Before purchasing a USB-C dock or port expander with ethernet and PCIe, I’d like to check to see if the Banana PI M4 Zero can boot off of the USB-C Port. Second has anyone come across a dual port USB-C dock that can also power the Banna Pi M4 Zero and can use one USB-C port for storage traffic and the other port for network traffic?
Hey,
zero expirience with bpi - just some exp. for regular USB-C docks: I didnt wanted to pay a fortune and get my hands on the newest Thunderbolt 4 dock, while still looking for a full feature set dock less than $100. I found the Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock Gen 2 (40AN0135) ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock Gen 2 - Overview and Service Parts - Lenovo Support US Before buying, the only issue I could find online was some RF sensitivity of powerful/close wireless connections.
I got a deal for ~60-70EUR, with the 65W? PSU, and it performs great. Had it next to a ASUS AX RT-58 WiFi 6 running at lowest transmission power in the GUI without issue, so it wasnt the frequencies by themselfs causing other users issues but the RF shielding against Tx power.
Sometimes after ending the screensaver not all monitors get a signal, and I need to lock my OS again (Ubuntu+Gnome) and login again, but besides that I suffer no issues at all.
The dock runs all of my connections: 1x Ethernet, 2x USB-A NAS, 3x 1080p/60hz Monitors, 1x USB-A Mouse/Keyboard, 1x USB-C Mobile Phone (PD Charger in the front) with data and 1x USB-A printer. Feeding everything with the main line to my old shabby USB-C 3.0? 3.1? capable HP ProBook 450 G6. Works like a charm, and if I ever upgrade my Notebook I may even make use of the Thunderbolt 3 speeds the dock offers.
I would expect ANY USB protocol to work with the bpi, so you can have all this feature set + external, bootable drives. The decision maybe more comes down to the actual device you want: Besides the ports you require the question is how many amps you are willing to draw: As this second computer draws quite a bit - the one I suggested maybe draws more than a bpi (without checking the numbers) and makes no sense.
Hope that gave you confidence that 1x sole USB-C connection can be sufficient to pipe all your different protocols and amps up to the specified bandwith → Going with USB 3.2 or higher is plenty.