Knowledge Base
The AB Electronics UK Knowledge Base provides support solutions, tutorials and troubleshooting guides.
Orange Pi computer boards introduction
Expansion boards compatible with the Orange Pi computers using Armbian linux
The Orange Pi range of computer boards is available from http://www.orangepi.com
We have tested our range of expansion boards on three of their models: Orange Pi Zero 2, Orange Pi One and Orange Pi PC.
We used Armbian Bookworm from www.armbian.com, which has I2C and UART support for our testing. To enable the I2C and UART buses, please use the following instructions.
Orange Pi Zero 2
(Tested on Armbian 23.05.1 Bookworm)
Armbian Bookworm Linux for Orange Pi Zero 2 has I2C and UART enabled by default.
The I2C port can be found at /dev/i2c-3
The UART port can be found at /dev/ttyS3
Orange Pi One
(Tested on Armbian 23.8.1 Bookworm)
Enable I2C and UART buses using the command:
sudo armbian-config
When armbian-config loads, select “System” > “Hardware”
To enable I2C select: “i2c0”
To enable the UART port select: “UART3”
Save and reboot your Orange Pi.
The I2C port can be found at /dev/i2c-0
The UART port can be found at /dev/ttyS3
Orange Pi PC
(Tested on Armbian 23.8.1 Bookworm)
Enable I2C and UART buses using the command:
sudo armbian-config
When armbian-config loads, select “System” > “Hardware”
To enable I2C select: “i2c0”
To enable the UART port select: “UART3”
Save and reboot your Orange Pi.
The I2C port can be found at /dev/i2c-0
The UART port can be found at /dev/ttyS3
Our expansion boards should be compatible with other Orange Pi models that have a compatible GPIO header. Check the documentation for your Orange Pi to see if it has compatible I2C and UART buses on the correct GPIO pins. The names of the I2C and UART buses may vary on different Orange Pi models, so you may have to modify our software libraries to connect to the current buses.
You can test whether the UART port on your Orange Pi works by performing a loopback test. See our Serial Port Loopback Test tutorial for more details.
Python Support
We have tested our Python libraries on the Orange Pi computers. To download and use our libraries from our GitHub account, you first need to install git and the required Python libraries with the following:
sudo apt-get install git i2c-tools python3-dev python3-smbus
Next, navigate to the directory you want to download the libraries into and use the following command to clone the files to your local directory:
git clone https://github.com/abelectronicsuk/ABElectronics_Python_Libraries.git
Compatible expansion boards
The following expansion boards have been tested and are compatible with the Orange Pi boards listed above when using Armbian Linux and our Python 2 libraries or OWFS for 1 Wire support:
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