Installed IPFire on "Friendly Elec NanoPi R4S", but device is not in OpenWrt "Active DHCP Leases"

Getting Started with IPFire
1

Hi

I followed this wiki page

Made a small contribution to wiki, because tiny error in page.

Installed IPFire on “Friendly Elec NanoPi R4S”, but device is not in OpenWrt “Active DHCP Leases”.

I can’t see that the device gets an IP address from OpenWrt router. Something seems not working.

I found in wiki

Note: If you have problems booting without the serial interface connected, add a 10k ohm resistor between GND and RX.

I have no idea what this means.
I need to buy serial console?

thanks for help

2

Your simplest solution would be to purchase a USB-serial adapter
USB-serial and connect that to the board, using the wiring pattern in nanopi R1

Anyone having a little skill with electronics could make up an alternative, wiring a 10k resistor between pins that are used for the black and green wires.

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You’ll need the USB-to-serial adapter to talk to the NanoPi. Here is what I bought:

This is needed to set-up IPFire and to community with the NanoPi.

After the IPFire is set-up, and you remove the USB-to-serial adapter, and you are experiencing trouble booting, you may need the 10k ohm resister.

Note: Never connect the power wire for the USB to TTL UART Converter Cable (the USB-to-Serial adapter). Only use the the wires: data RX, data TX, and ground. It is too easy to make a mistake and apply the wrong power voltage.

hope this helps!
Jon

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Thank you dear people.

Why is this “USB to TTL UART Converter” needed? Is this “USB to TTL UART Converter” also needed when I install Debian for example? I don’t understand what it is for.

Do I just have to plug it into the USB port?

Or do I have to open the case and solder on it? How does this work exactly? Please upload some pictures.

Amazon doesn’t ship to my country.
Can someone find me a product at the following link (store should be in English)

https://www.reichelt.com/ch/de/ADW/0/0/index.html?ACTION=0&START=0&OFFSET=16&SID=92d6b0462f8ac3584326860c4f340ea2f58745c03684e30996097&LANGUAGE=EN

Thank you and have a nice day

5

There is no video output from the NanoPi so the “Converter” and the Serial Console allows you to access the NanoPi console with commands. And this allows you to do the IPFire setup.

Yes, it would be needed to install Debian on the NanoPi.

On your desktop/laptop computer the “Converter” would plug into USB. On the NanoPi, there are three wires that need to be attached. See picture on this page:

https://wiki.ipfire.org/hardware/arm/friendlyelec/nanopi-r1s-h3#prepare-the-serial-console

The black, white, green wires go from the “converter” to the NanoPi. On you device the three connection should be in a similar place. (you may need strong glasses to see the tiny writing on the pc board).

Read thru all of the various articles on the various boards on this page. It should help you get started.

https://wiki.ipfire.org/hardware/arm/friendlyelec

The link points to the home page for reichelt dot com so I cannot see what item you are looking at.

EDIT:
This item might work
https://www.reichelt.com/de/en/developer-boards-usb-to-uart-ttl-cp2102-debo-usb-uart-p282704.html?search=usb+to+ttl+&&r=1

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As Jon explained, the USB plug goes to your laptop or desktop computer

You certainly need to open the case and, in practice, the USB-serial is better permanently attached, although that does not require soldering. I drilled a hole in the plastic case. Note that I also identified the USB plug, using coloured tape, because it does not need to be permanently plugged to a computer.

nanopiR1S

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The only USB2UART in that store are rather technical, as well as having short wires.

Aliexpress should ship to your country and have suitable items.
The PL2303 chip is known to have wide compatibility. Blue casing is a nice touch too.

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