I just wanted to share a hardware update I completed today that may interest some like-minded people. My home “server” is a micro-ITX that has built-in WIFI and Bluetooth. After realizing that Coral Edge TPU USBs were scarce and expensive - I noticed that the m.2 socket Corals were much cheaper and readily available.
So I started to investigate, and long story short - I found out that the WIFI/BT is actually an A+E key m.2 socket! You have to remove the metal casing (which for me meant pulling the mobo) - but 1 screw and a little prying later, and I could see the chip! A second retaining screw and a little wiggling and it was free!
Re-assembly was a breeze! New Coral is now where the old WIFI/BT board was, and looks very clean! Since I was not using WIFI or BT there was zero functionality lost. The antenna connections are still there, no reason to remove them.
Followed the Coral installation instructions and a few minutes later it was up and running!
I hope this might be of use to someone else who has the same hardware and wants an alternative to the USB coral. It has only been a day but I am very excited about this mod - thanks for reading!
Nope - I have a headless server running HA in a container without a supervisor or anything like that.
I expect what you’d need to do is get access to the host terminal to do the installation…
But I expect many are using it… you might not even need to do that - ask around - someone probably knows. I’m surprised it’s not in the docs… they have the add-on instructions but not specific coral for HAOS…
Hi Ulfson… I did a similar install on my HP Elitedesk SFF (though just had the empty Wi-fi/BT socket on mine, so even easier). I’m running Frigate on Docker, and accessing though the HassOS add-on.
Best source info for you is the likely the Coral website and this thread.
Hi @Ulfson - HassOS is running as a VM on VirtualBox on the same Elitedesk (under Ubuntu Mate). Frigate is running in a docker container (mostly managed with Portainer). Because HassOS is running in the VM I can install the drivers under Ubuntu, and just need to connect through to the VM.
Thanks for this - been looking for a way to get a Coral TPU on my Asrock mini ITX, and the A+E cards are the only ones in stock anywhere. I will give it a try!
Glad you got it working!
Ya, Proxmox and systems like it are not as simple - I’ve seen others who had to fight with the setups to get it passed through. Anyway, the A+E key is awesome if you can fit it in your system. Availability is always better than the other form factors.
Hi,
What type of AsRock mini-ITX do you have? Is it working for you in the M.2 (Key E) slot?
I have a AsRock H310M-STX and M.2 Accelerator with Dual Edge TPU | Coral. It couldn’t even detect the device on Ubuntu 20.04.
Tried to follow the official installation guide at: Get started with the M.2 or Mini PCIe Accelerator | Coral
Do you have in mind any specific BIOS config that is necessary to have the device detected and used?
It hasn’t even detected in the BIOS, no detected device on the mentioned slot?
Any idea how to solve this issue? Or is it not compatible with this port?
I have a Fatal1ty B450 Gaming-ITX/ac. I am using the M.2 Accelerator A+E key in the Wifi/bluetooth slot on the motherboard (I removed the on-board wifi) - didn’t require any BIOS settings to be changed.
Does it show up in lspci?
I suspect your key is the wrong type for the slot you have it in. The card you linked is an E key, so won’t work in a storage M.2 slot. you could try an adapter card if you have a spare PCI slot?
Yes, it is not detected neither in BIOS or by lspci.
I have this mother board: ASRock > H310M-STX, and from the description it looked compatible - 1 x M.2 Socket (Key E), supports type 2230 WiFi/BT PCIe WiFi module and Intel® CNVi (Integrated WiFi/BT). Tried with the mentioned slot without any luck.
Unfortunately I don’t have other machine around with M.2 Key E slot.
I have no PCI slot, so need to find an USB adapter it even exists. Any idea?
Yeah, I would have like to buy a single TPU as I have 6 cameras at home, but I found just the dual edge on stock in Europe. Should somehow get a single TPU then?
I had an issue with a dual Edge TPU upper, the problem was that there was no way to get it to work in the mentioned A + E M.2 socket of the mother board. Finally I ordered a M.2 A+E slot to M.2 B+M slot adapter for sanity check of the TPU and it works(unfortunately one side of that, but I am fine with it as other TPUs are out of stock nowadays and it is enough for 6 cameras).
So adapter to M.2 B+M slot works for me, of course my M.2 SSD needed to be moved to an another adapter
Blockquote
Yes, it is not detected neither in BIOS or by lspci.
I have this mother board: ASRock > H310M-STX, and from the description it looked compatible - 1 x M.2 Socket (Key E), supports type 2230 WiFi/BT PCIe WiFi module and Intel® CNVi (Integrated WiFi/BT). Tried with the mentioned slot without any luck.
Unfortunately I don’t have other machine around with M.2 Key E slot.
I have no PCI slot, so need to find an USB adapter it even exists. Any idea?
Yeah, I would have like to buy a single TPU as I have 6 cameras at home, but I found just the dual edge on stock in Europe. Should somehow get a single TPU then?
Hi, I’m wondering which model of HP Elitedesk SFF you are using. I got the m.2 coral device also, but when I plug it into the m.2 wlan slot, it’s not recognized by the motherboard it is working fine with a pcie x1 to m.2 card. I’m assuming HP has a whitelist in the BIOS
it is working fine with a pcie x1 to m.2 card. I’m assuming HP has a whitelist in the BIOS