OLIMEX© 2017
A20-OLinuXino-LIME2 user's manual
6.6 Gigabit Ethernet
The LAN connectivity is handled by Realtek's RTL8211E (RTL8211CL in hardware revisions prior to
revision G). It is capable of transmission rate up to 1Gbps over industry standard CAT.5 UTP cable with
BER less than 10-10 in 1000Base-T. The controller is compatible with some of the major industry
standards. It complies with 1000Base-T IEEE 802.3ab; 100Base-TX IEEE 802.3u; 10Base-T IEEE 802.3;
and IEEE 802.3 RGMII; among others.
The Ethernet connector is grounded according to the standard (check GND1 and GND2 lines on the
schematics).
If you use Linux then the Ethernet connector might be used for SSH connection to the board. If you lack
any other option for debugging it might be hard to guess the correct IP of the board since it has DHCP
enabled by default (especially if you are in a large network). It is good idea to check the default settings
by exploring the Linux image settings. Those are usually stored in:
/etc/network/interfaces
For DHCP you need to enable auto detection and dhcp as shown below:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
For setting a static address please follow the pattern below:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.5
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.254
The EEPROM memory may be used to store the MAC address.
Important: In some Debian images it is possible that the Ethernet doesn't get auto-detected during boot-
up. This is done on purpose because if there is auto-detection enabled and you don't want to use the
Ethernet connector or you have forgotten to plug a cable the start-up would be greatly delayed. This might
be problem in the first start-up to users counting only on SSH connection. You can enable the Ethernet
after a successful boot-up with:
ifconfing -a
dhclient eth#(as seen after after the ifconfing command)
Important: You can configure static/DHCP-given IP addresses in /etc/network/interfaces
LED
LED
Color
Usage
Bi-color LED1
Orange/Green
Speed status/Link status
Single color LED2
Yellow
Activity status
*The speed status of LED1 (typically indicated by the orange color of the bi-color LED1) is not available. Only the link status indicated by
the green LED is available currently.
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