I see some instructions for the SPI over GPIO hats with MM6108 modules or E-key interfaces, but I was wondering if anyone had tried using the PCIe to E-key hats (such as PCIe To M.2 E KEY HAT for Raspberry Pi 5, Compatible With NGFF (M.2 E Key) Wireless NIC, Supports USB Bluetooth Connection, HAT+ Standard, Raspberry Pi 5 PCIe HAT | PCIE TO M.2 E KEY HAT+) with E-key modules like AHM26108D successfully? Also, if there are any instructions that work for the most recent OS version (Trixie with 6.12.47 kernel) that would be great. I’ve never had to patch the firmware/kernel before, so I need someone to break it down for me step by step like I’m 13. My motivation is I want to keep my GPIO pins available for other functions. Thanks in advance.
The AHM26108D is based on the MM6108 chip, which only has SPI and SDIO as interface options. I didn’t find a schematic for that hat (which is a bit unusual for Waveshare) but it only claims to support PCIe and USB to the E-Key slot, neither of which are usable with the 6108.
A card based on the MM8108 would work using USB, as would a USB dongle. Our partners are just beginning to roll these out now.
Hi Zandr, do you know if a raspberry pi would be able to use an adapter/dongle that uses the microSD card slot, if the pi is booted from NVMe? Such as this microSD adapter:
Probably? I know that Murata sell microSD to M.2 E-Key adapters for use with SDIO WiFi chips. I think uBlox have one as well.
There would certainly be some device tree hackery, and we’ve never tried it, but I think it could work.