Pine64

PINE 64
Official Website

Documentation
AllWinner A64 Introduction AllWinner A64 Datasheet AllWinner A64 User Manual AXP803 PMIC Realtek 10/100 Ethernet 10/100/1000 Ethernet Realtek RTL8723bs WiFi & Bluetooth Layout & Dimensions Schematics

Ubuntu Linux Image base on Longsleep 20160403-1 image, courtesy of Michael Larson

 * Direct download from google drive

User Login

 * User Name: Ubuntu Password: ubuntu
 * User Name: Ubuntu2 Password: ubuntu2

Debian Images
Debian Images for the Pine A64 & A64+ can be found at Pine64 Pro

Caveats

 * Do not use a DVI-HDMI adapter. If you want video output, use a HDMI cable direct to a HDMI monitor or TV. This may change as development continues.


 * Get a USB power supply that is at least 5V/1.5A. An underpowered supply will not boot the board.

Serial Console
This paragraph describes a successful connection providing a UART Serial Console on a Linux Host. The PINE64 board used is a 2GB version (A64-DB-2B-Rev 6). The connection is provided by a FTDI TTL-232R-RPi 3-wire cable purchased from Digikey:


 * FTDI TTL-232R-RPi

The successful connection is made on the EXP connector:


 * Connect the Black GND wire to Pin 6 or 9 of the EXP connector.
 * Connect the Yellow RX wire to Pin 7 of the EXP connector.
 * Connect the Orange TX wire to Pin 8 of the EXP connector.

Plug the FTDI TTL-232R-RPi USB end into your Linux host. Find the tty that has been assigned to the FTDI TTL-232R-RPi by opening a terminal window and typing $dmesg. The last group of messages will show you how Linux has mapped the FTDI TTL-232R-RPi to the tty. In my case the output appears as:

[308564.376087] usb 3-1.1: new full-speed USB device number 10 using ehci-pci [308564.474534] usb 3-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6001 [308564.474541] usb 3-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 [308564.474545] usb 3-1.1: Product: TTL232R-3V3 [308564.474548] usb 3-1.1: Manufacturer: FTDI [308564.474551] usb 3-1.1: SerialNumber: FT99JN2P [308564.476846] ftdi_sio 3-1.1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected [308564.476906] usb 3-1.1: Detected FT232RL [308564.477263] usb 3-1.1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0

The final line of the output indicates the FTDI USB Serial Device has been assigned to ttyUSB0. Now open a screen session with:

Boot the PINE64 and you should see output in the terminal window on your Linux host.

Cooling
If the pine64 isn't stable during heavy computing calculation (like compilation), you can try to cool it down with some cheap heatsinks. I found them on an online auction website for a few dollars. Here are the dimensions of mine :
 * Processor : 20×20 mm
 * Regulator : 9×9 mm
 * RAM : 14×14 mm



Those heatsinks are shipped with a thermal pad which allows an easier attachment to the IC.

Here is the PINE64 with heatsinks mounted on it:



The board doesn't hang anymore and the temperature is lowered of 10°C (50°F). As the processor is less hot, the frequency can be higher and stay more stable to around 820 MHz.

More details about cooling the pine64