Mele A1000

The original A10 based Mele Set-Top-Boxes are the start of the sunxi project. These imminently hackable machines were exported by Tom Cubie of Cubieboard fame and these devices kickstarted community development for the Allwinner A10 SoC.

There are 7 variants of the Mele A1000. The Mele A1000 has a wedge-like shape whereas the slightly younger A2000 is more square. The A100 uses the mele A2000 square shape, but it lacks a SATA port. The Mele A1000G is a 1GiB RAM version of the Mele A1000, just like the Mele A2000G is a 1GiB version of the Mele A2000. Both come with 8GB NAND. The Mele A100G is a 1GB RAM version of the Mele A100, but keeps the 4GB NAND. Then there is the Mele A3700, which is also a 1GiB version, but it uses a completely different case design with an external wifi antenna, 8GB NAND, and has no SATA port.

All motherboards are essentially the same, apart from tiny revisions. The 1GB versions of course have a differing layout due to the doubling of the RAM chips. The Mele A100(G) has no SATA connector soldered on, and the LED, IR & power button have moved to the center of the front of the device. The A3700 lacks SATA as well, and seems to make LED, IR and power button available through a connector.

= Identification =

In android, under Settings->About Device, you will find:


 * Model Number: Mele-HTPC
 * Build Number: Mele-HTPC Tue Mar 27 14:40:57 CST 2012 Version 1.5

= Sunxi support =

Current status
Fully supported.

Mele A1000/A2000/A100

 * For building u-boot, use the "Mele_A1000" target.
 * The .fex file can be found in sunxi-boards as mele_a1000.fex

Everything else is the same as the Manual build howto.

Mele A1000G/A2000G/A100G

 * For building u-boot, use the "Mele_A1000G" target.
 * Before building kernel install u-boot-tools
 * Add LOADADDR=0x40008000 before kernel build command
 * The .fex file can be found in sunxi-boards as mele_a1000g.fex

Everything else is the same as the Manual build howto.

Mele A3700

 * For building u-boot, use the "Mele_A3700" target.
 * The .fex file can be found in sunxi-boards as mele_a3700.fex

Everything else is the same as the Manual build howto.



= Tips, Tricks, Caveats =

FEL mode
You can short 11K1 jumper to enter FEL mode.

VGA Connector
Even though the Mele comes with a blue VGA connector, and blue signifies that this is a DDC enabled VGA connector... And even though there are wires for DDC SCL/SDA all the way to the 8-pin connector on the motherboard... These wires are simply floating. The Mele A1000 and derivates simply are unable to talk to a VGA connected monitor and query it for what modes it supports. The mode will have to be hardcoded.

Composite
The Mele Ax000 uses DAC3 for the composite connection. So make sure to set the following in your tv_out_dac_para if you want to use composite: dac3_src = 0



GPIO Access
The Mele A2000 (and probably A1000) have a number of pins accessible for GPIO use. Here are some that have been identified. See image for color coded locations.
 * GPIO_PH10 (main red led)
 * GPIO_PH20 (main blue led)
 * GPIO_PH22 (unused?)
 * GPIO_PH23 (unused?)

= Adding a serial port =



Device disassembly
Trivially unscrew 4 screws.

Locating the UART
The Mele has a 4 pin 2.0 pitch JST-xH connector available for its UART0 port. This is the same as some 90s analog audio cables which ran from a CDROM to the sound card. More information is available at our UART howto.

= Pictures =


 * Mele A1000

= Also known as =

The Mele A1000 motherboard in a different housing is known as the Mele A2000. The Mele A2000 which lacks SATA is sold as Mele A100.

= See also =


 * Original Rhombus tech wiki page on hacking the Mele A1000.

Related devices

 * Mele A1000G Quad ( A31 based.)