LeMaker Guitar

LeMaker Guitar board overview and documentation

Summary

The LeMaker Guitar is a single-board computer built around the Actions Semi S500 system-on-chip. It features a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked at 1.1 GHz, either 1 GB or 2 GB of DDR3 RAM, and a PowerVR SGX544 GPU. The board supports booting from microSD or optional eMMC storage, and provides four USB 2.0 host ports, HDMI video output up to 4K at 30 fps, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and 10/100 Ethernet. There is no onboard WiFi module, so wireless connectivity requires a USB adapter.

Who This Is For

This guide is intended for developers, hobbyists, and educators who want to evaluate or deploy the LeMaker Guitar for embedded projects. It assumes basic familiarity with Linux, SD card flashing, and SSH. If you are new to single-board computers, start here before moving on to the resource and specification pages.

What You'll Do

By following this guide you will download an OS image, flash it to a microSD card, complete a first boot, verify basic hardware functionality, and establish a remote SSH session to the board.

Prerequisites

  • LeMaker Guitar board (1 GB or 2 GB variant)
  • 5 V / 2 A power supply with micro-USB or barrel-jack connector
  • microSD card (8 GB or larger, Class 10 recommended)
  • Ethernet cable and a network with DHCP
  • A host computer with an SD card reader
  • An image-writing tool such as Etcher or dd

Quick-Start Steps

  1. Download an OS image. Visit the Guitar Resources page and download the latest Ubuntu MATE or Android image for the Guitar.
  2. Flash the image. Write the image to your microSD card using Etcher or dd. Verify the checksum before flashing.
  3. Insert the card and connect peripherals. Plug the microSD card into the Guitar, connect Ethernet, and optionally connect an HDMI display.
  4. Power on. Connect the 5 V power supply. The board should begin booting within a few seconds. The green power LED should illuminate immediately and the blue activity LED should start blinking.
  5. Find the board on your network. Check your router's DHCP lease table or run nmap -sn 192.168.1.0/24 on your host to locate the Guitar's IP address.
  6. Connect via SSH. Use ssh lemaker@<ip-address> with the default password documented in the image release notes.

Post-Boot Verification

After logging in, run cat /proc/cpuinfo to confirm the S500 SoC is detected. Check available memory with free -h and storage with df -h. Verify Ethernet connectivity with ping -c 4 8.8.8.8.

Troubleshooting

  • Board does not boot (no LEDs): Confirm the power supply delivers at least 5 V / 2 A. Try a different cable or power source.
  • Green LED on but no HDMI output: Re-flash the SD card and verify the image checksum. Try a different HDMI cable or display.
  • Cannot find the board's IP address: Ensure the Ethernet cable is connected before powering on. Check that your network's DHCP server is running.
  • SSH connection refused: The SSH server may not be enabled by default on all images. Connect via serial console (115200 baud, 3.3 V UART) to enable it.

FAQ

  • Does the Guitar have WiFi? No. Use a compatible USB WiFi adapter for wireless networking.
  • What power supply should I use? A 5 V / 2 A supply via micro-USB or barrel jack. Avoid powering from a PC USB port.
  • Can I boot from USB? The S500 bootloader does not natively support USB boot. Boot from microSD or eMMC and then pivot root to USB if needed.
  • How do I access the serial console? Connect a 3.3 V USB-to-UART adapter to the UART pins on the 40-pin header. Use 115200 baud, 8N1.

Related Guides

Author: LeMaker Documentation Team
Last updated: 2026-02-10