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¶ About This Manual
¶ Introduction
This document is intended to:
- provide an overview of the differences between StarLight and VisionFive.
- how to use VisionFive’s software documents as references to configure and debug StarLight.
¶ Revision History
| Version | Released | Revision |
| V1 | 2021-12-08 | The first offical release. |
¶ Introduction
VisionFive AI board is world's first generation of affordable RISC-V boards designed to run Linux. Based on RISC-V architecture, VisionFive pushes open-source to the next level and gives developers more freedom and power to innovate and design industry-leading solutions. And StarLight SBC is the predecessor of VisionFive.
From the user’s perspective, VisionFive and StarLight have the same peripheral interfaces, and hardware components, including 40-pin GPIO header. The following sections will focus on:
-
the hardware and software differences between StarLight and VisionFive.
-
how to use VisionFive’s software documents as references to configure and debug StarLight SBC (single board computer).
¶ Hardware Differences
¶ Board Layout
The board layouts of Starlight and VisionFive are different as described in the following figure:
Figure - Hardware Layout of StarLight and VisionFive
As shown in the figure, except for the newly-added fan header in VisionFive, StarLight and VisionFive have the same hardware components, of which the locations are different. Particularly, they use the same 40-pin GPIO header. Thus, you can refer to the StarFive 40-Pin GPIO Header User Guide for instructions to configure and debug the GPIOs.
For the hardware component descriptions, refer to Features and Specifications section and Interface Description table in VisionFive Single Board Computer Quick Start Guide.
¶ Hardware Specification Details
Compared with StarLight, the VisionFive has the following hardware updates in detail:
-
Added EEPROM IC.
-
Replaced the ETH PHY IC.
-
Replaced the USB HUB IC.
-
Exchanged the location of TX and RX on UART debug header
Information:
- You can refer to the following for how to connect the debug header on StarLight to the jumper.
Figure - Connecting Debug Header (StarLight) - For VisionFive, you can refer to the following:
Figure - Connecting Debug Header (VisionFive)
- You can refer to the following for how to connect the debug header on StarLight to the jumper.
-
StarLight is reset with power on; VisionFive is reset with power off.
-
Added power off support via a GPIO line for reset.
-
Added a fan header.
Information:
- StarLight doesn't have a fan header. The following is an example for connecting a 5 V fan to StarLight via the 40-pin GPIO header.
Figure - Connecting a Fan (StarLight)
You can also connect the red wire (+) to pin 2 (5 V) and connect the black wire (-) to pin 6/9/20/25/30/34/39 (GND). - For VisionFive, you can connect the fan to the fan header as described in the following figure:
Figure - Connecting a Fan (VisionFive)
Alternatively, you can also connect the fan to the 40-pin header.
- StarLight doesn't have a fan header. The following is an example for connecting a 5 V fan to StarLight via the 40-pin GPIO header.
¶ Software Differences
Generally, the procedures of the use cases are the same:
-
get started with Fedora operation system as described in VisionFive Single Board Computer Quick Start Guide.
-
compile firmware, u-boot, Linux Kernel and make file systems as described in VisionFive Single Board Computer Software Technical Reference Manual.
However, some configurations files are different for StarLight and VisionFive. We have added notes in the particular steps in the documents. And the following tables give you an overview of the configuration files differences.
¶ dtb Files
The dtb file is used when:
-
compile and replace the dtb files when making software preparation for configuring and debugging GPIOs in Compiling dtb section in StarFive 40-Pin GPIO Header User Guide.
-
add new files as described in Updating Kernel and Modules section VisionFive Single Board Computer Software Technical Reference Manual.
-
move dtb into the board as described Moving Rootfs, Kernel and dtb into VisionFive section in VisionFive Single Board Computer Software Technical Reference Manual.
Please note the file differences in the above cases. The following table describes the dtb file differences:
Table - dtb Files Differences
| Board | File |
| StarLight | /linux/arch/riscv/boot/dts/starfive/jh7100-beaglev-starlight.dtb |
| VisionFive | /linux/arch/riscv/boot/dts/starfive/jh7100-starfive-visionfive-v1.dtb |
¶ Configuration Files for Compiling U-Boot
The configuration files used for compiling u-boot are also different as noted in Compiling the u-boot section in VisionFive Single Board Computer Software Technical Reference Manual.
Table - Configuration Files for Compiling U-Boot
| Board | File |
| StarLight | starfive_jh7100_starlight_smode_defconfig |
| VisionFive | starfive_jh7100_visionfive_smode_defconfig |