Cluster Hat for Raspberry Pi Zeros (Overview)

Raspberry Pi 2 + Cluster Hat + 4 Raspberry Pi Zeros
(can be used with 1-4 Pi Zero[ W] with Pi A+/B+/2/3/4 as the controller).

Pi Zeros communicate with the Pi 4 (or A+/B+/2/3/3+) as USB Gadgets (g_cdc for network and serial console) via a USB hub on the hat which connects back to the Raspberry Pi 2. Power to the individual Zeros is controlled via GPIO pins so you can easily power cycle a crashed Zero.

[levisteber]

So by doing this you get better specs??

[nickdowis]

People keep asking whats the point, and what can it do? Please may I answer... the point is that you were able to do it, the challenge of making it work is all the raspberry pi was designed for anyway. If you needed more power you would be building something with an I9 processor and 32G of RAM or simply buy a server and pack as many hard drives as you could afford but obviously he choose so build a small super computer and is confident enough to share it with us! Much respect to Mr. Burton!

[KarstenJohansson]

I'm interested in seeing performance test results. I have a data centre, but there are a lot of things that I always think tiny rubik clusters could do better and more efficiently. We already use RPis in place of full-PC network agents, so our next step is to start clustering to see how far we can push them.

[TDGalea]

This seriously needs to be mass-produced.

[leajiaure]

Super cool! All the parts are in the mail for a build of my own. I saw someone on Twitter use a POE hat to power this thing. So awesome that you can connect to and power a cluster of computers from a single Ethernet cord. Practicality be damned, should be a fun learning experience. Hoping to have some version of kubernetes running on it. That would make a great tutorial wink wink

[robbyseck]

@Chris Burton, when do you plan on this being available for purchase?

[PatsFanGermany]

This is AWESOME! Where can I get one (or a couple) of these? If you decide to start a Kickstarter campaign, let me know, I support it in a heartbeat!

[AaronAlso]

This is very intriguing, I assume the hat will also work with a Pi3 albeit at a higher power draw. (closer to 2Amps)

[JrMcG]

Very cool! Is this likely to go on Kickstarter? I would love to have one for running a web server or learning about cluster computing...

[MrNlce]

This is an excellent solution to the mess of the usual cluster pi projects.
Also does this improve performance in emulation for the retro pi project?

[meh]

you should do something like this with the pi compute modules

[Disthron]

Sorry for my ignorance but what would something like this be used for? Other than perhaps playing around with.

[tchguy]

I'm currently running a similar cluster, experimenting with remote upload of code (sans MicroSD Card), doing usbbootcode.bin-esque things. Would love to be able to do it in a much neater fashion using a HAT such as this one. I do think that maybe having 2 MicroUSBs per Zero on the HAT would be an improvement, just for stability when attached.

[PC_YouTube_Channel]

Please! Please! Make a Kickstarter for this!

[tchguy]

On another note, this could be stacked vertically and look even more awesome!

[Cypherdude]

Interesting setup. Show us how this works in the official Raspberry PI O/S. So all 4 of the Zeros' data goes through a USB 2.0 port? That must make it pretty slow.

[jmtnvalley]

Are there specific applications you are proposing for this configuration?

[firemonkeykar]

what is the point of this? do the zeros make it faster or does it just allow extra programs? I'm new to this and I've seen multiple pi supercomputers and they all require that you place part of the program on each pi, is it the same for this?

[misaalanshori]

what if i connect 4 phones to the connector?

[MADBONE]

DUDEEE -- Pi 3 underneath and BAM

also didnt know you could pwr the Zero over the OTG usb connector