Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
No problem, but do I also need a powered USB hub so that my laptop can communicate with the Orange Pi? I was assuming that the connection would happen through the USB-C port.
Well you usually don't communicate to it through USB. Keep in mind this is not a microcontroller with simple UART port, it's a full-on computer. When do you ever connect two computers to each other with a USB cable to transfer data? 
You'd usually use SSH & SCP, or potentially even use a NAS to sync data between devices on the same network. Same thing with an Orange Pi.
Anyhow, you should be able to power it through a PC USB for initial setup, but once you start hitting it with services, initial blockchain download and similar, you want it to be on its own PSU.
This insight dawned on me earlier today while staring at the dazzling variety of USB-C card readers, hubs and what-not's.
I had forgotten that the OS gets put on the SD card while it is outside of the Orange Pi, and once the SD card with OS is back in the Pi, it does not need another PC to further build the installation.