orange pi

Last update: Tue Nov 28 13:28:49 2023

All is said, I bought a new member of my mini-pc at home, this time it's an Orange Pi 2: kinda similar to a Raspberry Pi2, but with more muscle, wifi onboard and (unfortunately) poorer software. Well OS is a Linux, I have no plans to send it to Mars yet, so I guess that I'll get what I can on internet and learn how to setup the rest.

Hardware

Power

Vendor says 1.5-2A power is needed. I tested with 1A, mine turns the leds on, but nothing happens on the HDMI... hard to believe this guy needs 10W to run... Waiting for the 2A USB charger to arrive to confirm.
Couple of days later I get my 2A power supply, and in fact it was the HDMI that was not working so maybe it did work with a 1A, but I'm too lazy to double check so sorry. 2A plug it is.

Wifi

The Wifi module I have is a Realtek RTL8189ETV as per the specs, though it's writen Createk CK-W-R189 ?
Driver is noted rtl8189es in dmesg
I read that to enable wifi connection from command line run: sudo nmcli -a d wifi connect and enter your wifi credentials, but to no avail

If found an old cheap Wifi dongle in a drawer, chip is a Realtek rtl8188cus that is apparently supported by the Raspi, so maybe I can make it work here too...

Some guy struggling here http://blog.donity.com/k1/2011/02/22/gw-usvalue-ez-%E3%82%92-ubuntu-%E3%81%A7/

Some guy who made a script BUT do not run it as is, you must edit it (I tried, it forced me to do a reinstall): https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=6256&start=375

# lsusb
to list the usb
# modprobe -a 8188eu
to load module http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/tutoriel/tout_savoir_sur_les_modules_linux

Operating system

Install

Not necessarily what I will do but interresting read on this forum
I'm trying the Debian server (headless), just under 1GB uncompressed. I'll post my impressions here.

Software

Now to the fun part.

Started with the OPI2 "Debian server" version: plugged on TV and ... nothing. Ethernet leds stay on, nothing on the TV (though some mode change happens, you see the TV react and change display mode) no text nothing. Waited, waited, retried. Nix.

Then tried alternate distributions here: still no ethernet, no wifi, no HDMI but I had Serial interface (3.3v by the way):

- Debian jessie minimal: no ethernet, no wifi, no HDMI

- Arch linux minimal: no ethernet, no wifi, no HDMI

Then Raspbian and I got the Ethernet working! HDMI I didn't test (don't care), and still no wifi though but we're making progress...

Links

Apparently there's another geek in Japan with a OPi2 http://blog.osakana.net/

Rebooted - March 2016

Ok, I decided to start over:

OS: I put an armbian http://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-2/ ... oh found this tutorial (afterward of course)

It MUST run with a beefy USB power supply or the boot process will just fail and stop in the middle

Upgrade all apt-get update; apt-get upgrade

To enable Wifi with a small dongle, need to install nw tools: apt-get install network-manager

Setting up the network with nmcli (doc1, doc2):

Existing NW setup: nmcli con show

Status of NW connections: nmcli dev status

Wifi NW around: nmcli dev wifi list

Specific connection details: nmcli connection show id connection-id

Wifi on/off : nmcli radio wifi on

Wifi connect: nmcli c up id connection-id

Change server name (doc): edit /etc/hosts, run /etc/init.d/hostname.sh, and finally reboot

My favorite .profile (profile generator):

alias m='emacs'
alias emcas='emacs'
alias cls='clear'
alias als='ls -alF'
#alias temp='/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp'
alias killoldssh='pkill -o -u $USER sshd'
alias cd..='cd ..'
alias temp='cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp'

Re-Rebooted April 2020

Ok forget everything above, install Armbian, ubuntu or debian flavor, connect via screen/keyboard or via Serial (3.3v at 115200bps). Login "root" password "1234".

No wifi out of the box but plug a cheapo Wifi dongle and it just works

Getting started - Connect to wifi: nmtui-connect your-wifi

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