Pi camera on the HackerGadgets adapter's CSI2 connector
The stock mainboard has no camera connector; HackerGadgets' adapter board adds a CSI2 port with the Pi 5 pin definition for Raspberry Pi camera modules.
What it takes
- Purchase required
- Disassembly
Difficulty 2 of 3 — moderate.
Details
Menkalinan's 2024 thread lays out the problem: the mainboard breaks out no CSI ribbon connector, the camera lanes exist on the expansion connector but are unrouted on the bare and 4G boards (Scriven42), and the only thing shown working there is a USB webcam (selfawaresoup's build). peterj's 2025 question drew a photo of a one-off 'uConsoleCamera' board from neocska92 and nothing more.
HackerGadgets' adapter board, part of the Upgrade Kit for Pi CM4/CM5 and Radxa CM5, carries a CSI2 connector that 'follows exact Raspberry Pi 5 pin definition' and 'connects Raspberry Pi camera modules'. Neither the product page nor these threads document a camera module actually running through it, so treat it as untested until someone posts results; a USB camera remains the sure route.
Links
Open at HackerGadgets — uConsole Upgrade Kit (adapter board CSI2)Related mods
A 160 × 120 Waveshare USB thermal camera works on the uConsole with a patched pysenxor library in a Python venv — a pocket thermal imager with a tutorial.
peterj wired a PureThermal Mini Pro JST-SR carrying a FLIR Lepton 3.5 to USB and views it in guvcview — a working thermal camera on the console.
The all-in-one expansion card: RTL-SDR, SX1262 LoRa, GNSS, RTC and a USB hub with internal USB-C; the adapter board adds USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet.
The 2024 original: an RTL-SDR (R820T2), USB hub and real-time clock on one expansion card — the board that started the AIO line.
The adapter board's PWM fan header runs a Raspberry Pi, Waveshare or EDATEC CM5 cooler; printed back covers make the room.
Remix of the passive-cooler back that gives an EDATEC active cooler its height when the CM5 sits on the HackerGadgets adapter.