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PCIe E Key

Supported Accessories​

E to sata board​

  • Installation

    1. Preparation

    When using the M2.E to SATA adapter board, you need to prepare a SATA cable for connecting the SATA hard drive and a SATA power cable for power supply.

    1. Connect

    As shown in the picture, connect the M.2 E key of the SATA adapter board to the M.2 E port of ROCK 5A, and then use the SATA cable to connect ROCK 5A to the SATA SSD. The red PIN pin of ROCK 5A can be used for SATA 5V power supply, and the black PIN pin is usually used for GND, which can be used for SATA HDD power supply.

    m.2 e key to sata
    1. Enable SATA Overlay

    Open a terminal and run rsetup

    main menu

    Select Manage overlays:

    manage overlays

    Select by space Enable SATA0

    rsetup sata
    1. Press ESC to exit rsetup and reboot the system.

  • Check if the SATA is mounted successfully

    See if the SSD is recognised with the lsblk command

    radxa@rock-5a:~$ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT sda 8:0
0 476.9G 0 disk mmcblk0 179:0 0 14.5G 0 disk ├─mmcblk0p1 179:1 0 16M 0 part
/config └─mmcblk0p2 179:2 0 14.4G 0 part / mmcblk0boot0 179:32 0 4M 1 disk
mmcblk0boot1 179:64 0 4M 1 disk zram0 254:0 0 3.9G 0 disk [SWAP]

    When SATA is recognised by the system, it can be viewed as sda

  • Refer

For a detailed description of the m.2 sata break board see Radxa M.2 E To SATA Board

Penta sata hat​

  • Picture of with Radxa PENTA SATA HAT.
penta sata hat

  • The diagram below shows the Radxa Penta SATA HAT and the parts included.

    For link details, click on Penta SATA HAT

Install M.2 Extension Board
  • Please distinguish between the front and back of the IPEX cable first. As shown in the picture. **The IPEX cables we provide for have the same orientation on both ends. **
Install M.2 Extension Board
  • Please note that the ring clips need to snap into the connectors.
E key to M key

  • Installation Tutorial

    1. M.2 E key to M.2 M key Board with IPEX cable. **Note that the IPEX cable is installed here with the front side up, and the ring clips need to snap onto the connector to ensure that it is secured. **
    Install M.2 Extension Board
    1. Radxa Penta SATA HAT motherboard with IPEX cable. **Note that the IPEX cable is installed here with the front side up and the ring clips need to snap onto the connector to ensure retention. **
    Install Penta SATA HAT
    1. Please install the M2.5x18+6 copper post and M2.5x5 copper post supplied with the product on as shown.
    installation3
    1. Please connect one end of the IPEX cable to the M.2 E key to M Key board and the other end to the Radxa Penta SATA HAT and install the M.2 E key to M key board to the connector of the M.2 E key ROCK5A. As shown in the figure.
    installation4
    1. Finally, the Radxa Penta SATA HAT is assembled using M2.5x5+5 copper posts.
    installation5 1 installation5 2

  • To see if the Penta SATA HAT mount is successful

    1. Check if the SATA device is recognised by lsblk.
    radxa@{props.product}:~$ lsblk
    NAME         MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
    sda            8:0    0 465.8G  0 disk
    └─sda1         8:1    0 465.8G  0 part
    sdb            8:16   0 465.8G  0 disk
    └─sdb1         8:17   0 465.8G  0 part
    sdc            8:32   0 465.8G  0 disk
    └─sdc1         8:33   0 465.8G  0 part
    sdd            8:48   0 465.8G  0 disk
    └─sdd1         8:49   0 465.8G  0 part
    mmcblk0      179:0    0  14.5G  0 disk
    ├─mmcblk0p1  179:1    0    16M  0 part /config
    └─mmcblk0p2  179:2    0  14.4G  0 part /
    mmcblk0boot0 179:32   0     4M  1 disk
    mmcblk0boot1 179:64   0     4M  1 disk
    zram0        254:0    0   3.8G  0 disk [SWAP]
    1. When the system recognises the Penta SATA HAT, you can see the SATA devices (sda/sdb/sdc/sdd).

  • Software Support

    1. We provide an installation script to help you install the software we provide that enables the Penta top panel to display messages and control fans.
    curl -sL https://rock.sh/get-rockpi-penta | sudo -E bash -

    Simply copy the command above and paste it into the terminal and press enter.

    1. Software Configuration

    Edit /etc/rockpi-penta.conf, and use the following command to make it effective.

    sudo systemctl restart rockpi-penta.service
    1. Default configuration

    The following is the default configuration of /etc/rockpi-penta.conf, which you can modify according to the comments.

    [fan]
    # When the temperature is above lv0 (35'C), the fan at 25% power,
    # and lv1 at 50% power, lv2 at 75% power, and lv3 at 100% power.
    # When the temperature is below lv0, the fan is turned off.
    # You can change these values if necessary.
    lv0 = 35
    lv1 = 40
    lv2 = 45
    lv3 = 50

    [key]
    # You can customize the function of the key, currently available functions are
    # slider: oled display next page
    # switch: fan turn on/off switch
    # reboot, poweroff
    # If you have any good suggestions for key functions,
    # please add an issue on https://rock.sh/rockpi-sata
    click = slider
    twice = switch
    press = none

    [time]
    # twice: maximum time between double clicking (seconds)
    # press: long press time (seconds)
    twice = 0.7
    press = 1.8

    [slider]
    # Whether the oled auto display next page and the time interval (seconds)
    auto = true
    time = 10

    [oled]
    # Whether rotate the text of oled 180 degrees, whether use Fahrenheit
    rotate = false
    f-temp = false

  • Refer

See Radxa Penta SATA Expansion Board for details.

M.2 Extension board​

  • Preparation

    1. The following figure shows the Radxa M.2 expansion board and the included components
    m.2 extension board package
    1. Please distinguish between the front and back of the IPEX cable, as shown in the picture.

    **The IPEX cables we provide for ROCK 5A are orientated in the same direction at both ends. **

    cable
    1. Please note that the loop needs to be snapped into the connector.

  • Mounting

    1. M.2 E-keyboard to M.2 M-keyboard with IPEX cable. **Note that the IPEX cable installed here is face up and the ring clips need to snap onto the connector to ensure retention. **
    step 1
    1. M.2 expansion board with IPEX cable. **Note that the IPEX cable installed here is face up, and the ring clips need to snap onto the connector to ensure retention. **
    step 2
    1. Please install the M2.5x18+6 copper post and M2.5x5 copper post supplied with the product on ROCK 5A as shown in the figure.
    step 3
    1. Connect one end of the IPEX cable to the M.2 E key to M Key board and the other end to the M.2 Extension Board and install the M.2 E key to M key board into the ROCK 5A M.2 E connector as shown.
    step 4
    1. Finally, the M.2 expansion board is assembled using M2.5x5+5 copper posts.
    step 5

  • Viewing Mounts

    1. You can check if the SSD card is recognised by lsblk.
    radxa@:~$ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT mmcblk0
179:0 0 14.5G 0 disk ├─mmcblk0p1 179:1 0 16M 0 part /config └─mmcblk0p2
179:2 0 14.4G 0 part / mmcblk0boot0 179:32 0 4M 1 disk mmcblk0boot1 179:64 0
4M 1 disk zram0 254:0 0 3.8G 0 disk [SWAP] nvme0n1 259:0 0 238.5G 0 disk
    1. At this point you can see that the system has recognised the SSD (nvme0n1).

WIFI & BT Support Module List​

NO.ModelChipWiFiBTWIFI ThroughputRemark
1ROCK Pi Wireless Module A1 (SDIO+UART) --- AP6236BCM43436B02.4G4.2up:23.5 Mbits/sec down:40.4 Mbits/sec
2ROCK Pi Wireless Module A2 (SDIO+UART) --- AP6256BCM434562.4G&5G5.0up:196 Mbits/sec down: 187 Mbits/sec
3Radxa wireless A8RTL8852BE2.4G&5G&WIFI65.0up:600Mbits/sec down:900 Mbits/sec

  • WIFI Usage

    1. First enter ROOT user mode
    radxa@rock-5a:~$ sudo su
    1. Turn on WIFI
    root@rock-5a:/home/radxa# nmcli r wifi on
    1. Scan WIFI
    root@rock-5a:/home/radxa# nmcli dev wifi
    1. Bluetooth usage
    root@rock-5a:/home/radxa# nmcli dev wifi connect "wifi_name" password
"wifi_password"

  • Bluetooth Usage

    1. If using the Radxa Wireless A8 module, the following blacklists must be added for BT to work properly.
    root@rock-5a:/home/radxa# cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf blacklist
pgdrv blacklist btusb blacklist btrtl blacklist btbcm blacklist btintel
root@rock-5a:~# reboot
    1. Radxa APT includes the broadcom-wifibt-firmware package for Broadcom wireless modules and the intel-wifibt-firmware package for Intel wireless modules. The corresponding packages need to be downloaded
    root@rock-5a:/home/radxa# apt-get update -y root@rock-5a
:/home/radxa# apt-get install -y broadcom-wifibt-firmware intel-wifibt-firmware
    1. Test the status of the Bluetooth module and check the Bluetooth device
    root@rock-5a:/home/radxa# systemctl status bluetooth
    1. Run the Bluetooth device.
    root@rock-5a:/home/radxa# systemctl start bluetooth
    1. Detect Bluetooth devices
    root@rock-5a:/home/radxa# hciconfig hci0: Type: Primary Bus: UART BD
Address: 10:2C:6B:49:D5:53 ACL MTU: 1021:8 SCO MTU: 64:1 UP RUNNING RX
bytes:850 acl:0 sco:0 events:58 errors:0 TX bytes:2814 acl:0 sco:0
commands:58 errors:0
    1. Test: Connect the Bluetooth speaker, first install pulseaudio
    root@rock-5a:/home/radxa# apt-get install -y
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth pulseaudio
    1. Run pulseaudio
    root@rock-5a:/home/radxa# pulseaudio --start
    1. Connect with pulseaudio
    root@rock-5a:/home/radxa# bluetoothctl [bluetooth]# default-agent
[bluetooth]# power on [bluetooth]# scan on [bluetooth]# trust
41:42:1A:8D:A9:65 #BT-280 [bluetooth]# pair 41:42:1A:8D:A9:65 [bluetooth]#
connect 41:42:1A:8D:A9:65
    1. Now you can listen to music