(03-15-2016, 11:14 AM)vanjo9800 Wrote: However, I want very much to try the Orange Pi, but I do not want to wait much because in my country there are no such cables and I must wait another 2-3 weeks for the cable to arrive. Is there any way I can do that? I know about powering it through GPIO, but what current should I have between the two pins?Regarding powering via GPIO, it is quite easy. You can even use something like a USB-to-UART cable for this if such a cable has an extra +5V wire. For example something like this: http://www.exp-tech.de/usb-to-ttl-serial...spberry-pi The +5V wire is just directly connected to the USB +5V VBUS pin. It is normally not used for UART and is available as an extra bonus feature.
WARNING: you really need to know what you are doing and connect this +5V wire to the right pin on the expansion header! Use a multimeter if in doubt (there should be zero resistance between this pin and the central pin on the barrel power connector). And see http://linux-sunxi.org/Orange_Pi_PC#Tips...2C_Caveats
Naturally, the GND wire must be connected too. If you want to use UART for a serial console, also connect the RX and TX wires to the right pins (that's the primary purpose of this cable after all).
Also be sure that your USB hub can provide enough power. The USB specification only guarantees 500 mA, which is rather low and barely enough to boot the board and run it with very light workloads. However in practice some of the powered USB hubs can handle USB hard drives (which may require up to 1A for spin-up). At the end of the day, your mileage may vary and a proper DC cable with a proper PSU is surely the best option.
