OLIMEX© 2015
A13-SOM user's manual
Both the main part and the peripheral part of the SOM system have support in the official Android
and Debian images distributed by Olimex and maintained by Olimex and the Linux community.
These images are typically available at the wiki articles of the boards.
The peripheral part of the SOM design is considered Open Source HardWare (OSHW) and the
customer has access to the board source files that we used to manufacture it. The part of the design
that has the main microcontroller is considered proprietary design and design files would not be
shared. If you are looking for open source design of the processors used please check the
OLinuXino boards. OLinuXino board designs are fully open source but harder to implement in own
solutions and require more of a hardware experience to do so. Nevertheless, OLinuXino boards are
pretty good choice for evaluating the capabilities of the embedded processors.
1.2 Target market of the board
Using the A13-SOM as a stand-alone development board would be more suitable for users with
some hardware experience or people already familiar with other single-board Linux boards and
designs. As mentioned in the previous chapter the board is meant to be implemented in a hardware
design.
Please refer to the list of possible scenarios where a stand-alone A13-SOM (without other peripheral
extension boards attached) board might not be suitable for you:
1. If you are a beginner with single-board Linux computers
2. If you are an OSHW purist
3. If you are looking for more straight-forward software development and you are not going to
implement the A13-SOM in own hardware products
In the cases above, it might be a better idea to take a look at the OLinuXino boards (like A13-
OLinuXino).
It is highly recommended to use A13-SOM with A13-SOM-WIFI initially, unless you have previous
experience with SOM or OLinuXino boards manufactured by OLIMEX.
A13-SOM might be is used altogether with A13-SOM-WIFI. In that case, the board's target market
widens drastically – the reason for this alteration is the additional hardware that A13-SOM-WIFI –
provides easier powering and Internet access, among others. Generally, the processors features are
much easier to access.
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