On Thu, Mar 09, 2023 at 09:34:05AM +0900, Henry wrote: > I've been listening in, and I thank you all very much for your input. > I have 0 experience with an SBC, but want to move to a > low-power-consumption basic web and file server. Because of the > battery options which would allow me to do without a UPS, I'm > seriously considering the olimex a20-onlinuxino-lime2.
I'm using 2 of them this way :) > > Some questions from this newbie: > o can I create a NetBSD bootable micro SD card, or does one have to > use Debian or Android on these A-20 Olimex SBCs? NetBSD runs fine on A20. You can look at http://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/allwinner/ for details on creating a bootable SD card > o can I hook up a serial concole via a standard RS232 cable? No, most SBC use a serial port with TTL levels (usually 0 and +3.3V), not RS232 levels. You need a USB-UART adapter like FTDI-based one, or this one: https://www.olimex.com/Products/Breadboarding/BB-CH340T/open-source-hardware > o after the initial install of NetBSD, can I have the computer boot > from a USB (preferably C-type, but standard type okay)? Or is it > better to just get a board with the eMMC flash memory option and boot > from that? The A20 only has USB 2.0. the eMMC flash is OK and is a bit faster than SD card. Note that the A20 has a native SATA port (i.e. not behind a USB-SATA bridge), so if you need speed or capacity, adding a SATA 2.5" disk or SSD is a good option (I run one with a SSD too). > o is there a cookbook-kind of howto document on installing NetBSD on > ARM architecture SBCs? Start from http://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/ -- Manuel Bouyer <[email protected]> NetBSD: 26 ans d'experience feront toujours la difference --
