10 Exciting Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 Boards

[@JeffGeerling]

Please use the video's table of contents (hover over the playhead to scrub through them) to browse through the different boards)! And it sounds like a few people (not many, unfortunately... supply is still slim!) are finally getting the IO Boards they ordered weeks ago. So there is hope!

[@ninline2000]

I suspect Enterprise customers who order thousands of units get first call. I know there are a lot of big companies that really wanted CM4 boards.

[@shawnnlee]

hi，jeff，a fan here！have you checked the mcuzone cm4 board？m.weibo.cn/detail/4577659583463712

[@JeffGeerling]

@@shawnnlee I hadn't yet, but now it's in my list! github.com/geerlingguy/raspberry-pi-pcie-devices/issues/25#issuecomment-745730511

[@chibisuke6731]

9:05 its not just about plugging in dupond connectors. The positioning of the female pinheads looks like it will allow the direct plugin of an arduino shield, to interface with.

[@ur1friend437]

Congratulations on the, soon to come, new baby/family member and I wish many blessings for you and your love ones.

[@syrus3k]

You crazy Jeff, I have two kids. you crazy..

[@dieSpinnt]

I join Congratulations, Jeff :)

[@soulife8383]

Skeet SKEET!

[@NewAgeDIY]

Just had time to watch this video. I have all of Saturday to review some of the boards you reviewed today. I’m on a waiting list right now and maybe luckily to get some items earlier in January or February. Thanks for this update and as always keep pushing the envelope!

[@tobiwonkanogy2975]

all i can say i thank you for extorting your knowledge base and putting yourself through the trouble to learn all this important information. Then uploading the journey and links to all resources.

[@MaxMax-dq1lu]

Nice update... Looks like 2021 is gonna b full of great projects & things..! Best of luck with the new baby.!

[@LacasseEric]

Congrats on the new baby!

[@hansoak3664]

Congratulations on the new addition to the family!

[@RichSad45]

Congrats on the new baby sir! My daughter is a January 22 baby. A soon-to-be 31 year old baby! Funny thing is when she was born I was doing a lot of system level hacking with MS-DOS, NetWare, and the early, early Windows systems that involved OS hacking, hardware hacking, and all around cool stuff. I worked for a little 3 man company called TurboPower Software and we ghost wrote software for the two big language vendors back then. The baby didn't interfere at all though she did make me more conscious about leaving little parts around. Jeff, I have a project coming up where it may make sense for us to speak by some modern magic a/v chat system (anything but a phone!). My background: serial entrepreneur: invented swappable pop programs in the DOS days (assembly language 6k resident shell could then turn any Turbo Pascal or C++ program into a background popup) before DOS supported any real multi-tasking, inventor and patent (named inventor now expired) of Symantec's LiveUpdate, pioneer of internet streaming media, builder of core technology for online (once-NFL branded) online football game, patent inventor for many of Affectiva's "affective computing" patents, and one of the 6 listed inventors of the Jibo robot (cover of Time Magazine Mov 27, 2017). I got some new things up my sleeve and they were well may involve the Pi or other SBC. I don't know if you do contracting side gigs or not, but it might be fun to just talk about some nerdy, geeky stuff. Again congrats on the addition to the family and on this fun youtube channel. What are you doing still working with PHP with your skills man?!?

[@JeffGeerling]

Haha, PHP is so much better today than it was when I first got started with it; still runs great on almost anything including toasters and SBCs :) But I have been doing a little more Python lately, mostly to make sure things are more integrated into the Pi ecosystem where it's kinda the lingua franca.

[@RichSad45]

@@JeffGeerling I was (mostly) just teasing. I know thanks to WordPress PHP is still in demand. I believe around 2002 was my last startup where we used it as a core server language. These days I like Python and NodeJS for a lot of stuff, good ole C++ or assembly when the pedal must hit the metal, and I've been learning Go lately for kicks. I've been doing this stuff professionally 35 years now so I've seen things come and go. I still remember the incredible awesomeness of Turbo Pascal when for about $50 you got an IDE, compiler, linker, and debugger! Went on to partner with Anders on some projects. Now of course he's famous for C# and other innovations. Don't use that language because I need a) Mac compatibility, b) Linux deployability, and in some cases, c) OS-less embeddability. I enjoy your channel because of quest for knowledge and you passion for sharing it. Good qualities in a person. Keep up the good work. I wasn't joking about the chat. The project is likely going to require a lower latency networking system than WiFi (wired Ethernet MIGHT do it), and a high quality, low latency audio interface. I may be making huge assumptions on the video plumbing already built in but have watched your struggle with graphics cards. There are a couple of directions this project may go depending on the outcome of some experiments. While I do work primarily in emerging technology, I like to work only 1-3 years ahead of the curve so that the value-added product is ready when the emerging technology and user need/pain/wants converge. This is an idea that began 20 years ago and continues to morph and grow. The pandemic really cemented the need and desirability. It's unfunded, but that's not a big deal. I have been able to raise, with partners, hundreds of millions of dollar since the latter 1990s. But never take money before you need it (or is it always take money before you need it when it is cheaper in pounds of flesh?). Right now I am underemployed but the usual cast of characters have come knocking with some great pitches or willingness to support some of my own ideas.

[@RichSad45]

oh yeah, seeing the Squier Strat behind you is another reason I suspect you may share some interests in this project. In addition to my Fenders, I have a brand new Squier Affinity Tele my sweetie bought me for my birthday after I showed her the pretty red $230 guitar. Well that guitar, now named "Liz the Firecracker", has lit my life on fire and reminded me of the rush I got playing when I was 19 in front of a crowd of drunken college woman! [the drinking age was 18 when I was 18, 19 when I was 19... I was grandfathered in]. The interesting thing about the Affinity Tele, the RPi4, the Blackstar Studio 10 KT88 amp I bought... is all that we are living in a great period to be a creative technologist/artist hybrid. For less than $1000 I built a new all tube-based guitar rig kicks some serious butt. That's all in for less than the 1/3 the price of the last acoustic guitar I bought! Add a few more tube-based circuits for mic-pres, an audio interface, and a dozen or so microphones and you can be a YouGram, InstaTok, FaceCloud or TweetTok, Googlgantuan. Beyond music my other huge passion is security/privacy/compliance/safety/ethics. It's really one subject that just manifests in many ways. The value of data collection for ML/BA is undeniable, but so is the risk to the privacy of every device user or even walker on our streets. Somewhere there's a kinder, gentler, more fair way to obtain insights without risking the safety of every citizen of the planet. OK, maybe not. But there should be!

[@TanelM]

"Until next time I'm Jeff Geerling (after that I might change my name)" Not a native English speaker, but that sounded funny. 😅 I hope there's no delays on the baby delivery! 🙂

[@JeffGeerling]

Ha! Well, we'll just have to see if I'm still me next time...

[@chb6570]

@@JeffGeerling If not you could hand over to yourself without handing over to yourself. 😅

[@SlavicCelery]

@@JeffGeerling You aren't honestly thinking about hyphenating your last name to include "Red Shirt" are you? I've seen what he's done with hacksaws in the past. Poor poor Raspberry Pi.

[@MichelClavette]

@@JeffGeerling That's why we watch your videos: geek stuff presented by a geek guy. Yep, that's still Jeff Geerling!

[@richardkicklighter8280]

Excellent update and congratulations on the pending new addition.

[@RonLaws]

THanks for the vid, super interested in the ATX board, and grats on the new kiddo!

[@williamhart4896]

Some of those boards are just lovely for the pi cm4 . and congratulations on the new baby coming shortly

[@JeffGeerling]

Thank you!

[@OnnieKoski]

ordered mine in October. Got mine yesterday.

[@pikeeb]

Cool! Thanks, Jeff, for mentioning the PiKeeb Project! Little addition: PiKeeb has a sliding 7-inch display underneath the keyboard and a battery, so it's essentially a portable device for on-the-go typing. You can see the first prototype in action here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bICxZJ6kfa5kd9k

[@JeffGeerling]

Oh wow, I completely forgot about the screen! Very nice, makes it much more than just a "more awesome Pi 400" :)

[@gustersongusterson4120]

Great video Jeff, really interesting to see an overview of how compute modules could be used.

[@timballam3675]

The new Pi Compute will be the killer product of the year, have mine on back order along with my Pi-400 still waiting and only live about 70 from the Pi factory!

[@imabeapirate]

that Pinuora is quite intriguing for robotics or an openCV build

[@Mmmm_tea]

would totally be into a full cased up pi itx that could run a real gpu

[@stephenvalente3296]

Pi Pro in a SFF case would be a great addition to the family - a while cube with red trim and Pi keyboard/mouse to keep with the official style :-D

[@williamp6800]

Or a red and white 1u case

[@disasterincarnate]

@@stephenvalente3296 given the pi400 is named after keyboard enclosed amigas which started as hundred series then a cased up pi would probably have to start as a Pi-1000.

[@danieldougan269]

I suspect the system would be bottlenecked by the low-power CPU, making the graphics card all but useless.

[@aSingularPhoton]

Aww I’ve been making my own should’ve done it faster!

[@JeffGeerling]

Let me know about it when you get something together; I'm sure I'll be doing a round 2 sometime!

[@charliehuang1252]

Congratulations on new coming baby. 🙂🙂

[@leonardomoura9770]

Amazing. I love the options. Looking forward to custom laptop cases.

[@PhG1961]

Really great videos ! Keep it coming !

[@dave_dennis]

Wow I feel better knowing I’m not the only person that cannot get a compute module. I’ve placed orders with I think 4 distributors. When they are finally available I will be swimming in them.

[@stephenvalente3296]

I've managed to order an IO board this week, but the only Compute modules I can find are lower spec ones. Everyone has the 4Gb models on backorder, and the 8Gb editions seem to be reserved for bulk orders; not sure why on the latter. Might have to order a lower spec board just to get it going.

[@Marco_Onyxheart]

I think I'll be getting the StereoPi V2 when I have the cash. I don't care much for stereoscopic shenanigans. I just want a Pi Zero-like form factor, and this board has everything I need on it in a small form factor.

[@jannettw]

Hey Jeff have you tried connecting a PCIe-to-PCI bridge to the CM4? It would be awesome to use that to connect older, conventional PCI cards to a pi.

[@JeffGeerling]

I haven't yet, but it's something I've considered-check out the discussion here: github.com/geerlingguy/raspberry-pi-pcie-devices/discussions/9

[@jannettw]

Thank you!

​@@JeffGeerling Just realized this opens up another black hole with classic hardware, like 3DFx Voodoo 1 cards :O And you can go one step deeper with a PCI-ISA adapter and try out eg. an old ISA floppy drive controller. Oh my..

[@ninline2000]

@@JeffGeerling This is interesting...."The Voodoo cards most likely don't use any I/O BARs too, so you don't have to workaround it."

[@GanonMasta]

Good luck with the next baby project!

[@JeffGeerling]

👶

[@MichelClavette]

@@JeffGeerling You need to ensure you enable SSH before first boot...makes for much easier remote diaper cleaning!

[@stephenelliott7071]

That pi4 Compute Module with the mechanical keyboard looked like something out of the Matrix Films!

[@CheapHomeTech]

You'd make a much better Spiderman than the current set of actors that have played that spot.

[@lonnymoore2622]

congratulations and keep up the good work.

[@richleyden6839]

Thanks for acknowledging the real-world lack of supply. I haven't been able to get even the bare-bones CM.

[@JeffGeerling]

I keep seeing the 1GB (and sometimes 2GB) models available from some suppliers, but only Lite with no wireless. I'm really hoping the new year will make it so they're all more available!

[@Mobile_Dom]

very very excited about the microATX carrier board, id certainly buy one

[@avejst]

Thanks for the update👍😀

[@Dans-hobbies]

I'm still fairly new to this, but have you taken a look at gumstix's design tool geppetto? It seems kind of like legos for pcb design. They have the Gumstix cm4 board set up as a template, so to make a custom board all you have to do is remove the components you don't want and then reposition the ones you do to save space.

[@redace001]

Dang it! Now I'm gonna have to get one of these CM4s....once they become available.... >_< Thanks Jeff! :D

[@kuhluhOG]

I have the feeling that these compute modules are going to share the market probably 50/50 with the standard SBCs in the mid term.

[@pandupujo3917]

PiBlade is very interesting concept for cluster deployment testing

[@ZILtoid1991]

I'm personally thinking on making a handheld out of a CM4, as it's form factor is more friendly for that application, however I already have a lot of other projects, and I'm lacking of money. I did however found out that it wouldn't be too hard to use an actual MIPI-DSI display instead of some HDMI or DPI hack. My biggest gripes with CM4 is the 5V input that would most likely need a 2 cell li-pol battery, and that you can't opt-out from the ethernet controller for exchange of an additional PCI-express lane that I would use for a better WiFi controller instead, and then use the secondary SD controller as a card reader.

[@miguelangelriveiro]

Man.... If somebody told me in 2011, when i bought my first Pi, all of this is happening....I was the weird guy by using it at the office.... Now we can plug a pcie card on it... damn this is great stuff. Definitely keeping an eye on some of them...

[@newkfromrotterdam]

i would like to see a CM4-based pocketsized handheld with passive cooling on the backside

[@bluephreakr]

This is great and all but where are the appliances? One great use for the compute module or the RasPi platform _in general_ would be home-spun appliances made from otherwise-broken, scrapped or discarded components to make them more functional and use private, home-made smart IoT solutions which are easy to implement, cheap to make (compared to new) and with an emphasis on saving these things from rotting in landfills.

[@KuntalGhosh]

I am designing a custom board for an old atom laptop. I will use the compute module 4 & replace the whole motherboard of that laptop and replicate all the ports and keyboard mouse ..

[@stale2665]

This is a great idea. I'd love to be able to replace some of the internals of my old laptops with CM4s too, but it's difficult because almost every laptop model has a different motherboard layout. Volume production would likely be out of the question.

[@danw1955]

Very cool stuff out there! Thanks for the link Jeff! I really like the idea of the micro-atx board adapter, since I have a ton of old cases around here that would make for good, cheap, relatively fast desktops. Hopefully they won't want a premium price for that board when it's released, and maybe by then, there will be an option to boot directly from an M.2 NVME drive and speed it up even more.😁👍 Do you know if there are plans in the works for an 8GB. Pi4B yet?? That would be the ticket for some of the heavier desktop distros out there...

[@CheapHomeTech]

All I want for xmas is a Pi with two NVMe slots that can be used for booting up TrueNAS, 32GBs of EEC, eight SATA ports, two RJ45 ports, and something for a monitor, keyboard, and mouse... Hopefully I can have this for xmas in 2021!

[@cadensherman5215]

Road to 100k subscribers. Send it.

[@dl8cy]

Baby production line is working .... congrats!

[@JeffGeerling]

Build success, waiting on deploy!

[@knightshousegames]

So I had an idea the other day, not sure if it's possible. Is it possible to cluster Turing Pis? Like, could you take the master nodes of say 4 Turing Pis and cluster them, so you can have a cluster of clusters? Multi Layer Piception? So those 4 pis would then delegate to their own clusters?

[@p3chv0gel22]

The heatsink from the Turing pi 2 looks oddly Familiar to a 1U Server heatsink, which could be really efficient, depending on how close these modules are together. If they are close enough together, you could put something like a 3D-printed 'shield' below/above the cooler so you could use a high pressure fan and force the whole airflow through the Heatsink

[@zacharyschwanke7160]

@ Jeff Geerling can run windows 10 on the compute moduel and use the pcie extesion with the compute module tp run a pcie radio tuner?

[@Space_Reptile]

I would love a hybrid of the Pi matx and the Turing pi2, combining the formfactor and features of the pimatx w/ the multi module nature if the Turing pi

[@Carolus_64]

Personally I am very interested in the Pi CM4 NAS board but I would have liked a board without pci express slot and with pci express to sata controller chip directly mounted on it (presumably the Marvell 88SE9215 chip since it seems the only chip currently supported by Rasperry Pi Linux, even if kernel recompile is required). But I'm also conscious of the difficulties to make a hobby project managing such small BGA packages and also getting chips from distributors (Marvell is not very friendly about this, I know from my working experience). Meanwhile congratulations for your next big project, i.e. the coming baby.

[@rossigigio]

Hi Jeff, welcome to your baby, not a new I/O card one !!!!! Congratulation!!!!!

[@jorbedo]

FYI the Rocket 620A - RocketHybrid 1423 dual sata works right away on Picm4 out of the box!!!

[@DerekMahar]

Another little Raspberry Pi user is on the way!

[@harmon802]

Hi, can you make another one of these? So good. I wish you would take your time with each project though and give your thoughts.

[@JeffGeerling]

Another is coming next week!

[@nickbarkas5774]

Hell yes, the raspberry must have matx/itx version, whether from the factory or with a daughter card.

[@gordon861]

I still think that Pi rushed the Pi400 out so that they would have some stock by Christmas, it would have made much more sense to use the CM4 module in the Pi400, even if it had only shipped with a single option until more CM4 stocks become available. Instead we'll need to wait for a version 2 or a competitor to release a keyboard using the CM4 that could include a SATA or M2 drive inside the unit.

[@IngwiePhoenix]

I would LOVE the mATX board! Could use console-sized cases to build a HTPC out of one of these. Really neat, definitively going to see how to keep track of that project. Super neat. =) I also have a Thin-ITX case. Who knows, maybe that finally gets use (after accidentially buying it while thinking it was mITX...)

[@another3997]

Ah, a new baby. Number 2. Did you get a good deal on Black Friday, or did you pay full price for it? Hopefully delivery is free, as I hear some Storks charge quite a lot these days. Did you check the returns policy? I guess a review sample was out of the question. When it arrives, do you plan to make a cluster from them? 😉 Congrats to you both, and best of luck. 🙂

[@ZEUS-wt2cn]

Great work again!

[@dieSpinnt]

Thank you for the great video and work that went into listing the peripherals / boards. And now an unqualified comment to ignore: It seems we are leaving the $30 mark behind us ... ;) Very cheeky, and if there was nothing but Raspberry Pi's in the world: (e.g. NAS) What would I do with $ 120-200? : P

[@williamjordan811]

Congratulations! Cheers

[@ninline2000]

So in addition to all this cool stuff you made a baby as well! Congratulations! Too bad about the lost sleep and the smelly diapers. It'll all be worth it one day though. I speak from experience, grandchildren make it all worthwhile.

[@JeffGeerling]

the oldest is 7... it is hard to even think in terms of grandchildren yet, but I know when that comes it'll be too soon!

[@AlokSainim]

hey jeff, excellent work you are doing!!, i just wanted if you could test the dsi port with a mipi display, as the cm4 supports the 4 lane dsi, we can directly run mipi displays? but i think it needs drivers or a mipi display with same connection as the cm4 port? can u please test mipi displays, no one(as much as i have crawled youtube) have done mipi displays thing on it! thanks!!

[@DennyMANSART]

Good luck with the baby. Let's how she deal with the CM Module 4 😊

[@TheRealAnthony_real]

I'm looking for some hardware to run docker and the tpu .. to be plug and play ... So I can run frigate ? What would you recommend ?

[@etopowertwon]

Piunora seems awesome.

Do we have any open requests for the Pi foundation to allow direct NVMe boot in the the firmware? Because that would be really cool to have.

[@JeffGeerling]

People have been asking, e.g. www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1767993#p1767993 It's on their radar, but they seem to have other priorities currently.

@@JeffGeerling I really hope it becomes reality at some point. Thanks!

[@d3vastat0r89]

11:44 that's when you flex on them and go: "Do you know who I am?! D:< "

[@danielpirone8028]

Thanks for sharing!

[@chetana9802]

this is an epic list

[@jaygreene4477]

Id love a realtime DSP option... For audio and speaker projects

[@zachbellay1956]

What about the Teensy 4?

[@jamestschirhart269]

Im still waiting to get my cm4, and i ordered the day it was released..

[@uptimelab]

Thanks for mentioning me 8:19 :) actually i'm suggesting to use a PoE switch. In my opinion it is much more convenient, reliable and safer. Ordered some parts for experiments, CM4 looks really nice for customisation. Will post updates in my instagram instagram.com/uptime.lab (I don't sell anything, just for info )

[@JeffGeerling]

You have a lot of fun projects and concepts! Definitely worth a follow :)

[@uptimelab]

@@JeffGeerling Thank you so much!

[@nashvaughan3175]

So the I/O board just enables certain features, and then you can disconnect the module and put it in something else with the same connections/features?

[@ryanwakebradtelle8682]

I would like a pie for compute module USB stick, I'm imagining something similar to the blade 1u rack. Where you can plug in as many pie sticks, but also M.2 Sticks.

[@erikleypoldt8275]

Whens Retroflag doing a new cartridge for the GPi case?

[@Swamtrooper8]

Could the cooling be improved by spinning the ribs of the cooler 90 degree in 2:43. So that the air flow could pass between the ribs and flow bottom up?

[@Airbag888]

I'm waiting for that SBC or other solution that will be a NAS: 1. Run at 10-15W max load (2-3W idle) before drive consumption 2. Have 1-2 10Gbps ethernet actually able to push that data 3. Have 2-4+ SATA6 connections and the throughput for same 4. Have enough processing power to handle the task gracefully.. Alternatively I'm looking for 5-10Gbps SBC with support for Gluster and 1-2 full speed SATA but lower power consumption (10W max) /send to NorthPole c/o Santa

[@manoerina1873]

Hello dear I’d like to know what you do with you’r rpi clusters? can you tell us what rpi clusters can be used? thank you for your work, i really like what you do to rpi.

[@jq6413]

Is there a board with a servo controller and camera port for making robots?

[@JeffGeerling]

Not yet, but I bet someone will have something like that-a "CM4 HAT that's actually just a board the CM4 plugs into"

[@web1bastler]

Would it be possible to set up a PCIe fabric between multiple CM4's and other peripherals like NVMe SSD's and NIC's?

[@str0g]

Would be cool if they would have a 10 inch touch screen board to use it as a tab or info panel

[@nasimulislam2377]

the idea of booting from m.2 i think that it might be possible. Raspberry pi does allow USB boot, and doesn't the 3.0 USB controller basically use PCI.

[@willgeorge1099]

I’d honestly love to see a Turing Pi for CM4 that uses something similar to the CM3, but packed full of features like HDMI, usb 3.2 gen2, gigabit ethernet, multiple PCI 1x slots and dedicated SATA in a microATX or ATX form factor

[@sgguitarfan7]

I would love to start designing a board that only has POE ethernet, HDMI, and microsd port to create a rack mount for a Rpi cluster But since I cant find 1 CM4 and 1 dev board I cant start on for testing.

[@Paulkeates1]

Yup - I'm in the same boat... hoping for early next year.

[@Hypothalamus42]

Have you considered to try out some of the (low end) M.2 based VGA cards?

[@p_mouse8676]

Have you tried sound-cards already?

[@JeffGeerling]

No, not yet! I would like to try a few though. Just haven't had the time to research which ones might be good options for Linux support.

[@p_mouse8676]

@@JeffGeerling No worries! I heard you have more important things in life coming up :D As far as I know, quite a lot of sound-cards are supported in Linux by default. I have absolutely no idea how that translates to ARM devices.

[@n.paradiso9476]

Very interesting. I wonder if there is any IO board that could be used to build a Volumio streamer, that can be attached to an external USB DAC, and has better characteristics (electric noise and jitter) of the standard raspberry pi 4 SBC.

[@MrMalchore]

All I want is a RPi CM4 IO board with a POE+ Gb ethernet and a SATA M.2 2280 slot (and the standard 40-pin GPIO.) Additioinal IO is fine and all. The need for NVMe I don't understand since the drives are faster than the available interface. I don't get why no one is combining both PoE+ and SATA M.2. Can use it headless that way, and not suffer the horrible disk performance of microSD.

[@JuhaJutila]

Have the foundation announce that they are going to release future Pi's with that same form factor and connector? If so this could be a way to build my next basic pc.

[@aguegu314]

In CM4 product brief it says "Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 will remain in production until at least January 2028". (For CM3, it was January 2026.) So I believe this form factor would last for quite a few years.

[@JuhaJutila]

​@@aguegu314 Thanks for your excellent response. Do you think we are going to see Pi 5 and Pi 6 to be available in this current compute module form factor and with the same connector?

[@aguegu314]

@@JuhaJutila yes, there are still quite a few pins not used in the 200-pin socket. Cm4 design is with ambition and vision.

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

@@aguegu314 I really think they missed the boat by not having the Pi 400 based around the CM4, the whole appeal of the module is its better flexibility than the standard Pi, and as shown at 05:57 , it was entirely possible to achieve the same product without making a new SBC for the Pi400 case.

[@aguegu314]

@@amirpourghoureiyan1637 Why not go straight for a CM4 notebook?

[@mRnIcO-ro7nw]

Are there any slim io boards to create a thin iPad like device

[@austinwilson930]

I’m really hoping the CM4 NAS project makes some headway. I ran a 4GB Pi4 running ubuntu server from a SSD and a 5bay USB3.0 hard drive enclosure as a NAS using MDADM and it worked great. Even as a plex server. Transcoding sucked but I always direct streamed the content.

[@JeffGeerling]

Good news on that front-I'm talking to a couple different people about projects that may be coming down the pipeline in the new year!

[@austinwilson930]

@@JeffGeerling I can’t wait!

[@soulife8383]

Instead of using an SD card, couldn't the eMMC be used to hand off the boot to NVME? It sounds faster than using the SD.

[@mozestobi]

no mistakes at the end? 🤔 strange. Congrats for the Baby! 👏😏

[@JeffGeerling]

Some of these videos I just do too well I guess ;) There were three bloopers for this one, but only one of them was actually kind of entertaining. For scripted videos I usually end up with more, since I'm bad at at least two of reading, writing, and 'rithmetic ;)

[@michiel.niesen]

But is it possible to plug a USB 3 to NVME adapter into, for example, the Syba SD-PEX20199 or another USB card with the VL805 chipset and boot from the NVME drive?

[@JeffGeerling]

Yes; but that slows down the maximum performance of the NVMe measurably :( (see my original CM4 review video for notes on that performance difference).

[@mrwho30]

Booting over USB3 with a NVME adapter works, there're a lot benchmarks out there. But not every adapter chip does work as far as i know!

[@michiel.niesen]

@@JeffGeerling I was looking to see if it can work. (See post above) And I was looking at how to get usb 3 on the cm4 working. And then I came across a website owned by someone called Jeff Geerling. Do you know him? You have apparently already answered my question on this site: www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2020/raspberry-pi-compute-module-4-review under the section "USB Boot?"

[@michiel.niesen]

@@mrwho30 But the vl805 works. And there are already usb cards of the vl805.

[@michiel.niesen]

@@JeffGeerling Half a gigabyte per second is more than enough for me.

[@MichaelRpdx]

It has been a year. How did things work out?

[@masterneme]

You mention that it's not possible to boot from an NVMe device, is this something that could be fixed through a firmware update or is it a hardware problem?

[@JeffGeerling]

It could be fixed through firmware-right now the firmware only looks for eMMC/microSD, then USB. It could be modified to look for SATA and/or NVMe storage too.

[@masterneme]

@@JeffGeerling Great! Apart from the speed are there other advantages with NVMe? I think you said something about SCSI in previous experiments but I don't remember which video it was so I don't recall all the details.

[@JeffGeerling]

@@masterneme It's mostly the speed / lack of overhead since the NVMe storage can work directly through PCIe.

[@Raaaww]

If you want to do a modified rpi board is there any license you need?

[@JeffGeerling]

Nope! Assuming you're not calling it "Raspberry Pi (thing)", you're good to go.

[@Raaaww]

@@JeffGeerling Nice :) Thanks for the reply.

[@nilst3791]

would it not be cool to have a clusterboard where the pi cm4 are chained via the pcie lanes that would increase their compute power compared to when they linked over lan wouldn't it(as in faster memory lanes)