Hacking PCI Express on the Raspberry Pi 4 #Hacking #RaspberryPi4 #ReverseEngineering @domipheus @Raspberry_Pi
Via Twitter we learn of Colin Riley’s work using PCI Express (PCIe) on the new Raspberry Pi 4. Colin’s blog post documents the process in detail.
Recently, Tomasz Mloduchowski posted a popular article on his blog detailing the steps he undertook to get access to the hidden PCIe interface of Raspberry Pi 4: the first Raspberry Pi to include PCIe in its design. After seeing his post, and realizing I was meaning to go buy a Raspberry Pi 4, it just seemed natural to try and replicate his results in the hope of taking it a bit further. I am known for Raspberry Pi Butchery, after all.
This is NOT for the faint of heart but IS for a lovely time hacking. It involves removing the chip providing USB 3 to access the small pads connecting the PCIe bus to the CPU.
The signal wires, undocumented, are laid out in the post:
Hackers are looking to use inexpensive PCIe riser cards to interface PC type hardware like USB, network, and even GPU cards.
On the software side, some changes in device tree settings is required but: IT WORKS!
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Electronics — How to make your own magnetic field probe!
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: New Releases of MicroPython and CircuitPython and more! #Python #CircuitPython @micropython @ThePSF
