This is a summary of the various hardware peripherals/modifications purpose-built for the uConsole. Prices are in United States dollars unless noted. I’ll be slowly working on this as there is a large uConsole hardware ecosystem to document. For a guide to software, see the companion OS directory.
Base unit
There are a couple ways to acquire a uConsole, but the best way really is the official shop.
- The official ClockworkPi shop is the only first-party supplier. The A-06 and R-01 SKUs are sold out but the CM4 is still in stock at $250 excluding shipping. This includes the uConsole, a ClockworkPi CM4 adapter board, and a CM4104000, which is a 4GB RAM, eMMC-less Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with on-board WiFi/Bluetooth. Shipping from ClockworkPi takes a very long time; one of the oldest posts in the uConsole topic on this forum is an ad-hoc shipping batch tracker.
The extreme wait times lead people to pay very high prices to third-party resellers to get a uConsole early. Please note that you are totally being played if you pay more than, say, $350 including shipping for a base unit. Even the “super hacker” “pimped-out” uConsoles on-line where someone actually added a modicum of value are rarely worth it.
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AliExpress, at, for example, aliexpress.us, is a popular uConsole source, though it’s of poor reputation.
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eBay sometimes has some uConsoles being sold.
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OpenSourceSDRLab has a uConsole listing at a reasonable price.
Instead of turning to these resale websites, see if you can find someone selling their uConsole here on the forum, where you can scroll people’s profiles and see what they actually did with their console and why they’re moving on. It’s harder to lie about the accessories you have installed (for example, calling an AIOv1 a modded AIOv2) on the forums frequented by the makers of those accessories.
It is advised not to purchase from either “ETech Devices” or “PiMod Labs” as they have been spammed here by bots.
Chassis
It’s possible to build a “ship of Theseus” uConsole without having ever purchased the base unit; the device is open hardware and is composed of three PCBs excluding adapter boards, cores, or the keyboard. ClockworkPi offers 3D models of the uConsole in OBJ and STEP formats ($5 or free with coupon code UC) for reproduction. There are also coarse models that were deduced prior to the official release.
There are also plenty of unofficial chassis 3D models for printing.
Above is the uConsole back cover for passive cooler on Maker World.
Mainboard
The official uConsole motherboard is the ClockworkPi v3.14 mainboard. Two versions retailed; the original and its fifth revision. There are no known cases of the uConsole shipping with an original v3.14 mainboard, only the R5 board. The board is available for purchase separately through the shop for $40 excluding shipping. Be careful not to choose the similarly-named v3.1 board which is a different product for the GameShell.
USB power brownout
The mainboard can sometimes have issues supplying power to all the peripherals on the Universal Serial Bus if there’s a sudden increase in power draw, such as when a flash drive with status LED is attached. This problem affects the keyboard most of all:
There’s a hardmod one can make to the mainboard to prevent the brownouts entirely:
This workaround is still useful if one needs a certain level of reliability from the US bus but another option is to install beams’ QMK firmware.
New revision
In March 2025 ClockworkPi was working on another mainboard revision, but there hasn’t been new information in some time:
Indicator LED
Screen
Since this was written ClockworkPi has begun shipping uConsoles with a different screen model.
Touchscreen
@timmotools managed to mod a touch screen into their uConsole using a digitizer and a USB controller for it. They have a thread and a writeup on GitHub.
External displays
The above was posted in a uConsole thread but regards the DevTerm. The following poster elsewhere specifically mentioned using a uConsole and not a DevTerm.
Adapter boards
The ClockworkPi v3.14 mainboard at least until the fifth revision is essentially a miniaturized I/O breakout for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module slot (which is the same slot as was used for DDR2 SO-DIMMs, though they are not remotely pin-compatible). There is a handy chart explaining the v3.14 SO-DIMM pinout.
The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 introduced a different socket which was then adopted by its successor the Compute Module 5. Some other brands’ system-on-module offerings also use the new socket. Because the signals didn’t really change, just the wiring, a simple PCB can route the lines from the mainboard to a CM4, and that’s what ClockworkPi’s adapter board does, also compatible with the CM5.
@lululvlv’s CM5 adapter board as part of their NVMe kit was the first available NVMe solution for the uConsole and uses an expansion card to interface with the NVMe drive itself.
HackerGadgets then released an adapter board for their own NVMe kit which interfaces with their other boards to break out the CM4/CM5’s NVMe and camera signals, and the CM5’s USB3 signals and RTC battery contacts. It also has a USB-C port and two DIP switches on-board for use with RPIBOOT. It’s a great piece of kit and a terrific upgrade to the first-party option. Regrettably, no schematics are available for it, but a full schematic shouldn’t be too hard to reverse-engineer since its traces and few soldered components are visible and the design itself is based on the official Raspberry Pi CM5 I/O board.
The functional difference between Lulu’s NVMe solution and HackerGadgets’ is that Lulu’s uses an expansion card to interface with the NVMe drive and HackerGadgets’ uses a new slot on their battery board, so choosing the HackerGadgets solution will free up the expansion slot at the expense of some otherwise free space below the stock battery board.
It’s been a couple years since people started wondering about using a Radxa CM5 in the uConsole. With their NVMe kit, HackerGadgets also released an adapter board for the Radxa fixing some of its issues. That adapter board is the only one available for the Radxa CM5 and is essential for it.
| Adapter board | Price excluding shipping | Open-source hardware? | NVMe? | USB3? | Adapted modules |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ClockworkPi Raspberry Pi adapter board | $19 | Yes | No | No | Raspberry Pi CM4/CM5 |
| HackerGadgets Raspberry Pi adapter board | $23 | No | Yes | Yes | Raspberry Pi CM4/CM5 |
| lululvlv Raspberry Pi adapter board | $20 | Not yet | Yes | Yes | Raspberry Pi CM5 |
| HackerGadgets Radxa adapter board | $23 | No | Yes | Yes | Radxa CM5 |
Cores
Without an adapter board there are a couple cores known to work on a ClockworkPi mainboard in a uConsole:
- ClockworkPi A-06 - $130 excluding shipping via the ClockworkPi shop
- ClockworkPi R-01 - sold out via the ClockworkPi shop
- Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3 - reached end-of-life 2025-10-16
- Raspberry Pi Compute Module 3+
- Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4S
The ClockworkPi mainboard is additionally compatible with the ClockworkPi A-04 core, though no software support exists. If one tried a DevTerm OS image one might get charging to work but the screen wouldn’t. The uConsole was originally available in a SKU including the A-04, but it never shipped with the A-04:
Theoretically the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 1 might work, but nobody’s tried it, and as it’s a different architecture (32-bit ARM, and there are no 32-bit uConsole OSes) it’d be an uphill struggle.
With an appropriate adapter board more compute modules are compatible:
And the OrangePi Compute Module 5 was coaxed into working in one person’s uConsole after extensive modification.
Prices for all of these units are in flux for economic and geopolitical reasons relating to the regrettable time period in which we live, so even if I included a cost comparison, it’d be out of date by the time I hit “Save Edit”.
| Manufacturer | Core | Adapter needed? | ISA | OS support | RAM | eMMC | WiFi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ClockworkPi | A-04 | No | ARM64 | None | 2GB | No | via mainboard |
| ClockworkPi | A-06 | No | ARM64 | Okay | 4GB | No | via mainboard |
| ClockworkPi | R-01 | No | RISCV64 | Poor | 1GB | No | via mainboard |
| OrangePi | CM5 | Yes | ARM64 | Barely | 2GB / 4GB / 8GB / 16GB / 32GB | 32GB / 64GB / 128GB / 256GB | No |
| Radxa | CM5 | Yes | ARM64 | Poor | 4GB / 8GB / 16GB / 32GB | 32GB / 64GB / 128GB / 256GB | No |
| Raspberry Pi | CM1 | No | ARM32 | None | 0.512GB | No | via mainboard |
| Raspberry Pi | CM3 | No | ARM64 | Good | 1GB | 4GB optional | via mainboard |
| Raspberry Pi | CM3+ | No | ARM64 | Good | 1GB | Lite / 8GB / 16GB / 32GB | via mainboard |
| Raspberry Pi | CM4 | Yes | ARM64 | Best | 1GB / 2GB / 4GB / 8GB | Lite / 8GB / 16GB / 32GB | Optional |
| Raspberry Pi | CM4S | No | ARM64 | Great | 1GB / 2GB / 4GB / 8GB | Lite / 8GB / 16GB / 32GB | via mainboard |
| Raspberry Pi | CM5 | Yes | ARM64 | Great | 2GB / 4GB / 8GB / 16GB | Lite / 16GB / 32GB / 64GB | Optional |
Extension boards
See the separate extension board directory.
Battery boards
The battery board routes the power from the batteries to the mainboard, where the mainboard’s AXP228 controls charging. Other than some fail-safe circuitry the stock battery board is fairly sparse. Aftermarket battery boards tend to add functionality by routing additional data lines off the mainboard or core.
Batteries
It’s not just capacity that matters, it’s current output. The battery needs to deliver enough current to power all of the attached devices, or the device will lack power and shut down. Capacity is how much power, total, the battery can output, while the current output refers to how quickly the battery can output that power. A liter bucket of water can fill your cup, but if you can only draw water from it a single drop at a time, you’ll still be thirsty.
Here’s a reasonable recommendation:
And here are two expensive options:
18650 cells are only available in capacities up to 4000mAh (at which they are very expensive).
“Protected” cells are cells which include circuitry to momentarily cut the connection when hazardous conditions are observed such as overheating (too much heat), overcurrent (draining too much energy at once), overvoltage (charged too full), or undervoltage (dangerously low charge). They help prevent some types of error which are more likely to cause a fire. The mainboard charge controller won’t over- or undervolt the 18650s, so protected cells will, in addition to the functionality present in unprotected cells, only cut power if they’re being overdrawn or running too hot.
Warning
Here is the obligatory warning before this directory covers battery-related uConsole modifications. In normal use, one doesn’t need to worry about one’s uConsole suddenly bursting into flame. There aren’t any known cases of this happening to a uConsole with the stock or an aftermarket battery board, at least on this forum. The danger comes with messing around with parallelizing many batteries or other custom solutions to electricity storage. Although members on the forum discuss these modifications and configurations as if they’re simple, because they are, without understanding electrical basics it’s easy to unknowingly introduce problems which can snowball into thermal runaway after a number of charge cycles.
An electrical battery is a cell containing a chemical mixture designed to store as much energy as possible. Energy-dense chemical pouches have some inherent danger and especially when it’s possible to release that energy another way, such as through ignition. Sometimes chemical processes inside the cell inflate it, puncture the casing, and ignite, or in layman’s terms, SOMETIMES THEY JUST RANDOMLY EXPLODE. In a laboratory environment this isn’t a big deal, but if you’re a co-pilot on a plane you can kill yourself and 65 others. Big and small companies struggle to keep their batteries from halting and catching fire. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 was infamous for maiming its users.
Last September, Joni Barwick woke up in the middle of the night to her Galaxy Note 7 phone spewing flames 16 inches from her face.
“There’s orange and red and smoke and fire, and it took me just a split second to process that my phone was on fire,” she recalled.
Ten years later there has been no revolution in manufacturing these batteries, we just better understand which designs work and which ones shoot meter long flames into the skulls of people pressing them against their heads for telephone calls. There’s always a chance that a manufacturer’s battery even when used as directed will burn down your car, home, airplane, or fireworks production factory. That’s the risk we take in exchange for easy portable electricity storage.
If a company worth $1,000,000,000,000 can’t stop their batteries from spontaneously combusting when used properly, maybe you shouldn’t use your own batteries like you’re a side character in an 80s apocalypse movie.
The United States’ of America National Fire Protection Agency has a section of their webpage dedicated to lithium ion battery safety. Here’s a simple guide from fireblanket.com advising the user place a fire blanket (among other steps) on a burning battery. KNOW HOW TO FIGHT THE FIRE BEFORE IT HAPPENS.
Voltage
Current
TODO
Keyboards and pointing devices
USB brownout
There is a mainboard power issue that can make the stock keyboard disconnect when USB devices are attached. See mainboard.
Kapton replacement
The stock keyboards use kapton to adhere conductive, flexible domes. This kapton can use its adherence, and when it does, the domes fall off, as shown above. It’s easily repairable.
Diffuser
Shown in my kapton replacement forum post is beams’ improved keyboard diffuser.
They have a write-up on their blog. The 3D model is available for download for £4.50 and pre-printed diffusers are available for £9.50 excluding shipping.
Trackball
Touchpads
There are stick-on touchpads for any device:
Trackpad keyboard
An integrated solution is Lulu’s keyboard replacement for the uConsole.
Lulu’s trackpad keyboard has open firmware - v1.1 can be had for $35 excluding shipping and v2.0 can be had for $40 excluding shipping.