A Cat5 ethernet cable has four twisted pairs of high quality telephone wire (24 AWG) which may be used to connect the uart ports of two pine boards very effectively ( or between a pine board and a PC using a cp2102 based adapter similar to the one in the following pic. In the pic above I have four colored pairs (blue, orange, green, and brown). Each pair has a solid ie [B (blue)] and its partner the white wire with the stripe ie [Bw].  So we have [ B:Bw, G:Gw, and BR:BRw ]. I am ignoring the orange pair. 

   

The idea is to connect the uart3 of PineA to the uart0 (serial console) of PineB;  and to connect the uart3 of PineB to the uart0 (serial console) of PineA. The uart(s) of each pine board are cross-wired so that each machine (on ttyS3) may monitor the other machines boot progress on serial console uart0;  not at the same time, of course. 

The machine pictured above is machine PineB. The cable has been constructed so that all of the cross-wiring happens within the cable, so that the yellow and orange jumpers of each end of the cable plugs into uart3 (ttyS3) on the euler bus,  and the green and white jumpers plug into the serial console of each board at uart0 on the EXP header. Orange yellow is crossed with green white,  also G:Gw is crossed with Gw:G, and B:Bw is crossed with Bw:B-- this so that it does not matter which wires plug where on either board as long as both boards are plugged the same way -- they must be consistent !

   

In the pic above machine PineA is shown.  I have debian mate running on PineA, and ubuntu mate running on PineB. On each board I have the green jumper plugged into uart0 Tx, and the white jumper plugged into Rx.  Again, because the cable is constructed as a cross-over both boards are plugged the same--as long as they are consistent it does not matter.  I have the yellow jumper of each board plugged into uart3 Tx on the euler bus, and the orange jumper of each board plugged into the uart3 Rx on the euler bus for each board.

With this setup I can now monitor the bootup of either board, from the other board; of course, not at the same time. Or, from either board I may signon to the other board without a network connection using the serial console. I am using the screen program to access the ttyS3 (uart3) of each machine with :

So I spent the weekend hanging out with my cousin who brought his retropie along on our family vacation. I have been meaning to load one of my pine slated memory cards up as an emulation station, but after playing on his raspberry pi I have the bug and the need to get this going. What are you using for your OS and what programs are you using for emulation?

Hi

Is there any update on touch screen support for Linux? Any eta on when the touch/lcd screen will be functional with Linux?

Any info is appreciated.

Thanks

I sent an email requesting an RMA number for a bad board on 8/8.  I got a reply from Van requesting my email id and then ...... nothing.  

The details are that I have two boards, one works with the LCD screen and one doesn't.  I've tried re-seating connectors, and used the same SD card.

Why is response so slow....... ? 

How can I get a board that works?

With joy I received the PINE64 Media.
But with surprise I discovered that the SD card with OS and media software is missing, allthough the brag about increasing the size of it. I haven't received any SD card, just an empty SD box and adapter.

I have asked for a new SD card with the proper software without ANY confirmation, result or whatsoever.
I have emailed on several addresses including support and shipping, but nobody seems to respond. Probably all busy with the shipments. But please take time to at least respond to the emails which are sent weeks ago.

For several weeks I'm staring to a beautiful PINE64 as a brick without any software...

I hope to start a support conversation by this forum now...

Vincent

I'm considering selling my 2gb Pine + accessories. Would there be any interest? I'd consider trading for a Raspberry Pi 3 and any applicable accessories.

   

The pic above shows the modification to the PineA64 board , by adding just the male header pins to the board where the system LED is marked out.  You'll notice how I have removed the pins from the header spacer and soldered them directly into the pcb , at the right height of course. The female-male jumper wires have been soldered to the system LED ( I used a 5mm low power 'bright' LED here ) and they may be plugged into the male header pins easily without difficulty.

   

In the pic above I have connected the system LED via jumper cables to my male header pins in preparation for mounting this board in my Radio Shack enclosure.

   

In the pic above we're looking at a standard machine bolt 3Mx30.

... these bolts are readily available from any local hardware carrier , and are especially handy as desk stand-offs ( without enclosure ) or they may also be used to 'hang' the board from the top case bezel of an ABS plastic box like the Radio Shack enclosure discussed earlier this week.

These are 3M machine bolts; which means they just fit the holes in the Pine board. I have chosen 30mm posts here, with washers and nuts, so that when my testing is complete I can use the same stand-offs to hang the board from its ABS enclosure top bezel. One of the advantages here is that the height of the board, or the hang off-set, may be adjusted easily with the nuts and washers provided. 

Standard 'stand-offs' may be purchased via electronics whole-salers and retailers, but these bolts are generally less expensive , may be obtained locally , and don't require shipping costs. This is just another option for mounting.

Hi,

Today I decided to add a power button to my Pine64. I have a momentary push button switch with a red LED that I got off eBay that I was going to use and I soldered some header wires to use the switch with the EXP connector pins (using pin 5). However, I cannot get the switch to work. It works as a reset switch (using pin 4), but not as a power switch. I also soldered on the included switch to the holes at the front of the board but that does work either. I tired using the System LED pin (pin 2) on the EXP connector for the LED on my button, but that is not working as well. I have the latest release of Ubuntu installed. I don't see what is wrong, the button I have works, but connected to the Pine64 it doesn't? Any ideas?

Ok, so I'm running the latest RemixOs. I have the following:

• 1 third party wired XBOX controller
  
• 2 original SNES controllers
  
• multiple PS1/PS2 controllers
  
• a SNES to usb adapter (two SNES controllers in, one usb out)
  
• a PSX/PS2 to usb adapter (two PSX controllers in, one usb out)
  

1. one PSX controller plugged in, worked fine in the menus, but was non responsive in game
   
2. the  third party XBOX controller seems to work just fine in both menu and games
   
3. one SNES controller plugged in, worked fine in the menus, but was non responsive in game
   
4. on a hunch I disconnected the SNES controller from one adapter port, and plugged into the other one. Now it works in game, but not in menus.
   

1. one SNES controller works just fine in both menus and in game.
   
2. two SNES controllers seem to work fine in menus, but create problems in game.
   
3. during co-op, each controller can perform fine one at a time, but if trying to use both at the same time, it creates problems.
   
4. switched to the PSX adapter/controllers, and find the same thing.