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cyberdeck/docs/initial-bringup.md

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Initial Bring-up: Orange Pi 3B

Get the board running on Armbian for hardware validation.

What You Need

Item Notes
microSD card 8-32GB Class 10 (SanDisk recommended)
HDMI cable + monitor 1920×1080 or whatever you have
USB keyboard + mouse Standard USB-A peripherals
USB-C power supply 5V/3A — any phone charger you already have works

Step 1: Download Armbian

Grab an image from the Orange Pi 3B page on Armbian.

Which image? For initial testing, grab a desktop image (Resolute or Trixie). That way you get HDMI output, a GUI, and network manager for WiFi setup immediately. Minimal/server images are fine if you prefer CLI — but desktop saves fiddling on first boot.

Images are built as recently as May 2026 — freshness is good.

Step 2: Flash to microSD

On Linux (Rowan/Lucy):

# Find your SD card device
lsblk
# Flash the image (replace /dev/sdX with your card — be careful!)
xzcat Armbian_*.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync

On Windows/macOS: Use Balena Etcher — GUI, hard to mess up.

Step 3: First Boot

  1. Insert microSD into OPi 3B
  2. Connect HDMI, plug in USB keyboard
  3. Connect USB-C power supply
  4. Board powers on automatically (no power button needed on first boot from SD)

First boot takes longer — Armbian runs its first-run setup (resize filesystem, generate SSH keys, etc.). Give it 2-3 minutes.

You'll see:

  • U-Boot splash
  • Kernel boot messages scrolling by
  • Armbian first-run wizard (set root password, create user, configure locale)

Step 4: Hardware Validation

Once booted, run through these:

  • HDMI output — Display at correct resolution? No artifacts?
  • USB ports — Both USB 3.0 ports detect peripherals? Both USB 2.0 ports work?
  • Ethernet — Plug in cable, does ip a show a link?
  • WiFi — nmtui or desktop network manager — scan and connect?
  • Bluetooth — bluetoothctl can scan?
  • Audio — 3.5mm jack output?
  • eMMC — lsblk should show /dev/mmcblk1 (the onboard 256GB eMMC)
  • RAM — free -h shows ~7.5GB usable (of 8GB)
  • Temperature — cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp — divide by 1000 for °C. Should idle below 50°C without a heatsink for short tests.

Step 5 (Optional): Install to eMMC

Once you're happy the board works, you can move Armbian to the eMMC and stop using the SD card:

sudo armbian-install

Follow the prompts — select eMMC as the target. This copies the system to onboard storage. After it finishes:

sudo poweroff

Remove the microSD, power back on. Board boots from eMMC automatically.

Next Steps After Bring-up

  • Test with your salvaged display + controller board (when it arrives)
  • Test HDMI A/B switch for internal/external display switching
  • Start case design with real board measurements
  • Order remaining parts from BOM

References