7 ms·

M.2 for Hackers – Connectors

235 points by rcarmo 4y ago

svnt 4y ago
The article is so well-written I spent a few minutes confused and thinking I’d witnessed a new level of effort brought to marketing specific old-ish connectors to makers. But this person just loves doing this.
- klysm 4y ago
  hackaday has tons wonderfully written content going back many years, their podcast is also good fun
  - svnt 4y ago
    I haven’t listened to the podcast but have been reading hackaday for years. I like a lot of it but the level of polish in this piece just caught me for some reason.
- jpm_sd 4y ago
  I laughed at "old-ish" but then I had to look it up. Intel introduced NGFF / M.2 in 2012 - ten years ago! I've been tinkering with PCs for >30 years and thanks to subjective time dilation, if I'd had to guess, I would've said M.2 was no more than 5 years old...
  - bombcar 4y ago
    I still default to thinking "SATA" when I think drive connector; took me decades to forget what PATA looked like!
    - dylan604 4y ago
      SCSI with jumpers to set the SCSI ID and termination on internal drives. Cable select on primary/secondary drives in PATA that eliminated the need to set them via jumper. Why does someone else discussing old tech force us each to relive the badol'/goodol' days?
      - bombcar 4y ago
        Because there was real discovery. Just like playing old games and finding a secret room all by yourself without a walk through or the internet. SCSI was fun, much closer to USB in many ways.
wrycoder 4y ago
Here's the first article in the series: https://hackaday.com/2022/10/27/m-2-for-hackers-expand-your-laptop/ https://hackaday.com/2022/10/27/m-2-for-hackers-expand-your-...
- matthewfcarlson 4y ago
  There’s also a part 3 https://hackaday.com/2022/11/07/m-2-for-hackers-cards/ https://hackaday.com/2022/11/07/m-2-for-hackers-cards/
causality0 4y ago
However, of course, it can cause confusion of the “it fits, but doesn’t work” kind. For instance, a B+M key SATA SSD will not work in some NVMe-only M-key sockets, and some proprietary standards like CNVi throw a wrench into the “any M.2 WiFi card will work with your laptop” concept. This is what I hate about M.2. If I plug something into a SATA port or USB port I know it's going to work. Why the hell would you bother making a keyed standard where matched-key products don't have to be compatible with one another?
- londons_explore 4y ago
  I think the designers of M.2 weren't powerful enough to force use of a specific signalling standard. Some people wanted a connector for sata, others wanted PCIE, some wanted USB... Nobody wanted to design new protocols or have to use new chips. So we ended up with a standard where both sides can support one, two or three of those...
  - Dylan16807 4y ago
    Sure, but that's what the keys are supposed to be for.
- londons_explore 4y ago
  Not only might it not work... Some combinations that physically fit actually blow up the host...
  - NavinF 4y ago
    I call bullshit. What's your source?
    - dylan604 4y ago
      Blow up might not be exactly right, but I could imagine smoking a chip or some other method of frying some electronic component. If you send 12v by mistake down a line connected to a component only expecting 3.3v or 5v, then it could easily fry it. I'm guessing most components at this stage of the board have been assumed a good voltage and might not have anything inline between the M.2 connector and the component to spill any extra volts.
contingencies 4y ago
Ahh, connectors. The single practical area of electronics where there are always five further, unseen levels of enlightenment to obtain. Just when you think you have it figured out, another revelation. Truly an interesting area of study, especially if you have heterogeneous electromechanical design requirements, a budget, and both supply chain and assembly process are in scope.
csdvrx 4y ago
https://github.com/CRImier/MyKiCad/tree/master/Laptop%20mods/nvme_ae_to_m https://github.com/CRImier/MyKiCad/tree/master/Laptop%20mods... is great. Now I wish A+E to M key converters were easily available and cheap , ideally on a single board (without FPC) to replace WIFI by an extra M2 2230 NVMe
mmac_ 4y ago
M.2 and PCIE style connectors are great for board-to-board connections. We use them all of the time in industrial applications. Super cheap and super reliable if you follow the rules. Very common to see all sorts of commodity connectors (M.2, USB, Ethernet etc) get used for non-standard uses. Don't be afraid to use these edge connectors for hobby work - just make sure to get the board thickness correct and don't stress too much about the gold finger plating. If you aren't inserting too often, then a basic 2U should be fine (you don't need super-expensive 32U etc) Of course when you're dealing with a user-facing connector, follow the rules and don't cheap out or be lazy.
leoh 4y ago
Fun fact: you can wire a GPU via m.2

235 points by rcarmo 4y ago

svnt 4y ago

The article is so well-written I spent a few minutes confused and thinking I’d witnessed a new level of effort brought to marketing specific old-ish connectors to makers. But this person just loves doing this.

klysm 4y ago
hackaday has tons wonderfully written content going back many years, their podcast is also good fun
- svnt 4y ago
  I haven’t listened to the podcast but have been reading hackaday for years. I like a lot of it but the level of polish in this piece just caught me for some reason.
jpm_sd 4y ago
I laughed at "old-ish" but then I had to look it up. Intel introduced NGFF / M.2 in 2012 - ten years ago! I've been tinkering with PCs for >30 years and thanks to subjective time dilation, if I'd had to guess, I would've said M.2 was no more than 5 years old...
- bombcar 4y ago
  I still default to thinking "SATA" when I think drive connector; took me decades to forget what PATA looked like!
  - dylan604 4y ago
    SCSI with jumpers to set the SCSI ID and termination on internal drives. Cable select on primary/secondary drives in PATA that eliminated the need to set them via jumper. Why does someone else discussing old tech force us each to relive the badol'/goodol' days?
    - bombcar 4y ago
      Because there was real discovery. Just like playing old games and finding a secret room all by yourself without a walk through or the internet. SCSI was fun, much closer to USB in many ways.

wrycoder 4y ago

Here's the first article in the series: https://hackaday.com/2022/10/27/m-2-for-hackers-expand-your-laptop/ https://hackaday.com/2022/10/27/m-2-for-hackers-expand-your-...

matthewfcarlson 4y ago
There’s also a part 3 https://hackaday.com/2022/11/07/m-2-for-hackers-cards/ https://hackaday.com/2022/11/07/m-2-for-hackers-cards/

causality0 4y ago

However, of course, it can cause confusion of the “it fits, but doesn’t work” kind. For instance, a B+M key SATA SSD will not work in some NVMe-only M-key sockets, and some proprietary standards like CNVi throw a wrench into the “any M.2 WiFi card will work with your laptop” concept. This is what I hate about M.2. If I plug something into a SATA port or USB port I know it's going to work. Why the hell would you bother making a keyed standard where matched-key products don't have to be compatible with one another?

londons_explore 4y ago
I think the designers of M.2 weren't powerful enough to force use of a specific signalling standard. Some people wanted a connector for sata, others wanted PCIE, some wanted USB... Nobody wanted to design new protocols or have to use new chips. So we ended up with a standard where both sides can support one, two or three of those...
- Dylan16807 4y ago
  Sure, but that's what the keys are supposed to be for.
londons_explore 4y ago
Not only might it not work... Some combinations that physically fit actually blow up the host...
- NavinF 4y ago
  I call bullshit. What's your source?
  - dylan604 4y ago
    Blow up might not be exactly right, but I could imagine smoking a chip or some other method of frying some electronic component. If you send 12v by mistake down a line connected to a component only expecting 3.3v or 5v, then it could easily fry it. I'm guessing most components at this stage of the board have been assumed a good voltage and might not have anything inline between the M.2 connector and the component to spill any extra volts.

contingencies 4y ago

Ahh, connectors. The single practical area of electronics where there are always five further, unseen levels of enlightenment to obtain. Just when you think you have it figured out, another revelation. Truly an interesting area of study, especially if you have heterogeneous electromechanical design requirements, a budget, and both supply chain and assembly process are in scope.

csdvrx 4y ago

https://github.com/CRImier/MyKiCad/tree/master/Laptop%20mods/nvme_ae_to_m https://github.com/CRImier/MyKiCad/tree/master/Laptop%20mods... is great. Now I wish A+E to M key converters were easily available and cheap , ideally on a single board (without FPC) to replace WIFI by an extra M2 2230 NVMe

mmac_ 4y ago

M.2 and PCIE style connectors are great for board-to-board connections. We use them all of the time in industrial applications. Super cheap and super reliable if you follow the rules. Very common to see all sorts of commodity connectors (M.2, USB, Ethernet etc) get used for non-standard uses. Don't be afraid to use these edge connectors for hobby work - just make sure to get the board thickness correct and don't stress too much about the gold finger plating. If you aren't inserting too often, then a basic 2U should be fine (you don't need super-expensive 32U etc) Of course when you're dealing with a user-facing connector, follow the rules and don't cheap out or be lazy.

leoh 4y ago

Fun fact: you can wire a GPU via m.2