While I was browsing the site for uConsole models, the more I looked at it the more confused I got. I’m using a Pi 4B, my plan was to get the top of the line CM4 kit with emmc, but most users are against it due to lack of support and disabled uSD, so the only option for me is the CM4 “Lite”. Since there’s a lite kit there must be a full kit but I can’t find it. When comparing the h/w configuration I found that only the CM4 Lite kit has wireless built in, where the other “A” kits, even the top end A-06 does not have wifi, that’s weird. When checking the Pi website I found the CM4108000 which is the top of the line module w/o emmc, but strangely does not exist as an option for the uConsole, so I wonder where does the wireless part reside, on the CM4 module or the ‘carrier board’ (btw there’s no official name for that board) ?
It seems to me that ClockworkPi is intended to reduce the cost so limited the product line. I’ve some questions.
Can I order a kit with everything except the CM4 ?
Will the CM4108000 with 8G RAM work on the uConsole ?
What if I use a CM4108000 on the uConsole with built-in wireless ? or I must use the CM4008000 w/o wireless ?
I understand the uConsole used a custom built image, will it work with a standard Raspberry Pi image, except the custom function keys ?
Have anyone overclock the uConsole, I did that on the Pi 4B
There is a lot of confusion and lack of info. about the kits that I must clear first, before waiting for the 90days or more ordering time.
Yes, yes 8gb with wifi is fine, theres a pi os image for the uconsole on the github page and not really sure if its tested but the whole backplate of the uconsole is the heatsink so im sure its possible
I am using the CM4 8G RAM with 32G eMMC and built in wireless. eMMC is faster than the SD cards, but you will need to purchase the extra programming card also from Raspberry Pi. Once it is programmed with the stock OS image, it does work well and you don’t need to use the programming unit again unless you need to re-flash everything.
I am more concerned with battery life than total performance, but that is my preference.
Thanks and good to know, regarding the battery life, it is easily swap-able with common flashlight battery I do not worry too much, but lack of an easy accessible battery cover let me down, overall there are hits and miss on the design.
Well it is only a few screws away just to open it to get to battery but you can probably 3d print a back pannel so its easy accrss or find some good batteries, there is also some room for more batteries that can be added but that might require some know how to modify the power part so it takes more than 2
The batteries are in parallel configuration so a single one will work too, currently those 3Ah cells are readily available for flashlight use and easy to find, I would use a backup battery to keep the unit charged, but I believe a custom fit 3 cells pack can fit into the space too
There was something in here about batteries and here is the github for the OS
Also with the thing about emmc and the lite versions, emmc is great but if you are thinking of multiple of OS than the lite cm4 would be a better choice with an easy switch of sd cards
Good to know the great battery life, and I do not need multiboot, so that the emmc model will do the trick, but I need to purchase an adapter card to program the module, I wise that can be done via USB boot. Frankly I am struggling between to get the uConsole or to get the Pinebook Pro, the latter is slightly more powerful but lacks cellular support also bigger.
Could you walk me through how you flashed the image to emmc? I am having trouble get it to boot.
I tried to flash the console os to emmc via etcher, but when I choose the image (uConsole_CM4_rev1.3g_64bit.img) it says missing partition table. After I flashed the image the uconsole does not turn on (green led on/off button, but no display).