[Arm-netbook] What's new at the end of 2023?

[Pablo Rath]

Am Thu, Nov 09, 2023 at 02:24:59PM -0700 schrieb Richard Wilbur:
[...]
> > So my question is: "Can anyone with working hardware test and varify my
> > boot-image before we send it to Crowdsupply?"
> > This is the crucial step right now. We can ice the cake later once 100
> > cards get released into the world.
> >
> > Richard, am I correct that you have a working computer card and a
> > microdesktop in you possession. Are you willing to set it all up and
> > test my boot-image?
> 
> I have an untested computer card (v1.7.4) and microdesktop (v1.?, I've
> got to lay eyes on it to verify the version).  I am interested in
> setting it up and would be happy to test your boot-image.

- The first step is to solder 3 pins (2.54 mm pitch) to the
microdesktop to later attach GND, TX, RX. The spacing in the board is designed
precisely for that. *Never* connect the VCC_IO line. 

https://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner/a20/EOMA68-A20_2-7-4_preproduction/

see section "Solder UART connection to 1.7 Micro Desktop" and especially
the link to a .jpg image (Luke soldered the cables directly to the board, but it is nicer with
pins). You should see GND (black cable), TX (blue cable) and RX (green
cable)on the USB-UART board. 

If necessary I could add an image of my microdesktop with pins.

- Second step: Do you already have the required hardware / cable for the
UART connection? I use an USB to TTL Serial Cable Adapter by
ThinkPenguin. 

- Next steps are going to be "Power Supply" (best practice is to use a Laptop, and a USB cable connected to a USB-port on the microdesktop) and "insert computer card into microdesktop" (one must be careful to get the alignment perfectly right). Everything I know has been discussed on this list but I'm going to add summaries and links to the mailing-list-archive to the Wiki.

> (I'm also interested in being able to generate a boot image from
> source.  Do you have notes on how you built it?)

Great. Yes, my notes are here:
https://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner/a20/EOMA68-A20_2-7-4_preproduction/#software
Feel free to ask me any specific questions.

> 
> I'm a few days away from being able to set things up, I believe.  Then
> I can try things out, verify that my computer card works and try out
> your boot image.
> After that we can send the boot image to CrowdSupply.

Great. Let us work on it step by step.

Pablo