 99% 0% 0% 53.2 °C 0/7 20:22:07 1416 MHz 3.91 100% 0% 0% 99% 0% 0% 53.2 °C 0/7 20:22:12 1416 MHz 3.92 100% 0% 0% 99% 0% 0% 53.4 °C 0/7 ^ this is with the fan on optimise it a little in makefile #CFLAGS = -g -O2 CFLAGS = minerd_CPPFLAGS = -O3 -mcpu=cortex-a53 -march=armv8-a -ftree-vectorize -funsafe-math-optimizations well, just a very minor 0.025 k hash/s improvement per core. perhaps it already has Neon SIMD or that it needs 'hand optimization', that is hard.

@robertoj well, Neon SIMD isn't just useful for that matrix math, it is useful e.g. as a video decoder/encoder in place of specialized on chip video hardware. it could partially explain the 'better performance' of mpv (https://mpv.io/) e.g. if mpv is after all built with -o3 or that mpv uses a library that is optimised iwth Neon SIMD, it could likely practically see a performance as the on-chip proprietary video hardware which is not publicly documented. with an apparent 100% cpu usage if all 4 cpu cores are used with Neon SIMD. I think I once chanced upon an Rpi forum comment about shifting the codes to Neon SIMD instead instead of using propietary video hardware, partly as these 'small' chips has 'limited' capabilities for on chip video processing etc. it isn;'t really a bad thing if after all we'd use say an Opi Z3 as a 'dedicated' video streamer. A thing is at 100% cpu, non compute threads may struggle to get a slot to run at times, it may take setting 'nice' levels so that some threads get a higher priority. I've been thinking about running a (crypto coin) miner on it, probably would do that some time. They certainly don't get close to say even a Haswell, or Ryzen or even a 'low end gpu' but that they are faster than the 'older' 'smaller' chips for a comparison, the quoted 'old' figures https://linux-sunxi.org/Benchmarks#Linpack -mcpu=cortex-a8 -march=armv7-a -mfpu=neon -mfloat-abi=hard -funsafe-math-optimizations -fno-fast-math Memory required: 315K. LINPACK benchmark, Double precision. Machine precision: 15 digits. Array size 200 X 200. Average rolled and unrolled performance: Reps Time(s) DGEFA DGESL OVERHEAD KFLOPS ---------------------------------------------------- 16 0.61 88.52% 6.56% 4.92% 37885.057 32 1.21 85.12% 2.48% 12.40% 41459.119 64 2.43 93.83% 2.47% 3.70% 37561.254 128 4.86 91.77% 2.47% 5.76% 38381.368 256 9.70 92.06% 2.89% 5.05% 38173.000 512 19.41 91.29% 2.47% 6.23% 38634.432 mcpu=cortex-a8 -mtune=cortex-a8 -march=armv7-a -mfpu=neon -mfloat-abi=hard -funsafe-math-optimizations -fomit-frame-pointer -ffast-math -funroll-loops -funsafe-loop-optimizations Memory required: 315K. LINPACK benchmark, Double precision. Machine precision: 15 digits. Array size 200 X 200. Average rolled and unrolled performance: Reps Time(s) DGEFA DGESL OVERHEAD KFLOPS ---------------------------------------------------- 16 0.53 90.57% 1.89% 7.55% 44843.537 32 1.05 90.48% 3.81% 5.71% 44390.572 64 2.13 90.14% 2.35% 7.51% 44615.905 128 4.23 90.54% 3.07% 6.38% 44390.572 256 8.46 90.19% 2.84% 6.97% 44672.596 512 17.03 90.55% 2.76% 6.69% 44250.892 vs that above is like 8x - 10x improvements on a single core

ok we have a cheap SBC Z3 H618, but we'd still want to run it as like a supercomputer https://linux-sunxi.org/Benchmarks#Linpack download https://www.netlib.org/benchmark/linpackc.new save as linpack.c makefiile all: linpack-noopt linpack-o3 linpack-noopt: linpack.c gcc -o $@ $^ linpack-o3: linpack.c gcc -O3 -o $@ $^ -lm -mcpu=cortex-a53 -march=armv8-a -ftree-vectorize -funsafe-math-optimizations clean: linpack-noopt linpack-o3 rm $^ .PHONY: all clean ok, for your convenience it is in the attached zip file. to unzip you may need (as sudo): apt install zip unzip for the compilers you may need apt install build-essential $ make gcc -o linpack-noopt linpack.c gcc -O3 -o linpack-o3 linpack.c -lm -mcpu=cortex-a53 -march=armv8-a -ftree-vectorize -funsafe-math-optimizations $ ./linpack-noopt Enter array size (q to quit) [200]: Memory required: 315K. LINPACK benchmark, Double precision. Machine precision: 15 digits. Array size 200 X 200. Average rolled and unrolled performance: Reps Time(s) DGEFA DGESL OVERHEAD KFLOPS ---------------------------------------------------- 32 0.68 88.14% 2.66% 9.20% 71117.671 64 1.36 88.13% 2.66% 9.21% 71103.230 128 2.72 88.14% 2.66% 9.20% 71118.447 256 5.44 88.14% 2.66% 9.20% 71117.368 512 10.89 88.14% 2.66% 9.20% 71118.505 Enter array size (q to quit) [200]: q $ ./linpack-o3 Enter array size (q to quit) [200]: Memory required: 315K. LINPACK benchmark, Double precision. Machine precision: 15 digits. Array size 200 X 200. Average rolled and unrolled performance: Reps Time(s) DGEFA DGESL OVERHEAD KFLOPS ---------------------------------------------------- 128 0.53 86.33% 2.89% 10.78% 374433.231 256 1.05 86.33% 2.88% 10.79% 374573.654 512 2.10 86.34% 2.88% 10.79% 374443.201 1024 4.21 86.32% 2.88% 10.80% 374574.751 2048 8.42 86.32% 2.88% 10.80% 374612.768 4096 16.83 86.33% 2.88% 10.79% 374574.926 Enter array size (q to quit) [200]: q This is single core benchmark, apparently gcc -o3 does Neon SIMD linpack.zip

Arm Neon is quite a thing, SIMD https://developer.arm.com/documentation/102159/latest/ https://github.com/thenifty/neon-guide and accordingly aarch64 (e.g. Cortex A53, A55, A72, A75, A76 etc etc i.e. arm V8a onwards have them) https://developer.arm.com/documentation/102474/0100/Fundamentals-of-Armv8-Neon-technology the H618 is an A53 and hence should have it. it is a good 'replacement' for proprietary hardware etc as this like Intel's sse, avx , simd are defiined and standardized by Arm. Hence, they'd work if programs are coded and compiled to use them. Accordiingly, the pripietary video hardware is still undocumented (at least not publicly accessible), and most of that works are reverse engineered and incomplete. apps written to use Neon SIMD would however 'just works' and accelerated by virtue that it is SIMD.

oops, I missed reading that 100% cpu, but it is ok it is a a53 after all 😅 videos I'd guess is still 'difficult' on z3, accordingly there is some support for gpu vector graphics but I'd guess mostly just triangles. video decoding can be done with just neon (vector computation) , but i'd guess there is still limited access to video decoding hardware. using neon is likely to give that 100% cpu reading as the cpu is busy literally, using real video hardware would be 'invisible' in a sense, the cpu usage may look low but that one won't see that the video hardware itself may after all be reading 100%.

run dmesg, after you plug that uart into the port it should show the usb dongle connected and the port then a few more thiings, bad wires ensure that no matter what you do no data pass over the wires (I've seen this, especially those dupont pin connections) wrong connections ensure that no matter what you do no data pass over the wires. Are you sure you are talking to the correct *pins* and *port* on the host side? lousy dongles ensure that no matter what you do no data pass over the wires, get 'better' ones. oh well, this depends a little on luck, but I used ch340 usb-uart bridges, and they worked just well https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-ch340-uart.html searching usb uart normally returns a lot of entries https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-usb-uart.html if one doesn't work, try another oh then there is DTS overlay etc, sometimes that fix is needed bad / no drivers etc (dmesg should show it, on windows your mileage may vary) etc etc the rationale is, if you did it once successfully, either remember how you did it or document it sometimes, alternatives include, connect hdmi to monitor, usb keyboard and mouse and use as alternative console, mileage may vary.

thread about video in case anyone is looking for it and a recent 'success story'

sound is a gotcha on the opi z3, actually opi z3 has sound but output only. accordingly opi z2 has sound both input (mic) and output. and i think for 'convenience' many would after all use a usb sound card instead, just that there is only one usb port and the other 2 is actually on the extension pins on opi z3 as do with the audio output on z3 http://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/details/Orange-Pi-Zero-3.html as for usb + audio extension, orangepi sells an extension board but that accordingly without that it may be possible to hack those usb connectors https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-usb-female-type-a-with-wire.htmll if one is willing to go the distance with electronics, for the microphone i did a little research and found that there are mems microphone modules around small, compact and possibly can be easily paired with boards like z , z2 or z3 https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-mems-microphone.html but that most of these are I2S interfaces and I'm not too sure if it is feasible apparently it is there for output, but I'm not sure about input https://github.com/elkoni/Opi_Zero_3_I2S3_5.4

I've some old boards too e.g. https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-one/ interestingly there is an updated image for it, but that things I remember there are lots of gotcha unlike the whole many generation of incremental improvements between boards that finally evolved into a opi z3. among the gotchas on orangepi one and orangepi pc h3 is that it uses a proprietary openrisc chip for power off which back then, if you run poweroff, the cpu will instead become very hot rapidly and you have to pull the usb cable quickly. today there is this thing crust which i've not yet tried which is deemed to be able to orderly shutdown the soc https://github.com/crust-firmware/crust opi z3 uses a PMIC with its own internal firmware and I think it is comms i2c etc that starts the shutdown process. things are different between the generations (of boards and kernel) --- my guess is to try a new u-boot, it may take doing a build and the changes may be quite similar to this https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/8334 https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/8334/commits/49ccbe88bc2ddf31b55ece850d28ef18c6ae8a1a --- if you want to venture and experiment with just u-boot alone here is how I once tried https://github.com/ag88/1.5GB_Fix_for_Armbian_on_OrangePiZero3 https://github.com/ag88/1.5GB_Fix_for_Armbian_on_OrangePiZero3/blob/main/build.md

just like to say that the recent images works just well _ _ _ _ _ /_\ _ _ _ __ | |__(_)__ _ _ _ __ ___ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ (_) |_ _ _ / _ \| '_| ' \| '_ \ / _` | ' \ / _/ _ \ ' \| ' \ || | ' \| | _| || | /_/ \_\_| |_|_|_|_.__/_\__,_|_||_|_\__\___/_|_|_|_|_|_\_,_|_||_|_|\__|\_, | |___| |__/ v25.8 rolling for Orange Pi Zero3 running Armbian Linux 6.12.35-current-sunxi64 Packages: Debian stable (bookworm) Support: for advanced users (rolling release) IPv4: (LAN) xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (WAN) yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy IPv6: fd00:xxxx:xxxx::xxxx:xxxx (WAN) xxxx:xxxx::yyyy:yyyy WiFi AP: SSID: (ssid), Performance: Load: 2% Uptime: 3:50 Memory usage: 4% of 3.83G CPU temp: 41°C Usage of /: 3% of 58G RX today: 7 MiB Commands: Configuration : armbian-config Monitoring : htop

this is somewhat 'off-topic' but still relevant to 'orange pi zero 3' If Orange Pi Zero 3 is operated in warm climates (e.g. room temperature 30 deg C etc) , it can at times run up to like 60 deg C. this is in open still air adding a fan blowing at it reduce that by some 20 deg C to 40 deg C ! And this is my ghetto fan setup, no fancy case, no heatsink nothing, just a single long machine screw that lifts it up checking temperatures is easy > armbianmonitor -m Stop monitoring using [ctrl]-[c] Time CPU load %cpu %sys %usr %nice %io %irq Tcpu C.St. 18:03:39 480 MHz 0.00 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 40.8 °C 0/7^C strictly speaking, 60 deg C is 'nothing to scream about' , I've a Rpi 4 hitting up 80 deg C and it throttles. similarly use a fan blowing at it + a heat sink over the cpu, drastically reduce running temperatures. for 'occasional' use, I don't think it is necessary to have a fan blowing at the Orange Pi Zero 3. I think it is feasible to run at lower temperatures if I disable and unclock the GPU and HDMI, but for now I'm not sure how to go about doing that. Initially, I'm thinking maybe the wifi is causing it, but now I don't think so, it is moderately likely the gpu is heating it up a bit. And still air don't seem to dissipate heat very well.

apparently new images for OrangePi Zero 3 Debian minimal IOT are out on github and the boards page thanks to @Igor, @TRay, et.al. https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero-3/ https://github.com/armbian/community/releases/tag/25.8.0-trunk.309 ^ apparently a big release many images ( e.g. different variants and boards) are updated, but I checked only OrangePi Zero 3 Debian minimal IOT the feature for OrangePi Zero 3 according to recent build release https://github.com/armbian/build/releases/tag/v25.8.0-trunk.293 is https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/8334 the use of u-boot tag:v2025.04 likely improves boot time ddr ram size detection.

thanks @Igor , this is really fresh like an hour ago would check in the rolling releases for images , it is deemed more stable for dram detection , sizing at boot. there tend to be dram size detection and other issues which I'm not too sure if that might be a timing related issue.

one way is if you have tested that config and build to make a pull request on github https://github.com/armbian/build

I'm, using one of those CH340 based usb-uart dongles https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-usb-uart-ch340.html but that normally most usb-uart dongles would work https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-usb-uart.html just make sure to check that it has / uses 3.3V io levels. Not 5V io levels as that may damage the processor (cpu / soc) for the pins connection review the user manual http://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/service-and-support/Orange-Pi-Zero-3.html it is the 3 pins labelled Debug TTL UART on their board photo http://www.orangepi.org/img/zero3/0627-zero3 (6).png --- off-topic: for these small boards, I've basically stopped running them with an LCD monitor and keyboard as I find it a hassle as I'm using a desktop PC and trying to share the monitor. I mostly use them 'headless' using the usb-uart port. And in fact, after you setup the network appropriately e.g. set a static IP address or install avahi, the usb-uart console is no longer needed for static (fixed) IP address it is covered in the networking guide https://docs.armbian.com/User-Guide_Networking/ for avahi (MDNS) > apt install avahi-daemon avahi-utils edit /etc/avahi/avahi-daemon.conf [publish] publish-workstation=yes you can find the board on the ethernet over MDNS e.g. https://github.com/hrzlgnm/mdns-browser and you can ssh into the board over the network, e.g. using putty https://www.putty.org/