🎛️ Waveshare Compute Module IO Board Plus: Raspberry Pi CM3 CM3L Development Composite Breakout Board, Integrated with Various Common Use Components Review

Many people like this board. A nice bonus was the onboard 40-pin connector for compatibility with other RPi projects. Unfortunately, the onboard ADC is hardwired to GPIOs 16, 20, and 21, and its power and chip select pins are also hardwired. This means it conflicts with PCM/I2S operation (which uses 18-21 GPIOs) on a standard (RPi) 40-pin header. This makes my RPi 3 B+ and RPi Zero W project incompatible with this board.

I used it to read and write on the eMMC CM3. Works properly after setting the DIP switches. See illustration. SetBOOT EN=ENUSB SLAVE 1/2/3/4=. OpenUSB SLAVE POWER = Closed

Excellent development board for raspberry, a little difficult to get the boot board working but worth it. There are many little things on board that you can experiment with.

I bought RPi CM3 for firmware. Couldn't get it to work. After trying several different cables, several Raspberry Pis, different computers and operating systems, I finally bought the official RPi CM3 I/O board. It worked like magic and got the RPi up and running on the first try. It may work for other purposes as well, but don't buy it for flashing boot images.

Good product for learning. I use it to learn how to code and how to control things like motors and sensors. The only thing I don't like is that it has very minimal instructions. I had to look for examples of pretty much anything I wanted to do with it. Also I could not find a good pinout for this product. All in all, it's a good learning tool.

I have to admit I bought this purely for the novelty. A collector's item, the first widely used backplane for third-party compute modules. I would give it 5 stars if it weren't for the confusing labeling and garbled I/O selector. I suggest the evil mad scientist's Googly Eye shield to complete the visual appeal. Successful work!