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Raspberry Pi CM4 and Pin Compatible Modules | TinyComputers.io #2

Open utterances-bot opened 1 year ago

utterances-bot commented 1 year ago

Raspberry Pi CM4 and Pin Compatible Modules | TinyComputers.io

Comparison of Compute Modules.

https://tinycomputers.io/posts/raspberry-pi-cm4-and-pin-compatible-modules.html

sodabrew commented 1 year ago

I have a BIGTREETECH CB1 on my desk in its carrier board looking just like an ordinary Pi, boots and runs and was easy to order. But, like the other CM4-compatible boards you reviewed, it has non-upstreamed Linux kernel support and its own oddly-built SD card images. This board is based on the Allwinner H616 quad-core A53 CPU with Mali G31 GPU.

Picking boards that are just dropped out there with one kernel bringup vs. boards that are upstreamed into the mainline kernel and onward into distributions like Armbian or DietPi is one the bigger challenges! For those wondering if they should buy one of these or wait for a Pi, it's the software that makes all the difference.

https://www.cnx-software.com/2022/10/20/bigtreetech-cb1-a-raspberry-pi-cm4-compatible-allwinner-h616-system-on-module/

ajokela commented 1 year ago

@sodabrew I will have to try out the CB1. I was not aware of its existence; thanks for pointing it out.

I'm currently in the process of writing a post on how to rebuild a kernel for a Radxa CM3. The kernel is forever pinned to v4.19. These BSP flavors of a Linux distribution are everywhere. They must be the least costly way of getting a sbc or module up and running.

I really like the work of Jared McNeill with porting Tianocore EFI to the Pine64 Quartz64 - https://github.com/jaredmcneill/quartz64_uefi - it makes so you can boot generic arm64 kernels, unfortunately his work is for a single board, but it opens up the operating system possibilities on that board.

On a note on RPi CM4 pin compatible modules, I contacted Radxa about their upcoming CM5 - they said that samples will be available for testers and reviewers sometime in March of this year.