Orange Pi CM5 “Tablet” Base Board drops Ethernet for WiFi 5, adds battery support, M.2 socket, 26-pin GPIO header…

The Orange Pi CM5 was launched as an alternative to Raspberry Pi CM4/CM5 last July with a Rockchip RK3588S octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 SoC, up to 16GB LPDDR4x, 256GB eMMC flash, and three board-to-board connectors maintaining partially compatibility with the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4.

At the time, Orange Pi also introduced the Orange Pi CM5 Base Board with HDMI 2.1, one Gigabit Ethernet port, two 2.5GbE ports, USB 3.0/2.0 ports, four camera connectors, and more. The company has now launched the Orange Pi CM5 “Tablet” Base Board without Ethernet ports, making use of WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 for networking instead. It keeps many of the same features but adds a 26-pin GPIO header, an M.2 Key-M socket for SSD storage, DP 1.4 and MIPI DSI display interfaces, and various audio interfaces. However, it does with “only” three camera interfaces. It’s quite thick to be used in a typical tablet, but the company probably gave it this name because of wireless connectivity, support for battery input, and audio interfaces.

Orange Pi CM5 Tablet Base Board specifications:

• Compatible with the Orange Pi CM5 module with up to 16GB RAM, 256GB eMMC flash
• Storage
  • MicroSD card
  • M.2 Key-M (PCIe 2.0 x1) socket for NVMe or SATA 3.0 SSD
• Video output
  • HDMI 2.1 up to 8K @ 60Hz
  • 4-lane DP 1.4 via USB-C port
  • 4-lane MIPI DSI connector
• Audio
  • 3.5mm headphone jack audio in/out
  • HDMI 2.1 eARC
  • onboard MIC
  • 2x 2-pin connectors for speakers
• Camera – 4x 2-lane MIPI connectors on the bottom side of the board
• Networking
  • 3x Ethernet ports
  • WiFi 5 (SDIO 3.0) and Bluetooth 5.0/BLE (UART+PCM) via Ampack AP6256 module
• USB
  • 1x USB 3.0 port (Host or Device mode supported)
  • 1x USB2.0 port
• Expansion
  • 26-pin GPIO header with UART, PWM, I2C, SPI, CAN, GPIO, and other functional interfaces. (5V/3.3V supported)
  • 6-pin FPC socket for sensors
  • 12-pin FPC socket for UART, PWM, I2C, SPI, CAN, GPIO, etc..
  • 4-pin ADC header with 2x 12-bit ADC inputs up to 1.8V
• Debugging – 3-pin debug serial port (UART)
• Misc
  • 6-pin FPC connector for buttons
  • 2-pin 5V fan connector (1.25mm pitch)
  • Power on/off key, MASKROM key, user-defined key, reset key
  • Red power LED, Green status LED
  • Test pads to connect an RTC battery
  • 2-pin RTC connector (1.25mm pitch)
  • IR receiver
• Power supply
  • 5V/5A via USB Type-C port
  • 5V DC output header
  • 6-pin 1.5mm pitch connector for single Li-ion battery; charging current up to 3.78A
• Dimensions – 90 x 66 mm
• Weight – 43 grams (instead of 57.5 grams)

Orange Pi says the CM5 Tablet Base Board is designed for integration into products. I’m not sure about tablets, but it looks suitable for battery-powered HMI terminals, digital signage applications, robotics, and more.

Software-wise, it will just follow the Orange Pi CM5 module, meaning Orange Pi OS (Arch or Android), OpenWrt, Ubuntu 22.04/24.04, Debian 11/12, and Android 13 images available on the Download page for the module along with Linux and Android source code.

The Orange Pi CM5 Tablet Base Board can be purchased for about $30 on Amazon US or $20 plus shipping on AliExpress (Note: if you can’t see an AliExpress link, that’s because of your ad blocker). You’ll also need an Orange Pi CM5 module whose price ranges from $70 to $119 on AliExpress depending on the configuration, and sells for a bit more on Amazon. It might also be possible to try with a Raspberry Pi CM5, but you’d only get partial support at best, since it only comes with two 80-pin connectors. Additional details may be found on the product page.

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