Pi-Top 1 with raspberry pi 5

pi-top [1] + pi-topCEED
#1

Hi, I was wondering if anyone managed to get the pi-top 1 (laptop) to work with raspberry pi 5. I managed to get the raspberry pi board to boot with a fresh (non pi-top) system but I have no control whatsoever on some keyboard keys ( ex : change the brightness ) and there is no battery level visible.

I did try to install the lastest pi-top os (bookworm) but I get a full screen browser page displaying an error message that it wasn’t able to connect to the localhost and it keeps refreshing - I am getting the same on raspberry pi 4 as well.

Are there any packages I can install on a fresh raspbian os that will bring up functionality for brightness and battery level ?

Anyone managed to get the pi top 1 working with rpi4 or rpi5 and have the battery level and brightness working ?

#2

Yes with RPi4. I will try and get Pi5 working on the Pi Top[1] laptop and a CEED

WithLid
WithLid1920×1080 322 KB
To get the buttons to work I had to revert to an old image of the Pi TOP OS (Buster, aka Sirius) BUT now I know what I’m doing I may try the latest Pi-Top OS… I couldn’t get the pi-top software install to work (https://knowledgebase.pi-top.com/knowledge/pi-top-and-raspberry-pi-os)

It looks like the step down voltage converter operates upto 28V, and will in theory supply 5V @ 3.5A according to the TPS54332 3.5-A, 28-V, 1-MHz, Step-Down DC/DC Converter datasheet. You may need to make sure that the cable from the USB on the hub is capable of taking that current. Cheap ones aren’t thick enough, too much resistance, and the Pi 4 may complain about the voltage.

Picture of a Pi Top[1], has a Pi4 in it. Used to allow people to input their name using a Morse key, 2nd picture same application but Raspberry 3+ and a Pi Top CEED. Will be installed at the NRC in Bletchley park.

PiTopCEED_1
PiTopCEED_11147×1078 165 KB

Hope that helps
Chris
M0YGH

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#3

I have a pi-top 1 with a raspberry pi 5 (16gb) in it. I found pi-top OS pretty slow so I loaded Raspberry Pi OS, the most current release (bookworm). Some things dont work. I have no idea how to get my pi-top pulse speaker working now.

#4

Look here https://knowledgebase.pi-top.com/knowledge/pi-top-and-raspberry-pi-os

But the problem is that the software doesn’t really support the old Hubs, I suspect they never will unfortunately. On/Off switch doesn’t work fully, no idea about brightness… I haven’t used the Pulse speaker but that needs a few things enabling in the OS to work…see here https://github.com/Helenous/Pi-top-Pulse but no idea if software works on bookworm.

#5

Thank you. I figured about the power button. Didnt know about the brightness. Shame someone cant port the code over (outside my skillset).

I did try the pulse github ( I really want sound!!) . The repository is very, very old. It did not work on bookworm.

#6

agree about porting, or just get the new pt-device to work with the old Hub. doubt its actually that much work, no interest tho, since the pi-Top seems to have moved to the USA and they are concentrating their work on the American schools…The boards et al are commercial, so no way we will get access to schematics etc. One the the support guys still based in the UK came back to me and said “Let me know what you find about the power button function, though I can’t promise we’ll have time to fix it in the newer OSes” Maybe we should set-up a thread to ask that these older Hubs are supported. The pt-devices package certainly identifies the Hubs so it shouldn’t be too much work for them…

#7

One of the great things of the whole Raspberry Pi line was maintaining support for gpio devices across the PI’s. If they start dropping support now that is ridiculous. So YES we should setup a thread to ask for older HUB support. Absolutely and count me in.

#8

To be clear, the people doing the Pi-Top stuff have nothing to do with the Rasberry Pi Foundation, they are a seperate “commercial” company. Hence GPIO support on Pi nothing to do with the lack of support for the old Pi Top Hubs.

#9

Im quite aware of that.

#10

Maybe I should have prefaced that with I guess It was my wishful thinking that it would be included.

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