🛠 Configurer Ethernet gigabit et Wi-Fi puis se connecter en SSH

Objectives

Put the Orange Pi 3B on the network — Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek YT8531C PHY) and dual-band Wi-Fi 5 + Bluetooth (AP6256 module, Broadcom BCM43456 chip on mainline) — then control the board via SSH from a nearby computer, without a screen.

Hardware

• Orange Pi 3B running Armbian, Ethernet cable, DHCP box/router
• >
• Two hardware revisions (v1.1 / v2.1) with different Ethernet/Wi-Fi wiring: the wrong device tree results in dead Ethernet and/or missing Wi-Fi

Full code

# Ethernet : brancher le câble, puis
ip -br addr                       # eth0 doit avoir une IP en 192.168.x.x
sudo ethtool eth0 | grep -i speed # attendu : 1000Mb/s
sudo dmesg | grep -i -e eth -e link   # lien up côté YT8531C

# Wi-Fi (NetworkManager sous Armbian)
nmcli device status
sudo nmcli dev wifi connect "MonReseau" password "monmotdepasse"
ip -br addr | grep wlan

# SSH côté carte (souvent actif ; sinon :)
sudo apt install openssh-server && sudo systemctl enable --now ssh
# Côté poste client :
ssh root@orangepi3b.local         # puis créer un utilisateur et changer le mot de passe

Expected verification

ip -br addr shows an IPv4 address on eth0 (and/or wlan0); ethtool indicates 1000 Mb/s; the SSH connection succeeds. ping -c3 1.1.1.1 reaches the Internet.

Common errors

• Wi-Fi not found after a kernel update: the brcmfmac driver requires the brcmfmac43456-sdio… firmware and the board's NVRAM — check ls /lib/firmware/brcm/.
• Dead Ethernet on a v2.1 with a v1.1 device tree (PHY moved to MDIO address 1, different reset GPIO): update Armbian / use the correct dtb.
• 5 V / 2 A power supply limit: link or Wi-Fi drops under load.
• Forgetting to change the default Armbian password before exposing SSH on the network.