Campaign Status

Some notes about the status of hardware and software related to the crowdsupply campaign.

Hardware

The campaign notes the following specifications for the Computer Card:

  • Allwinner A20 SoC
  • 2GB RAM
  • 8GB NAND flash memory
  • HDMI output

According to the 2.7.4 EOMA68-A20 Cards Arrived and Taiwan, Micro Desktop Casework, Laptop PCB1, and A20 updates, the NAND memory will no longer be provided. Booting will be permitted from the internal microSD card slot (in addition to the external microSD card slot provided by a housing such as the Micro Desktop).

According to the 2.7.5 Samples received - DRAM is OK, Micro HDMI to confirm, the specially-manufactured RAM appeared to function correctly. However, the HDMI output had not been tested at that time.

Software

The campaign provides a number of different software options for the Computer Card:

  • Libre Tea: Parabola GNU/Linux
  • Practically Perfect: Debian GNU/Linux
  • Numero Uno: Devuan GNU/Linux
  • Getting Ahead: Fedora 24 GNU/Linux

According to the 2.7.4 EOMA68-A20 Cards Arrived update, due to the elimination of the NAND flash memory, such distributions are not likely to be pre-installed on the cards. Instead, users will need to copy images onto microSD cards.

Linux Kernel

Various factors affect the kernel version to be delivered:

  • Device tree overlay support
  • Mainline kernel stability
  • Peripheral support in the A20 itself

According to a message in the topic "Mainlining the EOMA68-A20", the device tree overlays are intended to let the Computer Card "see" different devices depending on the housing being used. Also mentioned are problems with the 4.7 release candidate series of kernels.

The status matrix of the linux-sunxi.org Linux mainlining effort may be informative about the suitability of newer kernels.

According to a message in the topic "eoma68 a20 card production", a 3.4 series kernel is still likely to be provided, mainly due to time and resource constraints. More recent kernel and distribution versions will need to be prepared independently and/or after cards are shipped.

See the source code page for resources - some of historic interest only - related to the software, and the A10 Kernel Status page for a description of kernel versions and their significance.