Anything on the roadmap for a Compute Module 4 based Fin?
This looks really interesting…
Hi there, this is definitely bleeding edge, but I can tell you that we have a number of internal conversations started already around procuring some of these to begin our integration testing. So yes, it’s definitely on the roadmap more or less by default.
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Hello @barryjump
We’re excited about the release of the Compute Module 4 and have started designing a CM4-compatible balenaFin!
We don’t have many updates to share just yet, but we’d love to hear if you have any specific features in mind you’d like to see on the next iteration of the balenaFin. We can’t make any promises they’ll make it to the final design, but it will undoubtedly be useful feedback for our design process.
Cheers,
Nico.
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Hey Nico, candidly I haven’t spent much time at all thinking about the CM4 so I don’t have a good answer to your question. I’ll spend some time and share a list of some wishes here if I come up with anything.
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I can’t be the only one that uses the Fin in an industrial setting, and wishes it had RS-232 and/or RS-485 built in.
Also, having to reboot after flashing the co-processor to be able to talk to it over usart again is pretty annoying on v1.2 of the Fin.
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Amen to that. Would love RS485 modbus, etc. I know we can always find a hat for that, but built in would be glorious.
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Hardware based full disk encryption.
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Along those same lines… Hardware based credential encryption like:
Microchip’s ATECC608A
or
NXP’s A71CH
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Our company are very excited by the prospect of a Fin 2.0 for the CM4. We currently use the Pi 4 in our device but have had issues with network connection redundancy and long term reliability of the SD cards. When speaking to a colleague about what we might like to see in Fin 2.0 we had some ideas around networking.
Sometimes when our device is deployed to a customer site we would like as many internet options as possible. Ideally we would have the option of ethernet, wifi or cellular in order to have the best chance of having a working internet connection. In addition we would like a secondary ethernet port over which a technician could connect directly to the device over a local network if all internet options fail.
I can see the previous BalenaFin has ethernet, wifi, cellular and a mini PCIe. Therefore, I assume the above is possible with the current version. However, wanted to outline our use case for the networking configuration.
We share your enthusiasm there. Thanks for the feedback I will be sure to pass this onto our team.
Keep it coming folks in this thread if you have any more.
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POE built in without need for a hat?
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Maybe as a simple add-on option that doesn’t take a lot of room?
Hello,
POE is one of the ideas we are considering in the Fin 2.0. Keep it coming folks in this thread if you have any more.
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Modbus, CAN, RS485 built in?
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Please keep the form factor the same or as similar as possible! I think a lot of users will have designs made for the previous Fins and it’d be great if it’s possible to just drop in the new version.
Just realized that the Fin 1.0+ doesn’t have a microSD expansion. EMMC as main storage is a must, but an additional microSD slot for extra storage would be very nice on v2.
I’ve been testing Sandisk Industrial MicroSDs and they seem pretty well built (at least enough to be useful for extra storage)
Hi Nico,
From our experience with Fin v1.x it we would like to see the new fin with:
- 4 USB ports from which 2 on USB 2.0 and 2 on USB 3.0 --> same as on RPi 4.
- Same DC power operating range as in V1.x
Another thought - double mPCIe ports would be very nice. An example: one slot for a RAK lora module and one for a Quectel EC25 module. I get it would make the board quite a bit large though…
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If there is to be a new case, I’d like to see the power terminals exposed on the outside of the case.
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