Orange Pi 3 LTS

Basic functions of Orange Pi 3 LTS

What’s Orange Pi 3 LTS ?

　Orange Pi 3 LTS is an open source single-board card computer, a new generation of arm64 development board, it can run Android 9.0, Ubuntu and Debian and other operating systems. Orange Pi 3 LTS uses Allwinner H6 system-on-chip and has 2GB LPDDR3 memory

What can l do with Orange Pi 3 LTS ?

We can use it to build：

• A computer
• A wireless server
• Games
• Music and sounds
• HD video
• A speaker
• Android
  

Pretty much anything else, because Orange Pi is open source.

Who’s it for?

　The Orange Pi development board is not only a consumer product, but also designed for anyone who wants to use technology to create and innovate. It is a simple, interesting and practical tool, you can use it to create the world around you

Hardware specification

Hardware feature introduction
CPU	Allwinner H6 Quad-core 64-bit 1.8GHz high-performance Cortex-A53 processor
GPU	High-performance multi-core GPU Mali T720 OpenGL ES3.1/3.0/2.0/1.1
RAM	2GB LPDDR3 (shared with GPU)
Onboard Storage	TF card slot、8GB EMMC
Onboard Network	YT8531C Chip Support 10/100M/1000M Ethernet
Onboard WIFI+Bluetooth	AW859A Chip Support IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Support BT5.0
Video Output	HDMI 2.0a 、TV CVBS output
Audio output	HDMI Output 3.5mm Audio Port
Power Source	5V3A Type-C
Power management chip	AXP805
USB port	1*USB 3.0 HOST、1*USB 2.0 HOST、1*USB2.0 OTG
26pin headers	1*I2C、1*SPI、1*UART&Multiple GPIO Ports
Debug serial port	UART-TX、UART-RX &GND
LED	Power LED& Status LED
IR Receiver	Support IR remote control for Orange Pi
Button	Power Button (SW4)
Supported OS	Android9.0、Ubuntu、Debian
Appearance specification introduction
Dimension	85mm×56mm
Weight	45g
Orange Pi™ is a trademark of the Shenzhen Xunlong Software CO., Limited

The top and bottom views of Orange Pi 3 LTS

Top View：

Bottom View：

Orange Pi 3 LTS interface details

Introduction to use the development board

Prepare the necessary accessories

1)TF card, a class 10 or higher high-speed card with a minimum capacity of 8GB, it is recommended to use SanDisk’s TF card. Orange Pi tests all with SanDisk’s TF card. Other brands of TF cards may cause the system to fail to start.

2)TF card reader, used to read and write TF card

3)HDMI to HDMI cable, used to connect the development board to an HDMI monitor or TV for display

4)The power supply requires a USB Typc C interface data cable and a 5V/3A high-quality power adapter

5)USB interface mouse and keyboard, as long as it is a standard USB interface mouse and keyboard, the mouse and keyboard can be used to control the Orange Pi development board

6)Infrared remote control, mainly used to control Android system

7)100M or Gigabit network cable, used to connect the development board to the Internet

8)AV video cable, if you want to display video through the CVBS interface instead of the HDMI interface, then you need to connect the development board to the TV through the AV video cable

9)USB to 3.3v TTL module and DuPont cable. When using the debug serial port, USB to TTL module and DuPont cable are required to connect the development board and the computer

10)A personal computer with Ubuntu and Windows operating systems

1	Ubuntu18.04 PC	Optional, used to compile Linux source code and Android source code
2	Windows PC	Used to burn Android and Linux images

Download the image and related information of the development board

1)The download URL is

 http://www.orangepi.org/downloadresources/

2)The information mainly contains
　a. Android source code: saved on Google Cloud Disk
　b.Linux source code: saved on github
　c. User manuals and schematic diagrams: chip-related data manuals will also be placed here
　d. Official tools: mainly include the software that needs to be used during the use of the development board
　e. Android image: saved on Google Cloud Disk
　f. Ubuntu image: saved on Google Cloud Disk
　g. Debian image: saved on Google Cloud Disk

Use the Android image pre-installed in eMMC to test the function of the development board

　The development board comes with 8GB eMMC. After you get the development board, you can first use the Android9.0 image pre-installed in the eMMC to test the functions of the development board. After confirming that all the hardware functions of the development board can work, then burn the system you want to use

Method of flashing Linux image to TF card based on Windows PC

1)First, prepare a TF card with 8GB or larger capacity. The transmission speed of the TF card must be above class10. It is recommended to use a TF card of SanDisk and other brands

2)Then use a card reader to insert the TF card into the computer

3)Then format the TF card
　a.You can use the SD Card Formatter software to format the TF card, the download address is

 https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/eula_windows/SDCardFormatterv5_WinEN.zip

　b.After downloading, you can directly unzip and install, and then open the software

　c.If the computer only has a TF card inserted, the “Select card” column will display the drive letter of the TF card. If the computer has multiple USB storage devices inserted, you can select the drive letter corresponding to the TF card through the drop-down box

　d.Then click "Format", a warning box will pop up before formatting, and formatting will start after selecting "Yes (Y)"

　e.After formatting the TF card, the message shown in the figure below will pop up, click OK

4)Download the Linux operating system image file compression package you want to burn from the Orange Pi data download page, and then use the decompression software to decompress it. In the decompressed file, the file ending with ".img" is the operating system image file. The size is generally above 1GB
5)Use Win32Diskimager to burn Linux image to TF card

a.The download page of Win32Diskimager is

 http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/files/Archive/

b.Install directly after downloading, the interface of Win32Diskimager is shown below
a) First select the path of the image file

b) Then confirm that the drive letter of the TF card is consistent with the one displayed in the "Device" column

c) Finally, click "write" to start burning

c.After the image is written, click the "Exit" button to exit, and then you can pull out the TF card and insert it into the development board to start

Method of flashing Linux image to TF card based on Ubuntu PC

1)First, prepare a TF card with 8GB or larger capacity. The transmission speed of the TF card must be above class10. It is recommended to use a TF card of SanDisk and other brands
2)Then use a card reader to insert the TF card into the computer
3)Download balenaEtcher software, the download address is

 https://www.balena.io/etcher/

4)After entering the balenaEtcher download page, please select the Linux version of the software through the drop-down box to download

5)After downloading, use unzip to decompress. The decompressed balenaEtcher-1.5.109-x64.AppImage is the software needed to burn the Linux image

test@test:~$ unzip balena-etcher-electron-1.5.109-linux-x64.zip
Archive: balena-etcher-electron-1.5.109-linux-x64.zip
inflating: balenaEtcher-1.5.109-x64.AppImage
test@test:~$ ls
balenaEtcher-1.5.109-x64.AppImage balena-etcher-electron-1.5.109-linux-x64.zip

6)Download the Linux operating system image file compression package you want to burn from the Orange Pi data download page, and then use the decompression software to decompress it. In the decompressed file, the file ending with ".img" is the operating system image file. The size is generally above 1GB
a.The decompression command of the compressed package at the end of a.7z is as follows

test@test:~$ 7z x Orangepi3-lts_2.1.6_ubuntu_bionic_server_linux4.9.118.7z
test@test:~$ ls Orangepi3-lts_2.1.6_ubuntu_bionic_server_linux4.9.118.*
Orangepi3-lts_2.1.6_ubuntu_bionic_server_linux4.9.118.7z
Orangepi3-<>lts_2.1.6_ubuntu_bionic_server_linux4.9.118.img.sha #Checksum file
Orangepi3-lts_2.1.6_ubuntu_bionic_server_linux4.9.118.img #image file

7)After decompressing the image, you can first use the sha256sum -c *.sha command to calculate whether the checksum is correct. If the prompt is successful, it means that the downloaded image is not wrong, and you can safely burn to the TF card. If the checksum does not match, it means There is a problem with the downloaded image, please try to download again

test@test:~$ sha256sum -c *.sha
Orangepi3-lts_2.1.6_ubuntu_bionic_server_linux4.9.118.img: success

8)Then double-click balenaEtcher-1.5.109-x64.AppImage on the graphical interface of Ubuntu PC to open balenaEtcher (no installation required), and the opened interface is as shown in the figure below
a. First select the path of the linux image file

b. Then select the device number of the TF card

c. Finally click Flash to start burning

9)The writing process will prompt the writing speed and remaining time

10)After burning, the following interface will be displayed. At this time, you can unplug the TF card from the computer and insert it into the development board to start.

Method of flashing Linux image to eMMC

See the method of flashing linux image to eMMC

How to burn Android firmware to TF card

Android image can only be burned to TF card using PhoenixCard software under Windows platform, but cannot be burned under Linux platform

1)First, prepare a TF card with 8GB or larger capacity. The transmission speed of the TF card must be above class10. It is recommended to use a TF card of SanDisk and other brands

2)Then use a card reader to insert the TF card into the computer

3)Download Android 9.0 firmware and PhoenixCard burning tool from Orange Pi's data download page. Please make sure that the version of PhonenixCrad tool is PhoenixCard v4.1.2 or PhoenixCard v4.1.2 or higher

4)Use the decompression software to decompress the compressed package of the downloaded Android firmware. In the decompressed file, the file ending with ".img" is the Android firmware

5)Use decompression software to decompress PhoenixCard v4.1.2.rar, this software does not need to be installed, you can find PhoenixCard in the decompressed folder and open it

6)After opening PhoenixCard, if the TF card is recognized normally, the drive letter and capacity of the TF card will be displayed in the middle list. Please make sure that the displayed drive letter is consistent with the drive letter of the TF card you want to burn. There is no display, you can try to unplug and insert the TF card

7)After confirming the drive letter, format the TF card first, click the restore card button in PhoenixCard, or use the aforementioned SD Card Formatter to format the TF card

8)Then start to write the Android firmware to the TF card
a. First select the path of Android firmware in the "Firmware" column

b. Select "Startup Card" in the "Type of Making Card"

c. Then click the "Burn Card" button to start burning

9)After burning, the PhoenixCard will be displayed as shown in the figure below. At this time, click the close button to exit PhoenixCard, and then you can unplug the TF card from the computer and insert it into the development board to start.

How to burn Android firmware to eMMC

Android image can only be burned to EMMC using PhoenixCard software under Windows platform, but cannot be burned under Linux platform

1)First of all, please note that burning the Android firmware to the eMMC of the development board needs to be completed with the help of a TF card, which is mainly divided into the following two steps
a. First use PhoenixCard to burn the Android firmware to the TF card as a mass production card
b. Then use TF card to burn Android firmware into eMMC
2)First prepare a TF card with 8GB or larger capacity. The transmission speed of the TF card must be above class10. It is recommended to use a TF card of SanDisk and other brands
3)Then use a card reader to insert the TF card into the computer
4)Download Android 9.0 firmware and PhoenixCard burning tool from Orange Pi's data download page, please make sure that the version of PhonenixCard tool is PhoenixCard v4.1.2 or PhoenixCard v4.1.2 or higher
5)Use the decompression software to decompress the compressed package of the downloaded Android firmware. In the decompressed file, the file ending with ".img" is the Android firmware
6)Use decompression software to decompress PhoenixCard v4.1.2.rar, this software does not need to be installed, you can find PhoenixCard in the decompressed folder and open it

7)After opening PhoenixCard, if the TF card is recognized normally, the drive letter and capacity of the TF card will be displayed in the middle list. Please make sure that the displayed drive letter is consistent with the drive letter of the TF card you want to burn. There is no display, you can try to unplug and insert the TF card

8)After confirming the drive letter, format the TF card first, click the restore card button in PhoenixCard, or use the aforementioned SD Card Formatter to format the TF card

9)Then start to write the Android firmware to the TF card

a. First select the path of Android firmware in the "Firmware" column

b. Select "mass production card" in the type of "production" card

c. Then click the "Burn Card" button to start burning

10)After burning, PhoenixCard will display as shown in the figure below. At this time, click the close button to exit PhoenixCard

11)Then insert the TF card into the development board. After powering on the development board, the Android firmware in the TF card will be automatically burned into the eMMC of the development board. During the burning process, the red light on the development board will keep flashing. If the development board is connected to an HDMI display, the progress bar of burning Android firmware to eMMC will be displayed on the HDMI display

12)After the burning is completed, the HDMI display is shown in the figure below, and then the development board will automatically shut down

13)At this time, you can pull out the TF card, then power on again, and the Android system in eMMC will start

Start the Orange Pi development board

1)The development board has an on-board eMMC, which has an Android9.0 image burned by default, and you can directly use the image in the eMMC to start and fully test the function when you just get the development board.

2)If you need to use linux image, you can insert the TF card with the burned linux image into the TF card slot of the Orange Pi development board

3)The development board has an HDMI interface, you can connect the development board to a TV or HDMI display through an HDMI to HDMI cable

4)Connect the USB mouse and keyboard to control the Orange Pi development board

5)The development board has an Ethernet port, which can be plugged into the network cable for Internet access

6)Connect a 5V/3A high-quality power adapter

a. Remember not to plug in the 12V power adapter, if you plug in the 12V power adapter, it will burn out the development board b. Many unstable phenomena during the power-on and startup of the system are basically caused by power supply problems, so a reliable power adapter is very important

7)Then turn on the switch of the power adapter, if everything is normal, the HDMI display will be able to see the startup screen of the system at this time

8)If you want to view the output information of the system through the debug serial port, please use the USB to TTL module and DuPont cable to connect the development board to the computer. For the connection method of the serial port, please refer to the section on the use of the debug serial port

Debug serial port connection instructions

1)First, you need to prepare a 3.3v USB to TTL module, and then insert one end of the USB interface of the USB to TTL module into the USB interface of the computer

2)The corresponding relationship between the debug serial port GND, TX and RX pins of the development board is shown in the figure below

3)The GND, TX and RX pins of the USB to TTL module need to be connected to the debug serial port of the development board through a Dupont cable

a. Connect the GND of the USB to TTL module to the GND of the development board

b. Connect the RX of the USB to TTL module to the TX of the development board

c. Connect the TX of the USB to TTL module to the RX of the development board

4)The schematic diagram of connecting the USB to TTL module to the computer and the Orange Pi development board is shown below

How to use the debug serial port on the Ubuntu platform

1)If the USB to TTL module is connected normally, you can see the corresponding device node name under /dev of Ubuntu PC, remember this node name, you will use it when setting up the serial port software later

test@test:~$ ls /dev/ttyUSB*
/dev/ttyUSB0

2)There are many serial debugging software that can be used under linux, such as putty, minicom, etc. The following shows how to use putty
3)First install putty on the Ubuntu PC

test@test:~$ sudo apt update
test@test:~$ sudo apt -y install putty

4)Then run putty, remember to add sudo permissions

test@test:~$ sudo putty

5)After executing the putty command, the following interface will pop up

6)First select the setting interface of the serial port

7)Then set the parameters of the serial port

a. Set the Serial line to connect to to /dev/ttyUSB0 (modify to the corresponding node name, generally /dev/ttyUSB0)

b. Set Speed (baud) to 115200 (baud rate of the serial port)

c. Set Flow control to None

8)After setting the serial port setting interface, return to the Session interface

a. First select the Connection type as Serial
b. Then click the Open button to connect to the serial port

9)After starting the development board, you can see the Log information output by the system from the opened serial port terminal

How to use the debug serial port on Windows platform

1)There are many serial debugging software that can be used under Windows, such as SecureCRT, MobaXterm, etc. The following shows how to use MobaXterm. This software has a free version and can be used without purchasing a serial number.
2)Download MobaXterm

a.Download the MobaXterm URL as follows

 https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/

b.After entering the MobaXterm download page, click GET XOBATERM NOW!

c.Then choose to download the Home version

d.Then select the Portable version, after downloading, you don’t need to install it, just open it and you can use it

3)After downloading, use the decompression software to decompress the downloaded compressed package, you can get the executable software of MobaXterm, and then double-click to open it

4)After opening the software, the steps to set up the serial port connection are as follows

a. Open the session setting interface

b. Select the serial port type

c. Select the port number of the serial port (choose the corresponding port number according to the actual situation), if you can't see the port number, please use the 360 driver master to scan and install the USB to TTL serial chip driver

d. Select the baud rate of the serial port to be 115200

e. Finally click the "OK" button to complete the setting

5)After clicking the "OK" button, you will enter the following interface, and you can see the output information of the serial port when you start the development board.

Download the Orange Pi 3 LTS User Manual

For more information on using the Orange Pi 3 LTS, please see the Orange Pi 3 LTS User Manual. (Click to download)