Go to shop Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 IO Board

The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 IO Board is a secondary board that the CM4 can be mounted on. It adapts the Compute Module to the same formfactor as a Raspberry Pi and thus allows the use of traditional Raspberry Pi housing and other accessories, including all Andino boards.

The Raspberry Pi 4 and Compute Module 4 IO Board have the same formfactor.

All features, as well as the installation process for the CM4 IO Board can be found in the video about the topic on our Youtube Channel:

cm4

Connectivity: GPIO, USB, PCI-e, Micro HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet

The PCI-e X1 pins on the IO board can be used to connect an M.2 SSD to the Raspberry Pi and therefore enabling faster read/write speeds, improved loading times, higher capacities and longevity than it would be possible when using an SD card. This is possible by using our PCI-e to M.2 adapter that is also available on our shop.

An M.2 SSD in use with the Compute Module 4, connected via the PCIe to M.2 adapter

The Raspberry Pi CM4 itself also has the following features:

The exact featureset will depend on the specific version. The Compute Module 4 itself is not included when buying one of our IO boards and needs to be purchased seperately.

The Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 has eMMC flash memory built in. On Windows and Linux, this memory can easily be flashed to by following these steps. For other platforms, please check this official Raspberry Pi documentation.

  1. On Windows, download and run the installer for the drivers and boot tool. On Linux, clone the usbboot git repository: git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/usbboot.git. Then enter the directory cd usbboot and install the program by running make.
  2. Run the installed program (Windows: Run rpiboot.exe from your start menu. / Linux: sudo ./rpiboot).
  3. Make sure that the jumpers labeled RPI_Boot and GlobalEN on the IO Board are set. All other jumpers should not be set.
  4. Connect the IO board to your PC via the micro USB port.
  5. Power the Compute Module 4 either by providing power to the GPIO pins 2 (5V) and 6 (GND) or by plugging the IO board directly into an Andino board. (see here for a full documentation on the GPIO pins). Note: The CM4 module is not supplied with power via the USB port.
  6. The Compute Module eMMC should be visible as a disk after a few seconds.
  7. Continue by flashing Raspberry Pi OS and proceed with the installation like on a normal Raspberry Pi. For Andino boards, documentation on this is available for the Andino X1 and the Andino IO.
  8. When the installation is complete, eject/unmount the Compute Module from your PC, cut power to the device and then set only the GlobalEN jumper. All other jumpers should be unset. When providing power to the IO board again, it should boot normally.

By default, USB is disabled on the compute module. To enable it, edit the /boot/config.txt:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

Here, add the following line to the end of the file:

dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host

Now reboot. USB should now be enabled.

sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

Here, add the following line to the end of the file:

dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=host

and comment this line like this:

# otg_mode=1

The pinout of the IO board GPIO is equivalent to the pinout of the Raspberry Pi GPIO.

The PCIe and USB pins can be described as follows:

PCIe and USB Pinout description of the Raspberry Pi CM4 IO Board

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