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OLIMEX© 2015

A13-SOM 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.

The hardware designs of A13-SOM-256 and A13-SOM-512 development boards are considered intellectual property to
Olimex. The hardware design files are considered copyright material and would not be distributed.

The hardware designs of the boards that can be attached over A13-SOM-256 and A13-SOM-512 (e.g. A13-SOM-WIFI,
A13-SOM-WIFI, A13-SOM-LTE, etc) are considered open source hardware. The source design files are published
online and accessible by everyone. 

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 A13-SOM-256 AND A13-SOM-512. THEY ARE CONSIDERED 
SUITABLE ONLY FOR A13-SOM-256 AND A13-SOM-512 RESPECTIVELY.

Page 2 of 36

Summary of Contents for A13-SOM-256

Page 1: ...A13 SOM 256 and A13 SOM 512 System on Module boards capable of Linux boot USER S MANUAL Revision B March 2015 Designed by OLIMEX Ltd 2014 All boards produced by Olimex LTD are ROHS compliant...

Page 2: ...ressed 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 s...

Page 3: ...3 2 Mounted powering 11 2 4 Button functions 11 2 5 Interacting with the board 12 2 6 Changing the default image resolution 12 2 7 Connecting and calibrating a display 15 2 7 1 Android calibration 16...

Page 4: ...6 4 3 GPIO 3 General Purpose Input Output 10pin connector 28 6 5 LCD_TR 40pin connector 28 6 6 Jumper description 29 6 7 Additional hardware components 29 CHAPTER 7 SCHEMATICS 30 7 Introduction to th...

Page 5: ...IFI 4GB All of the features listed above are also supported in the software releases suitable for the board The hardware design of A13 SOM development board is considered intellectual property to Olim...

Page 6: ...t board would be more suitable for users with some hardware experience or people already familiar with other single board Linux boards and designs As mentioned in the previous chapter the board is mea...

Page 7: ...lopment for Allwinner A13 I recommend you to get the 512MB version of A13 SOM A similar board is A13 OLinuXino it is meant for fully evaluating the capabilities of A13 processor if you are going to im...

Page 8: ...s Chapter 3 contains the general board diagram and layout Chapter 4 describes the component that is the heart of the board the A13 Allwinner processor Chapter 5 is an explanation of the control circui...

Page 9: ...ge to the board 2 2 Requirements In order to set up the A13 SOM board optimally one or more additional items may be needed They might be generally placed in two categories Required items that are need...

Page 10: ...id smoothly 2 3 Powering the board The powering requirements of the A13 SOM are different depending on whether you use it in stand alone mode or mounted atop A13 SOM WIFI The sub chapters below deal w...

Page 11: ...re called 5V and GND near the PWR_LED and the USB_OTG these pins can be used to connect a power jack Some typical consumptions are listed below A13 SOM 512 A13 SOM WIFI 4GB running Debian consumption...

Page 12: ...d be a short circuit Make sure that the serial cable is connected to your personal computer and recognized properly after driver installation Then open a terminal program on the serial COM port which...

Page 13: ...te 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 re...

Page 14: ...ain from nano editor wrscr sh this will convert script fex to script bin and the script bin file will be written to the microSD card reboot Reboot the board and the new settings would be enabled Alter...

Page 15: ...the display via the board the Olimex made displays require 5V of voltage You would need to power the display externally Newer displays made by Olimex have both 0 1 and 0 05 step connectors So if you a...

Page 16: ...r olimex if calibrating without the X the user is root su olimex enter the password olimex then calibrate the touch screen and reboot the board sudo reboot 2 8 Software support We maintain Linux and A...

Page 17: ...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 soft...

Page 18: ...quainted 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 A13 SOM board itself 3 1 Layout top vi...

Page 19: ...OLIMEX 2015 A13 SOM user s manual 3 2 Layout bottom view Page 19 of 36...

Page 20: ...HD Video Decoding 1920 1080 30fps Support H 264 H 263 VC1 Mpeg1 2 4 Divx 3 4 5 6 Xvid VP6 8 AVS etc HD Video Encoding Support encoding in H 264 format Up to 1920 1080 at 30fps DPU LCD Interfaces CPU R...

Page 21: ...ow System Power Consumption Smart Backlight auto adjust backlight acc to the image display Package eLQFP176 More information can be found on Allwinner s web site at the following web address http www...

Page 22: ...d separately is around 0 1A when connected to a 3 3V voltage source provided either at GPIO 1 s pin 1 or UART1 3 3V pin There are several GND pin and pinhole locations You can use any of the board s G...

Page 23: ...RT1 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 S...

Page 24: ...connecting the serial cable The table of UART1 signals might be found below UART1 Pin Signal name Processor pin 1 3 3 VCC 2 UART1 TX A7 3 UART1 RX B7 4 GND GND 6 2 MicroSD card connector The micro SD...

Page 25: ...table with the microSD card signals might be found below SD MMC1 connector Pin Connector signal name Wire name processor pin number 1 DAT2 RES SDC0_DATA2 113 2 CD DAT3 CS SDC0_DATA3 112 3 CMD DI SDC0_...

Page 26: ...Below you would find a general overview of the board s GPIO and LCD pins They might be also found in the tables further down in the chapter To understand better what each processor pin does it might...

Page 27: ...23 17 PIN10 TWI1 SCK PB15 TWI1_SCK 105 18 PIN33 PE8 CSI_D4 SDC2_CMD 122 19 PIN11 TWI1 SDA PB16 TWI1_SDA 106 20 PIN32 PE7 CSI_D3 SDC2_D3 121 21 PIN12 NWE PC0 NWE SPI_MOSI 8 22 PIN31 PE6 CSI_D2 SDC2_D2...

Page 28: ...mages we provide however it can be used with Debian Linux The biggest display 15 6 1366 768 or 1920 1080 is not supported by the A13 SOM design The core processor lacks the required computing power fo...

Page 29: ...components below are mounted on the A13 SOM 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 A13 SOM 256 has...

Page 30: ...nt 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 insp...

Page 31: ...OLIMEX 2015 A13 SOM user s manual 7 2 Physical dimensions Note that all dimensions are in mils Page 31 of 36...

Page 32: ...on Changes Modified page A 26 11 14 Initial manual release All B 17 03 15 Updated RAM memory to reflect latest schematic Updated board revision 29 32 8 2 Board revision Remember to check the schematic...

Page 33: ...with 0 1 step and routes a number of frequently used signals to the easier to access 0 1 row of pinholes The sources schematics of A13 SOM WIFI are available for download and the board is considered...

Page 34: ...nter 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 d...

Page 35: ...ction of the wiki A13 SOM 256 article Make sure that the download link you visit clearly indicates that the image is suitable for the NAND memory since there are images suitable for microSD card also...

Page 36: ...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 firmw...

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