It's getting colder, and you know what that means!
Time to swap out summer green for a winter-themed Compute Module 4 clone.
Seriously, there are almost a dozen Compute Module 4 clones now, and I have even more
on the way!
But what, pray tell, is a Compute Module 4?
It's this thing.
And this, and all the clones, are entire computers, on one tiny little board.
But there's no USB, HDMI, none of that.
That's because these are all 'System on Modules,' and they're used for anything from portable
gaming emulators to smart lighting to industrial control systems!
You plug them into another board and that gives you the IO, display, controls, or whatever
else you need for a full custom computer.
It's been a while since I mentioned the Compute Module, and that's because it's been literally
impossible to get one, since like early 2021.
In fact, I ordered a few a year ago, and DigiKey just delivered them this week...
So that was annoying.
If you want one, go check rpilocator.com.
Supply is finally coming back to pre-pandemic levels.
Even still, there are a lotta people saying "who cares about the Raspberry Pi, there are
like 50 other boards and they're SO much better!"
And...
I mean you're not wrong.
But better how?
Objectively, being able to buy a board makes it better.
And most of these little guys were definitely able to be bought.
So yes, that's better.
And a few of them even have pretty good chips on them, or extra features like this little
Rock 3 Compute Module has a whole extra set of IO that the Pi doesn't.
But you know what's not better?
Spending a week trying to get it to boot.
But that was me testing a pre-production version.
So I bought a production version and still had issues.
When I asked about it they told me the version I bought isn't really as well supported right
now since they're working on a newer model.
Now, since then, they've released some working images, but the documentation is still pretty
rough.
I agree with DPHacks' take:
'Calling it a "drop-in replacement" for a CM4 is a little bit of a stretch [...] Some
boards require a bodge wire solder job to make them work.'
'I see the Rock CM3 more as a "CM4 alternative for advanced users".'
But a few of these boards are better than others, and I have a lot of 'em listed on
my sbc-reviews GitHub repo.
Like surprisingly, even though the thing is pretty slow, this Milk-V Mars CM is fairly
well-rounded.
It's just that it—like every other clone here—has a few quirks that make it not a
literal drop-in replacement.
On one, camera support's broken.
On another, PCI Express.
And in one case, different board revisions behave different, so good luck sorting all
that out when searching Discord and random forum posts!
That's not quite user-friendly, so I still recommend just buying the original.
Especially since, you know, you can now.
In this video I'm gonna quickly walk through my experience with each of these CM4 clones,
and then talk about a bunch of new CM4 projects.
To be clear, I bought at least one of all the clones in this video.
But most of the other projects I'll be testing later were sent by the board designers.
There are links to everything below, so let's get started.
For the clones, I'm gonna skip talking about performance.
Some are about as fast as the Pi, and some are a bit slower.
And there are a couple modules that might come out soon with even faster chips.
My main goal is to highlight how each board is in real life.
Benchmarks and cool features– that's one thing.
Being able to buy the thing and use it is... surprisingly not always straightforward.
Kicking things off with that milky-white Compute Module, this is the Milk-V Mars CM.
It's actually a RISC-V processor, the JH7110, and that means in some ways it's radically
different than the rest of the clones.
It runs an entirely different architecture, and I just posted a video dedicated to it,
so rather than bore you with the details, go watch that.
And I covered this guy alongside the Rock 3 and in that early testing I had a lotta
trouble just getting this thing to boot.
Things improved now, to the point there are a few images that boot right up.
I was able to get DietPi running, and all the basic stuff worked fine.
The RK3566 on here shows up on a LOT of these clones, and for good reason.
It's not that much slower than a CM4, and it uses around the same power.
It also has a built-in GPU that's pretty decent, and a tiny little AI accelerator.
And it's the same chip they used on the Radxa Rock 3 Compute Module, or CM3.
This board, this is the one I just can't get running for the life of me.
Other people got it running, but I think I've been cursed to never get a CM3 to boot.
This was one of the first Compute Module 4 clones, so I wasn't too let down when my prototype
had issues.
But then I bought a lite version a few months later, and even though the board was a newer
revision, I could never get it booted on my Compute Module 4 IO Board.
Now, some would argue that since Radxa makes their own carrier board, I should just use
that.
But the entire reason for these clones' existence, really, is to be a drop-in replacment.
This board seems to be plagued by a few tiny incompatibilities, and from what I've been
told, they're focusing on the newer CM5, which uses the much faster RK3588S.
Faster and more power-efficient than the Pi's chip.
But...
it's been months since they announced it, and I haven't seen a launch date yet.
We'll see.
Moving on to this board, I just got this last week.
It's the LuckFox Core3566, and I think this thing is the result of Waveshare having like
50 really neat CM4 carrier boards but no CM4s to use on 'em.
I bought it from Waveshare and it shipped pretty quick, but so far I haven't gotten
their OS to run on it.
The Wiki is a little sparse, and some of the documentation seems to be Chinese-first, so
I'll have to keep testing.
It should perform the same as the other RK3566 boards, but I was a little scared when I saw
some documentation around a really old Linux kernel being used.
Most other boards run the still-old 5.10 version, but at least it's not that old.
The ancient 4.19 version of the kernel this board launched with is riddled with security
holes.
Anyway, moving on to the Orange Pi CM4, it's—repeat after me—another RK3566 clone.
But it used some pretty fast built-in eMMC storage, and everything on it worked out of
the box for me.
The documentation was a little daunting, but I found their Orange Pi CM4 Bookworm image,
flashed it, and it ran.
Which, sadly, is surprising.
But good!
It's running that 5.10 kernel, so it's not the latest, but it was stable and as fast
as the other RK3566 clones.
So not great, not terrible, but at least we got options!
A couple of these clones dare to be different, though.
This BigTreeTech CB1 actually runs an Allwinner chip, the H616.
This chip is pretty slow, though.
And this is the only clone without built-in gigabit Ethernet.
It just has piddly old 100 megabit.
The main reason BigTree launched this thing was they had a ton of 3D printer boards for
the Compute Module 4, but no Compute Module 4 for the boards!
That's kind of a theme here.
They figured something's better than nothing, and voila!
They made this thing.
It's definitely better than nothing.
And, it's cheap, and it worked without much fuss, so I kinda appreciate it for what it
is.
Also on the dare-to-be-different spectrum, Banana Pi made this BPI-CM4 with an Amlogic
chip, specifically the A311D.
And it's a nice chip.
It's a little faster than the CM4, it has a faster AI coprocessor, and a lot of the
interfaces worked out of the box.
But Banana Pi's always been a bit tricky to pin down.
One time I tried downloading an OS for it, and the Google Drive folder they had was just
empty.
And at different times, some of the interfaces, like USB, or WiFi, just wouldn't work.
There are fixes now, but it seems like support for this board's been hit or miss.
And rounding out the clones, this board isn't actually a Compute Module 4 clone, it's a
Jetson Nano clone.
But I did want to touch on it because Turing Pi is just about to start shipping these things.
This is the first compute module I've seen that has the RK3588 chip on it, and it's fast.
It's a good deal faster than the Raspberry Pi, and for some specific use cases, it might
be a better option.
But it's not quite fully baked yet, they're still tweaking the software for it.
I'll probably test this thing in my Turing Pi cluster soon, so subscribe for that.
Okay, so that's all the clones.
Now, what new projects do I have going into 2024?
Well, for one, this guy.
This thing's built for HMI use—that's Human Machine Interface.
But you could just call it an all-in-one touchscreen industrial Pi computer.
This reTerminal DM is the big cousin to the smaller reTerminal I've covered before.
This version has a 10" IP65-rated touchscreen, and you can mount it to a wall, a table, or
any other surface, or even on VESA mount or DIN rail.
And it comes with a bunch of industrial interfaces, from RS485 to CANBUS, and everything in-between.
This kind of panel could be installed in machinery, or in a factory, for monitor or control devices.
It also has a fancy expansion slot where you can install a 4G modem or LoRaWAN for long-distance
communications.
And the model I got uses the Pi's PCI Express bus to add on two more gigabit Ethernet ports
and an internal NVMe slot.
Pretty cool!
The thing is rock solid, and pretty hefty, too, and I'm kinda thinking it might be the
perfect Home Assistant control panel for my new studio.
What do you think?
This isn't the only all-in-one industrial Pi machine on the market.
Remember the Chipsee Industrial Panel PC earlier this year?
Both of these are interesting options for a completely custom panel for HMI or just
displaying anything, with a durable touchscreen.
The reTerminal DM starts around $400, or the model I have adds on a camera and two more
Ethernet ports for around a hundred-and-fifty more.
Next up, Magic Blue Smoke wanted to plug a Pi into a TV, and hated that you need an HDMI
cable.
Thus, the CM4 TV Stick was born.
This is a $35 adapter that literally plugs a Pi into a TV.
You could throw LibreELEC on it, and have a completely private TV stick.
Or you could put RetroPie on it and have a tiny game console for the road, for like hotel
rooms or friends' houses.
It works best with WiFi since there's no built-in Ethernet, and you'll still need to supply
power through the USB-C connector, but it's a handy tool.
It has a built-in IR receiver, though you could also stick a Flirc in the USB port if
you want.
But if you just plug it into the back of a TV, IR might not work at all, so you might
also want to use an HDMI extension cable like I have here.
I fired mine up with LibreELEC's official CM4 image, and it worked without a hitch.
On the topic of CM4 sticks, Nebra sent me their Compute Module 3 and Compute Module
4 Flash Sticks.
I used to use my PiTray mini for flashing eMMC Compute Module 4s, or to update their
bootloaders.
But these Flash sticks are even better for that.
They're cut down to do one thing, and do it well: they make flashing compute modules easy.
It's nice to just pop a CM4 on, plug it into my USB port, and flash away with Pi Imager.
It's only twelve bucks, but it's kinda like that Balena Etcher Pro I used on the Mr. Beast
project.
It's highly specialized, and most people probably don't need to flash so many Compute Modules...
But if you're like me, and you need to flash these things a lot... having one or two of
these is absolutely a no-brainer.
Way off to the other end of the spectrum, Seeed Studios sent me their EdgeBox-RPI-200.
I've covered some industrial DIN-rail mount Pis before, and they're made for some harsh
environments.
This one has a durable metal enclosure and the fit and finish is superb.
There's thorough documentation, and I love how the phoenix connector pinout is right
on top of the thing.
It's also really easy to open up: two screws hold down the metal cover, and right away
you see one of the two expansion slots.
A few more screws and you can get at the M.2 slot on the bottom.
There's all kinds of industrial IO, so outside of it costing a couple hundred bucks, these
types of computers are the perfect option where you need a reliable fanless computer
for automation, remote sensing, or that sort of thing.
They sell options with built-in 4G or LoRaWAN, and all their models come with a Compute Module
4.
One model even has an integrated UPS!
And yes, this is the second product from Seeed studios in this video.
They've been busy!
Now we have the Pi-Cast.
It's one the newest Pi-KVM boxes, and it's also the smallest one I've tested.
It has a trick up its sleeve, though.
If you look around at all the ports, there's one missing: Ethernet!
Every other Pi-KVM box has an Ethernet port, or at least WiFi.
But this one doesn't.
But how can an IP KVM have no networking?
Ah, that's the magic of this little port.
It runs Ethernet over USB-C.
That's right, this port can power the Pi-Cast and give network access straight to any laptop
or tablet that supports USB Ethernet.
I got the prebuilt kit, and all I had to do was plug in USB-C to my iPad, HDMI and USB
to a server, and then I browsed to 192.168.2.1 on the iPad and bingo, there's the Pi-KVM
interface.
It also has HDMI passthrough built in, you just need to run this command to turn it on.
Pi-Cast actually makes a variety of hardware options, so I'm not gonna deep dive here.
I think I might do a bigger video on all the different Pi-KVM options at some point.
Before I work on that, I also have to test the latest BliKVM, the v4 Allwinner version.
And yes, that means it's not actually built with a Compute Module 4.
It has an Allwinner H616 inside, and yes, that's the same chip the BigTreeTech CB1 has.
And yes, it's not as fast as the CM4.
But it's plenty fast for basic Pi-KVM functionality.
The key feature is it's easy to get, and you can get a whole tiny IP KVM without having
to find a Compute Module 4.
And the rack ears on here aren't so you can mount it in the world's tiniest network rack;
they're for popping it onto a full size rack so you don't need a shelf.
Or so you don't do the shameful act many of us do: let it it dangle by the HDMI plug.
The interface is snappy, and I'm happy to see more KVM options...
I just wish Blicube was better at working with the open source projects they used to
build their products.
Blicube's had issues where they would grab code from PiKVM and TinyPilot, in particular,
and rebadge it as their own, not respecting the license stipulations.
That's not cool.
It takes a lot of work to build software for these boxes, so proper code attribution is
the least you can do!
I'd also encourage any company selling Pi-KVM hardware to contribute money back upstream
to the developers.
It's what keeps the open source world going 'round!
The last board for today is Johann's Carrier Board.
Which... is a carrier board.
By Johann!
And it's not really groundbreaking, it's mostly a tiny Compute Module 4 IO board, but with
a few changes to make it more useful as a small NAS.
It's got room for a CM4, an M.2 NVMe SSD, and most of the IO and interfaces from its
bigger cousin.
But no warranty, and no guarantee.
In fact, you can't even buy this board!
Johann just wanted this board to run his NAS, and he built a few prototypes, and this is
one of 'em.
He said if someone else wants to take the project and run with it, they can; he even
left his contact info and a couple stipulations.
I love that people who aren't even electrical engineers are designing carrier boards for
the Pi.
It's really opened up people's eyes to what's possible with open source software like KiCAD
and it's gonna be really interesting if we can get a Compute Module 5 in the same form
factor.
And that's just it, really.
There are still so many amazing new Compute Module 4 projects out there, it's really hitting
its stride, especially since 'normal' people like you and me can finally buy one now.
But with the Pi 5 just being released, everyone's speculating about Compute Module 5.
Raspberry Pi haven't said anything except that there may be news "sometime in the first
half of 2024."
That's great, but for now?
It's a good time to start working on a new Compute Module project.
Even if you don't use a Pi.
Until next time, I'm Jeff Geerling.