Libre Computer AML-A311D-CC Alta Overview and Resources

  1. Get a good power supply > 5.0V < 5.5V
  2. Get a good MicroSD card
  3. If not, you’re going to waste a lot of time.

Boot

GPIO Header

Board Hardware

Peripheral Hardware Guides

  • Waveshare RS485 CAN HAT
  • Waveshare HDMI Display with SPI Touch Screen
  • ILI9341 320x240 SPI Displays
  • ILI9486 480x320 SPI Displays
  • Realtek USB WiFi Dongles

RE the substantial heatsink that is a feature of the “Alta”, I was wondering whether you might be able to tell me if I can safely and easily remove it?

I ask because I want to use the Alta as a drop-in replacement for a Raspberry Pi 3B+ in a pi-top [3] laptop shell.
Whilst I have been able to fit the Alta inside the shell, in order to be able to use it I need to connect the cooling bridge from the Alta’s GPIO pins to the B2B connector on the shell’s Hub.
Due to the way the cooling bridge is shaped, I can’t do this without removing the Alta’s heatsink.

Normally I wouldn’t worry too much about removing a heatsink but normally that’s because I’ve installed the heatsink myself. I received the Alta as a present and am just a little apprehensive about removing the heatsink without Libre Computer’s guidance.

I would really appreciate your support in this matter and look forward to hearing from you soon.

The heatsink can be removed.

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Thank you for your quick response.

I should have been more specific because what I’m really seeking advice on is:

Can the heatsink be easily removed by hand* without any risk of de-lidding the CPU/RAM, or causing damage to the PCB?

*in the same way I would remove a heatsink I’d applied myself with thermal pads to a Raspberry Pi 3B+, for example

Yes, you should be able to remove it without damaging anything.

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Great - thank you very much for your help!

@librecomputer is there a hardware enablement table showing mainline kernel status for the A311D, like the one Collabora has for the RK3588?

Looking at another thread, I’m trying to understand if there’s anything I need to do to connect a PWM Servo Board using I2C to the Alta board.

When I used Le-Potato, I did have to enable i2c-1 interface, and that was pretty straight forward. but that is not the case with the Alta board.

I know I’m not an electronics expert, so am asking for some help/guidance to advance my project (autonomous RC car)

Thanks!

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A311D is much better supported than RK3588 currently. Hardware Support — Linux for Amlogic Meson https://gitlab.com/pages/sphinx documentation

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Hello, Could I please have some clarification:
I’ve received an Alta labelled AML-A311D-CC-V1.0C

Documentation and files available reference:
V1, V01-preprod and V02-preprod

Which of the three boards does V1.0C correspond to, or is this a fourth, yet undocumented board variant? I don’t want to accidentally flash the wrong firmware image.

V1.0C means V1 with Type-C
Revisions are minor increments, eg V1.1C

Minor versions have no software changes.

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Oh thank you for that! I’d missed your reply but that’s a really useful resource to have!

You can also refer to the Libre Computer Board Naming Scheme and Conventions