PINE64 Yuzuki Avaota-A1

Tags: chip:a527

Avaota-A1 is an ARM64 Single-Board Computer based on the Allwinner A527 SoC.

../../../../../_images/avaota-a1.jpg

Features

  • System on Chip: Allwinner A527

    • CPU: Octa-Core ARM Cortex-A55

    • GPU: ARM G57 MC1

    • Interrupt Controller: ARM GIC-600 (Generic Interrupt Controller v3)

  • RAM: 2GB or 4GB LPDDR4 SDRAM

  • Internal Storage: 16GB or 32GB eMMC

  • External Storage: MicroSD

  • Ethernet: Dual Gigabit Ports

  • Wireless: WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.4

  • I/O: UART, SPI, I2C, USB 3.0 OTG

Serial Console

A USB Serial Adapter (CH340 or CP2102) is required to run NuttX.

Connect the USB Serial Adapter to the Avaota-A1 Serial Console at:

USB Serial

Avaota-A1 Pin

GND

Pin 6 (GND)

RX

Pin 8 (UART0 TX)

TX

Pin 10 (UART0 RX)

On the USB Serial Adapter, set the Voltage Level to 3V3.

Connect Avaota-A1 to our computer with the USB Serial Adapter. On our computer, start a Serial Terminal and connect to the USB Serial Port at 115.2 kbps:

$ screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

NuttX will appear in the Serial Console when it boots.

ARM64 Toolchain

Before building NuttX, download the toolchain for xPack GNU AArch64 Embedded GCC (aarch64-none-elf).

Add the downloaded toolchain xpack-aarch64-none-elf-gcc-.../bin to the PATH Environment Variable.

Check the ARM64 Toolchain:

$ aarch64-none-elf-gcc -v

Building

To build NuttX, install the prerequisites and clone the git repositories for nuttx and apps.

Configure the NuttX project and build the project:

$ cd nuttx
$ tools/configure.sh avaota-a1:nsh
$ make

This produces the NuttX Kernel nuttx.bin. Next, build the NuttX Apps Filesystem:

$ make export
$ pushd ../apps
$ tools/mkimport.sh -z -x ../nuttx/nuttx-export-*.tar.gz
$ make import
$ popd
$ genromfs -f initrd -d ../apps/bin -V "NuttXBootVol"

This generates the Initial RAM Disk initrd.

Package the NuttX Kernel and Initial RAM Disk into a NuttX Image:

$ head -c 65536 /dev/zero >/tmp/nuttx.pad
$ cat nuttx.bin /tmp/nuttx.pad initrd >Image

The NuttX Image Image will be copied to a microSD Card in the next step.

Booting

NuttX boots on PinePhone via a microSD Card. To prepare the microSD Card, download the AvaotaOS Image AvaotaOS-...-noble-gnome-arm64-avaota-a1.img.xz from github.com/AvaotaSBC/AvaotaOS.

Write the downloaded image to a microSD Card with Balena Etcher.

Copy the file Image from the previous section and overwrite the file on the microSD Card.

Check that Avaota-A1 is connected to our computer via a USB Serial Adapter at 115.2 kbps:

$ screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

Insert the microSD Card into Avaota-A1 and power up. NuttX boots and NuttShell (nsh) appears in the Serial Console.

To see the available commands in NuttShell:

$ help

Configurations

nsh

Basic configuration that runs NuttShell (nsh). This configuration is focused on low level, command-line driver testing. Built-in applications are supported, but none are enabled. Serial Console is enabled on UART0 at 115.2 kbps.

Peripheral Support

NuttX for Avaota-A1 supports these peripherals:

Peripheral

Support

NOTES

UART

Yes