An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) isn’t something solely to have hooked up to your desktop PC. Your Raspberry Pi SBC might also benefit from it. Yet the available options aren’t too great, or are too expensive. This leads folk including [Joachim Baumann] to modify cheerfully cheap Chinese UPS HAT[*] boards such as the Geekworm UPS HAT to fix its myriad of issues and missing features.
[...] With [Simon]’s project, a PIC MCU was used to provide a supervisor for the UPS HAT. It also bypasses the HAT’s control over whether the Raspberry Pi gets power or not. The results did however not fit [Joachim]’s needs, so the ATtiny Daemon project was born. This uses some of the fixes [Simon] implemented and adds a daemon that runs on the Raspberry Pi to establish two-way communications between the UPS and OS.
The settings for the UPS are stored also on the HAT, in the MCU’s EEPROM, with the daemon able to update and read it out as needed.
[*] HAT = Hardware Attached on Top. Hat tip to commenters who asked what a HAT was.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @09:43AM
While I've used the Pi for years, I honestly didn't realise the 'hat' nomenclature existed.
So, for a second, I thought that this was an actual UPS in a hat, for people that kept their Pi in their hat. I thought this was rather cool, unlike those who kept their Pi on their belt, as a portable computer.
But then I remembered this cautionary tale:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RloSKrxyvDU [youtube.com]
So, with the permanant neck damage.. unwise I suppose.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday August 29 2019, @09:48AM (5 children)
Would be nice if there were modern Linux operating systems, and alternative boot options, like USB, on the damn new thing. Useless, since none of the software I want and need that runs on the 3B+ will run on the 4B. Oh, well, early adopter syndrome, just be patient.
(Score: 2) by Muad'Dave on Thursday August 29 2019, @10:42AM
Nothing is stopping you from writing a tiny, stripped down flash image that then boots from USB or wherever. Most of the chunks are probably already out there.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday August 29 2019, @12:24PM (2 children)
If 32-bit Raspbian Buster isn't modern enough for you, you could try 64-bit Manjaro Arm [manjaro.org], or Gentoo [raspberrypi.org]. They have their own issues for now, but it's something.
There's no ETA for USB boot [raspberrypi.org]. It will be done whenever they feel like getting around to it. MicroSD interface speed has been doubled, which is nice.
Raspberry Pi 4 was originally supposed to come out in 2020, but got moved forward several months as the SoC had unexpectedly good yields or something. So they ran with that. That has probably contributed to the early adopter issues.
My guess is that 64-bit Raspbian will come out sometime between next year and the release of a Raspberry Pi 5. So maybe 2-3 years from now.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:54PM (1 child)
What kind of half ass Gnu/Linux user would use Manjaro arm when there's the ALARM (ArchLinux arm) project? Furthermore, why is Manjaro even targeting Arm when their whole reason for existing is to make *desktop/GUI* ArchLinux simpler for new Gnu/Linux users.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 29 2019, @05:20PM
Haven't you heard? Raspberry Pi 4 is a desktop computer.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Thursday August 29 2019, @12:33PM
[nostyle RIP 06 May 2025]
(Score: 2) by srobert on Thursday August 29 2019, @02:09PM (3 children)
Try googling UPS HAT. You get ball caps for UPS drivers.
OK I think I got that UPS was an Uninterruptible Power Supply.
But what's a HAT?
Is this something I'd be aware of if I weren't getting old?
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Thursday August 29 2019, @03:45PM (1 child)
It attaches to the General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pins, covering them and making it easier to extend the hardware.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/introducing-raspberry-pi-hats/ [raspberrypi.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by srobert on Thursday August 29 2019, @09:51PM
Thank you.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:45PM
It's RaspberryPi jargon. Best explained, at least the first time mentioned, when writing an article. A HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) in RaspberryPi terms is an accessory that can be directly connected to the RaspberryPi, usually or perhaps always via the GPIO (General-purpose input/output) interface.
HAT:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/introducing-raspberry-pi-hats/ [raspberrypi.org]
GPIO:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/usage/gpio/ [raspberrypi.org]
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 29 2019, @04:56PM
i want an affordable(!) internal UPS battery that fits in a 5.25 or 3.5" slot for machines in data centers that support mid tower & tower colo. this way i can use an m2 drive and not have to worry about data center outages borking my data.