Pineberry Pi, creator of add-on units for the Raspberry Pi vary of single-board computer systems (SBCs), has introduced the primary — unofficial — M.2 {Hardware} Connected on Prime (HAT) board for the Raspberry Pi 5, permitting the usage of high-speed Non-Risky Reminiscence Categorical (NVMe) storage and extra with the board.
When the Raspberry Pi 5 was unveiled, one in every of its most highly-anticipated options was a free PCI Categorical Gen. 2 lane introduced out to a connector on the left-hand aspect of the board. Beforehand the reserve of the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 household, the PCIe connectivity promised help for high-speed storage and the potential to broaden the board with different high-performance peripherals — probably together with graphics playing cards, community playing cards, and machine-learning accelerators, pending software program help.
Pineberry Pi has overwhelmed Raspberry Pi to the punch and grow to be the primary firm to point out off a fully-functional M.2 PCIe HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5. (📷: Pineberry Pi)
Whereas the Raspberry Pi 5 has now launched, although, the official M.2 HAT accent which turns the FFC connector into one thing extra simply used has not — and up to now there is not any phrase of a launch date. Pineberry Pi, then, is hoping to be first to market with its personal third-party various to the M.2 HAT: the HatDrive! Prime.
Designed to connect to the general-purpose enter/output (GPIO) header on the prime of the Raspberry Pi and to the PCIe FFC connector with a versatile cable, the HatDrive! Prime brings the PCIe lane out as an M.2 M-key slot — with mounting factors for NVMe SSDs in 2230 and 2242 sizes. The corporate additionally claims that the board helps PCIe Gen. 3 speeds on a Raspberry Pi 5 — whereas Raspberry Pi’s personal model might be formally restricted to Gen. 2, albeit with a software program override obtainable.
The corporate additionally has another for these utilizing the Raspberry Pi 5 Lively Cooler to maintain their processor’s temperature tamed: the HatDrive! Backside, which because the identify suggests sits beneath the Raspberry Pi 5 relatively than on prime. This model, the corporate explains, retains the highest of the Raspberry Pi 5 free for air flow — and makes use of a bigger obtainable footprint to help 2242 and the extra frequent 2280 NVMe drive sizes.
The corporate says each HAT and “HAB” (pictured) variations of the boards help PCIe Gen. 3 speeds, a step up from the deliberate official M.2 HAT. (📷: Pineberry Pi)
Each variants embody an I2C interface for energy monitoring and diagnostics, Pineberry Pi says, and the boards needs to be prepared quickly. “Now we have accomplished the engineering and testing phases,” the corporate claims of its progress on the venture. “All obligatory parts have been acquired and we are actually commencing mass manufacturing.”
Pre-orders for the HatDrive! Prime and HatDrive! Backside are actually open on the Pineberry Pi web site, priced at €20 and €25.99 (round $22 and $28) respectively. No agency delivery date has but been offered.