Orange Pi Zero 3

[Long-Johnny]

I am running 24.5.0 trunk 19 on mine OPIZ3 with 4 Gb. Its running fine. I also have an OPIZ3 with 1.5 Gb. I really can't make it run with the same software.

Am I doing something wrong, or is 24.5.0 trunk 19 not suitable for the OPIZ3 with 1.5 Gb??

Edited February 26 by Long-Johnny

[ag123]

@Long-Johnny

1.5gb issue is a *known issue*

 

The problem is in u-boot, rather to explain it in a simple manner, the DRAM controller in H616/H18 is *undocumented*, so developers has to probe in the dark to try to reverse engineer how it works, it is a 'miracle' that it works today where there is practically *no documentation* about the DRAM controller. The dram chips has registers which encode the size of the dram, but that there is *no way* to access the dram registers because the DRAM controller is *undocumented*.  Hence, developers working on open source u-boot, Linux resort to *hacks*, the memory size is probed by writing some data at specific locations and reading it back.

The trouble is that for DDR4 1.5gb dram chips, the address wraps around, so that trying to write something to 2GB for a 1.5GB chip produce *no errors*, so 1.5 GB boards are detected as 2GB boards.

it gets written into an unknown location that will corrupt some other memory and uboot or kernel or any apps that use memory above 1.5GB and uboot, kernel or the app will simply *crash*.

For that matter, there is no practical code fixes that can fix this, because no algorithms can generally handle arbitrary address wrap around for *different* memory sizes. e.g. there can be at some point 2.5gb, 3.5gb, 1.2gb, 1.4gb. 1.8gb, 0.9gb or any odd combination of memory, and there is no way to detect by writing and reading back memory how that wraps around if say writing memory to every 512MB locations simply wrap around to some unknown address. The only way is if Allwinner release documentations for the H618 memory controller and that the memory size be read from the dram chip registers as a formal fix to it.

 

To find a solution to this, one would need to research a way to pass the memory size to *uboot* (and therefore the kernel), so that u-boot can read that memory size say from a config file, DTS overlay or on the uboot command prompt.

 

In the mean time, if one don't want to try researching the 'deep end' as suggested above, use boards with 'whole numbers' memory sizes. e.g. 1GB, 2GB, 4GB.

 

 

[Long-Johnny]

ag123, thx for your answer. 

So this problem wel probably never solved.

 

24 minutes ago, ag123 said:

In the mean time, if one don't want to try researching the 'deep end' as suggested above, use boards with 'whole numbers' memory sizes. e.g. 1GB, 2GB, 4GB.

This is a bit to late for me

[ag123]

@Long-Johnny

Rather than to say 'never solved', we (as a community) need to learn about *uboot*

https://docs.u-boot.org/en/latest/

https://linux-sunxi.org/U-Boot

this is practically the *BIOS* for these little boards that we use and that u-boot boots Linux - it is the boot loader.

Once you / we find a way to pass that memory size to *uboot*, then it is a matter of learning to configure a file e.g. edit a DTS overlay to encode the memory size.

And there you have it, a fully supported board.

But that that step/procedure may have to be manually done by hand.

In that sense, once one figures this out, one can manually configure these boards for any arbitrary memory size.

 

[Long-Johnny]

Understand, THX

[mc510]

On 2/3/2024 at 4:43 PM, pixdrift said:

On the topic of audio, I have started looking at it and should have something working over the next couple of days. The early patches from warmpe merge fine, which is a good sign.. it's just getting the h616 dtsi and dts patches in next.

 

@pixdrift, how is audio looking at this point? Analog audio support exists in orangepi's Ubuntu, but it's bad -- super weird alsamixer and doesn't work at all with shairport-sync -- so maybe it's a lost cause? If so I'll just stop waiting for it and will use my Zero3 for a non-audio application.

 

Thanks everyone for your work bringing basic Armbian support to the Zero3 in spite of the lack of any assistance from Shenzhen Xunlong or Allwinner.

Edited March 1 by mc510

[pepkov]

Hey there! I got to armbian just looking for the best distribution for Orange Pi Zero 3 and has been following the topic for some time. I was waiting for HDMI audio support and as long as it looks that there's no work ongoing for it I'm planing to try to add support for it. Any help or hints for achieving it are welcome! Thanks for the pretty impresive work done for this board and the dedication of the community.

[VioletGiraffe]

I think Orange Pi guys themselves don't know how to detect RAM size for the 1.5 GB model because they have separate OS images for 1.5 and 2/4 GB.

[jvro]

Got latest release working, pretty nice. A few questions if anyone knows.

1. How do I disable X? I will just be SSHing in and using this as a compute node.

2. Any way to customize the image easily? I'd like to image it somewhat automatically and have it come up in a known state vs. having to keyboard/mouse/monitor it to set it up initially.

 

Thanks!

Edited March 5 by jvro

[ag123]

@jvro wrote:

Quote

1. How do I disable X? I will just be SSHing in and using this as a compute node.

Try the 'server' / minimal image?

 

it used to be called 'run levels' in sysv init. Now it is systemd

https://opensource.com/article/20/5/systemd-startup#targets

https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/switch-boot-target-to-text-gui-in-systemd-linux/

 

Quote

2. Any way to customize the image easily? I'd like to image it somewhat automatically and have it come up in a known state vs. having to keyboard/mouse/monitor it to set it up initially.

 

There may be some features if you review the user guide

https://docs.armbian.com/User-Guide_Getting-Started/

and maybe check in the tutorials forum section

https://forum.armbian.com/forum/40-reviews-tutorials-hardware-hacks/

 

but that for anything more complicated, what I did instead is to get a usb-uart dongle

 

connect to the 3 pins for 'debug' console, check the documentation for Orange Pi Zero 3 from the vendor.

Then that you can literally boot up in a console / terminal app, login on the console / terminal app etc even for the first time.

 

For now I keep the steps as a set of manual command line commands I run, including changing the passwords etc.

And basically 'copy and paste' the commands say from a pre maintained file with the steps and commands.

 

edit:

I think for that matter, it is quite possible to *script* that say using python 

https://pyserial.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

and have the 'auto setup and config' all done over serial usb-uart over that debug port.

and for those who are 'ancient' enough, there is  tcl/tk

https://www.tcl.tk/

and expect

https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/Expect

https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/BOOK+Exploring+Expect

https://gist.github.com/fstab/6d39fae3a436d9bd6cecb1d9fde9a667

----

I think it is possible to directly customize the image though. That would take mounting the image as a loop device in Linux (prefably make a copy of it).

And perhaps for the config files (e.g. in /etc)  on your running SD card, copy them out and replace the same in the image.

 

 

[Sma]

On 3/5/2024 at 2:57 PM, jvro said:

1. How do I disable X? I will just be SSHing in and using this as a compute node.

You could try armbian-config, i believe in the hardware section you can disable the desktop from there.

[ag123]

just like to mention that I managed to run a build for Orangepizero3

Armbian-unofficial_24.5.0-trunk_Orangepizero3_bookworm_edge_6.7.10_minimal
the kernel is 6.7.10 

the build managed to run to completion

the image is completely untested

-rw-rw-r-- 1 armbian root  1413480448 Mar 20 02:38 Armbian-unofficial_24.5.0-trunk_Orangepizero3_bo
okworm_edge_6.7.10_minimal.img
-rw-rw-r-- 1 armbian root         213 Mar 20 02:38 Armbian-unofficial_24.5.0-trunk_Orangepizero3_bo
okworm_edge_6.7.10_minimal.img.sha
-rw-rw-r-- 1 armbian root       19756 Mar 20 02:38 Armbian-unofficial_24.5.0-trunk_Orangepizero3_bo
okworm_edge_6.7.10_minimal.img.txt

 

And I'm not sure if it'd even work. It is not uploaded anywhere,

 

For this build as OrangePi Zero 3 is deemed csc, you need to select the experimental unsupported builds to see the boards being listed.

I ran the build just to see that the build completes after all, having no time (yet) to run tests with that.

-- update it was TLDR (too late didn't read) then

ok it is here, and remember *untested* (it is not known if it'd work if at all), *unofficial* *unsupported* use at your own risk

https://www.mediafire.com/file/bym559l94sn8xyd/Armbian-unofficial_24.5.0-trunk_Orangepizero3_bookworm_edge_6.7.10_minimal20240320.7z/file

this (file) won't be there on the permanent basis

it'd seem @Igor is moving Armbian to 6.8 (hey that's just 9 days 'old' https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tag/?h=v6.8,  as of this comment)

that's a good thing, and thanks

this linked image would be a pre-6.8, if it works.

 

other fun stuff

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/03/linux-kernel-6-8-new-features

https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-kernel-6-8-offers-some-exciting-new-features-and-fixes-all-over/

https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/04/linux_6_8_rc_7/

https://www.phoronix.com/review/linux-68-features

https://lore.kernel.org/linux-kernel/CAHk-=wiehc0DfPtL6fC2=bFuyzkTnuiuYSQrr6JTQxQao6pq1Q@mail.gmail.com/T/

 

[Igor]

10 hours ago, ag123 said:

is moving Armbian to 6.8

@Gunjan Gupta is doing that and sadly its a lot of work: "here are 77 broken patches that need manual fixing"  We are looking at weeks.

[ag123]

@Igor, @Gunjan Gupta thanks for all that effort, I'm sure many would patiently, and eagerly wait for that

 

and an ad for Armbian, for/to new users who have stumbled into this thread

https://www.armbian.com/donate/

those who are using Armbian e.g. on Orange Pi Zero 3, do consider 'sponsoring' Armbian (e.g. with a subscription etc). 'donate' is actually an incorrect term for that, but there is no equivalent.

open sourced projects like such takes a lot of effort, but that unlike commercial SASS (software as a service) etc, there is practically no feasibility to put a *paywall* as do most other commercial providers / software.

Some providers resorted to *close source*. And most will *detest* this as imagine that you need to fix a bug that *blink a led* on your pin header, that'd means *no access*, *cannot be done*.

embedded *intrusive* ads would be a next wors(e,t) thing

 

--- 

on another topic, about technicals:

i look at some 'solutions' for patches, i've not found practically anything that 'works'

 

the problem of patch sets against multiple targets (different patch set applies) and version, and between multiple different *contexts*, between 'release' upgrades

and that the patch sets in themselves has their own dependencies on the core source codes (sometimes even modules in the source codes become recursive patch-on-patch dependencies) and between patches.

 

something like gerrit code review,

*does not address the issue*

https://www.gerritcodereview.com/about.html

https://gerrit-documentation.storage.googleapis.com/Documentation/3.9.2/intro-rockstar.html

that would instead cause stalls in development workflow as we have n different boards with different distribution targets with different *boot loaders* and hardware and configuration (e.g. a led on a different pin  makes a *different board* even if every thing else being the same) this conundrum has never been fully addressed even today with the device tree. We need 'dynamic device tree' that can literally *change on the fly* after things booted up, because you can hot plug anything on the pin headers.

the whole development would practically *stop* as the different *boards* would have *no (or very few) reviewers*

 

then I looked at stackedgit

https://stacked-git.github.io/guides/usage-example/

https://stacked-git.github.io/guides/tutorial/

https://github.com/stacked-git/stgit/

looks promising

but again that would take time and effort to explore and it is likely not adequate to address this same issue.

 

 

 

 

[boorch]

On 3/19/2024 at 6:50 PM, ag123 said:

And I'm not sure if it'd even work.

Hello! Just received a OrangePi Zero 2W and read Zero3 images work with this, so gave your build a try. Looks okay for now but I've yet to try any desktop environment etc. I'll post updates.

Btw my board has H618 cpu or some reason and I've read OrangePi Zero 2W supposed to have H616?

[Uko]

Orange Pi Zero 2W has H618, same CPU as Orange Pi Zero 3. This is one of the things that make the two boards very similar. Orange Pi Zero 2, on the other hand, has H616. Strange naming and technology choices, but I can't help

[ag123]

@boorch wrote

Quote

Hello! Just received a OrangePi Zero 2W and read Zero3 images work with this, so gave your build a try. Looks okay for now but I've yet to try any desktop environment etc. I'll post updates.

Btw my board has H618 cpu or some reason and I've read OrangePi Zero 2W supposed to have H616?

 

Hi thanks for trying it out, I feel somewhat embarrassed that I've not tried it out myself.

 

In terms of the release the vendor Orange Pi (Xun Long) actually first released the Zero 3 then subsequently Zero 2W they are both based on H618

 

do post a comment to say what works or not. 

 

If your are trying my image, that is based on a minimal Debian Bookworm build, I did that mainly to save up on the image size/footprint.

And also that I'm using that mainly as a wifi hotspot, and a desktop environment bring along too much baggage add gigabytes of storage use, consume a lot of memory and possibly slow down my intended use.

 

To go from minimal to a desktop environment, I googled and found this page:

https://wiki.debian.org/DesktopEnvironment

 

as documented you can try 

> apt show task-desktop

Package: task-desktop
Version: 3.73
Priority: optional
Section: tasks
Source: tasksel
Maintainer: Debian Install System Team <debian-boot@lists.debian.org>
Installed-Size: 6,144 B
Depends: tasksel (= 3.73), xorg, xserver-xorg-video-all, xserver-xorg-input-all, desktop-base
Recommends: task-gnome-desktop | task-xfce-desktop | task-kde-desktop | task-lxde-desktop | task-gnome-flashback-desktop | task-cinnamon-desktop | task-mate-desktop | task-lxqt-desktop, xdg-utils, fonts-symbola, avahi-daemon, libnss-mdns, anacron, eject, iw, alsa-utils, sudo, firefox | firefox-esr, cups
Download-Size: 1,036 B
APT-Sources: http://mirror.sg.gs/debian bookworm/main arm64 Packages
Description: Debian desktop environment
  
> apt show task-gnome-desktop
Package: task-gnome-desktop
Version: 3.73
Priority: optional
Section: tasks
Source: tasksel
Maintainer: Debian Install System Team <debian-boot@lists.debian.org>
Installed-Size: 9,216 B
Depends: tasksel (= 3.73), task-desktop, gnome-core
Recommends: gnome, synaptic, libreoffice-gnome, libreoffice-writer, libreoffice-calc, libreoffice-impress, libreoffice-help-en-us, mythes-en-us, hunspell-en-us, hyphen-en-us, network-manager-gnome
Download-Size: 1,184 B
APT-Sources: http://mirror.sg.gs/debian bookworm/main arm64 Packages
Description: GNOME


  

^ I think that is the package to install the desktop environment

 

for instance to install gnome desktop it could be

 

> sudo apt install task-gnome-desktop
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
  accountsservice acl adwaita-icon-theme apache2-bin apg appstream apt-config-icons
  at-spi2-common at-spi2-core baobab bluez-obexd bubblewrap colord colord-data dconf-cli
  dconf-gsettings-backend dconf-service desktop-base desktop-file-utils dictionaries-common
  emacsen-common eog evince evince-common evolution-data-server evolution-data-server-common
  folks-common fonts-quicksand fonts-urw-base35 gcr gdisk gdm3 geocode-glib-common
  gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0 gir1.2-adw-1 gir1.2-atk-1.0 gir1.2-atspi-2.0 gir1.2-evince-3.0
  gir1.2-freedesktop gir1.2-gck-1 gir1.2-gcr-3 gir1.2-gdesktopenums-3.0 gir1.2-gdkpixbuf-2.0
  gir1.2-gdm-1.0 gir1.2-geoclue-2.0 gir1.2-gmenu-3.0 gir1.2-gnomebluetooth-3.0
  gir1.2-gnomedesktop-3.0 gir1.2-gnomedesktop-4.0 gir1.2-goa-1.0 gir1.2-graphene-1.0
  gir1.2-gst-plugins-base-1.0 gir1.2-gstreamer-1.0 gir1.2-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-gtk-4.0
  gir1.2-gtksource-4 gir1.2-gweather-4.0 gir1.2-handy-1 gir1.2-harfbuzz-0.0 gir1.2-ibus-1.0
  gir1.2-javascriptcoregtk-4.1 gir1.2-json-1.0 gir1.2-mutter-11 gir1.2-nm-1.0 gir1.2-nma-1.0
  gir1.2-notify-0.7 gir1.2-pango-1.0 gir1.2-peas-1.0 gir1.2-polkit-1.0 gir1.2-rsvg-2.0
  gir1.2-soup-3.0 gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0 gir1.2-webkit2-4.1 gjs gkbd-capplet glib-networking
  glib-networking-common glib-networking-services gnome-backgrounds gnome-bluetooth-3-common
  gnome-bluetooth-sendto gnome-calculator gnome-characters gnome-contacts gnome-control-center
  gnome-control-center-data gnome-core gnome-desktop3-data gnome-disk-utility gnome-font-viewer
  gnome-keyring gnome-logs gnome-menus gnome-online-accounts gnome-session gnome-session-bin
  gnome-session-common gnome-settings-daemon gnome-settings-daemon-common gnome-shell
  gnome-shell-common gnome-shell-extensions gnome-software gnome-software-common gnome-sushi
  gnome-system-monitor gnome-terminal gnome-terminal-data gnome-text-editor gnome-themes-extra
  gnome-themes-extra-data gnome-user-docs gnome-user-share grilo-plugins-0.3
  gsettings-desktop-schemas gstreamer1.0-gl gstreamer1.0-gtk3 gstreamer1.0-packagekit
  gstreamer1.0-pipewire gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-x
  gtk-update-icon-cache gtk2-engines-pixbuf gvfs gvfs-backends 

...

Suggested packages:
  apache2-doc apache2-suexec-pristine | apache2-suexec-custom www-browser colord-sensor-argyll
  gnome | kde-standard | xfce4 | wmaker ispell | aspell | hunspell wordlist eog-plugins
  nautilus-sendto unrar evolution fonts-freefont-otf | fonts-freefont-ttf fonts-texgyre orca
  libpam-fprintd libpam-sss libpam-pkcs11 gstreamer1.0-pulseaudio pkexec gnome usbguard
  gir1.2-malcontent-0 gir1.2-telepathyglib-0.12 gir1.2-telepathylogger-0.2

...

Recommended packages:
  xserver-xephyr fonts-noto-color-emoji cups-pk-helper gnome-remote-desktop power-profiles-daemon
  rygel | rygel-tracker malcontent-gui network-manager-gnome realmd firefox-esr | firefox
  | chromium | chromium-browser | epiphany-browser | gnome-www-browser
  libproxy1-plugin-networkmanager low-memory-monitor gnome-keyring-pkcs11 iio-sensor-proxy pkexec
  bolt chrome-gnome-shell ibus switcheroo-control gnome-shell-extension-prefs fwupd
  nautilus-extension-gnome-terminal gnome-accessibility-themes aspell-en | aspell-dictionary
  | aspell6a-dictionary libaacs0 libcanberra-gtk3-module enchant-2 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-bin
  libgphoto2-l10n fonts-droid-fallback libgtk-3-bin libgtk-4-bin usbmuxd libmtp-runtime

...

0 upgraded, 584 newly installed, 0 to remove and 32 not upgraded.
Need to get 301 MB of archives.
After this operation, 1,218 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] 

 

I stopped and answered 'n' at the prompt, if you have the space, you could try that out to see if that works to install and setup a full desktop environment

 

note that I've not tried the above, and there are also other selections / desktop environment that you can choose

Recommends: task-gnome-desktop | task-xfce-desktop | task-kde-desktop | task-lxde-desktop | task-gnome-flashback-desktop | task-cinnamon-desktop | task-mate-desktop | task-lxqt-desktop, xdg-utils, fonts-symbola, avahi-daemon, libnss-mdns, anacron, eject, iw, alsa-utils, sudo, firefox | firefox-esr, cups

 

e.g. there are the above of task-xxx-desktop which I'd think installs the respective desktop environment.

 

After installing

 sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target

to make sure that the desktop environment starts up on reboot

 

if you do try that out, do leave a comment on your experiences with it and how it works. That may help others wanting to do the same. post a screenshot

 

another page found from a google search for a reference

https://www.layerstack.com/resources/tutorials/How-to-install-Graphical-User-Interface-GUI-for-Debian-11-Cloud-Servers

^ there are other stuff there e.g. enable root login etc

 

 

[electricworry]

I've signed up as a donator. Thanks for all of the hard work on the Orange Pi Zero 3. I've mentioned this over on #linux-sunxi where I also hang out, so apologies for what is something of a cross-post:

 

If I understand correctly, the efforts to create mainline patches for audio over HDMI is a work in progress. I'm currently making do with the Xunlong Linux Fork to get a project going. For me at least, I do have audio over HDMI working fine with the drivers therein, but only on my Philips monitor - I just get silence on my Samsung TV. I thought this would be a good problem to troubleshoot as a way to learn about Linux drivers, even although the Xunlong fork isn't fit to be merged upstream. At least if I get some proficiency in driver hacking I might be able to contribute to the effort here.

 

I'm going to start hacking at the Xunlong drivers and see if I can solve my problem and if I learn anything useful I'll post it here and over at #linux-sunxi.

[thuvasooriya]

Hii, newbie here,
I'm here to test new builds for Orange Pi Zero 2W, pretty excited about the 6.8 support too.
I'm going to test the build by @ag123 for now and share updates.
Any other builds I could test apart from that please let me know.
Sorry if this is annoying but would love to know the progress on the 6.8 build too @Igor @Gunjan Gupta 
And if I want to get started on learning this linux builds and possibly help in the development process where should I start. Thanks in advance. 🥂

[SteeMan]

4 minutes ago, thuvasooriya said:

And if I want to get started on learning this linux builds and possibly help in the development process where should I start. Thanks in advance. 🥂

https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Welcome

https://docs.armbian.com/Process_Contribute

[ag123]

@thuvasooriya

while I do not have an OrangePi Zero 2W (I only have Zero 3), it would seem to me that Zero 2W is basically Zero 3 less the onboard Ethernet. I'm not sure what else is different where 'compatibility' goes. Ethernet for Zero 2W is on the expansion board that Orange Pi sells, hence if you want ethernet, you may want to purchase the expansion board to experiment. No promises if it'd works though.

 

It'd seem to me that OrangePi is basically selling on the 'form factor' difference, and 2W being smaller won't fit the bulky ethernet RJ45 connector and the phy chip.

 

But that if you actually try that, it'd be good to report in a comment if it (expansion board and ethernet) works or otherwise.

 

As well if you used the Zero 3 images, e.g. from 'original'  image https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-zero-3/ , if you scroll down to the bottom you woul see the links to the images and torrents.

It would be good to feedback in a comment about what works or not etc.

 

I went straight with Zero 3 initially as I wanted both ethernet and wifi, those are built on board for Zero 3 and hence that. 

[ag123]

@electricworry I can't remember where I saw comments about the HDMI sound issues, but that it is more than likely that HDMI and even graphics could be *undocumented* and *reverse engineered* (possibly by the talented people on the linux sunxi https://linux-sunxi.org/Main_Page and such efforts), it could be an up hill task to reverse engineer HDMI sound in particular considering the complexity of such interfaces.

 

there is apparently some related work, thread

and thanks to @Nick A for researching and sharing various info, there may be some hints as to what needs to be done.

it seemed quite possible to patch dts files to get hdmi sound support, but it is just wild guesses, you would need to review the info.

 

[Nick A]

I don't have your board but feel free to test out HDMI audio with my build. I think everything is in the sun50i-h616-orangepi-zero.dtsi for audio to work.

 

https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build

Edited March 25 by Nick A

[thuvasooriya]

Playing with the latest community build armbian for opi zero 3 on my opi zero2w, didn't test ethernet yet
Few observations:
there are some broken menus in armbian-config
desktop default menu seems to be not working and working sometimes
apt update results in
```
Hit:5 http://fi.mirror.armbian.de/beta bookworm InRelease
Err:5 http://fi.mirror.armbian.de/beta bookworm InRelease
  The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 93D6889F9F0E78D5
```
not sure if these are supposed to happen. and yes i switched to unstable 6.7.10 kernel like a madman only to notice all the gpio harware configurations from armbian-config disappear.

my priorities were to setup gpio and run a docker with a python webserver first. I'm looking for a good library for gpio interface on noticed @Gunjan Gupta mention mraa library in another post, I have some trouble installing it in above setup, where can I look for good references.

Sorry for the ramblings any suggestions are welcome.

Edited March 25 by thuvasooriya
decision changed, trying out mraa

[thuvasooriya]

On another note is there any way to configure the headless start of ssh and autologin setup on armbian images.
I have to go to some other place to test a new armbian image because I don't have the required HDMI cables and monitors.
so it would be convenient for me if I could also setup the image to setup ssh and autologin on the first start. I've explored the forums only to find confusing and sometimes angry arguments. If anyone of you do care and have a method to make it work by modifying a file before boot or something, let me know. Sorry if this is a dumb or unpleasant question in any way.

[electricworry]

Quote

I don't have your board but feel free to test out HDMI audio with my build. I think everything is in the sun50i-h616-orangepi-zero.dtsi for audio to work.

 

https://github.com/NickAlilovic/build

 

I have just tested this and HDMI audio works for me on my Orange Pi Zero 3 4GB.

[ag123]

@thuvasooriya wrote

Quote

so it would be convenient for me if I could also setup the image to setup ssh and autologin on the first start. I've explored the forums only to find confusing and sometimes angry arguments. If anyone of you do care and have a method to make it work by modifying a file before boot or something, let me know. Sorry if this is a dumb or unpleasant question in any way.

 

rather than to use HDMI and a monitor, I used a usb-uart (usb-serial) dongle

that lets me connect over the serial console with the debug pins and I'm literally able to boot up in a serial console and (even) configure networking, i.e. I didn't even need network and can change the network interface configurations. That would also be a way to troubleshoot boot up problems if there is. I used the serial debug pins/console to configure networking as more than often, the default setup of network isn't what I want, and playing with the network interfaces will lock me out of ssh.

 

After I've network configured over usb-uart, I can then ssh remotely into the device over the network.

And that if you use dynamic IP, it may help to install and use avahi-daemon and avahi-tools (i.e. multicast DNS), I installed avahi-daemon on the OPi Z3 Armbian board so that I can find it from my main linux box using avahi-browse -a , and that ssh into there could be simply ssh orangepizero3.local  

 

that's a way to practically use it headless , in fact, after I've setup things, it is now my  WiFi AP on the desk.

 

 

[ag123]

@thuvasooriya wrote

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not sure if these are supposed to happen. and yes i switched to unstable 6.7.10 kernel like a madman only to notice all the gpio harware configurations from armbian-config disappear.

 

hi if you review this thread, the earlier comments, you would notice that there are quite varous discussions about DTS overlays for the gpio headers. noticably discussions from / between

@Gunjan Gupta @pixdrift @Stephen Graf. Unfortunately, it seemed for now not all the changes have made it into the trunk.

 

there are also various discussions about libgpiod and gpiod, hope those may help with access to the pins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thuvasooriya]

On 3/26/2024 at 9:01 AM, ag123 said:

I used a usb-uart (usb-serial) dongle

This is so cool, I remember reading about this in the Orange Pi user manual but skipped over it because I found it annoying for some reason that I don't remember now. I set this up and man it's really convenient not to have hdmi and stuff to test linux builds and experiment with your SBC.
I also found that we have to enable UART serial console in some SBCs and distros by modifying image files? Is this the case or all distros provide a way to access serial console in some way?
I really like this serial console setup, thanks for that suggestion again.

[thuvasooriya]

I'm trying to install mraa for a while now in orangepi zero 3 armbian comm builds that I have installed on my orangepi zero 2 w. I have difficulty finding proper installation guides as all seems to throw out errors from being not updated. I figured I would have to build libmraa for armbian but couldn't successfully do it. I'm running into dependency issues with nodejs-dev and swig. Any headsup regarding this would be great. Thanks in advance.

 

Edited March 31 by thuvasooriya
clarifying platform