The rack-mounted system supports up to six Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 boards, bringing their ports, power connections and selected controls to the front for easier access.
Waveshare has introduced the PiRack-M6F, a six-node rack system for Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 Model B boards is designed for 10-inch 2U racks, bringing the computers’ commonly used ports and controls to the front panel. The system can hold up to six Raspberry Pi boards and uses connector-adapter boards to provide front-facing access, while separate power connections are routed to the rear.
The system uses an aluminium-alloy rack measuring 254 × 88 × 85 mm. Each Raspberry Pi connects to a Pi 5 Connector Adapter (D) board, which provides mini HDMI, USB and USB Type-C connections, along with a full-size HDMI output. On Raspberry Pi 5 boards, the adapter also exposes a debug UART connection and power button. The button supports a short press for normal power control and a long press for forced shutdown.
Power can be supplied through a 5V DC screw terminal or USB-C. The system also supports Raspberry Pi HATs and other expansion boards, allowing users to add functions such as Power over Ethernet. A rear screw terminal provides a dedicated power connection for each Raspberry Pi, keeping the wiring away from the front-facing ports.
Each node is supplied with silicone thermal material, straight headers, cables for the debug and power-button connections, and mounting screws. Setting up the system involves connecting each Raspberry Pi to its adapter board, attaching the required power and UART connections, applying the thermal material and securing the boards to the rack brackets.
The system is aimed at applications that require multiple Raspberry Pi computers in a compact rack arrangement, including multi-node computing, development environments and server clusters. By moving commonly used connections to the front, it makes physical access to individual Raspberry Pi nodes easier while keeping them organised in a rack-mounted enclosure. Waveshare lists the PiRack-M6F at $69.99 on its online store at the time of checking.
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