Help me understand - PowerBlock vs. GPIO shutdown

[ccie38296]

Hello! Building a new Retropie machine using a Raspberry Pi 4. I currently have it set up to startup/shutdown using a button across pins 5/6 (GPIO3 I believe that is). I have the dtoverlay-shutdown feature enabled, and by default a momentary press of the button will re-wake the Pi from halt when it has been shut down by the button.

I'm curious what advantage the PowerBlock has over the method I'm using. I want the power control for my cabinet to utilize a switch or button, rather than software menu options. I see PowerBlock enables use of a toggle switch. Does it do anything else that makes it more attractive for Retropie cabinet use than the GPIO method? Is it a "cleaner" shutdown in some way?

Thanks!

[petrockblog]

Hi! In comparison to the dtoverlay the PowerBlock offers some subtle additions. However, it certainly depends on your specific needs if they are important for you or not:

• The PowerBlock completely cuts the power supply of the Raspberry Pi after it observed a complete shutdown of the Raspberry. The dtoverlay drives the Raspberry into a standby-mode, still letting the 5 and 3.3V pins powered.
• The PowerBlock can handle momentary and toggle buttons. In case of a momentary button it provides a "hard reset" function by pressing the button longer than 5 seconds.
• The PowerBlock provides a system state indication via its status LED pins. Booting, Running, Shutdown are indicated by different signal patterns.
• Upon observed shutdown request via the attached button at the PowerBlock, a custom shell script can be executed for.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any further question!

[ccie38296]

@petrockblog Excellent, thank you for the information!