ORCA SBC/Getting started/Connections and first boot

History
Issue Date	Notes
2021/12/14	First release
2022/10/27	Minor changes
2023/01/17	Update connections pictures

Connections

This section describes how to quick start the Evaluation Kit. The picture below shows the ORCA SBC inside into the Evaluation Kit:

ORCA SBC connections

The system is programmed to automatically boot Linux at power up, loading the bootloader, the kernel and device tree image and the root file system from the SD card memory.

To connect to the system:

• insert the SD card into the micro SD slot
• connect the USB Type C power adapter to J3 on the board
• connect the USB to TTL UART adapter to the J35 connector on the SBC and connect the USB side connector to an USB port on your computer
  • if required, install the FTDI USB to serial driver
  • start your favorite terminal emulator software on PC (eg: PuTTY, Minicom, ...); communication parameters are 115200,N,8,1
• (optional) connect the ethernet cable from your LAN hub/switch to the J10 ethernet0 RJ45 connector
  • start SSH, using the following parameters:
    • ip address: 192.168.0.89
    • username: root
    • empty password
• (optional) connect the HDMI cable from your display monitor to the J12 connector (with the provided mini-HDMI to HDMI adapter)

Warning: please, pay attention to the debug cable header connection, see the picture here below:

First boot

Once power has been applied, U-Boot bootloader will be executed and the debug messages will be printed on the serial console. U-Boot automatically runs the autoboot macro, that loads the kernel/dtb and launches it with the options for mounting the root file system from the SD card.

At the end of the boot process, a demo application is launched and you can interact with the system using the touchscreen. The Linux shell is available on the serial console. Moreover, both telnet and ssh services are available to connect to the system through the network.

Serial console

A simple Windows serial and SSH/telnet client and terminal can be downloaded from here.

The following picture shows the serial setup for connecting to the EVK:

PuTTY connection using Serial Port

once selected the COM[x] serial port, click the Open button which starts the terminal. Once powered, the EVK shows the U-boot debug messages printed on the serial console.

Connecting through SSH

The following picture shows the SSH connection to the EVK:

PuTTY connection using SSH

once selected the IP address, click the Open button which starts the terminal. Once connected, the EVK shows the linux kernel prompt login for inserting the login:

PuTTY SSH login

Then use the root login username without password:

PuTTY SSH connected

---