A10 OLinuXino LIME - Manual

A10-OLINUXINO-LIME
and
A10-OLINUXINO-LIME-4GB
Open-source single-board Android/Linux mini-computer
USER’S MANUAL
Document revision I, December 2015
Designed by OLIMEX Ltd, 2015
All boards produced by Olimex LTD are ROHS compliant

OLIMEX© 2015 A10-OLinuXino-LIME user's manual
DISCLAIMER
© 2015 Olimex Ltd. Olimex®, logo and combinations thereof, are registered trademarks of Olimex Ltd. Other product
names may be trademarks of others and the rights belong to their respective owners.
The information in this document is provided in connection with Olimex products. No license, express or implied
or otherwise, to any intellectual property right is granted by this document or in connection with the sale of
Olimex products.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of
this license, visit http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/.
This hardware design by Olimex LTD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
License.
The software is released under GPL.
It is possible that the pictures in this manual differ from the latest revision of the board.
The product described in this document is subject to continuous development and improvements. All particulars of the
product and its use contained in this document are given by OLIMEX in good faith. However all warranties implied or
expressed including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for purpose are excluded. This
document is intended only to assist the reader in the use of the product. OLIMEX Ltd. shall not be liable for any loss or
damage arising from the use of any information in this document or any error or omission in such information or any
incorrect use of the product.
This evaluation board/kit is intended for use for engineering development, demonstration, or evaluation purposes only
and is not considered by OLIMEX to be a finished end-product fit for general consumer use. Persons handling the
product must have electronics training and observe good engineering practice standards. As such, the goods being
provided are not intended to be complete in terms of required design-, marketing-, and/or manufacturing-related
protective considerations, including product safety and environmental measures typically found in end products that
incorporate such semiconductor components or circuit boards.
Olimex currently deals with a variety of customers for products, and therefore our arrangement with the user is not
exclusive. Olimex assumes no liability for applications assistance, customer product design, software performance, or
infringement of patents or services described herein.
THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE DESIGN MATERIALS AND THE COMPONENTS

USED TO CREATE A10-OLINUXINO-LIME AND A10-OLINUXINO-LIME-4GB. THEY
ARE CONSIDERED SUITABLE ONLY FOR, RESPECTIVELY, A10-OLINUXINO-LIME
OR A10-OLINUXINO-LIME-4GB.
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Table of Contents
DISCLAIMER............................................................................................................. 2
CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW........................................................................................5
1. Introduction to the chapter.......................................................................................................5
1.1 Features.....................................................................................................................................5
1.2 Target market and purpose of the board...............................................................................6
1.3 Board variants..........................................................................................................................6
1.4 Board version used in the manual..........................................................................................6
1.5 Document organization........................................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 2: SETTING UP THE OLINUXINO BOARD.....................................8
2. Introduction to the chapter.......................................................................................................8
2.1 Electrostatic and electrical polarity warning........................................................................ 8
2.2 Requirements........................................................................................................................... 8
2.3 Powering the board................................................................................................................10
2.4 Button functions..................................................................................................................... 11
2.5 Changing the default image resolution................................................................................ 11
2.6 Connecting and calibrating a display...................................................................................12
2.6.1 Android calibration......................................................................................................................................13
2.6.2 Debian calibration........................................................................................................................................13
2.7 GPIO under Debian...............................................................................................................13
2.8 I2C and SPI under Debian....................................................................................................14
2.9 Software support....................................................................................................................15
CHAPTER 3: A10-OLINUXINO-LIME BOARD DESCRIPTION.....................16
3. Introduction to the chapter.....................................................................................................16
3.1 Layout (top view)...................................................................................................................16
3.2 Layout (bottom view).............................................................................................................17
CHAPTER 4: THE ALLWINNER A10 MICROCONTROLLER.......................18
4.1 The processor......................................................................................................................... 18
CHAPTER 5: CONTROL CIRCUITY................................................................... 20
5.1 Reset........................................................................................................................................20
5.2 Clocks......................................................................................................................................20
5.3 Power supply circuit.............................................................................................................. 20
CHAPTER 6: CONNECTORS AND PINOUT......................................................21
6.1 Communication with LIME..................................................................................................21
6.1.1 UART0 interface...........................................................................................................................................21
6.2 MicroSD card connector....................................................................................................... 22
6.2.1 SD/MMC1 slot..............................................................................................................................................22
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6.3 PWR jack................................................................................................................................23

6.4 USB_OTG connector.............................................................................................................24
6.5 USB_HOST connectors.........................................................................................................26
6.6 Ethernet.................................................................................................................................. 26
6.7 HDMI connector.................................................................................................................... 29
6.8 SATA connector and power...................................................................................................30
6.9 GPIO ports............................................................................................................................. 31
6.9.1 GPIO-1 (General Purpose Input/Output) 40pin connector..................................................................... 31
6.10 LCD_CON 40pin connector................................................................................................35
6.11 Jumper description.............................................................................................................. 36
6.12 Additional hardware components...................................................................................... 37
CHAPTER 7: SCHEMATICS..................................................................................38
7.1 Eagle schematic......................................................................................................................38
7.2 Physical dimensions...............................................................................................................39
CHAPTER 8: REVISION HISTORY AND SUPPORT........................................ 40
8.1 Document revision................................................................................................................. 40
8.2 Board revision........................................................................................................................ 41
8.3 Useful web links and purchase codes...................................................................................42
8.4 Frequently asked questions...................................................................................................43
8.5 Product support..................................................................................................................... 46
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CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW
1. Introduction to the chapter

Thank you for choosing this OLinuXino single board computer from Olimex! This document
provides a user’s guide for the Olimex A10 LIME board. As an overview, this chapter gives the
scope of this document and lists the board’s features. The document’s organization is then detailed.
The A10-OLinuXino-LIME development board enables code development of applications running

on the A10 microcontroller, manufactured by Allwinner Technology from China.
OLinuXino is an open-source, open-hardware project and all documentation is available to the

customer.
1.1 Features
The board has the following set of features:
• A10 Cortex-A8 CPU 1GHz and Mali 400 GPU

• 512MB DDR3 RAM memory
• 4GB NAND FLASH memory (available only on the 4GB version of the board)
• SATA connector with 5V SATA power jack
• Capable of HD (720p) video playback
• Native HDMI connector
• 2 x USB High-speed host with power control and current limiter
• USB-OTG with power control and current limiter
• 100MBit native Ethernet
• Battery connector with battery-charging capabilities
• LCD row of pins (0.05'' step)
• 160 GPIOs on four GPIO rows of pins (0.05'' step)
• MicroSD card connector
• DEBUG-UART connector for console debug with USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F
• GPIO LED
• Battery charge status LED
• 5V input power supply, noise immune design
• Power LED
• 2KB EEPROM for MAC address storage and more
• 3 BUTTONS with ANDROID functionality + RESET button
• 4 mount holes
• PCB dimensions: (3005×2345) mils ~ (76×59) mm
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1.2 Target market and purpose of the board

The boards from the OLinuXino family are easy to setup and powerful. It is possible to use them in
almost any application as a host board. They are suitable for embedded programming enthusiasts,
Linux and Android gadget fans (they can just use the board as a media center or fully functional
Linux-PC, for instance) and also professionals (since its low cost makes it very good solution for
application-orientated embedded systems). The main usage of the board is software embedded
development without the urge of understanding perfectly the hardware.
The LIME boards are a special kind of OLinuXino boards – they are as small as possible while
maintaining a remarkable stand-alone functionality. The strong points of the boards are the
processor speed, the small form factor and the low price-to-productivity ratio.
Customers have full access to the technical documentation of the board. The software is released
under General Purpose License and the board is considered open-hardware – all schematics and
board design files are available to the customer under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
1.3 Board variants

There are two major board variants named: A10-OLinuXino-LIME and A10-OLinuXino-LIME-
4GB. The 4GB version has a built-in NAND memory that allows the storage of an operating system
without the need of a SD card.
The A20-OLinuXino-LIME and A20-OLinuXino-LIME-4GB boards are almost identical to,

respectively, A10-OLinuXino-LIME and A10-OLinuXino-LIME-4GB with the only difference
being the processor mounted. This brings different processor speed and productivity. The A10 has a
single Cortex A8 core. The A20 has a dual-core Cortex A7. This makes the A20 boards more
powerful and suitable for heavier computational tasks, but more power-hungry. The processor swap
is possible since the A10 and A20 processors are pin-to-pin compatible.
The A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 (note the “2”) board is similar to A20-OLinuXino-LIME and A10-
OLinuXino-LIME but it has Gigabit Ethernet and double the RAM memory (1GB compared to
512MB).
1.4 Board version used in the manual

Revision C boards and resources were used while writing this document. It is possible that they are
outdated so it is always recommended to download the latest sources from the GitHub page of the
board (https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO/tree/master/HARDWARE).
Please note that A10-OLinuXino-LIME design is almost identical to the design of its predecessor
A20-OLinuXino-LIME – the only difference being the processor. Even then the processors are pin-
to-pin compatible. Some documents or software may be suitable for both the A10 and the A20
LIME boards but it is generally advised to use resources for the specific board.
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1.5 Document organization

Each section in this document covers a separate topic, organized as follows:
– Chapter 1 is an overview of the board usage and features
– Chapter 2 provides a guide for quickly setting up the board and software notes
– Chapter 3 contains the general board diagram and layout
– Chapter 4 describes the component that is the heart of the board: the A10 – Allwinner
processor
– Chapter 5 is an explanation of the control circuitry associated with the microcontroller
– Chapter 6 covers the connector pinout, peripherals and jumper description
– Chapter 7 provides the schematics and the dimensions of the board
– Chapter 8 contains the revision history, useful links and support information
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CHAPTER 2: SETTING UP THE OLINUXINO BOARD

This section helps you set up the OLinuXino development board for the first time. Please consider
first the electrostatic warning to avoid damaging the board, then discover the hardware and software
required to operate the board.
The procedure to power up the board is given, and a description of the default board behavior is
detailed.
2.1 Electrostatic and electrical polarity warning

OLinuXino is shipped in a protective anti-static package. The board must not be exposed to high
electrostatic potentials. A grounding strap or similar protective device should be worn when
handling the board. Avoid touching the component pins or any other metallic element.
Ensure that your development board gets attached to properly working hardware. For example, it is
common for cheap HDMI monitors to lack grounding. Avoid TVs which have no grounding on their
power supply cable! If you can’t avoid them try to add the grounding yourself, if this is not possible
please use USB-ISO to save your development board from potential over voltage.
If you connect other electrical devices to the LIME board make sure that they have equal electrical
polarity. For example, when you connect an HDMI cable between a TV and the board it is a good
idea to have them both connected to the same electrical source (to the same utility power socket).
This might be said for a serial cable connected between a PC and the board's DEBUG port.
In rare cases different polarity might cause hardware damage to the board.
2.2 Requirements
In order to set up the A10-OLinuXino-LIME optimally one or more additional items may be used.
They might be generally placed in three categories:
Required – items that are needed in order to achieve minimum functionality;

Recommended – items that is good to have in order to be able to interact with the most important
of the features of the board;
Additional – items that provide access to additional features or expand the features of the board.
Required items:
- USB type A to USB mini cable – to connect to a personal computer; used for powering the board
and uploading new Android image to the NAND memory (if your board has 4GB NAND)
- Input device – either a mouse/keyboard or touchscreen LCD
- Output device – either HDMI cable + native HDMI monitor/screen/projector; or USB-SERIAL-
CABLE-F + personal computer (for Linux and/or Android debugging)
- SD card with compatible image – if you have the board version with NO additional NAND
memory you will need it to use one of the images available.
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Recommended items:
- External USB hub – to split the USB_HOST mounted on the board; you need that to connect more
USB devices
- External power supply unit – 5V DC, 5W required – for optimal power
- A10-OLinuXino-LIME-BOX – an aesthetic box specially made for the board that protects it from
dust and accidental short-circuits
- USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F – for Android/Linux debugging on UART0
Additional items include:

- A10-OlinuXino-LIME-UEXT and CABLE-IDC40-15cm and CABLE-40-40-10CM – an adapter
board and two cables suitable for Olimex LCD connection
- Small heatsink for the processor – during long video playbacks the A10 processor might heat up
- External 2.5'' SATA hard disk drive (proper cables sold)
- Ethernet cable for wired Ethernet
- Back-up Li-Po battery with a proper connector
Important note on requirements:
The board works with 2.5'' SATA hard disks that can be powered by 5V source from the board! For
the 3.5'' hard disks you would probably need to provide external 12V supply.
It is a very good idea to have a USB-SERIAL-CABLE or similar cable since it allows you to:
1. Change display output settings for Debian easily

2. Debug the board via any personal computer even if there are problems with the video output
Some of the above-suggested items can be purchased by Olimex, for instance:
SY0605E – reliable power supply adapter 50Hz (for EU) 5V/1A for A10-OLinuXino-LIME
SY0605E-CHINA – cheaper power supply adapter 50Hz (for EU) 5V/1A for A10-OLinuXino-
LIME
A10-Android-SD – a tested class 10 micro SD card with the latest (by the time of leaving the
Olimex facilities) official Android release
A10-Debian-SD – a tested class 10 micro SD card with the latest (by the time of leaving Olimex
facilities) official Debian Linux release
USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F – female USB serial console cable
A10-OLINUXINO-LIME-UEXT – GPIO adapter which makes LIME GPIOs available in
breadboard friendly 0.1" step connectors, needed if you want to connect an older Olimex-made
display to the board (newer displays listed below have 0.05'' step connector)
CABLE-40-40-10CM – 0.05'' step cable for connecting a new display to the board
LCD-OLINUXINO-4.3TS – low-cost 4.3'' LCD display with touchscreen component – 480×272
LCD-OLINUXINO-7TS – low-cost 7'' LCD display with optional touchscreen component –
800×480
1024×600
CABLE-IDC40-15cm – 0.1'' step cable for connecting an LCD to A10-OLinuXino-LIME-UEXT
SATA-HDD-2.5-500GB – 5GB 2.5'' SATA hard disk
SATA-CABLE-SET – cables that allow the connection of a 2.5'' hard disk to the board
ALUMINIUM-HEATSINK-20×20×6MM – heatsink radiator for better processor heat dissipation
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2.3 Powering the board

There are three possible ways of powering A10-OLinuXino-LIME – via external supply providing
5V DC at the power jack, from 5V USB port via USB_OTG connector or from 3.7V Li-Po battery
via the LIPO_BAT. Note that the board might consume up to 650mA of current at 5V when there
are no peripherals connected to the USB hosts. Make sure your power supply is able to provide at
least 1A before. Depending on your preferred way of powering you might need additional hardware.
Important: Not all USB ports would be able to provide enough power for the board. Try using
another USB port/USB hub or a cable of higher quality.
If you have an LCD display connected to the board or external 2.5'' hard disk then the USB will
NOT be sufficient source of power.
The best practice is to never count on the mini USB-OTG as a single source of power for the board!
The preferred way of powering the board is via the PWR jack with 5V DC. This would make the
board fully powered and able to power all the peripherals connected to it.
Note that when powering the board from the USB_OTG, the current provided might be insufficient
to also power a bigger LCD connected to the LCD_con. However, this power option is capable of
driving the board when using external display connected to the HDMI connector.
The typical consumption of A10-OLinuXino-LIME is between 400mA and 750mA depending on

the current load.
If the board has entered power-down state you can bring it back without restart using the
PWR_BUT. The PWR_BUT is also used to start the board when powered from a Li-Po battery on
the battery connector.
Sometimes when starting Android it is possible the board to enter battery save mode even before
booting fully. Especially, if you have turned off the board without quick boot mode enabled. In this
case you should press the PWR button for at least 5 seconds which would allow the board to start.
For the European customers we sell two power supply adapters, please check chapter 2.2. We also
sell USB OTG to USB type A cables if you lack such.
The default username/password combination for the default Linux image on the SD card (if
purchased) is: root/olimex.
Note that it is normal that when the board is powered some integrated circuits might appear hotter
than others. This is perfectly normal for some chips – for instance – voltage regulators and the main
processor.
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2.4 Button functions

The bellow three buttons usually are supported under both Android and Debian:
PWR – used to perform software turn off, software turn on; used to turn on board when powered by
battery – has to be held down for at least 5 seconds to perform each action
RESET – used for hardware reset of the board – it is not recommended
RECOVERY – used to wake up the board from sleep
It is recommended to always make a soft “turn off” of the board. If that is not possible then please
hold PWR button down for a few seconds to “turn off the board”. Then you are free to remove the
power supply. If you disconnect the power supply (either the USB, the battery or the power jack)
before turning off the board you may corrupt your SD card. If you have placed NAND memory you
can corrupt the image on the NAND memory.
2.5 Changing the default image resolution

Depending on the display or the screen you want to use with the A10-OlinuXino-LIME, you might
need to apply software changes to the prebuilt Android or Linux image.
Generally, this means that you would need to edit the configuration file script.bin and edit the
settings inside. This file is usually located in Script.bin can't be opened in the binary format so you
would need to convert it to .fex file format first. There are ready-to-use tools that convert script.bin
<-> script.fex. Note that script.bin/fex contains configuration settings and definitions not only for
the video output but also for the pin descriptions and names; power setting and much more. If you
really want to modify and customize the default images (to change port functions, port names, to
disable specific peripherals) you would need to be able to edit the script files. Please refer to the
following web page for more information: http://linux-sunxi.org/Fex_Guide
The typical OlinuXino user would not need to edit the files, however.
To ease the process of changing the resolution we have compiled a number of Android images for
the Android users (with hard-coded video output settings). Alternatively, for Debian Linux users, we
have provided a shell script that can be executed in order to set preferred video output and
resolution.
For Android that you boot from the NAND memory you would need an image suitable for the
specific resolution. Download locations to such images might be found at the wiki article for the
A10 board here: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A10-OLinuXino-LIME.
For Linux Debian you would need to execute a shell script to be able to change the resolution. It is
very good idea to use a serial cable for connection to the board from a personal computer since in
this case you are dependent on a video resolution (a cable like USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F). When the
board boots type:
./change_display*
or
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./change_display_A10_lime.sh
and choose the resolution and the interface (LCD, HDMI or VGA).
The supported resolutions are listed below.
For LCD:
1. 4.3" (480×272)
2. 7" (800×480)
3. 10" (1024×600)
For HDMI:
0. 480i
1. 576i
2. 480p
3. 576p
4. 720p50
5. 720p60
6. 1080i50
7. 1080i60
8. 1080p24
9. 1080p50
10. 1080p60
For VGA (please note that the VGA lacks a connector – more instructions on the VGA signals
might be found in the chapter 6):
0. 1680×1050
1. 1440×900
2. 1360×768
3. 1280×1024
4. 1024×768
5. 800×600
6. 640×480
7. 1920×1080
8. 1280×720
2.6 Connecting and calibrating a display

One of the ways to interact with the board is via an external display (with or without touchscreen
component). If you want to use a display for video output from the LIME board the best way is to
use the LCD_CON row of pins.
Note that unlike other OLinuXino boards A10-OlinuXino-LIME the row of pins that allows the user
to connect a display has smaller step (0.05''). The corresponding connectors in previous OLinuXino
boards had a step of 0.1''. This means that if you use a display made by OLIMEX, you would need
additional hardware to adapt the pin-step accordingly. You can either make such adapter (or cable)
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yourself, following the schematics of the display and the board or purchase it from us.
With newer Olimex-made displays you can use a single cable with 0.05'' step. The new revsions of
displays have both 0.1'' step connector and 0.05'' step connectors.
If your Olimex-made display has only a single 0.01'' step connector you would need two 40 pin
cables (CABLE-40-40-10CM and CABLE-IDC40-15cm) that connect to a small adapter board
called A10-OLinuXino-LIME-UEXT. I recommend you to take a look at the pages of the adapter
and the cables even if you decide to make it yourself – there are schematics available for download.
2.6.1 Android calibration

Calibrating a display under Android is pretty straightforward from the Android application.
Important: initially the boards are calibrated for a specific display and resolution. If you re-write the
image (no matter whether the SD card or the NAND memory) you might need to use a mouse to
calibrate the display initially. It might be impossible to calibrate it via touching the display.
2.6.2 Debian calibration

The command that allows calibrating in Debian Linux is:
ts_calibrate
The default Debian setup is made with settings for HDMI 720p/60Hz. If you want to change some
other LCD, VGA or HDMI resolution then you have to start script file in /root directory.
If the problem is under Debian Linux make sure you are properly logged in the XFCE interface!
Else applying calibration would not happen for the current user – if you are calibrating from the X
graphical interface make sure that you are logged as user “olimex” (if calibrating without the X, the
user is “root”).
#su olimex
enter the password: olimex
calibrate the touch screen and reboot the board
#sudo reboot
2.7 GPIO under Debian

You can read data from a given GPIO port. The logical ranges are usually as follows:
0V-1V for LOW (or 0)
2.4V-3.3V for HIGH (or 1)
All voltages are measured against ground (GND).
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If the input signal is to high, you will at least destroy the port!
The algorithms for writing a value to a GPIO port and reading such a value are pretty similar. The
usage of GPIO ports follows the algorithm (we would use GPIO #49 for demonstration purposes):
1. Export GPIO 49:
echo 49 > /sys/class/gpio/export
Note that you can export GPIOs in range with:
for i in `seq 1 1 230`; do echo $i > /sys/class/gpio/export; done
2. Set input/output GPIO 49
2.1 Set input:
echo "in" > /sys/class/gpio/gpio49_ph9/direction
2.2 Set output:
echo "out" > /sys/class/gpio/gpio49_ph9/direction

3. Set value or read value GPIO 49
3.1 Set value:
echo 0 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio49_ph9/value

echo 1 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio49_ph9/value
3.2 Read input:
cat /sys/class/gpio/gpio49_ph9/value
4. Unexport GPIO 49 when finished
echo 49 > /sys/class/gpio/unexport
A very good document on GPIO usage might be found here:

http://www.py6zgp.com/download/A20-GPIO.pdf – the document was created by Dr. Guido Pelz.
2.8 I2C and SPI under Debian

I2C and SPI are both supported in the latest Debian releases. There is respective kernel support for
both. There is a python module called pyA10Lime might be found here:
https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyA10Lime
At the same web address you would also find a set of examples on how module is used.
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2.9 Software support

We maintain Linux and Android images for SD card which might be downloaded for free and
modified as the user wishes. The latest images and updates are featured at the wiki article of the
device: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A10-OLinuXino-LIME.
We usually try to provide details on how to build the Linux and the Android images at our
wordpress page: http://olimex.wordpress.com/.
Another useful place is the Olimex forums where a lot of people share their experience and advice:
https://www.olimex.com/forum/.
Additional Android and Linux support and features are added overtime. The Linux support is a
work-in-progress and you should not expect full Linux support after the initial volume of such
boards have become available on the market. If you are in a hurry consider the older OLinuXino
designs (which have almost everything supported, have examples available and so on).
You are more than welcome to send or share your suggestions and ideas at our e-mail, the public
forums or irc channel. We would attempt to help in almost every case. We listen to the feedback and
if the majority of users suggest a software change or update we try to implement such. Customer
feedback is very important for the overall state of the software support. However, do not expect full
Linux or Android software support.
We can share our experience. We can give you full details for things we have tried. We can point
you to a resource or a guide. We can give you general directions to solving a specific problem or
places to look for more information. However, we won’t install a piece of software for you or write
custom program for you. We won't provide a specific software solution to a specific software
problem.
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CHAPTER 3: A10-OLINUXINO-LIME BOARD DESCRIPTION

Here you get acquainted with the main parts of the board. Note the names used on the board might
differ from the names used below to describe them. For the actual names check the A10-
OLinuXino-LIME board itself.
3.1 Layout (top view)

The picture below shows the top side of the board and highlights the most important parts:
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3.2 Layout (bottom view)

At the bottom are located mainly the buttons and microSD card connector.
You should be careful of the surface that you use to place the board.
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CHAPTER 4: THE ALLWINNER A10 MICROCONTROLLER

In this chapter is located the information about the heart of OLinuXino – its microcontroller. The
information is a modified version of the datasheet provided by its manufacturers.
4.1 The processor

The features of the A10 processor according to the manufacturer Allwinner:
 CPU
 ARM Cortex™-A8
 32KB I-Cache
 32KB D-Cache
 256KB L2 Cache
 GPU
 ARM Mali-400
 VIDEO
 UHD 2160P video decoding
 3D video decoding
 Support various video decoding formats, including VP8, AVS, H. 264 MVC, VC-1,
MPEG-1,2,4, etc
 H.264 HP video encoding up to 1080p @ 30 fps or dual-channel 720p @ 30 fps
 DISPLAY
 Multi-channel HD display
 Integrated HDMI 1.4
 YPbPr, CVBS, VGA
 Multiple LCD interfaces, including CPU, RGB, LVDS up to Full HD
 MEMORY
 32-bit DDR2/DDR3 with memory capacity up to 16G bits
 SLC/MLC/TLC/DDR NAND
- 8 flash chips, 64-bit ECC
- Memory capacity up to 64GB
- Support NAND of 5xnm, 4xnm, 3xnm, 2xnm, etc
- Support NAND of Samsung, Toshiba, Hynix, etc
 BOOT
 NAND Flash
 SPI NOR Flash
 SD Card
 USB
Page 18 of 46
More information can be found on Allwinner's web site at the following web-address:
http://www.allwinnertech.com/en/product/A10.html.
A good source of information on the processor is the linux sunxi wiki article: http://linux-
sunxi.org/A10.
Page 19 of 46
CHAPTER 5: CONTROL CIRCUITY

Here you can find information about reset circuit and quartz crystals locations, the power supply
circuit is also briefly discussed.
5.1 Reset
The board has hardware reset controlled by the AXP209 power system management IC.
It is a good practice to perform software reset of the board. Performing reset by disconnecting the
power supply might lead to software corruption of the operating system of choice.
5.2 Clocks
25 MHz quartz crystal Q1 is connected to pins X1 and X2 of the RTL8201CP Ethernet controller.
32 768 Hz (RTC) quartz crystal Q2 is found at pins F1 and F2 of the A10 microcontroller.
24 MHz quartz crystal Q3 is found at pins N22 and N23 of the A10 microcontroller.
5.3 Power supply circuit

The power supply is handled mainly by AXP209 power management system, an Allwinner chip that
goes together with the A10 processor. It is mounted on the board but since it is relatively hard to
find we also sell it separately.
The power supply circuit of A10-OLinuXino-LIME requires input supply of 5V. The minimum
wattage is 2.5W, and this threshold may raise if using a lot of devices on the USB-HOST (via
external hub), a lot of GPIOs or you have a display connected to the LCD_CON or a hard disk
powered from the 5V_SATA_PWR connector. If a discharged Li-Po battery is connected to the
respective connector the power consumption of the whole LIME board might rise enormously, since
the built-in battery charger would attempt to recharge it.
For more info on how to power the board refer to chapter “2.3 Powering the board”.
Page 20 of 46
CHAPTER 6: CONNECTORS AND PINOUT

In this chapter are presented the connectors that can be found on the board all together with their
pinout and notes about them. Jumpers functions are described. Notes and info on specific
peripherals are presented. Notes regarding the interfaces are given.
6.1 Communication with LIME

The direct communication method is via the serial interface. Through male UART0 connector
capable of delivering some information on the COM port of your computer – and then use your
favorite terminal program (puTTy, teraterm, etc) to receive the data/send commands. You can use
USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F with the UART0 interface allowing you to connect to a personal
computer with a free USB port.
Note that the levels at board's UART0 are in CMOS level and you would need a MAX232
convertor to bring them to TTL one!
It is highly recommended to own a USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F (or similar product) at hand when

debugging – the video output is not always reliable and if you set wrong display settings you might
be unable to recover the settings without a proper UART0 connection.
The more indirect ways of communicating with the board are via peripheral devices – mouse and
keyboard, via a touch screen LCD that is connected on LCD_CON connector and others.
6.1.1 UART0 interface

The UART0 interface might be used for serial communication between the board and a personal
computer by default. In case of video output problem a cable might provide needed feedback and
greatly reduce the efforts needed to repair the board or to adjust the software setting.
Note that by default only UART0 is defined as a port suitable for serial debug. You can use our
USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F for debugging.
Consider table below when connecting the USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F according to the wire color
code. The RX line of the cable (GREEN wire) should go to TX line of the target board; the TX line
of the cable (RED wire) should go to the RX line of the target board. The BLUE wire should go to
the target's GND line.
UART0
Pin # Signal name Processor pin
1 UART0-TX A7
2 UART0-RX B7
3 GND -
Page 21 of 46
6.2 MicroSD card connector

The micro SD card slot is primarily used for booting the operating system.
The board works with micro SDHC cards up to 32GB of storage.
As a general precaution be careful with the SD cards you purchase. There is a big percentage of
fake cards due to the low effort required to counterfeit popular brands and the big demand for SD
cards worldwide. When in doubt – try the same operation with another card from another brand.
Olimex sells microSD cards with Linux or Android images, that have been tested – please refer to
chapter “2.2 Requirements”. Of course, if you already have a large enough microSD card you can
download the official Linux image from the wiki pages: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A10-
OLinuXino-LIME.
When removing the card, please make sure that you release it from the connector by pushing and
NOT by pulling the card directly (this can damage both the connector and the microSD card).
6.2.1 SD/MMC1 slot

The schematic related to the SD/MMC1 (microSD connector) is shown below:
SD/MMC1 slot is the microSD card slot, located on the top of the board.
This slot is typically used for booting the OS, due to the larger capacities of the microSD cards
(compared to SD or MMC cards). It is suggested to have an SD card with a proper Linux/Android
image especially if you have ordered a version of the board without NAND memory. It is also
recommended to use Class 10 (10MByte/sec) card for faster read/write operations, lower class cards
(especially higher capacity ones) might slow down the whole system.
Page 22 of 46
SD/MMC1 connector
Pin # Connector signal name Wire name (processor pin)
1 DAT2/RES SD0-D2 (K19)
2 CD/DAT3/CS SD0-D3 (K20)
3 CMD/DI SD0-CMD (L19)
4 VDD -
5 CLK/SCLK SD0-CLK(L20)
6 VSS2 -
7 DAT0/DO SD0-D0(M19)
8 DAT1/RES SD0-D1(M20)
Additionally, there are the WP and CP switches that are responsible, respectively, for sensing
whether the card is locked for reading and whether there is a card inserted.
6.3 PWR jack

The power jack used is the typical one used by Olimex in most of our products – the DC barrel jack
has 2.0mm inner pin and 6.3mm hole. More information about the exact component might be found
here: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/PWRJACK.
You should provide 5 volts direct current and the required current may vary depending on the
peripherals connected to the board. The power supply you use should be capable of providing at
least 1A of current.
Pin # Signal name
1 Power input
2 GND
More info about the power supply can be found in chapter 5 of this manual.
Page 23 of 46
6.4 USB_OTG connector

The main way of changing the firmware image located on the NAND of A10-OLinuXino-LIME-
4GB is via the USB-OTG connector. How to change the firmware is explained after the hardware
details. The part of the schematic related to the USB_OTG is shown below:
The USB_OTG features Low Loss Power Distribution Switch SY6280 which protects the board in
case the devices you have plugged to the USB_OTG attempt to draw more current than 523mA
combined. The maximum current available on the 5V USB_OTG is exactly 523mA.
The SY6280 responsible for the USB_OTG is enabled by USB0-DRV (processor pin C12, port B9),
thus the USB_OTG is also controlled by the same signal.
Please note that the USB0-DRV (pin C12, port B9) is multiplexed with the I2S_DO1 signal! If you
are going to use the I2S audio interface then you would probably need to change the position of the
SMT jumper PB9/PH7_USB which by default connects USB_OTG to the PB9. This operation
would require cutting between the pads of the default position with a very sharp object and then
soldering the pads of the other position together. Doing so you would be able to use both the
USB_OTG (via port PH7 this time) and the I2S interface.
Additionally, PB9/PH7_GPIO jumper controls which of the two ports (PB9 or PH7) should be lead
out to pin 9 of GPIO3 connector for easier access. By default this jumper is in PH7_GPIO position
and PH7 is lead to pin 9 of GPIO3.
USB_OTG connector
1 +5V_OTG_PWR -
2 UDM0 N20
3 UDP0 N21
4 USB0-IDDET B5
5 GND -
Page 24 of 46
The connector case is also grounded.
We have configured an Android image with settings suitable for A10-OLinuXino-LIME. You can
upload it to the board with LiveSuit software via the USB-OTG. The image is available for users to
try and tweak the settings. The images can be downloaded from the wiki article at:
https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A10-OLinuXino-LIME.
The board variant without NAND needs an SD card with bootable OS – Android or Linux. There
are ready images available for download at the above-linked A10 wiki article.
To upload the Android image to the NAND follow these steps:
1. Install and run PhoenixSuit (can be found in the wiki article of the board).
2. Go to firmware tab of the program and point to a valid Android image (the latest official one may
also be downloaded from the wiki article).
3. Disconnect the power supply and USB cable from the A10 board.
4. Press and hold RECOVERY button, apply power supply 5V, release RECOVERY button.
5. Connect USB cable to the mini USB connector
6. You will be asked for drivers for the bootloader. Navigate to the folder where you extracted the
PhoenixSuit and install the drivers from the respective executables (or manually point the installer
to the drivers folder in the PhoenixSuit installation path).
7. PhoenixSuit will detect the board and would ask for the method of writing the image. Choose
method of writing the image and confirm your wish to write the image.
8. Wait till upgrade succeeds as shown below:
Page 25 of 46
6.5 USB_HOST connectors

The part of the schematic related to the USB_HOST connectors is listed below:
There are two USB host connector featured on the board. They are called USB_HOST1 and
USB_HOST2. Each of them has own connector, both situated near the Ethernet connector. Each of
connector has own low loss power distribution switch SY6280 which protects the board in case the
devices you have plugged to the board try to draw more current than 523mA combined. The
maximum current available on each of the USB hosts is exactly 523mA.
The SY6280 responsible for the USB_HOST1 is enabled by USB0-DRV1 (processor pin A4).
The SY6280 responsible for the USB_HOST2 is enabled by USB0-DRV2 (processor pin A5).
USB_HOST connectors
USB_HOST1 Signal name Processor pin USB_HOST2 Signal name Processor pin
Pin #1 5V Connected to SY628 Pin #1 5V Connected to SY628
Pin #2 UDM1 P20 Pin #2 UDM2 R20
Pin #3 UDP1 P21 Pin #3 UDP2 R21
Pin #4 GND - Pin #4 GND -
The GND is common for both levels of the USB_HOST.
6.6 Ethernet
The LIME board is equipped with a standard RJ45 Ethernet connector at the top of the board that
allows you to access local network via an Ethernet cable.
The LAN connectivity is handled by Realtek's RTL8201CP. Some of the features of this
10/100Mbit controller are:
Page 26 of 46
- 10/100Mbps operation
- Full/half duplex operation

- Supports auto crossover detection
- Adaptive equalization
- IEEE 802.3/802.3u compliant
- Supports IEEE 802.3u clause 28; 1.8V
- Operation with 3.3V IO signal tolerance
and much more
The Ethernet connector is grounded according to the standard (check GND1 and GND2 lines on the
schematics).
If you use Linux then the Ethernet connector might be used for SSH connection to the board. If you
lack any other option for debugging it might be hard to guess the correct IP of the board since it has
DHCP enabled by default (especially if you are in a large network). It is good idea to check the
default settings by exploring the Linux image settings. Those are usually stored in:
/etc/network/interfaces
For DHCP you need to enable auto detection and dhcp as shown below:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
For setting a static address please follow the pattern below:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.5
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.254
The EEPROM memory may be used to store the MAC address.
Important: In some Debian images it is possible that the Ethernet doesn't get auto-detected during
boot-up. This is done on purpose because if there is auto-detection enabled and you don't want to
use the Ethernet connector or you have forgotten to plug a cable the start-up would be greatly
delayed. This might be problem in the first start-up to users counting only on SSH connection. You
can enable the Ethernet after a successful boot-up with:
ifconfing -a
dhclient eth#(as seen after after the ifconfing command)
Important: You can configure static/DHCP-given IP addresses in /etc/network/interfaces
Page 27 of 46
Ethernet
Pin # Signal name
1 TD+
2 TD-
3 VDD
4 NC
5 NC
6 VDD
7 RD+
8 RD-
The RJ45 connector has a small yellow and a small built-in LEDS and they are described below:
LED Color Usage

Right Green Link status
Left Yellow Activity status
Page 28 of 46
6.7 HDMI connector

The part of the schematic that describes the HDMI module is shown below:
Note that there are different Linux images depending whether the HDMI TV works at 50Hz or
60Hz refresh rate. If you board runs Android there is a specific option to set the appropriate HDMI
output.
HDMI connector
Pin # Signal name Processor pin Pin # Signal name Processor pin
1 HTX2P T23 11 GND -
2 GND - 12 HTXCN W22
3 HTX2N T22 13 HCEC P23
4 HTX1P U23 14 NA* NA
5 GND - 15 HSCL R23
6 HTX1N U22 16 HSDA R22
7 HTX0P U23 17 GND -
8 GND - 18 +5V -
9 HTX0N U22 19 HHPD P22
10 HTXCP W23
*Pin 14 of the HDMI is not mandatory. In HDMI 1.0-1.3c it is reserved pin; in HDMI 1.4+ it is
optional.
Page 29 of 46
6.8 SATA connector and power

The part of the schematic describing the SATA module is shown below:
SATA connector
1 GND -
2 SATA-TXP T20
3 SATA-TXM T21
4 GND -
5 SATA-RXM U21
6 SATA-RXP U20
7 GND -
There is a 5V_SATA_PWR connector that is

suitable for powering 5V hard-disks trough the
board. To keep the low form factor we have placed
the small JST connector.
You can make an adapter cable accordingly. The

other options is to check the SATA-CABLE-SET
that we have available.
For more information please visit: https://www.olimex.com/Products/Components/Cables/SATA-

CABLE-SET/
Pay note the two jumpers 5V_E_SATA and PC3/PB located at the bottom of the board (under the
HDMI connector). The first one 5V_E_SATA is open by default because the board has software
control of the powering for the hard disk. If you close 5V_E_SATA there would always be 5V at the
5V_SATA_PWR connector.
Which pin does the software control of the SATA powering is determined by the position of the
PC3/PB8 jumper. By default PC3 is used.
Page 30 of 46
6.9 GPIO ports

There are four GPIO ports which are used generally to access unused by the board's peripherals
pins. However, there are exceptions – some of the pins might be used to easily peripherals or their
levels.
Three of the GPIO connectors have 40 pins and the last one has 20 pins. Note that all GPIO
connectors have 0.05'' (50 mil) step between pins. Olimex sells a compatible extension cable for
these connectors named CABLE-40-40-10CM.
IMPORTANT: the cables and the 0.05'' connectors are very fragile – if you attempt to disconnect
the setup by pulling the cable it might break! Furthermore – you might bend the board's or the
cable's pins! Use pliers or other suitable object to disconnect the connectors carefully!
Most of the pins are already defined in default operating system images. Some of them can be used
as GPIOs, I2C or SPI without much of a problem. Information on the software usage of GPIO ports
might be found in chapters “2.7 GPIO under Debian” and “2.8 I2C and SPI under Debian”
6.9.1 GPIO-1 (General Purpose Input/Output) 40pin connector

The GPIO-1 connector has 40 pins. Note that the connector has 0.05'' (50 mil) step between pins.
Olimex also sells a compatible extension cable for the connector named CABLE-40-40-10CM.
IMPORTANT: the cables and the 0.05'' connectors are very fragile – if you attempt to disconnect
the setup by pulling the cable it might break! Furthermore – you might bend the board's or the
cable's pins! Use pliers or other suitable object to disconnect the connectors carefully!
This connector features the processor signals needed for audio headphones output and microphone
input. Please note that not only the connectors but also the rest of the schematic is missing! You
would need to add resistors and capacitors. The connector also has the signals needed for a VGA
output. The official Linux Debian images include a script that can be used to change the video
output to VGA. We don't provide Android images for the VGA video output.
Microphone signals are located on GPIO-1 connector: MICIN1 and VMIC
Headphone signals are located on GPIO-1 connector: HPOUTL, HPCOM and HPOUTR
Please note that part of the VGA and composite video signals are multiplexed (VGA-R, VGA-
B, VGA-G share the same pins with the TVOUT signals).
Composite video signals are located on GPIO-1 connector: TVOUT0 (GPIO-1 pin 20), TVOUT1
(GPIO-1 pin 22), TVOUT2 (GPIO-1 pin 24); you would also need AGND (GPIO-1 pin 4)
VGA signals are located at GPIO-1 connector and LCD_CON connector: The total of 5 signals you
need for VGA output can be split into two categories:
1) Data signals:
VGA-R (AC17); VGA-B (AB16); VGA-G (AC16)
2) Synchronization signals:
Page 31 of 46
LCD_VSYNC (AC9) and LCD_HSYNC (AB9)
If you inspect the schematics of a board with VGA connector (like A20-OlinuXino-MICRO)
carefully you would notice that there are two extra transistors on the synchronization lines. Those
are transistors meant to shift the levels to 5V. The 3.3V levels from the processor might work but
the standard requires 5V levels of VSYNC and HSYNC. However, if you lead the signals to a 6 pin
header (like the one on the A20 board) you might use the cable for the A20-OlinuXino-MICRO
(called A20-VGA-CABLE). The 6 signals needed are the 5 signals mentioned about plus GND.
A general advice for easier use of the microphone, headphone and VGA interfaces of A10-
OLinuXino-LIME is to take a look at the schematics of another board with those interfaces already
installed. For example, those are present in A20-OLinuXino-MICRO. Inspect the schematic
carefully.
The signal layout is described below:
GPIO-1 connector
Pin # Signal name Processor pin Pin # Signal name Processor pin
1 +5V - 2 GND -
3 +3.3V - 4 GND -
5 PG0 F20 6 LRADC0 AB23
7 PG1 E21 8 LRADC1 AB22
9 PG2 E20 10 MICIN1 AC20
11 PG3 D21 12 VMIC AA21
13 PG4 D20 14 HPOUTL Y19
15 PG5 C21 16 HPCOM AA19; AA20
17 PG6 E19 18 HPOUTR W19
19 PG7 C20 20 VGA-G AC16
21 PG8 D19 22 VGA-B AB16
23 PG9 C19 24 VGA-R AC17
25 PG10 D18 26 UART0-RX B7*
27 PG11 C18 28 UART0-TX A7*
29 PC3/SATA-PWR-EN L22** 30 PB21 C7
31 PC18 F22 32 PB20 C8
33 PC19 L21 34 PB19 B8
35 PC20 K21 36 PB18 A8
37 PC21 J21 38 PC24 F21
39 PC22 J20 40 PC23 G19
*Signals marked with * are multiplexed with either a peripheral device or another connector. Ensure that the multiplexing is handled
properly on software and/or hardware level (else there would probably occur wrong levels, loss of data, etc).
**Pin #29 is used to control the power supply available at the 5V_SATA_PWR by default
The light blue boxes represent the pins related to microphone input.
The yellow boxes represent pins related to the headphone output.
The pale green boxes represent the pins related to alternative video output. There are more located
on the LCD connector.
Page 32 of 46

The GPIO pins are led out on a separate 40pin connecter. They allow the user to attach additional
hardware, check readings or perform hardware debug. The GPIO-2 connector numbers are printed
at the bottom of the board for your convenience.
GPIO-2 connector
GPIO pin# Signal name Processor pin# GPIO pin# Signal name Processor pin#
1 5V - 2 GND -
3 3.3V - 4 LDO3_2.8V Goes to AXP209
5 TWI0-SCK A15 6 PE0 E23
7 TWI0-SDA B15 8 PE1 E22
9 PI0 A20 10 PE2 D23
11 PI1 B20 12 PE3 D22
13 PI2 A19 14 PE4 C23
15 PI3 B19 16 PE5 C22
17 PI10 C17 18 PE6 B23
19 PI11 D17 20 PE7 B22
21 PC3/NCE1 L22* 22 PE8 A23
23 PC7/NRB1 J22* 24 PE9 A22
25 PC16 M21 26 PE10 B21
27 PC17 F23 28 PE11 A21
29 PC18 F22 30 PI21 E13
31 PC23 G19 32 PI20 E14
33 PC24/NQS F21* 34 PI19 D14
35 GPIO1 - 36 PI18 E15
37 GPIO2 - 38 PI17 E16
39 GPIO3 - 40 PI16 E17
Signals marked with * are multiplexed with either a peripheral device or another connector. Ensure that the multiplexing is handled
Page 33 of 46

GPIO-3 connector
1 5V - 2 GND -
3 3.3V - 4 GND -
5 RESET_N C14 6 PB3 B14
7 PH0 C6 8 PB4 A13
9 PH7/PB9 B4/C12 10 PB5 B13
11 PH9 D4 12 PB6 A12
13 PH10 A3 14 PB7 B12
15 PH11 B3 16 PB8/SATA-PWR-EN A11
17 PH12 C3 18 PB10 C11
19 PH13 A2 20 PB11 C10
21 PH14 B2 22 PB12 C9
23 PH15 A1 24 PB13 B11
25 PH16 B1 26 PB14 A10
27 PH17 C1 28 PB15 B10
29 PH18 C2 30 PB16 A9
31 PH19 D1 32 PB17 B9
33 PH20 D2 34 PH24 E3
35 PH21 D3 36 PH25 E4
37 PH22 E1 38 PH26 F3
39 PH23 E2 40 PH27 F4

GPIO-4 connector features the rest of the signals available and few additional signals that might
need testing.
GPIO-4 connector
1 3.3V - 2 GND -
3 TVOUT3 AB17 4 NMI_N F5
5 TVIN0 AC18 6 MIC1OUTP AC22
7 TVIN1 AB18 8 MIC1OUTN AC23
9 TVIN2 AA17 10 MICIN2 AC21
11 TVIN3 Y17 12 GPIO2 Goes to AXP209
13 LINEINR AB21 14 GPIO3 Goes to AXP209
15 LINEINL AB20 16 PC7 J22
17 FMINR Y21 18 PC16/NWP M21*
19 FMINL Y20 20 PC17 F23
Page 34 of 46
6.10 LCD_CON 40pin connector

The LCD_CON pins are led out on a separate 40pin connecter for the ease of connecting an LCD.
We have tested the ability of the board to interact with such a display. They allow the user to attach
additional hardware, check readings or perform hardware debug.
Important: you need additional 40PIN ribbon cable to connect an Olimex display and the
LCD_CON.
The LCD connector is suitable for a number of Olimex displays and touchscreen panels with
different native resolution – the smallest available is the 4.3'' one called LCD-OLinuXino-4.3TS
with native screen resolution of 480×272, through the 7'' one named LCD-OLinuXino-7TS with
800×480, to the 1024×600 10.1'' LCD-OLinuXino-10TS.
LCD_CON connector
GPIO pin# Signal name Processor pin GPIO pin# Signal name Processor pin
1 +5V - 2 GND -
3 +3.3V - 4 GND -
5 LCD_D16 Y12 6 LCD_D17 AA12
7 LCD_D18 Y11 8 LCD_D19 AA11
9 LCD_D20 Y10 10 LCD_D21 AA10
11 LCD_D22 AB12 12 LCD_D23 AC10
13 LCD_D8 AB11 14 LCD_D9 AC11
15 LCD_D10 Y15 16 LCD_D11 AA15
17 LCD_D12 Y14 18 LCD_D13 AA14
19 LCD_D14 Y13 20 LCD_D15 AA13
29 LCD_HSYNC AB9 30 LCD_VSYNC AC9
31 LCD_CLK Y9 32 LCD_DE AA9
33 PB3 B14 34 PB4 A13
35 LCD_PWR C4 36 PB2/PWM0 A14*
37 TPX1 Y22 38 TPX2 AA22
39 TPY1 Y23 40 TPY2 AA23
IMPORTANT:
To use Android with display or resolution different than HDMI and 1024×600 (default settings) you
need to upload new Android image to the board. These images are available here:
https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A10-OLinuXino-LIME (using an operating system – NAND flash).
In Debian Linux you would need to start a start a shell script to change the built-in the image
resolution settings. Start it with ./change_display_a10_lime.sh and follow the instructions. Please
refer to chapter 2.5 “Changing the default image resolution” for more information.
Page 35 of 46
6.11 Jumper description

Please note that most the jumpers on the board are SMT type. If you feel insecure of your
soldering/cutting technique it is better not to try to adjust the jumpers since it is possible to damage
the board.
Board jumpers
Jumper name Type Default position Function
Either CLOSED or Controls whether the NAND memory
OPEN, depending module is enabled or disabled.
NAND_E SMT whether the board
has 4GB NAND If the jumper is closed than the
MEMORY MODULE NAND memory is operational.
Controls which processor pin should
be used for SATA power enabling
signal. By default the SATA
powering control uses processor pin
L22 which is port PC3.
Changing this jumper also changes

PC3/PB8 the availability of PC3 and PB8 at
SMT PC3
GPIO-1 pin 29 and GPIO-3 pin 16.
Please note that if you change the

position of the jumper from PC3 to
PB8 then you might block one of the
processor pins responsible for I2S
and AC97 audio output.
Controls which processor pin should
be used for the USB_OTG. By default
the USB_OTG uses processor pin C12
which is port PB9. The same
PB9/PH7_USB SMT PB9 pin/port is used for I2S audio. In
case you want to access the I2S
capabilities of the board you would
need to change the default
position.
PB9/PH7_GPIO jumper controls which
of the two ports (PB9 or PH7)
should be lead out to pin 9 of
GPIO3 connector for easier access.
Changing this jumper also changes

PB9/PH7_GPIO SMT PH7_GPIO
the signal available at GPIO-3
connector's pin 9.
By default this jumper is in

PH7_GPIO position and PH7 is lead
to pin 9 of GPIO3.
Page 36 of 46
6.12 Additional hardware components

The components below are mounted on OLinuXino but are not discussed above. They are listed
here for completeness:
Reset button – used to reset the board

Power button – used to reset the board
Recovery button – used to reset the board
512MB = 1× [4Gb (256M x 16bit)] DDR3 SDRAM – the exact memory used currently in the
board is SAMSUNG K4B4G1646D-BCK0
The DDR3 memory part name in the schematic might be outdated. We have used a number of
different but fully compatible DDR3 memories due to supply unavailability. It is always
recommended to check the exact memory name printed on the component itself.
4GB = 1× [32Gb (4096M x 8 bit)] NAND FLASH – only available on the 4GB version of the
board; the exact memory used in the board revision mentioned is Hynix H27UBG8T2A
PWR_LED – turns on upon powering the board
CHGLED – lights when charging a battery connected to the Li-Po battery connector.
Page 37 of 46
CHAPTER 7: SCHEMATICS

In this chapter is located information about the schematics describing logically and physically A10-
OLinuXino-LIME.
7.1 Eagle schematic

OLinuXino schematics may be found it on the OLinuXino's GitHub repository:
https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO/tree/master/HARDWARE/A10-OLinuXino-LIME. You
can download the whole repository as .zip without having a GitHub account.
Please note that the schematics of A20-OlinuXino-LIME and A10-OlinuXino-LIME are similar and
it is possible that a single board file and schematic for both boards exist.
We mostly use Eagle by Cad Soft 4.16r2 for designing. However, the files should be compatible
with the latest Eagle available. Cad Soft offers a trial version of their software that allows you to
inspect schematics and board files (without being able to modify them).
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/.
If you are looking for a schematic of an older revision of the board and it isn't available at our web
site you may request it by the support e-mail.
Page 38 of 46
7.2 Physical dimensions

Note that all dimensions are in mils.
Page 39 of 46
CHAPTER 8: REVISION HISTORY AND SUPPORT

In this chapter you will find the current and the previous version of the document you are reading.
Also the web-page for your device is listed. Be sure to check it after a purchase for the latest
available updates and examples.
8.1 Document revision
Document revision Changes Modified page

A, 30.05.14 Initial manual release All
Audio interface information; 28
B, 26.08.14 Replaced misleading suggested 12V power
supplies with 5V ones 9, 37
Clarified few important points in the 5
features;
C, 27.08.14 Expanded the text which details the 6
limits of the software support;
Added instructions on NAND image upload 26
Fixed the information about VGA output;
D, 07.10.14 30, 33
added information about composite video
E, 27.10.14 Improved the VGA output information 12, 30
Added GPIO, I2C and SPI sections
F, 03.11.14 Fixed few spelling mistakes 13, 14, 30, 31, 32, 33
Fixed power jack information
G, 27.02.2015 Various formatting improvements -
Updated HDMI part according to latest
29
H, 17.03.2015 schematics
37
Updated DDR3 memory
Clarified that we no longer load Android
I, 23.12.2015 All
on the 4GB version of the board
Page 40 of 46
8.2 Board revision

Remember to check the schematics and the board design files to compare the differences.
Board revision Notable changes

A Initial release of the board
R12, R13 (ODT, RST) resistors are now mounted (were NA before) with
B
0R value otherwise the board doesn't start.
1. PC3/PB1 is now properly labeled as PC3/PB8 both on the schematic
and the print
2. Added R73 – 10M in parallel to the 32768 crystal
3. Added 2 FET transistors and MCP130 for switching directly
external +5V without voltage drop
4. USBDRV0 goes through 3 pin SMD jumper(PB9/PH7) for compatibility
5. GPIO3(pin9) comes from the 3 pin jumper PH7/PB9 for
C
compatibility
6. 10k resistors package changed from 0603 to 0402
7. The NAND is moved a bit so there is lower chance of short-
circuit
8. Added a NA resistor between PC16/NWP of the processor and 19 pin
#WP of the NAND
9. Added R77 pull down for MCP130
Page 41 of 46
8.3 Useful web links and purchase codes

The web page you can visit for more information about your device are:
Product page: https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/A10/A10-OLinuXino-LIME/

Wiki article of the board: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A10-OLinuXino-LIME
A place for general questions, FAQ or friendly talk: https://www.olimex.com/forum/
You can get the latest updates on the software at: https://github.com/OLIMEX/OLINUXINO
You may may join our IRC channel #olimex @ freenode.net (http://webchat.freenode.net/?
channels=olimex).
The eewiki might be especially helpful: http://eewiki.net/display/linuxonarm/A10-OlinuXino-

LIME.
The sunxi community is behind the Allwinner Linux support: http://linux-sunxi.org/Main_Page.
ORDER CODES:
A10-OLinuXino-LIME – the product for which this manual is about
USB-SERIAL-CABLE-F – USB serial console cable female

USB-MINI-CABLE – standard USB type A to USB type mini cable
SY0605E – reliable power supply adapter 50Hz (EU) 5V/1A for A10-OLinuXino-LIME
SY0605E-CHINA – cheaper power supply adapter 50Hz (EU) 5V/1A for A10-OLinuXino-LIME
A10-ANDROID-SD – a tested class 10 micro SD card with the latest (by the time of leaving the
Olimex facilities) official Android release
A10-DEBIAN-SD – a tested class 10 micro SD card with the latest (by the time of leaving Olimex
facilities) official Debian Linux release
A10-OLinuXino-LIME-UEXT – an adapter from 0.05'' step connector to 0.1'' step one; also
suitable for LCD adapting
CABLE-40-40-10CM – 0.05'' step cable for connecting a new display to the board
LCD-OLINUXINO-4.3TS – low-cost 4.3'' LCD display with touchscreen component – 480×272
800×480
1024×600
CABLE-IDC40-15cm – 0.1'' step cable for connecting an LCD to A10-OLinuXino-LIME-UEXT
How to purchase?
You can purchase directly from our online shop or from any of our distributors. Note that usually it
is faster and cheaper to purchase Olimex products from our distributors. List of confirmed Olimex
LTD distributors and resellers: https://www.olimex.com/Distributors.
Please visit https://www.olimex.com/ for more info.
Page 42 of 46
8.4 Frequently asked questions
Q: I power my board, it shows a logo and then nothing happens.

A: This might be due to a number of reasons but it is recommended to try the following:
1. Download latest official image from our wiki (either Android or Debian for SD card), and upload
it to an SD card again. There are instructions how to do it in the other questions below. Try if the
board works now.
2. Check if your power supply provides enough current, try with different/better power supply.
3. Check the USB hub you are using, plug the USB cable directly to the back of your personal
computer, check the USB cable.
4. The board might enter sleep mode very fast (especially if the Android was turned off without the
“Quick Boot” mode being ticked on). Try pressing or holding down the PWR button for a couple of
seconds to wake it up.
Q: How do I write the Linux image to a micro SD card to use with my A10 board?
A: To write a Linux image to an SD card under Windows we use Win32 Disk Imager:
Download Win32 Disk Imager software

Insert card
Start program
Select file
Click "write"
To write a Linux image to an SD card under Linux:
For instance you have an image with the file name of "debian_2g.img". It would be downloaded to
the SD card connected to a Linux machine using one of the following commands:
# dd bs=4M oflag=sync if=debian_2g.img of=/dev/sdX

or
# cp debian_2g.img /dev/sdX
where X is the uSD card.
Q: How to detect and enable the Ethernet controller (if it is disabled by default)?
A: You can enable it by following these two steps:
1. To check under what name the LAN is associated write "ifconfig –a"
2. If, for example, it is under eth0 name, then write: "dhclient eth0"
This should enable the Ethernet and then SSH would also be available.
Page 43 of 46
You can also enable auto detection of Ethernet on power-up by removing the comment #auto eth0 in
/etc/network/interfaces in the Linux image.
Q: How to generate boot-able SD-card Debian Linux image for A10-OlinuXino?

Check our blog post with step by step instructions (here:
http://olimex.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/a10-olinuxino-lime-debian-build-with-kernel-3-4-90/)
note that Linux-Sunxi Kernel is a work-in-progress, this means you can try the current stage branch
but if something is broken and doesn't work just revert to the git tags we give in the blog and they
should work for sure.
Q: How to install Android on an SD-card?

Two images are built – one for 7″ LCD and one for 10″ LCD https://www.olimex.com/wiki/A10-
OLinuXino-LIME
To write the images on the SD card you will need a software tool called PhoenixSuit and then:
• Install and run PhoenixSuit.
• Go to the firmware tab of the program and point to a valid Android image (note that the images
on Gdrive are compressed and you have to extract the archives to .img files to be able write
them with PhoenixSuit)
• Disconnect the power supply and USB cable from the A10 board. Put an SD card in micro SD
holder. We recommend 4GB class 10 card.
• Press and hold RECOVERY button, apply power supply 5V, release RECOVERY button.
• Connect USB cable to the mini USB connector.
• You will be asked for drivers for the boot-loader. Navigate to the folder where you extracted
the PhoenixSuit and install the drivers from the respective executables (or manually point the
installer to the drivers folder in the PhoenixSuit installation path).
• PhoenixSuit will detect the board and would ask for the method of writing the image. Choose
method of writing the image and confirm your wish to write the image.
• Wait till upgrade succeeds
Note that it is not recommended to have your mini USB connected to an external USB hub. This
might cause delays and might distort the signal levels. Always test with the USB connected straight
to the USB ports of your computer.
Important: When Android runs for very first time it takes several minutes to initialize all files and
buffers please do not cut the power supply during this process! Also when fresh image is installed
fast boot may be disabled, which means that when you apply power supply after few seconds
Android will go in sleep mode and you have to press PWR button to start it, you can change to fast
boot when you power off there is dialog box asking you if you want next boot to be fast boot, you
have to check this box before you power off. Also note that you must do touch screen calibration
when you run Android for very first time which might require a mouse.
Q: Is it possible to boot Linux from the NAND memory?

A: Yes, it is possible. Customers have been successful in booting from the NAND. At the time of
writing this document, Olimex does not provide a suitable image, however. It would be up to you to
do it.
Page 44 of 46
Q: I have a 4GB version of the board. The board doesn't seem to have Android loaded.
A: We no longer load Android on the NAND memory of the boards. You can upload Android
following the advice above in this document.
Page 45 of 46
8.5 Product support

For product support, hardware information and error reports mail to: [email protected]. All
document or hardware feedback is welcome. Note that we are primarily a hardware company and
our software support is limited. Please consider reading the paragraph below about the warranty of
Olimex products.
All goods are checked before they are sent out. In the unlikely event that goods are faulty,
they must be returned, to OLIMEX at the address listed on your order invoice.
OLIMEX will not accept goods that have clearly been used more than the amount needed to
evaluate their functionality.
If the goods are found to be in working condition, and the lack of functionality is a result of
lack of knowledge on the customers part, no refund will be made, but the goods will be returned
to the user at their expense.
All returns must be authorized by an RMA Number. Email [email protected] for authorization
number before shipping back any merchandise. Please include your name, phone number and order
number in your email request.
Returns for any unaffected development board, programmer, tools, and cables permitted within 7
days from the date of receipt of merchandise. After such time, all sales are considered final.
Returns of incorrect ordered items are allowed subject to a 10% restocking fee. What is
unaffected? If you hooked it to power, you affected it. To be clear, this includes items that
have been soldered to, or have had their firmware changed. Because of the nature of the
products we deal with (prototyping electronic tools) we cannot allow returns of items that have
been programmed, powered up, or otherwise changed post shipment from our warehouse.
All returned merchandise must be in its original mint and clean condition. Returns on damaged,
scratched, programmed, burnt, or otherwise 'played with' merchandise will not be accepted.
All returns must include all the factory accessories which come with the item. This includes
any In-Circuit-Serial-Programming cables, anti-static packing, boxes, etc.
With your return, enclose your PO#. Also include a brief letter of explanation of why the
merchandise is being returned and state your request for either a refund or an exchange.
Include the authorization number on this letter, and on the outside of the shipping box.
Please note: It is your responsibility to ensure that returned goods reach us. Please use a
reliable form of shipping. If we do not receive your package we will not be held liable.
Shipping and handling charges are not refundable. We are not responsible for any shipping
charges of merchandise being returned to us or returning working items to you.
The full text might be found at https://www.olimex.com/wiki/GTC#Warranty for future reference.
Page 46 of 46

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A10-OLINUXINO-LIME

All boards produced by Olimex LTD are ROHS compliant

The software is released under GPL.

THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE DESIGN MATERIALS AND THE COMPONENTS

6.3 PWR jack................................................................................................................................23

1. Introduction to the chapter

The A10-OLinuXino-LIME development board enables code development of applications running

OLinuXino is an open-source, open-hardware project and all documentation is available to the

• A10 Cortex-A8 CPU 1GHz and Mali 400 GPU

1.2 Target market and purpose of the board

1.3 Board variants

The A20-OLinuXino-LIME and A20-OLinuXino-LIME-4GB boards are almost identical to,

1.4 Board version used in the manual

1.5 Document organization

CHAPTER 2: SETTING UP THE OLINUXINO BOARD

2. Introduction to the chapter

2.1 Electrostatic and electrical polarity warning

Required – items that are needed in order to achieve minimum functionality;

Additional items include:

Important note on requirements:

1. Change display output settings for Debian easily

Some of the above-suggested items can be purchased by Olimex, for instance:

2.3 Powering the board

The typical consumption of A10-OLinuXino-LIME is between 400mA and 750mA depending on

2.4 Button functions

2.5 Changing the default image resolution

The supported resolutions are listed below.

2.6 Connecting and calibrating a display

2.6.1 Android calibration

2.6.2 Debian calibration

enter the password: olimex

calibrate the touch screen and reboot the board

2.7 GPIO under Debian

0V-1V for LOW (or 0)

2.4V-3.3V for HIGH (or 1)

All voltages are measured against ground (GND).

1. Export GPIO 49:

echo 49 > /sys/class/gpio/export

Note that you can export GPIOs in range with:

for i in `seq 1 1 230`; do echo $i > /sys/class/gpio/export; done

2. Set input/output GPIO 49

2.1 Set input:

echo "in" > /sys/class/gpio/gpio49_ph9/direction

2.2 Set output:

echo "out" > /sys/class/gpio/gpio49_ph9/direction

3.1 Set value:

echo 0 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio49_ph9/value

3.2 Read input:

4. Unexport GPIO 49 when finished

echo 49 > /sys/class/gpio/unexport

A very good document on GPIO usage might be found here:

2.8 I2C and SPI under Debian

2.9 Software support

CHAPTER 3: A10-OLINUXINO-LIME BOARD DESCRIPTION

3. Introduction to the chapter

3.1 Layout (top view)

3.2 Layout (bottom view)

CHAPTER 4: THE ALLWINNER A10 MICROCONTROLLER

4. Introduction to the chapter