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I'm struggling to see the point of getting a CM4 and adding this MirkoPC board to it over just getting a Model B and a case that supports adding an M.2 flash ca

I'm struggling to see the point of getting a CM4 and adding this MirkoPC board to it over just getting a Model B and a case that supports adding an M.2 flash card. As far as Pi as a desktop goes? Sluggish is being generous. Even with 8GB Ram, you're hobbled by the weak GPU. Coudn't even stream Twitch without encountering system wide lag. The Pi needs much more than faster storage if it's going to be replacing desktops at any meaningful rate.

GloriousKoji 5y ago
You do know that the Model B does not have the PCIE lane connected so there's no such thing as case adding M2 flash support, right?
- techrat 5y ago
  Who said the M2 had to be connected to PCIe lanes? https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MHYWJCP https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MHYWJCP | About this item | M.2 SATA SSD Compatibility | The SSD Case accepts any size of M.2 SATA SSD with B-Key or B+M Key Hence why I said "getting a Model B and a case that supports adding an M.2 flash card."
  - OJFord 5y ago
    Not GP, but presumably the point is that must be using USB, so the only point is convenience of form factor/you already have the card/whatever - it can't be faster (if anything the converter's going to slow it down) than using a USB storage device.
    - techrat 5y ago
      It uses a USB3 to USB3 bridge. Still faster than MicroSD.
  - imtringued 5y ago
    You're converting from PCIe to USB 3.0 and then back to SATA. Isn't that extremely wasteful?
    - techrat 5y ago
      Honey, *everything* gets converted somewhere, somehow. That's what all those components inside our computers do. MicroSD gets converted from SDIO. USB flash drives get converted from their proprietary NAND/Microcontroller config. Might as well be saying "you're converting from electricity to bits, isn't that extremely wasteful?" Just ran a benchmark in Gnome Disks. 362MB/sec read, 313MB/sec write. But given that there is absolutely no other way for me to connect this flash drive to my Pi4 without defeating the point (replacing both the entire Pi4 and Case), I would say it seems to be doing fine. Especially compared to something with generally equivalent durability like, say, a hard drive over USB 3.
ThatPlayer 5y ago
The GPU has supported 1080p hardware h264 decoding since the first Raspberry Pi. If you're having issues with video streams, you're not using the hardware decoder and probably using software decoding on the CPU.
- techrat 5y ago
  Then that means Raspberry Pi's own OS images are not using the hardware decoders for in Browser streaming.
  - Const-me 5y ago
    V4L2’s h264 stateful video decoder is enabled in official OS images, and works great in practice on Pi4: https://github.com/Const-me/Vrmac/tree/master/VrmacVideo https://github.com/Const-me/Vrmac/tree/master/VrmacVideo VLC player shipped in these OS images uses that one as well. If it doesn’t work for you in Twitch, the likely issue is the web browser. Try to upgrade it to latest version, and/or configure it somehow.
  - geerlingguy 5y ago
    Chromium support for hardware decode on the Pi was only added very recently (in the last month or two, I think).
    - HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
      hmmm. This could be root of the problem I described above. We were using the latest release of Chromium, but AFAIK the configuration screens claimed to be using the hardware decode. Good to know for the future. The project already shipped with an Intel PC for the video display.
  - opan 5y ago
    Try it in a video player. They generally play video a lot better than a browser. mpv + youtube-dl can handle Twitch.
    - 5y ago

GloriousKoji 5y ago

You do know that the Model B does not have the PCIE lane connected so there's no such thing as case adding M2 flash support, right?

techrat 5y ago
Who said the M2 had to be connected to PCIe lanes? https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MHYWJCP https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MHYWJCP | About this item | M.2 SATA SSD Compatibility | The SSD Case accepts any size of M.2 SATA SSD with B-Key or B+M Key Hence why I said "getting a Model B and a case that supports adding an M.2 flash card."
- OJFord 5y ago
  Not GP, but presumably the point is that must be using USB, so the only point is convenience of form factor/you already have the card/whatever - it can't be faster (if anything the converter's going to slow it down) than using a USB storage device.
  - techrat 5y ago
    It uses a USB3 to USB3 bridge. Still faster than MicroSD.
- imtringued 5y ago
  You're converting from PCIe to USB 3.0 and then back to SATA. Isn't that extremely wasteful?
  - techrat 5y ago
    Honey, *everything* gets converted somewhere, somehow. That's what all those components inside our computers do. MicroSD gets converted from SDIO. USB flash drives get converted from their proprietary NAND/Microcontroller config. Might as well be saying "you're converting from electricity to bits, isn't that extremely wasteful?" Just ran a benchmark in Gnome Disks. 362MB/sec read, 313MB/sec write. But given that there is absolutely no other way for me to connect this flash drive to my Pi4 without defeating the point (replacing both the entire Pi4 and Case), I would say it seems to be doing fine. Especially compared to something with generally equivalent durability like, say, a hard drive over USB 3.

ThatPlayer 5y ago

The GPU has supported 1080p hardware h264 decoding since the first Raspberry Pi. If you're having issues with video streams, you're not using the hardware decoder and probably using software decoding on the CPU.

techrat 5y ago
Then that means Raspberry Pi's own OS images are not using the hardware decoders for in Browser streaming.
- Const-me 5y ago
  V4L2’s h264 stateful video decoder is enabled in official OS images, and works great in practice on Pi4: https://github.com/Const-me/Vrmac/tree/master/VrmacVideo https://github.com/Const-me/Vrmac/tree/master/VrmacVideo VLC player shipped in these OS images uses that one as well. If it doesn’t work for you in Twitch, the likely issue is the web browser. Try to upgrade it to latest version, and/or configure it somehow.
- geerlingguy 5y ago
  Chromium support for hardware decode on the Pi was only added very recently (in the last month or two, I think).
  - HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
    hmmm. This could be root of the problem I described above. We were using the latest release of Chromium, but AFAIK the configuration screens claimed to be using the hardware decode. Good to know for the future. The project already shipped with an Intel PC for the video display.
- opan 5y ago
  Try it in a video player. They generally play video a lot better than a browser. mpv + youtube-dl can handle Twitch.
  - 5y ago