I downloaded the Ubuntu desktop image from orangepi.org and wrote to a uSD card. The image took about 4GB disk space. I connected the HDMI to an HDTV, but there was no display; the screen said the mode not supported. I connected to the 3-pin UART at 115200 baud and power cycled. I saw the boot message and login prompt. And I logged in with the default password (root/orangepi). Everything seemed running fine; the X server was running. So I should try a different monitor. It worked on a newer model HDTV. But it needed a keyboard to login. I was able to use my USB keyboard/mouse emulator. The desktop environment is Xcfe; the default display resolution is 1280x720. I connected to the WiFi to my router. But the default browser did not work. I went to Ubuntu Software Center and installed Chromium Web Browser. I was able to get on the web. The Linux partition ran out of space. I had to resize the partition.
I also gave Armbian a try. Armbian had a nicer setup. It created a single partition and expanded to the full capacity on the first boot. The display defaulted to 1920x1080 resolution. The desktop is also Xcfe. However, it did not appear to have the driver for the onboard WiFi. I had to connect to the internet with an ethernet cable.
During the startup, the board draws 2A peak for a brief period of time. The current does not exceed 1.2A during normal use. It idles around 0.35A. After shutdown, it still draws 0.18A. During heavy load with average current ~1A, the CPU temperature can exceed 75C even with a heatsink. With a fan, the temperature can stay below 40C.
See an update here.
