[Intro & Setup] CM5 16GB/64GB eMMC uConsole (Debian Trixie) — Setup overview & seeking community advice!

uConsole
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Hi everyone! :waving_hand:

I recently joined the uConsole club and wanted to introduce myself, share my current hardware/software configuration, and ask the community for advice, recommended tweaks, and best practices.

:hammer_and_wrench: Hardware Setup

  • Compute Module: Raspberry Pi CM5 (16 GB RAM / 64 GB eMMC)
  • Adapter Board: HackerGadgets CM5 adapter
  • Display: 5" 1280×720 IPS panel (cwu50 revision)
  • Power: 2× 18650 Samsung 35E (3,400 mAh each in parallel) + AXP228 PMIC
  • RF / Connectivity: Onboard WiFi/BT with external 3 dBi antenna mod (dtparam=ant2)

:laptop: Software & OS

  • OS: Debian Trixie (Rex’s build with akrex-kernel 7.1.x, 16k pagesize)
  • Window Manager: labwc (Wayland) + lightdm
  • Memory & Storage: 2 GB zram enabled (zstd), running off the internal 64 GB eMMC

:bullseye: What I’m using it for

I’m setting this up as a portable field terminal, pocket coding rig, and experimentation box (exploring local quantized LLMs via llama.cpp thanks to the 16 GB of RAM, terminal tools, and eventually SDR / Meshtastic).

:red_question_mark: Areas where I’d love your advice & tips:

  1. Battery calibration & AXP228 health: What is your preferred way to properly calibrate and monitor battery percentage? Also, any recommendations for rock-solid low-battery shutdown scripts to prevent sudden cutoffs when cells
    hit critical voltage?
  2. Thermal management & governor: On the CM5, do you keep it on ondemand or cap frequencies for daily terminal work? Are there passive/active cooling mods you swear by for long compile sessions?
  3. Local LLMs on CM5 (16 GB): For those running llama.cpp on the CM5, which models and quantizations give you the best tokens/sec vs. memory balance on this 4× A76 setup?
  4. Must-have community mods / scripts: Any indispensable tweaks, QMK keyboard maps, or status bar widgets you wouldn’t use a uConsole without?

Happy to connect, trade configurations, or chat with fellow tinkerers — feel free to drop suggestions below or reach out on Telegram at @joss734.

Thanks for all the great work and community guides shared here!

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i recomend chage the firmware for the keyboard, its very imporvent the use of the trackball, i made a fork for adding more gamepad keys, and adding some layers, in hardware mood, i recomend the cooler block from 2026 uConsole coolerpad – hack2you i use plus termalpads, the bolt keep the cm5 on place when you open the uconsole, these are practical enven if you uconsole are fall from table i broke the conectors of the cm5. the other upgrade i recomend New Hacker Gadgets Dual 21700 Battery Holder its the nvme 21700 battery but beware the internal cap need capton or electrical tape for prevents short circuit the emmc are too limited, i use internal usb and pendrive but the times was too sloow Free USB for UConsole but its better than nothing the original antenna need mood too its to wake i like the small external mod https://www.printables.com/model/874873-uconsole-micro-antenna-02-mount i like put the other side too cya!