When you finally get your uConsole, the last thing you want to be doing is waiting another 3 days to get the other things you need for assembly. Here is a list of things to get and do in preperation for recieving your uConsole.
- Get a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (If you need it)
Here is a little not so secret secret, if you buy a black tricked out uConsole, it will take an obscene amount of time for you to get it, maybe the upwards of a year. If you order it with a silver face, no 4G and no Compute module, you will get it much sooner, maybe even within the 90 days they say. If you go this route you will need either a CM4104000 or a CM4108000 Raspberry Pi CM4. The first one is the 4 GB the second is the 8 GB, I recommend getting the 8 GB if you can afford it. You can get a 2 GB module, it will work, but you will not be happy with the performance. Additionally, you may be tempted to get one with built in EMMC storage, do not do this. You can use either the EMMC storage or you can use an SD card, but not both. With EMMC you are stuck with whatever its has, at least with an SD card you can get a bigger one later, or have mulitple SD cards for differet purposes.
Alternatively you can get a CM5 for your uConsole. The 8GB no eMMC versions are hard to get and so you will pay a bit of a premium for them.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DY1513GQ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
The 4GB / 64GB eMMC CM5 are easier to get and cheaper. Honestly 4GB of RAM is probably enough, and 64 GB of storage isn't too bad.
- Buy batteries
Getting the right batteries is not that big of a deal, the batteries needed are pretty easy to get. The problem of course is avoiding scam batteries. These are what I got, they work well and give me about 5 hours even with my CM4 overclocked.
https://www.18650batterystore.com/products/panasonic-ncr18650ga-ga6
- Buy power supply
Like with batteries, these are cheap and easy to get, you just need to pay attention. Pretty much anything that provides 5 volts and 3 Amps and has a USB C connector will work.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TYQRXTK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
- Buy a large micro SD Card
The recommended 32 GB SD card is okay, but if you are going to keep music and videos on the device, you are going to start running out of space pretty quickly. Personally I think 128 GB is minimum for any computing device you use regularly. If you are going to be installing Kiwix and using it for offline wikipedia, you will likely need a 256 GB SD card.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X7BK27V?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
- Watch a couple of Youtube videos on assembly
Putting the uConsole together is not paticularly hard, but it does help if you have seen it done.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=clockworkpi+uconsole