Enable Hardware Features

Some boards require some manual configuration to turn on/off certain features

In some cases, the procedure is “less than obvious”, so we document some basic examples here.

Generic howto for Allwinner devices

Legacy or current kernel ?

Many Armbian images come in two flavours : Legacy (using an older kernel version) and current (up-to-date LTS kernel). Depending on kernel version, the procedure to enable/disable features is not the same.

  • Legacy kernel (4.19.x): DT (Device Tree) overlays
  • Current kernel (5.4.x) : DT (Device Tree) overlays

Note: Support for older kernel versiones (like 3.4.x or 3.10.x) has been dropped.

How to reconfigure video output?

This affect current kernel only.

U-Boot supports HDMI and LCD output on Allwinner sunxi SoCs, LCD output requires the CONFIG_VIDEO_LCD_MODE Kconfig value to be set.

The sunxi U-Boot driver supports the following video-mode options:

  • monitor=[none|dvi|hdmi|lcd|vga|composite-*] - Select the video output to use

  • none: Disable video output.

  • dvi/hdmi: Selects output over the hdmi connector with dvi resp. hdmi output format, if edid is used the format is automatically selected.
  • lcd: Selects video output to a LCD screen.
  • vga: Selects video output over the VGA connector.
  • composite-pal/composite-ntsc/composite-pal-m/composite-pal-nc: Selects composite video output, note the specified resolution is ignored with composite video output.

  • Defaults to monitor=dvi.

  • hpd=[0|1] - Enable use of the HDMI HotPlug Detect feature 0: Disabled. Configure DVI/HDMI output even if no cable is detected 1: Enabled. Fallback to the LCD / VGA / none in that order (if available) Defaults to hpd=1.

  • hpd_delay=<int> - How long to wait for the HDMI HPD signal in milliseconds When the monitor and the board power up at the same time, it may take some time for the monitor to assert the HPD signal. This configures how long to wait for the HPD signal before assuming no cable is connected. Defaults to hpd_delay=500.

  • edid=[0|1] - Enable use of DDC + EDID to get monitor info 0: Disabled. 1: Enabled. If valid EDID info was read from the monitor the EDID info will overrides the xres, yres and refresh from the video-mode env. variable. Defaults to edid=1.

  • overscan_x/overscan_y=<int> - Set x/y overscan value This configures a black border on the left and right resp. top and bottom to deal with overscanning displays. Defaults to overscan_x=32 and overscan_y=20 for composite monitors, 0 for other monitors.

For example to always use the HDMI connector, even if no cable is inserted, using edid info when available and otherwise initalizing it at 1024x768@60Hz, use: setenv video-mode sunxi:1024x768-24@60,monitor=dvi,hpd=0,edid=0.

Parameters regarding video must be saved into U-Boot environment file since they must be read before reading boot script. You can do this by adding saveenv command at the end of boot script (boot.cmd). Remember to recompile boot.cmd to boot.scr and note that changes will come into action after second boot.

What flavour am I using ?

Best way to know is by checking your kernel version :

root@bananapipro:~# uname -a
Linux bananapipro 4.5.2-sunxi #11 SMP Thu Apr 28 21:53:25 CEST 2016 armv7l GNU/Linux

In this example the kernel version is 4.5.2 so you can use DT to tweak some settings. If you get a kernel version 3.X then you’ll be certainly using FEX like on an Orange Pi Plus 2E :

root@orangepiplus2e:~# uname -a
Linux orangepiplus2e 3.4.112-sun8i #10 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jun 1 19:43:08 CEST 2016 armv7l GNU/Linux

FEX (outdated/unsupported, informational only)

Which file should I edit

Armbian embed a lot of BIN files, but a symlink point to the one in use :

root@orangepiplus2e:~# ls -la /boot/script.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 Jun  1 20:30 /boot/script.bin -> bin/orangepiplus2e.bin

Updating a FEX

You may need to use sudo with all the following commands.

The whole process won’t overwrite any of your files. If you’re paranoid, you can make a proper backup of your BIN file :

cp /boot/script.bin /boot/bin/script.bin.backup

Then you can decompile your BIN into a FEX :

bin2fex /boot/script.bin /tmp/custom.fex

Finally you can edit your FEX file with your favorite text editor and compile it back to a BIN :

fex2bin /tmp/custom.fex /boot/bin/custom.bin

The last step is to change the symlink to use your custom BIN :

ln -sf /boot/bin/custom.bin /boot/script.bin

H3 based Orange Pi, legacy kernel

Enable serial /dev/ttyS3 on pins 8 and 10 of the 40 pin header

Update the FEX configuration (which is compiled into a .bin) located at /boot/script.bin

Decompile .bin to .fex

cd /boot
bin2fex script.bin > custom.fex
rm script.bin # only removes symbolic link

Edit .fex file

[uart3]
uart_used = 1 ; Change from 0 to 1
uart_port = 3
uart_type = 2 ; In this case we have a 2 pin UART
uart_tx = port:PA13<3><1><default><default>
uart_rx = port:PA14<3><1><default><default>

Compile .fex to .bin

fex2bin custom.fex > script.bin

Reboot

Notice that /dev/ttyS3 appears. That is your new UART device.

Connect your LCD display

I tried three different display connection types: I2C, (4bit) parallel and SPI. All of them are working perfectly with my image. I didn’t took a picture of the third one. It’s a standard Hitachi HD44780 based 20×4 LCD, wired and tested according to Wiring(B)PI example.

I2C

I am using this code for mainline kernel and with changed line: /dev/i2c-%u = /dev/i2c-2 for Legacy kernel.

SPI

Currently working only under Legacy kernel.

Image has pre-loaded settings for two LVDS display.

To enable 7 inch.

ln -sf /boot/bin/bananapilcd7.bin /boot/script.bin

To enable 5 inch.

ln -sf /boot/bin/bananapilcd5.bin /boot/script.bin

If you need touch screen support, add this module to your /etc/modules

ft5x_ts