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Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

raspberrypi.org

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Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#131

Post by bigiain »

IanCal wrote: post #121
mgraupner wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even more awesome: Skip the extra Arduino and use the ESP8266 as your Arduino. https://github.com/esp8266/Arduino

I realise how silly this question may seem but here we go: If I get an ESP8266, I can have something that run code, sit on my home network wirelessly and use it to do things like report on sensor inputs? Am I missing some larger expense that would be required as this seems very cheap compared to other options I've seen.

Yes. At least for limited values of yes.

You need to run it on 3.3v which means 3.3v versions of your sensore or external level shifting. You've got limited IO compared to, say, Arduino.

But of you've got 3.3v sensors - yeah - all you need is an ESP8266 and some way of providing 3.3v. (And probably some pulldown/up resistors and decoupling caps...)

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#132

Post by cuonic »

kgs42 wrote: post #117

Hi, maybe not entirely relevant for this topic - but maybe you guys have any idea how to build and cheap system which will gather temperature wireleslly to one place. Ideally I'd like to have 2 sensors (one inside and other outside, with own batteries) which will send data to some central device. I have home server on MacMini - so WiFi could be option. Any ideas? I've always wanted to build something like this which…

Hi kgs42,

I've actually created such a setup, I have 3 battery powered temperature sensors built on Arduino Pro Minis, they all communicate with a central RPi node via NRF24L01 transceivers, and the node then sends the different temperatures to a server via GSM. The sensors are pretty cheap to make, and if you put them in a sealed box they last for months without recharging the batteries (Currently 7 month battery life on 4 x AA batteries)

Here is some of the sensor code: https://github.com/cuonic/Arduino-NRF24L01-Thermometer

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#133

Post by david-given »

schappim wrote: post #97

The Specs: - A Broadcom BCM2835 application processor - 1GHz ARM11 core (40% faster than Raspberry Pi 1) - 512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM - A micro-SD card slot - A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output - Micro-USB sockets for data and power - An unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header - Identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2B - An unpopulated composite video header - Our smallest ever form factor, at 65mm x 30mm x 5mm Source: http://r…

Don't forget, also, that the ARM11 in the BCM2835 is actually just a secondary processor; the main CPU is a blisteringly fast dual-core Videocore 4, which lots of interesting DSPish and vector processing instructions. (You can call out to it from the ARM.)

See: http://maazl.de/project/vc4asm/doc/index.html

And if you're into shader programming, the GPU has a 24 GFLOP shader unit.

https://github.com/hermanhermitage/videocoreiv-qpu

Only suitable for very specialised purposes, but astonishingly fast.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#134

Post by Natanael_L »

makomk wrote: post #98
maheart wrote: post #26

This is seriously impressive. While the Raspberry Pi is not the perfect hacker-friendly computer, it has done a lot of good. Some reasons off the top of my head: 1. Providing a low cost computer has given many people access to computers. Giving more people access to the web, email, an office suit, a programming environment AND giving people the ability of safely tinker without the fear of bricking an expensive device…

This is probably the result of boards like the $9 C.H.I.P. stealing their thunder a little. (Which should actually be able to run Debian, unlike the Pi - Debian Jessie has built-in support for that generation of Allwinner chips.) The Pi has not actually been all that cheap lately compared to the competition. There's no reason they couldn't have done this years ago; like that Allwinner chip, the BCM2835 is an old, slo…

This could even act as a custom chromecast-ish device. Still cheaper too!

(Although it lacks WiFi AC that the new chromecast has, and probably way weaker graphics, but a cheap WiFi adapter or ethernet and having most stuff streamed should be workable.)

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#135

Post by pjc50 »

djfergus wrote: post #2

Love watching the progress of Raspberry Pi. The attraction of the platform to me (compared to something more capable, with more ram ghz etc) is that the ecosystem is now so mature, you can easily google and get a cut and paste guide to exactly what you want to do. This means you can spend time tinkering with aspects that interest you rather than maintaining an operating system or troubleshooting hardware... I'm curio…

There is a lot of capability on the graphics side, which takes up most of the die. Can run Quake3 etc. Not very impressive compared to modern PC graphics, but very handy if you want to put something on a small screen.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#136

Post by Natanael_L »

trymas wrote: post #31

Next awesome step would be RPi with integrated wifi/bluetooth, and it would become ultimate IoT/embedded development platform. Such step would increase price, I know, but AFAIK, most people are almost always buying either wifi or bluetooth dongles anyway. All in all, RPi ables to deliver exciting, rather (for me) unexpected and most importantly great and user-friendly products.

The headers/shield solutions could easily provide that too, so it doesn't have to be integrated into the SoC if you want to add something not already there. These type of electronics have essentially become digital Lego.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#137

Post by makomk »

sangnoir wrote: post #116
makomk wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is probably the result of boards like the $9 C.H.I.P. stealing their thunder a little. (Which should actually be able to run Debian, unlike the Pi - Debian Jessie has built-in support for that generation of Allwinner chips.) The Pi has not actually been all that cheap lately compared to the competition. There's no reason they couldn't have done this years ago; like that Allwinner chip, the BCM2835 is an old, slo…

Olimex alleged[1] that the '$9' CHIP was being sold at a loss (which I guess is par for the course for a Kickstarter project). >The Pi has not actually been all that cheap lately compared to the competition. I'm not a big fan of the RPi Foundation & it's relationship with BroadCOMM, but which competition are you referring to? I tried searching for RPi-like boards a while back but only came up with HardKernel & the ba…

The Orange Pi PC is competing fairly directly with the Pi 2, for $15. (Though it does apparently have some thermal throttling issues and isn't yet supported by the upstream Linux kernel without patches.) Annoyingly so in some ways; they haven't bothered to pin out many SoC features that the Pi lacks, like line-in support.

Oh, and that Olimex article smells of FUD. As they themselves point out, the price they were quoted for the SoC in the C.H.I.P. wouldn't be competitive - it's the same as a modern quad core SoC for a outdated single core. It's not a new die either, just another (possibly repackaged) version of the old and cheap Allwinner A13, so there's little in the way of R&D costs to recoup.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#138

Post by rwmj »

edent wrote: post #123
rwmj wrote: post #51

I know I'm complaining about an almost free computer, but ARM11 (ARMv6) isn't compatible with most Linux OSes which long ago moved to ARMv7. If only this was compatible with ARMv7 it would run a lot more stuff.

Not sure I understand. I runs Debian derivatives like Raspian, Ubuntu, and Kali. If you're a masochist it'll run Windows 10 IoT core. https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ https://www.offensive-security.com/kali-linux/raspberry-pi-l...

Those are specially compiled with different compiler options. Ordinary Debian is compiled for armv7 and will not run on RPi Zero or RPi 1 (note that RPi 2 is armv7).

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#139

Post by paddi91 »

kgs42 wrote: post #117

Hi, maybe not entirely relevant for this topic - but maybe you guys have any idea how to build and cheap system which will gather temperature wireleslly to one place. Ideally I'd like to have 2 sensors (one inside and other outside, with own batteries) which will send data to some central device. I have home server on MacMini - so WiFi could be option. Any ideas? I've always wanted to build something like this which…

Hi kgs42,

the already mentioned ESP8266 is definitely the way to go. Have a look at [1]. for some example circuits. [2] shows how to connect multiple sensors.

[1] https://www.aisler.net/projects?query=esp8266&src=hn_1 [2] https://www.aisler.net/projects/7890

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#140

Post by sagischwarz »

iM8t wrote: post #95
sagischwarz wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article mentions three vendors in UK. I just ordered mine from http://pimoroni.com/zero (they accept Bitcoin).

Thanks! Just ordered mine. Looking forward to learning with it. Do you have any good bookmarks that You could share with a complete beginner?

It's also my first Pi, more of an impulse buy. Have to find out what to do with it.
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