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Getting started with Acqua A5 and Berta dev boards

This article explains how to get started with Acqua A5 module using one of the Berta dev boards available

What do you need to start ?

Acqua A5 is designed to be used on a carrier board. The following carriers are available from the Acme Systems eStore:

There are also some kits available which contains all the parts needed to try the Acqua board. This is the list of kits available:

If you are using a custom designed board you need at least the following parts:

  • An USB to 3.3 volt serial adapter like DPI
    EUR 8.00


    DPI - Debug Port Interface

    DPI is an USB-to-serial interface to link the Acme boards debug port to a PC USB host port and have access at the Linux system console using a terminal emulator program like minicom, putty, hyperterminal, etc.

    | Product description |

    or USB-3V-SER
    EUR 8.00


    USB-3V-SER - USB to 3V3 serial converter

    USB to 3V3 serial converter ad 3.3 volt with separated pin plugs

    | Product description |

  • A bootable Linux microSD like DEBM8G-ACQUA
    . It is possible to make by yourself the bootlable microSD starting from the download page.

Getting started with BERTA-A5-EXT

Insert the Acqua A5 on the BERTA-A5-EXT carrier board:

Insert the bootable microSD inside the Acqua A5 microSD holder:

Insert the DPI adapter:

or alternatively the USB-3V-SER adapter:

Set the serial terminal configuration at: 115200.N,8,1 with no acknowledge

This is the debug port pinout

| 1   | 2   | 3   | 4   | 5  | 6   |
|-----|-----|-----|-----|----------|
| -   | -   | TXD | RXD | -  | GND |

Plug the LAN cable. Acqua will search an active DCHP server on your LAN to get dynamically the IP address:

Plug the 5 volt power supply and check the bootstrap messages on the serial terminal:

In this phase is not so important to configure the dip switch near the mini USB connector so you can leave it in the default configuration:

This is the dip switch meaning:

1 2 3 4 Function
ON ON OFF OFF USB A lines on J8 microUSB port. In this way it is possible to access to RomBOOT code using SAM-BA or use the Linux Kernel USB gadget drivers
OFF OFF ON ON USB A lines on WiFi module

Acqua technical documentation Buy on-line

Bruna Mandolino