TinyComputers.io (Posts about raspberry pi cm4)

BIGTREETECH Manta E3EZ: Ender 3 Pro Meets Klipper Part Two

A.C. Jokela — Sun, 02 Jul 2023 03:54:38 GMT

BIGTREETECH Manta E3EZ enclosure (version 6)

It has been a couple months since I last wrote about the Ender 3 Pro inspired 3D printer that will be running Klipper (as opposed to running Marlin Firmware). The project itself is still progressing, albeit slowly. All of the frame parts have had the anodizing stripped off with lye and subsequently painted with an off-white enamel.

The base of the printer is assembled and linear rails have been installed on the Y-axis. Over the last month or so, much of my time for this project has been dedicated to testing materials and correct fitment for the 3D printed components, like the enclosure for the BIGTREETECH Manta E3EZ controller board as well as a set of drawers. I wasted a lot of expensive carbon fiber filament by not prototyping parts first in cheap PLA, but I subsequently learned my lesson on that front. I have tons of random colors of PLA, why not use a spool of that.

I settled on polycarbonate carbon fiber from Prusa. Why? I like the satin finish, there are barely any extrusion marks and it is incredibly strong. The model I used for the enclosure is based on Ender 3 (V2) front case for BTT Manta E3 EZ, for stock board/SKR Mini E3, and for Orange Pi Zero 2. You can find all of model iterations that I did here. As of this writing, I have not included the case cover because I have yet to create it.

Other notable milestones on the project include a shift from Creality Sprite Pro to a BIQU H2O Liquid Cooled Hotend. Why? Because it can handle filaments that require high temperatures, like PEI (PolyEther Imide) which requires extrusion temperatures over 365° C, or PEEK (PolyEtherEtherKetone), which requires extrusion of up to 410° C. There would be other requirements, like a heated enclosure for those types of filament, but that is for another upgrade down the road.

BIGTREETECH Manta E3EZ: Ender 3 Pro Meets Klipper Part One

A.C. Jokela — Sat, 06 May 2023 22:48:28 GMT

For this build, as the title suggests, we will be using a Creality Ender 3 Pro as our base. I have written before about the Ender 3 Pro printers (here and here) that I have, but here is a bit of information about why I like this particular printer. The Ender 3 Pro features a sturdy frame that is made of aluminum extrusions. The frame is easy to assemble and disassemble, which we will be doing the latter, but that will be for another post.

The BIGTREETECH E3EZ Manta Mainboard is a 32-bit control board designed for use in 3D printers. It features an ARM Cortex-M4 CPU with a clock speed of 120 MHz, offering higher processing power and more precise control than 8-bit or even slower clock speed 32-bit boards. My other Ender 3 Pro inspired printers are running the 32-bit Creality 3D Printer Ender 3 Silent Motherboard V4.2.7. It is a solid motherboard, and I have had no real issues with it. The Silent Motherboard V4.2.7 that I have been running, as I have mentioned in a couple recent posts (here and here), are using a custom-configured Marlin v2.0.x firmware. Out of the box, the Manta E3EZ runs Smoothieware firmware, but, we won't be using that, nor will we be using Marlin, we will, instead, be using Klipper.

One of the key features of the E3EZ Manta board is its use of EZ2209 stepper motor drivers. These drivers offer advanced features such as stealthChop2 for silent operation, spreadCycle for dynamic current control, and stallGuard4 for stall detection. This allows for smoother and more precise movement of the printer's axes, resulting, in theory, in higher quality prints. The Silent Motherboard V4.2.7 uses TMC2225 stepper motor drivers; these are much quieter than the HR4988 used on the 8-bit motherboard that originally shipped with a stock Ender 3 Pro.

In a previous post on BIGTREETECH's CB1 compute module, I mentioned BIGTREETECH's Manta E3EZ board as being a great combination for 3D printing. Even though I have a CB1 from the previous review, felt strongly that it would be a good choice, we will, instead, be using a SOQuartz compute module. Here is a quick run down on the SOQuartz. The SOQuartz module from Pine64 is a powerful single-board computer designed for embedded systems and IoT applications. It is based on the Rockchip RK3566 SoC, which features a quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor running at up to 1.8GHz, along with a Mali-G52 2EE graphics processor. The module being used for this project comes with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and and will be paired with 16GB of external eMMC storage. It also features a wide range of connectivity options, including Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, and support for up to two displays with resolutions of up to 4K@60Hz via HDMI and DisplayPort. Other features of the SOQuartz module include support for up to four USB 3.0 ports, a 40-pin GPIO header, and a dedicated AI accelerator for machine learning applications. With its high-performance specifications and versatile connectivity options, the SOQuartz module is a promising option for a wide range of embedded and IoT applications, like using it with a BIGTREETECH Manta E3EZ. The E3EZ will support just about any Raspberry Pi CM4 form factor. Why the SOQuartz? I have a strange adoration for things-Pine64. I like their boards and compute modules, I also love their Pinecil soldering iron (which happens to be powered by a RISCV processor). I have two ROCKPro64 single board computers running as network file storage on my home network; one even has four 10TB drives running in a (software)RAID5 configuration.

Let's get down to brass tacks and look more holistically at this project. We have already discussed the use of an Ender 3 Pro as our starting point, and using a BTT Manta E3EZ for control + Klipper; what else is going to be used? The following a list of parts, printers, primer and paint for this project.

Part Name	Price
X-axis linear rail	$110.76
Y-axis linear rails	$49.27
Onyehn TL-Smoother Addon Module for Pattern Elimination Motor Filter Clipping Filter 3D Printer Motor Drivers Controller	$11.99
BIGTREETECH Direct Nema17 Damper Stepper Motor Steel and Rubber Vibration Dampers with M3 Screw	$17.99
AFUNTA 5 Pcs Flexible Couplings 5mm to 8mm Compatible with NEMA 17 Stepper Motors	$10.99
Park Sung 3D Printer Heat Bed Leveling Parts,Silicone Column Solid Mounts,Leveling Spring Replacement	$12.99
[Gulfcoast Robotics] 235x235mm Aluminum Build Plate and 24V 250W Silicone Heater 3-Point Heated Bed Upgrade for Creality Ender 3	$59.99
PEI Sheet 235mmx235mm and Magnetic Sticker with Adhesive for Creality Ender 3/Ender 3 Pro/Ender 3 V2/Ender 3 S1/Ender 3 S1 pro/Ender 3 neo/Ender 3 v2 neo/Ender 5/Ender 5 Pro/Voxelab Aquila 3D Printer	$19.99
Zeberoxyz Upgrade 2020 Profile X-axis+4040 Double Slot Profile Y-axis Synchronous Belt Stretch Straighten Tensioner for Creality Ender-3 Pro/Ender3 V2/CR-20 Pro 3D Printer Parts (X2020+Y4040)	$23.89
BIGTREETECH EZ2209 V1.0 Stepper Motor Driver 5PCS Stepstick Mute EZ2209 Compatible with SKR 3 EZ Manta E3 EZ 3D Printer Controller Main Board	$25.99
BIGTREETECH Manta E3EZ V1.0 Mainboard 32 Bit Silent Control Board Work with CB1/CM4 Support Klipper Drop-in Motherboard for Ender 3 Compatible with EZ2209 EZ5160 Stepper Motor Driver	$65.99
Creality Sprite Extruder Pro, Direct Drive Extruder Hotend Kit, 300℃ High Temperature Extruder Kit for Ender 3/ Ender 3 V2/ Ender 3 Pro/Ender 3 S1/ Ender 3 Max/CR-10 Smart Pro 3D Printers	$109.95
Creality CR Touch Auto Bed Leveling Sensor Kit, Creality 3D Printer Bed Leveling Tool with Metal Push Pin for Ender 3/Ender 3 V2/Ender 3 Pro/3 Max/Ender 5 pro/CR-10 with 32 Bit V4.2.2/V4.2.7 Mainboard	$39.00
Official Creality New Update Ender 3 Dual Z-axis Upgrade Kit with Metal Power Supply Holder, Stepper Motor and Lead Screw for Ender 3 V2, Ender 3 Pro, Ender 3 3D Printer	$28.99
Ruby Nozzles for 3D Printers MK8 E3D Prusa Ender3 (E3DV6, 0.4mm)	$24.90
Used Creality Ender 3V2/Ender 3 Pro/Ender 3/Ender 3 Neo 3D Printer	$171.20
Unrepaired Creality Ender 3 E 3D Printers Ender 3 Pro Upgrade	$97.09
64GB eMMC Module	$42.62
Threaded-Stud Rubber Bumper with Steel Base Plate - M8 x 1.25mm Size, 30mm OD, 15mm High, 220 lbs. Maximum Load - 3810N137 x4	$20.80
Uncoated High-Speed Steel General Purpose Tap - Plug Chamfer, M8 x 1.25 mm Thread, 1-1/8" Thread Length - 8305A39	$9.20
Black-Oxide High-Speed Steel Drill Bit - 6.8mm Size, 109mm Overall Length - 2958A114	$4.92
Extra-Fine Marking Punch - with 1/8" Point Diameter - 3451A32	$12.00
Duttek Micro HDMI to HDMI Coiled Cable, HDMI to Micro HDMI Coiled Cable, Extreme Slim/Thin Micro HDMI Male to HDMI Male Coiled Cable for 1080P, 4K, 3D, and Audio Return Channel (1.2M/4FT)	$11.97
Wells Lamont unisex adult 14inch PVC Coated Gloves, Green, 2 Count Pack of 1 US	$8.20
Rust-Oleum 7793830 Stops Rust Spray Paint, 12 oz, Satin Shell White	$15.06
Custom Coat Self Etching Acid Etch Primer - 12.9 Ounce Spray Can - Gray	$24.99
2 ALAZCO Soft-Grip Handle Heavy-Duty Tile Grout Brush - Accid Proof Extra-Stiff Bristles - Narrow Brush for Hard to Reach Areas Multi-Purpose	$12.33
Rubbermaid Commercial Products Standard Bus/Utility Box, 4.625-Gallon, Gray	$14.99

Some of this was unnecessary. I did not need to buy two Ender 3 Pros, but the first one I bought was missing frame components and the second one's listing on eBay had photos of the actual contents. The second one will also give me an ample supply of spare parts for the other Ender 3 Pros I have in service. Other items that would be optional are the gloves, primer and paint. The intent is to use a caustic solution (like lye or Draino) to etch away at the anodizing on the aluminum. A coat of etching primer and then an off white paint job. So, what is the total of the above list? I'll just say that the total has crossed over into four-digit territory.

That's it for now. Look for parts two and three of this project build.

BIGTREETECH CB1 - Review

A.C. Jokela — Sat, 04 Feb 2023 21:02:45 GMT

A commenter on the previous review of Raspberry Pi CM4 and pin compatible modules brought to my attention that there exists a fifth module: BIGTREETECH CB1.

My hot take on this system on a module is it is underwhelming. The two call outs are the memory size - 1 gigabyte - and the ethernet - 100 megabits only. The other four modules previously tested all had 4 gigabytes of memory and all had 1 gigabit ethernet.

Geekbench Metrics
Module	Single CPU Metrics	Multi-CPU Metrics
Raspberry Pi CM4	228	644
Radxa CM3	163	508
Pine64 SOQuartz	156	491
Banana Pi CM4	295	1087
BIGTREETECH CB1	91	295

Features Comparison
	Raspberry Pi CM4	Radxa CM3	Pine64 SOQuartz	Banana Pi CM	BIGTREETECH CB1
	Specifications	Specifications	Specifications	Specifications	Specifications
Core	Broadcom BCM2711, Quad core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.5GHz	Rockchip RK3566, Quad core Cortex-A55 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 2.0GHz	Rockchip RK3566, Quad core Cortex-A55 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.8GHz and Embedded 32-bit RISC-V CPU	Amlogic A311D Quad core ARM Cortex-A73 and dual core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU	Allwinner H616, Cuad core ARM Cortex-A53 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.5 GHz
NPU	-	0.8T NPU	0.8 TOPS Neural Network Acceleration Engine	5.0 TOPS	-
GPU	-	Mali G52 GPU	Mali-G52 2EE Bifrost GPU	Mali-G52 MP4 (6EE) GPU	Mali-G31 MP2
Memory	1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4	1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4	2GB, 4GB, 8GB LPDDR4	4GB LPDDR4	1GB DDR3L
eMMC	On module - 0GB to 32GB	On module - 0GB to 128GB	External - 16GB to 128GB	On module - 16GB to 128G)	-
Network	1Gbit Ethernet - Option for WiFi5, Bluetooth 5.0	1Gbit Ethernet - Option for WiFi5, Bluetooth 5.0	1Gbit Ethernet - WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0	1Gbit Ethernet	100Mbit Ethernet - 100Mbit WiFi
PCIe	1-lane	1-lane	1-lane	1-lane	-
HDMI	2x HDMI	1x HDMI	1x HDMI	1x HDMI	1x HDMI
GPIO	28 pin	40 pin	28 pin	26 pin	40 pin
Extras	-	-	-	SATA ports, one shared with USB 3, one shared with PCIe; Audio Codec	-
Geekbench Score - Single CPU	228	163	156	295	91
Geekbench Score - Multi CPU	644	508	491	1087	295
Price of Tested*	$65	$69	$49	$105	$40
Power Consumption	7 watts	N/A	2 watts	N/A	N/A

If you are thinking, what could this comparatively underwhelming module be used for? First, let's take a look at BIGTREETECH. If you have been into the 3D printer kit scene, you might be familiar with the manufacturer. BIGTREETECH is known for its 3D printer mainboards and other 3D printing related electronics. The CB1 could be easily dropped in in-place for a Raspberry Pi for your Creality Ender 3 Pro or other printer kit. You will need a carrier board for it, but it will work.

OctoPrint or Klipper will run just fine on this module. You will most certainly not need 1Gbit ethernet for printing when most 3D printers print fractions of a millimeter per minute; transmission of gcode will not max out the bandwidth. Likewise for needing more memory; OctoPrint or Klipper will certainly be more responsive with more memory, but 1GB will work just fine.

One thing that this mostly underwhelming module has going for itself is HDMI. It is capable of pumping out 60 fps 4k video. If you are looking for a module that can do this, pick the CB1. For only $40, it is a bargain compared to the RPi CM4 and compatible modules.

Disk Images for the CB1

Information and instructions on WiFi setup

For some of the CM4 pin compatible modules, like the Radxa CM3, an eMMC flash writing utility that I was only able to get working on MS Windows was needed. The CB1 is straightforward in comparison. Simply download an image (link above), and use balenaEtcher or Raspberry Pi Imager or dd to write the image to a micro SD card. The image I ultimately used comes with Linux kernel v5.16.1. Like so many Linux distributions for Arm systems, this kernel is BSP, or Board Specific Package. It is a fork from mainline Linux and it is specifically for the CB1 and its associated Arm processor. Given that this is a niche module, and short of a lot of demand for it, the kernel will likely drift as mainline Linux progresses, eventually becoming outdated. But for now, it is a contemporary, relatively new kernel by comparison; put in constrast with semi-official distribution kernel for the Banana Pi CM4, which comes with v4.9.x, was released in December of 2016.

If you stumbled upon this post by way of some 3D printer-related search, and you are just wanting to write an image to a micro sd card and get on with printing awesome stuff on your printer...here is a video with instructions.

If you do not need much computing or memory, you are mostly interested in a simple 3D printer manager or a barebones HDMI streamer, the CB1, for its price, is pretty good. There even is a drop-in replacement for Ender 3 mainboards, the BIGTREETECH Manta E3EZ V1.0 Mainboard 32 Bit Silent Control Board. This gives you OctoPrint or Klipper, for print management, plus Marlin Firmware, for printer control and gcode execution, all-in-one board for about $65. This is a great deal give the much griped about availability of Raspberry Pi modules and boards, and secondary market prices, for the small order and maker crowds.

Finally, Polycube compiles on runs successfully on this module, I will eventually include it in a network routing comparison of Raspberry Pi CM4 pin compatible modules.

Windows 3.1 on Raspberry Pi CM4

A.C. Jokela — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 23:59:10 GMT

I got my start with computers in the late 1980s on an Apple IIe. By 1990, my father had been bringing home a laptop from his work. When he was not working, I would use Microsoft QBasic (here is a JavaScript implementation of QBasic). Three years later, we had a Gateway 2000 desktop computer. It sported an Intel 486 50Mhz with 24MB of ram and about 512MB of disk space. Also in 1993, I was able to get a real copy of Visual Basic 3 from a friend who had gone off to college; he bought it for me from the campus bookstore.

Fast forward thirty years, and here, in 2023, I'm all about single board computers, and in particular, Arm-based SBCs.

Can one run software that was written thirty years ago that was intended to run on a completely different architecture? The answer is yes, and it is damn simple, too.

sudo apt install dosbox

Download Windows 3.11 from archive.org.

Unzip the archive

Run dosbox

dosbox

Mount the Windows 3.11 directory as drive c:

mount c /home/pi/win3.11
c:
setup

Follow the instructions on the screen.

Installing Visual Basic 3.0 is also simple. Download an ISO from archive.org.

Mount the ISO to a directory in your home directory on the Raspberry Pi, copy the contents and execute in Windows 3.11.

mkdir cdrom
sudo mount -o loop VBPRO30.ISO cdrom
mkdir win3.11/cdrom; cp -R cdrom/* win3.11/cdrom/; chmod -R 755 win3.11/cdrom

I found I needed to restart dosbox in order for the new directory to show up. Repeat mounting /home/pi/win3.11 in dosbox.

mount c /home/pi/win3.11
c:
cd Windows
win

Navigate with File Manager to c: drive, open the cdrom folder, go to DISK1 and execute SETUP.EXE

As a helpful note, to release the mouse from dosbox, simply press CTRL+F10

You might be asking, what's the point of this exercise? - It is because it can be done.

eBay Windows 3.11

Raspberry Pi CM4 and Pin Compatible Modules

A.C. Jokela — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 16:30:00 GMT

UPDATE: 2023/02/04: Review of BIGTREETECH CB1 - RPi CM4 Pin Compatible Module

Hardware, in our modern era, does not exist in a vacuum; it requires software to function and be useful. One of main benefits of living within the Raspberry Pi ecosystem is you get up-to-date software that is maintained by a large network of source code contributors. Just for the linux kernel used in Raspberry Pi OS, there have been over 5,000 people contributing to the project. That's hundreds of thousands of lines of code added, removed and modified. Raspberry Pi is successful because of its ecosystem. It is so large, it is self-sustaining. The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (announcement of the "CM4") was introduced about two years ago. Official Raspberry Pi CM4 Datasheet. It is a followup to the wildly successful Raspberry Pi 4b. The CM4 is a different form factor from the 4b. Unlike the 4b, it requires a carrier or IO board to be useful. The good news is it is compatible with a bewildering array of carrier and IO boards.

Raspberry Pi CM4

Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, 1GB memory

There are IO boards that give you the same form factor as the RPi 4b, there are also IO boards that turn your CM4 into a KVM for a server management, there are boards with two ethernet ports -- allowing for the creation of a simple router. There also boards that expose the CM4's PCIe bus. This opens up the possibilities for using peripherals like addition network adapters or SATA controllers. More on that later.

Since the CM4's release, there have been a few pin compatible modules developed by other firms. By pin compatible, I mean that these other modules can correctly be attached via Hirose mating connectors to the IO boards.

One of the primary benefits of using a genuine Raspberry Pi CM4, as I mentioned in the first paragraph, is the ecosystem. The CM4 uses the same operating system as the 4b. This allows for nearly all the same software to be usable across the RPi family of single board computers. This sheds light on one of the most commonly brought up issues with non-Raspberry Pi single board computers: the software ecosystem just is not as robust as Raspberry Pi. This is not limited to the alternatives to the CM4. There are an array of alternatives to the RPi family, like the boards made by Pine64, or Libre, or Hardkernel's Odroid series. These all cannot run the official Raspberry Pi OS.

Jeff Geerling does a fantastic job of reviewing the RPi CM4. I am not going to give a complete, indepth review; Jeff has already done that.

Core Features:

Optional eMMC, zero to 32GB
Optional Wireless (WiFi and Bluetooth)
Variety of memory sizes, 1GB to 8GB

If by some chance you stumbled onto this post and you need assistance in getting Raspberry Pi OS running on a CM4 unit, check out this. I'm not going to go into details here; it is a solved problem.

Many of the alternatives to Raspberry Pi OS have a very similar feel and shallow curve for learning and setting up, but they are not 100% the same. Take for example, the the multi-board Linux distribution Armbian. Armbian supports over 160 different single board computers. If you have a well established board, there is a good chance there's an Armbian build for it. Armbian is very similar to RPi OS; they are both derivatives of Debian, both can use standard Ubuntu and Debian packages, both have a similar method of writing a disk image to an SD card and booting the OS. There is no guarantee, however, that all software designed for the Raspberry Pi OS will run under Armbian. Particularly when dealing with third party shields and GPIO boards as well as things that I tend to ignore like video encoding/decoding and sound.

The common quip as of late goes something like this: because of the shortage of Raspberry Pi computers, some people have turned to alternatives. This might be the case for some, but this is not going to be my justification for using or testing out the three alternatives that will be present throughout the rest of this article.

All Raspberry Pi single board computers and modules are in tight supply for the retail and hobbists markets. Check out Raspberry Pi Locator for places that might have supply. If you are willing to pay a significant premium, eBay has quite a few available.

With the RPi CM4 having been covered extensively - like Jeff Geerling's Review; instead, I'll be looking at the remaining three modules.

Performance Metrics

Geekbench Metrics
Module	Single CPU Metrics	Multi-CPU Metrics
Raspberry Pi CM4	228	644
Radxa CM3	163	508
Pine64 SOQuartz	156	491
Banana Pi CM4	295	1087

Features Comparison
	Raspberry Pi CM4	Radxa CM3	Pine64 SOQuartz	Banana Pi CM
	Specifications	Specifications	Specifications	Specifications
Core	Broadcom BCM2711, Quad core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.5GHz	Rockchip RK3566, Quad core Cortex-A55 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 2.0GHz	Rockchip RK3566, Quad core Cortex-A55 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.8GHz and Embedded 32-bit RISC-V CPU	Amlogic A311D Quad core ARM Cortex-A73 and dual core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU
NPU	-	0.8T NPU	0.8 TOPS Neural Network Acceleration Engine	5.0 TOPS
GPU	-	Mali G52 GPU	Mali-G52 2EE Bifrost GPU	Arm Mali-G52 MP4 (6EE) GPU
Memory	1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4	1GB, 2GB, 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4	2GB, 4GB, 8GB LPDDR4	4GB LPDDR4
eMMC	On module - 0GB to 32GB	On module - 0GB to 128GB	External - 16GB to 128GB	On module - 16GB to 128G)
Network	1Gbit Ethernet - Option for WiFi5 with Bluetooth 5.0	1Gbit Ethernet - Option for WiFi5 with Bluetooth 5.0	1Gbit Ethernet - WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac with Bluetooth 5.0	1Gbit Ethernet
PCIe	1-lane	1-lane	1-lane	1-lane
HDMI	2x HDMI	1x HDMI	1x HDMI	1x HDMI
GPIO	28 pin	40 pin	28 pin	26 pin
Extras	-	-	-	SATA ports, one shared with USB 3, one shared with PCIe; Audio Codec
Geekbench Score - Single CPU	228	163	156	295
Geekbench Score - Multi CPU	644	508	491	1087
Price of Tested*	$65	$69	$49	$105
Power Consumption	7 watts	N/A	2 watts	N/A

* Prices exclude shipping

Pine64 SOQuartz

Pine64 SOQuartz Module, 4GB memory

For whatever reason, I really like Pine64's SOQuartz module. It is by far the least performant of the four compute modules I have tried. It has a wonky antenna and needs a far from mainstream variety of Linux to be useful. There are two Linux distributions available: DietPI and Plebian Linux. I settled upon using Plebian. I would have gone with DietPi but my initial use case of making a two ethernet router using a Waveshare Dual Gigabit Ethernet Base Board Designed for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, but I was unable to get both ethernet ports working. Plebian was simpler. For those interested in trying Plebian, you can download recent disk images by going to Plebian Linux's Github Actions, and select one of the recent "Build Quartz64 Images"; at the bottom there will be zipped disk image Artifacts to download for the various flavors of Quartz64. Plebian is a bit rough around the edges. It is derived from Debian Testing (currently codenamed bookworm) and runs a release candidate Linux Kernel. Its developer, CounterPillow, also states that "This is a work-in-progress project. Things don't work yet. Please do not flash these images yet unless you are trying to help develop this pipeline." The interactions with the system feel similar to that of NetBSD from the early-2010s. It is not to say it is not a modern flavor of Linux, it is simply lacking some of the usual expectations. You want your network interfaces to be named eth0? How about no. Interfaces have not been aliased, if you can get WiFi drivers working, you will end up with a device named something like wlxe84e069541e6 instead of wlan0. Given that it is running a testing branch of Debian, things like docker and the like will likely not work without some significant wrangling.

Why do I like this compute module? I like Pine64's products. I like the community that has grown up around the products. In the course of trying to get an operating system up and running, I had numerous questions that I asked on Pine64's Discord Server. Everyone was extremely helpful and despite my own feelings that some of my questions were simplistic, no one expressed that sentiment. There were no massive egos to speak of.

Core Features:

Variety of memory options: 2gb to 8gb
external eMMC module support: 8gb to 128gb
Wifi

Getting Plebian running on a SOQuartz module is straightforward; write the appropriate image to an eMMC module, attach the eMMC onto the SOQuartz and place it into a carrier or IO board. You should get working HDMI, one ethernet port, along with USB working. A quick run down of the steps are as follows:

Get a USB to eMMC adapter; Pine64 has one available; you could also try eBay; you may need to get a micro SD to USB adapter, too.
Get an eMMC module. Pine64 has a few available
Obvious step: connect your eMMC to your USB to eMMC adapter and then connect that to your desktop/laptop/etc.
Download a SOQuartz Plebian Linux disk image from Plebian Linux's Github Actions
DownloadSOQuartz CM4 IO Board Image
Unzip the contents
You will end up with a file called plebian-debian-bookworm-soquartz-cm4.img.xz;
Write to your eMMC module. You could use something balena Etcher or, if you're command-line-comfortable, use dd
balena Etcher will take care of decompressing plebian-debian-bookworm-soquartz-cm4.img.xz
using dd, you can do something like this:

bash sudo xzcat plebian-debian-bookworm-soquartz-cm4.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/mmcblk1 status=progress

where /dev/mmcblk1 is the correct device for your USB to eMMC adapter.
Attach your eMMC module to your SOQuartz module and attach the module to an IO or carrier board.
Attach peripherals and apply power. You'll eventually get presented with a prompt to set the password for the user pleb

If would be more cost effective if you were to buy a SOQuartz module, an USB to eMMC adapter and an eMMC module all at once; for orders being shipped to the United States, it is roughly a $9 flat rate.

Finally, if you really feel like going for an alternative to Linux, NetBSD will also work on the SOQuartz, but it is more complicated. You will need to download a Generic 64bit image from under the NetBSD-daily HEAD tab. This will need to be written to an eMMC module. Next, you will need to write the appropriate UEFI image to an SD card from Jared McNeill's port of Tianocore to the Quartz64 family. UEFI and the disk image cannot exist on the same media.

Pine64 sells SOQuartz modules directly from their site. The modules I have purchased and used are the 4gb models. They are about $50 excluding shipping.

Radxa CM3

Radxa CM3, 4GB memory, without heatsinks

As far as performance goes, the Radxa CM3 is just above Pine64's SOQuartz module but below Raspberry Pi CM4. Radxa is better known for its Rock3 and Rock5 series of single board computers; available from ALLNET.China and eBay. The CM3 is in the Rock3 series of boards and modules. The series features Rockchip RK3566/RK3568 processors, the RK3566 also is used in Pine64's Quartz64 and SOQuartz boards. Even though the module will function without issue on a carrier or IO board designed for Raspberry Pi CM4, the CM3 IO board by Radxa exposes two SATA ports in addition to the PCIe 1x lane. The CM3 has an official Debian and Ubuntu distributions, but like all the other compute modules, these are artisanally crafted specifically for the CM3. That means, you can not take an actual-official Debian or Ubuntu disk image for Arm64 and have it just have it work. Radxa does, however, maintain an up-to-date Github build pipeline for producing both Debian and Ubuntu images for the CM3. Like the operating system's need to be different, so is the eMMC - it is not flashed in a typical manner - like what you would expect from a Raspberry Pi CM4 or even the Pine64 SOQuartz. In order to install Linux on the onboard eMMC, you need to use tools provided by Rockchip. The Radxa Wiki page for CM3 is a good place to start. The CM3 and its installation process are about as far from Raspberry Pi CM4 territory as you will deal with for the modules presented in this article. The following instructions are available from wiki.radxa.com but they are found across a disparate set of pages; some describing the rockchip tools with references to disk images but with no clear and convenient place to download the files. This is an attempt to streamline the process. Let's get at it!

Core Features:

On-module eMMC of 16 to 128GB
Two SATA (when using the appropriate IO board)

The Rockchip tools are available on Windows as well as macOS/Linux. Downloading, compiling and running the macOS/Linux tool is straightforward; Windows involves a set of drivers and an executable tool.

Linux/macOS

Install necessary USB and autoconf packages

sudo apt-get install libudev-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev dh-autoreconf pkg-config libusb-1.0

Clone the github repository

git clone https://github.com/rockchip-linux/rkdeveloptool
cd rkdeveloptool
autoreconf -i
./configure
make
sudo make install

Run rkdeveloptool --helpto verify it is installed

Windows

Download RKDevTool
Download RKDriverAssistant
Unzip and execute RKDriverAssistant (DriverInstall.exe)
Unzip RKDevTool
Before executing the tool, you will want to change the language to English; change Chinese.ini to Englist.ini

There is an assumption of using a Raspberry Pi CM4 IO Board.

Boot into maskrom mode

Unplug the board and remove any SD card
Plug a micro USB to USB Type-A cable into the micro USB port on the IO board. The other end of the cable gets plugged into your desktop or laptop. My laptop only has USB-C, so I had to use an adapter
On the CM3, there is a very tiny golden button; while pressing this, plug the power back in on the IO board
After a few seconds, you can stop pressing the button
Check for a USB device
Linux/macOS should show Bus 001 Device 112: ID 2207:350a Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Company
Windows, you will need to run RKDevTool; the status at the bottom of the application should read maskrom mode

maskrom button

Flashing/Writing a Disk Image

You will need to download two files:

rk356x_spl_loader_ddr1056_v1.06.110.bin
A Radax CM3 disk image from https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock3/downloads or https://github.com/radxa-build/radxa-cm3-io/releases/latest or this mirror

We will be using radxa-cm3-io-ubuntu-focal-server-arm64-20221101-0254-gpt.img.xz; it is advisable to follow this and download a more recent disk image.

Linux Flashing

rkdeveloptool ld

DevNo=1 Vid=0x2207,Pid=0x350a,LocationID=104 Maskrom

rkdeveloptool db rk356x_spl_loader_ddr1056_v1.06.110.bin
rkdeveloptool wl 0 radxa-cm3-io-ubuntu-focal-server-arm64-20221101-0254-gpt.img.xz

Reboot CM3

rkdeveloptool rd

Windows Flashing

You will need to specify a loader as well as an image. In the table on the left side of the screenshot, click in right-most the rectangle of the first row. This should bring up a file dialog box. Navigate to where you downloaded rk356x_spl_loader_ddr1056_v1.06.110.bin. Likewise for the second row (image), navigate to where you downloaded radxa-cm3-io-ubuntu-focal-server-arm64-20221101-0254-gpt.img.xz

Click Run

This operation will take several minutes; be patient.

The CM3 should automatically boot and bring you to a login prompt. The default user is rock with a password of rock

The Radxa CM3 can be purchased from ALLNET.China for about $70 excluding shipping.

Banana Pi CM4

Banana Pi CM4, 4GB memory

Looking at the Geekbench table (above), you will notice at the Banana Pi CM4 seriously outperforms the other three modules I have tested. It is also the most expensive module - including shipping - it was about $120. This was not an inflated Raspberry Pi price, this is directly from Sinovoip, the company behind the Banana Pi family of single board computers. But, before you start searching for where you can buy one, as of the time of this writing, I purchased Sinovoip's last module that they had allocated to developers and testers; and they have not started to commercially produce any, yet.

Core Features:

4 x ARM Cortex-A73 CPU cores
2 x ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores
4GB of memory

Like the Radxa CM3, operating system software is very limited. For very detail instructions on install an operating system, in this case Android, check out https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Getting_Started_with_CM4.

Installing and boot Linux is fairly straight forward. You can either boot from an SD card, or you can choose to boot from the on-board eMMC module. That said, nonetheless, you will need an SD card.

Head over to https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Banana_Pi_BPI-M2S#Linux, and you find a similar table of distributions images:

Distributions

Ubuntu

2022-06-20-ubuntu-20.04-mate-desktop-bpi-m2s-aarch64-sd-emmc.img.zip Baidu Cloud: https://pan.baidu.com/s/1kRukI-H-xliNqIqVacXWRw?pwd=8888 (pincode:8888) Google drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P2YQUwdrREdiwidr8YtCvOdMmwLPerVu/view

S3 Mirror: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/cdn.tinycomputers.io/banana-pi-m2s-cm4-linux/2022-06-20-ubuntu-20.04-mate-desktop-bpi-m2s-aarch64-sd-emmc.img.zip MD5:2945f225eadba1b350cd49f47817c0cd

2022-06-20-ubuntu-20.04-server-bpi-m2s-aarch64-sd-emmc.img.zip Baidu Cloud:https://pan.baidu.com/s/1UoYR0k9YH9SE_A-MpqZ2fg?pwd=8888 (pincode: 8888) Google Drive:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y0DUVDhLyhw_C7p6SD2q1EjOZLEV_c_w/view S3 Mirror: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/cdn.tinycomputers.io/banana-pi-m2s-cm4-linux/2022-06-20-ubuntu-20.04-server-bpi-m2s-aarch64-sd-emmc.img.zip MD5:9b17a00cbc17c46e414a906e659e7ca2

Debian

2022-06-20-debian-10-buster-bpi-m2s-aarch64-sd-emmc.img.zip Baidu Cloud: https://pan.baidu.com/s/1TTsdyy5I7HLWS_Tptg7r2w?pwd=8888 (pincode: 8888) Google Drive:https://drive.google.com/file/d/116ZydpggYpZ1WoSyVsc4QuchdIa3vGyI/view

S3 Mirror: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/cdn.tinycomputers.io/banana-pi-m2s-cm4-linux/2022-06-20-debian-10-buster-bpi-m2s-aarch64-sd-emmc.img.zip MD5:9d39558ad37e5da47d7d144c8afec45e

Flashing/Writing Images

Let's assume we are using 2022-06-20-debian-10-buster-bpi-m2s-aarch64-sd-emmc.img.zip; the handiest thing to start out with is making a bootable sd card. On your laptop or desktop computer, and assuming you are using a flavor Linux, issue the following at a command line:

unzip 2022-06-20-debian-10-buster-bpi-m2s-aarch64-sd-emmc.img.zip
dd if=2022-06-20-debian-10-buster-bpi-m2s-aarch64-sd-emmc.img of=/dev/sda0

Change sda0 to the appropriate device.

Instead the sd card into the IO board, and apply power to the board. That's it for booting from an SD card. In order to boot from eMMC, you will need to follow the above steps, but instead of downloading and writing the image from your laptop or desktop, you will be using the BPI CM4 instead. Download and unzip the image file:

unzip 2022-06-20-debian-10-buster-bpi-m2s-aarch64-sd-emmc.img.zip
dd if=2022-06-20-debian-10-buster-bpi-m2s-aarch64-sd-emmc.img of=/dev/mmcblk0

Now, power down the IO board, and remove the SD card. Apply power once more, and you should be booting up from eMMC.

As a side note, when I first booted my CM4, it began an unattended system update and that took a while to complete. It will be best if you let it finish this before doing any serious usage. Just use top to check on the running processes.

Other bits of information:

Forum posting and associated threads for discussion of BPI CM4 and its release.
Linux Board Support Package (BSP)

As of this writing, the Banana Pi CM4 is currently unavailable for general purchase.

Final Thoughts

If you are needing to operate in a familiar environment, you will want to go with the Raspberry Pi CM4. As of this writing, you will pay a premium - a 100% markup or more. You can get high priced CM4s from eBay or Amazon. If you need performance, and are not needing to use crazy shields and hats, you will want to go with the Banana Pi CM4, but the catch is, it has not been released yet. It is hands down the most robust compute module. If you are looking to use bleed-edge Linux and want a bit of a challenge, the Pine64 SOQuartz module is for you. And that leaves the Radxa CM3. If you willing to use the Rockchip tools to flash the eMMC module, and you are not concerned with software compatibility for shields and hats and you want similar performance to an RPi CM4, the Radxa might be a good choice.