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Shifted UART information, removed redundant information
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x1y committed Nov 14, 2024
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6 changes: 6 additions & 0 deletions content/documentation/PineNote/Development/UART.md
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{{< figure src="/documentation/PineNote/images/Pinenote-uart-dongle.jpeg" title="Basic non-stock PineNote UART dongle" width="400" >}}

The USB UART dongle delivered with the PineNote allows you to have access to a serial port via USB-C Debug Accessory Mode (_DAM_) without having to open up the device. The factory firmware runs at a baud rate of 1500000bps, 8 data bits 1 stop bit, no parity and no flow control. The USB-C male end should go into the PineNote and the female end can be connected with a standard USB-C cable to your computer.

It is relatively easy to build your own UART interface with a USB-C breakout board (for example https://www.ebay.com/itm/275407037613), two resistors and a 3.3V USB serial adapter. It is basically just two 1K pull up resistors (R3, R4), the data sheet values of 10K isn’t whats on the real hardware, see the [schematic](https://files.pine64.org/doc/PineNote/PineNote_USB-C_Console_UART_breakout_board_schematic_v1.0_20210903.pdf). The pull ups enable the serial output on SBU1 and SBU2 you can use with any 3.3V USB serial adapter.

The UART dongle is not necessary to flash the PineNote, but is essential if something goes wrong to fix it without having to open the case.

This page contains information on creating and using a [UART](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_asynchronous_receiver-transmitter) dongle for the PineNote. The PineNote was shipped with a compatible UART dongle, but replacements are not available to order in case of loss or hardware fault. Thankfully it is not difficult to make your own from easily-acquired components and a small bit of soldering.

Fear not if you’ve never soldered anything before! This serves as an excellent first soldering project. Borrow the tools from a friend, local hackerspace, or tool library. Pine64 also makes a nice soldering iron themselves, the Pinecil.
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16 changes: 1 addition & 15 deletions content/documentation/PineNote/Development_efforts.md
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Expand Up @@ -80,18 +80,4 @@ The following concerns have been brought up as open, unanswered topics:
* Why is the Headphone output of the audio codec routed to the speakers? HPL_OUT is routed from the RK817 PMIC and audio codec to U9010 (the USB-C switch) and U6 (the audio amplifier). SPK_OUT is unused. It seems like SPK_OUT should be routed to U6 and HPL_OUT to U9010.
* Nitpick: The cold white charging LED bleeds through the gap between the rear case and the device’s face. It does not bleed onto the screen, but it is jarring in low-light conditions or when the screen is amber. Could be resolved in software by turning off the charge LED when the screen is on.
* Is there any way to indicate when the device is in rockusb mode, such as connecting a certain magic pin to the power LED?
* The modem/4G connector (J6010) has its I2C and UART pins unconnected. Could those be connected to the SoC?

### UART Dongle

The USB UART dongle delivered with the PineNote allows you to have access to a serial port via USB-C Debug Accessory Mode (_DAM_) without having to open up the device.
The factory firmware runs at a baud rate of 1500000bps, 8 data bits 1 stop bit, no parity and no flow control. The USB-C male end should go into the PineNote and the female end can be connected with a standard USB-C cable to your computer.

It is relatively easy to build your own UART interface with a USB-C breakout board (for example https://www.ebay.com/itm/275407037613), two resistors and a 3.3V USB serial adapter. It is basically just two 1K pull up resistors (R3, R4), the data sheet values of 10K isn’t whats on the real hardware, see the [schematic](https://files.pine64.org/doc/PineNote/PineNote_USB-C_Console_UART_breakout_board_schematic_v1.0_20210903.pdf). The pull ups enable the serial output on SBU1 and SBU2 you can use with any 3.3V USB serial adapter.

The UART dongle is not necessary to flash the PineNote, but is essential if something goes wrong to fix it without having to open the case.

You can flash premade images with the following links:

* https://github.com/m-weigand/pinenote_uboot_patching_dorians_backup (Note: this creates a U-Boot image to flash, do not worry about idblock.bin on the instructions for the next link)
* https://github.com/m-weigand/pinenote-debian-recipes/releases/
* The modem/4G connector (J6010) has its I2C and UART pins unconnected. Could those be connected to the SoC?

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