Just so people know, the Portenta Breakout board is available. https://store.arduino.cc/usa/portenta-breakout
for 45.99 USD . This is not the Carrier board that seems to have disappeared, but it does give access to all the High density pins, BUT the software does not seem to be completely ready yet! So be warned.
I think it will be awesome, just may take a while before it is fully running. My Opinion.
Has anyone got the Breakout board yet?
Mine arrived today - unfortunately I'm struggling to get it working. Without the breakout board the blinky sketch is running - with the breakout board it does not blink. I've connected the Portenta board in both cases through the on board USB to my computer. I'm unsure if I need to provide power through the breakout board or if this is optional - assuming the breakout board is just a connector extension without additional active components - it should not be required ...
taunus101:
Mine arrived today - unfortunately I'm struggling to get it working. Without the breakout board the blinky sketch is running - with the breakout board it does not blink.
Try moving both really tiny toggle switches "ST.Sel" and "BOOT" away from the ARDUINO PRO label See image here 
If the image does not show a URL to it is here. I think the toggles keep the board in boot mode which might be nice to install software without double clicking the power button, but makes the board look like it doesn't run.
jerteach thanks - that did the trick! I've played with the two switches, but didn't test this combination ... I think the documentation is a little light - unfortunately for the entire Portenta. Worked with the Raspberry Pico lately and this is a total different world when it comes to documentation ...
taunus101:
I think the documentation is a little light - unfortunately for the entire Portenta.
Your welcome about the boot toggle, also with the breakout board it works best with MBED code not Arduino code at the moment.
I love Arduino, but yes, I think they spend a lot of time making sure the hardware is well done and then when it is actually for sale, they start looking into the software.
You might like a library I am making that should eventually have several Portenta examples for beginners. Presently you need to save the library as a zipped file and install it as a zipped library (deleting the old one if you have one in documents/arduino/libraries.).
Eventually I will try to get it as a proper Arduino library. Here is the link
Thank you so much for the tip! I had same problem today with LED blinking while the carrier board was connected.