Random tips :

– orange pi zero all have 2 SPI bus: one in the main GPIO port, and one for the flash on the back side. If you don’t have the plus model, you can unsolder the FLASH and use the port. FLASH is port 1, so, GPIO is port 1. This is very important when you follow tutorials written for other opis

– before you start following a tutorial, you need to understand which kernel you are using. If the turial is written after jan 2017, and mentions adding an overlay in armbianEnv.txt, then it’s for kernel 4; if the tuto is before feb 2018, and does not mention altering armbianEnv.txt for SPI compatibility, author is using kernel 3. This is critical.

– I got adressable LEDs working on both kernels, 3 and 4. Easier on 4.

– SPI LCDs work only on kernel 3; I have spend days on kernel 4, just forget them; drivers exist, but they are broken.

– con2fbmap is required only on kernel 3

– to get X working, you need to create /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-fbturbo.conf

– check your FB number with a command like this: dmesg | grep ili | grep graphics | grep -i fb . I have seen people using 0, 1 and 8.

Now, I have ili9486 working perfectly fine … with image Armbian_5.35_Orangepizero_Ubuntu_xenial_default_3.4.113 (kernel 3.4.113).