RockPro64 and Pine H64 Discussion Thread

[Tigger]

On the RockPro64 sales page in the shop there is this line : "Note (the Wifi/BT model shown on photo is an optional item):". I want to see what the module looks like, and where on the board it would be slotted in. But I can't see/distinguish the module at all in the board's photo.

I would have thought it was was the circled part from how pine64 have designed stuff in the past and because of the can over the top of it..., but I can't confirm 100% as there's no separate picture of the module on the shop atm.

The 6 DBi gain of those antennas will be perfect. Nice strong signal for indoor use. Much better than 4 DBi antennas.

I notice one thing though. That Amazon page mentions : "NOTE: Only Use for MINI PCI-E Interface, Do Not Use for M.2 (NGFF) Interface".
While the WiFi/BT modules shop page mentions : "with SDIO Interface and HS-UART Mixed Interface".
Wouldn't that mean that there will only be SDIO radios (low power) on the module, and no PCIe radios (high performance). (The AP6536 can handle both.)

Yeah, if I understand right from when I was looking at the pinout on the schematic it's SDIO for the WiFi and UART for the Bluetooth. I see mention of SDIO being theoretically limited to 100Mbps, so if that is the case that would have the mean you're not going to be able to saturate that wifi link.

Which would also stop my quest for higher gain antennas. I hope that Luke still sees some increase in throughput or reach because of the new antennas. And if not, that he can still return his new antennas.

EDIT:@Luke That's good to hear. Do you find that they are better than the antennas shipped with the module ?

First of all, I only tested on android as I've been told by evilbunny (who is infinitely more competent than me) that the module is currently not stable in Linux. As for swamping out the antennas the speed did not improve (not necessarily the modules fault) but the range did improve quite a bit and quality of signal is clearly more stable. So yes, for a few quid thats a good upgrade.

I have to agree with you on that one. Reach and stability are also important. Maybe more important.
But I still do not understand how the antennas can work properly if the RockPro64's WiFi module is only SDIO. Unless that warning on Amazon is a typo, left over from a copy+paste from another product page.

(I do not expect much hardware to be (fully) cooperative in Linux at first. evilbunny is brave.)