I had ethernet issues from the beginning with official image since the beginning few months back, and now with Diet Pi, so it looks like the ethernet hardware issue is specific to my board or setup. I could after all have a board with a defective ethernet PHY, possibly due to shorts on the PCB etc.
I’d just like to confirm that my hardware problem is likely specific to my piece of hardware.
I just downloaded and installed the recent Ubuntu Jammy image from Orange Pi’s official repository, released Oct 8, 2023
http://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/service-and-support/Orange-Pi-Zero-3.html
at the 1st boot
[ 227.203860] dwmac-sun8i 5020000.ethernet eth0: Link is Down
[ 235.395980] dwmac-sun8i 5020000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control rx/tx
[ 236.419868] dwmac-sun8i 5020000.ethernet eth0: Link is Down
[ 238.468106] dwmac-sun8i 5020000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control rx/tx
[ 279.428894] dwmac-sun8i 5020000.ethernet eth0: Link is Down
[ 544.646571] dwmac-sun8i 5020000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control rx/tx
[ 675.719601] dwmac-sun8i 5020000.ethernet eth0: Link is Down
wiithin 4 minutes, dmesg is already showing link down events.
by 11 minute, the link down event, ethernet is disabled, led goes off.
disconnecting / reconnecting the cable didn’t make a difference.
And the link actually did not recover after a complete power cycle (disconnect / reconnect the usb C power cable)
But that this is the Orange Pi latest official image. This means that it isn’t a ‘DietPi’ defect.
i.e. it is a hardware problem (possibly with my single board and hardware setup, e.g. the upstream hub)
In short, Diet Pi is at least as good as what Orange Pi’s official images is. i.e. I’ve witnessed more than 100 Mbps (100 mega bits per seconds) setting up Diet Pi as a Wifi hotspot (AP) with the Orange Pi Zero 3 test image.
Just that the (my) ethernet hardware is not stable, and that this has nothing to do with Diet Pi, and possibly not a ‘software’ defect with their official images.
If others can get this to run stably, it is a good board considering the decent performance, generous ram (1GB, 2GB, 4GB versions) and low cost.
This isn’t ‘slow’ it is probably as good as Raspberry Pi 3B, which is a Cortex A53 board.
Others who have the board should also test other features, e.g. video, which I did not test myself.
All my runs are on the uart serial console, which is kind of ‘synthetic’, for the rest, do check if you can work with it connecting video and perhaps a keyboard, with Diet Pi’s test images for Orange Pi Zero 3