A20-OLinuXino-Lime2

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A20 OLinuXino Lime2

A20 OLinuXino Lime2

Olimex's A20 OLinuXino Lime2 is a fully Open Source Hardware (OSHW) single board computer. This means that the designer is actively helping people using the platform for their own designs, and supports them in adding hardware functionality and production advice. This is a part of freedom that is often overlooked, but very much aligned with the FreedomBox goals. It uses the Allwinner A20 Dual Core ARM processor.

Important: Read general advice about hardware before building a FreedomBox with this single board computer.

Similar Hardware

The following similar hardware will also work well with FreedomBox.

Olimex's A20 OLinuXino Lime2 4GB. This hardware merely has extra 4GB NAND storage that is not used by FreedomBox.

Download

FreedomBox SD card images are available for this device. Follow the instructions on the download page to create a FreedomBox SD card and boot the device. These SD card images are meant for use with the on-board SD card slot and won't work when used with a separate SD card reader connected via USB.

An alternative to downloading these images is to install Debian on the device and then install FreedomBox on it.

Availability

Price: 45 EUR (A20 OLinuXino Lime2)
Price: 55 EUR (A20 OLinuXino Lime2 4GB)
Olimex Store

Hardware

Open Source Hardware (OSHW): Yes
CPU: Allwinner A20, ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1GHz dual-core
RAM: 1 GiB DDR3
Storage: 4 GB NAND flash built-in (only on 4GB model), 1x microSD slot
Architecture: armhf
Ethernet: 10/100/1000, RJ45
WiFi: None, use a USB WiFi device
SATA: 1x port

Non-Free Status

Non-free blobs required: No
WiFi: Not available
Boot Firmware: BROM (GPLV2+)

Known Issues

Revision C hardware has poor performance when receiving Ethernet data in Gigabit mode. To workaround the problem, you can switch to 100 Mbps mode instead of Gigabit mode. Login to your FreedomBox as root (or plugin the SD card into another computer) and create the file /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/20-fix-ethernet-problem with the following contents:
```
#!/bin/bash

set -e  # Exit with code on error

IFACE="$1"
ACTION="$2"

if [[ "$IFACE" != "eth0" ]]; then
    exit 0
fi

case ${ACTION} in
    up)
        logger "Setting up $IFACE in 100Mbps mode"
        mii-tool eth0 -A 100BaseTx-FD
        ;;
    *)
        ;;
esac
```
Revision G2 hardware has poor performance when transmitting Ethernet data in Gigabit mode. Download and use the Pioneer Edition image to fix the issue. It contains a slightly modified u-boot. The above workaround to put the Ethernet into 100 Mbps mode also fixes this issue.
Revision K hardware is not working properly.