Cubieboard/FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Who created Cubieboard and behind it?

 * Tom Cubie and some of his friends.

How can I tell how much RAM I have?

 * Look at the ID on the chips themselves. Then, if there are two chips mounted on the board and the description says 256X16 then 256Mbit x 16 = 512MB per chip. If your Cubieboard has two of those chips, then the total memory is 1GB.

Is the processor Dual Core?

 * It's a Cortex-A8, therefore it's a single core.

What are the power specs for Cubieboard?

 * The Cubieboard requires a regulated 5V DC, 2A power supply with a 4.0mm (external diameter) x 1.7mm (internal diameter) barrel plug. The outside of the plug is the ground.
 * A 500mA supply is sufficient if you do not attach a SATA hard disk to the Cubieboard.
 * Your Cubieboard package may have a USB to DC power cable, so you can connect to your computer's USB port and power the Cubieboard.
 * Please note that if you then connect USB peripherals to your Cubieboard, then these may require more power than the standard 500mA that a PC USB port provides.

Is it possible to power the Cubieboard via USB?

 * Yes, you can connect the USB cable to the OTG microUSB port on the Cubieboard.
 * Generally, you can get the power from the USB port of your computer (at 500mA, according to the USB specifications), or use a USB power supply like those available for mobile phones. If would be ideal if you can find a Sony PSP power supply, because it provides 5V, 2A, just like the Cubieboard requires.
 * If you use a generic USB power supply, it should indicate how many Amps (A) it can provide.

Does Cubieboard support SDHC memory cards?

 * Yes, SDHC memory cards are supported by all A10-based devices.

Looks like there are two 3.5mm jacks. Are the HP out and Mic in?

 * Board markings says HP (HeadPhone) on the top one and LineIn on the bottom one. Note that a Line In is different from a Mic In. You need additional hardware to convert a Line In into a Mic In.

What software does Cubieboard come with?

 * There is a screen of an application that is run during production to verify the board.
 * Cubieboard is meant to customize and replace the default OS with whatever you need for your use the board. It is an open platform for you to meld into your liking.
 * All Linux distributions which support ARM can run on the cubieboard. It ships with an OS based on Buildroot to give you full control to tinker with every bit, but you also have the option to run some more mainstream OS like Fedora, Debian, Arch, Ubuntu or any other ARM Linux distribution. It also runs Android if you are interested in exploring that.
 * The new shipped Cubieboards (Indiegogo and latter) have ready to use Android ICS installed in the NAND memory.

Is there a link to the original images that have come preinstalled in the Cubieboard NAND memory, in case I want to re-install?

 * See http://dl.cubieboard.org/ for those images.

What are the serial port settings?

 * There is one USB-serial cable in the cubieboard package. The four color lines of the cable are: White, Black, Red, Green.
 * The definition of the lines are: RED +5v, BLACK GND, GREEN RX, WHITE TX.
 * Connect the black one to GND pin on the board, GREEN one to RX pin, WHITE one to TX pin.
 * Don't connect the RED one if it is 5V, it may not break the board but you had better not do that.
 * The standard package does not contain the serial cable, the rich package contains the serial cable.

Is it possible to connect a SSD drive on Cubieboard?

 * Yes

How do I get the monitor to work on the Cubieboard?

 * You really need an HDMI monitor capable of either 1280x720 (720p) or 1920x1080 (1080p) for use with the pre-installed image.
 * Newer kernels should support and monitor with valid EDID.

What displays does cubieboard support? Can I connect my VGA/DVI/HDMI/LVDS/DP/.. display to cubieboard?

 * While A10 comes with support for VGA/TV/LVDS/HDMI only HDMI connetor is actualy provided on cubieboard out of the box. HDMI is DVI compatible but you need recent kernel to use most DVI screens. The pre-installed android kernel is configured for 720p digital TV mode. VGA/LVDS/TV outputs are available on the 2mm headers. To make use of them you need to add the resistors/buffers and connector required by the interface you want to use. Cubieboard only supports two displays at the same time and some pins are shared between VGA/LVDS/TV. You have to provide the interface hardware *and* properly configure the pins to which it is attached.

I notice there is an IR interface on Cubieboard. How do I use it?

 * Please refer to the A10 User Manual section 19 IR Interface, the driver is already in the kernel, an input device that can work with normal IR remote. IR test is one of the tests of the Cubieboard before shipping.

What is the spacing between the contacts of the pin headers?

 * 2.0mm

Does the Cubieboard support SATA port multipliers and what is the max limit of a SATA hard disk drive?

 * A10 does not support port multipliers. Storage limit is per SATA 2.0 specifications, 48 bit LBA addressing or 128 PiB.
 * To connect more disks, you would need a SATA cabinet that does RAID by itself. So the multiplier needs to emulate a single drive. The host system Cubieboard then sees only a single SATA disk, with whatever capacity your chosen RAID level gives you.

There is a SATA connector. What harddrives will work?

 * The onboard 5V SATA power connector is only capable to power 2.5" hard disk drives.
 * For 3.5" HDD usage you need a power supply that supplies 5V + 12V, and power the cubieboard from 5V and HDD from 5v + 12v.
 * The option of powering both separately from the same power supply is always possible.

How can I flash linux onto NAND?

 * The fastest way is to use the PIMP_MY_MELE utility from guillaume. He has Ubuntu and Debian distributions with this utility here and here For more detailed, "roll-your-own" instructions, see this thread in the miniand.com forums.

OK, I have my Cubieboard now! Where is a good place to start?

 * CNXSoft has written a great Quick Start Guide here. There is a First Steps page on this Wiki. You can join the Group Page and the Google+ Community