Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer • Hacker News Board

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#221

Post by Tepix » Thu, Nov 26, 2015, 1:15 PM UTC

StavrosK wrote: post #176

TeMPOraL wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this price point, for many projects it doesn't matter; you can now use Raspberry Pi as a throwaway SOC for powering little stuff. I wouldn't, for example, put an $35 RPi 2 in charge of a bunch of sensors over my doors, but with $5 RPi it is an option. EDIT: And given the power, you can start offloading computation on what would otherwise be "dumb" control/data acquisition units. Hell, with that much compute you ca…

The only case where it matters for me is that this runs Linux, which means that I'll have an extra computer to secure against intruders. An Arduino can't do as much damage to the rest of the network if it gets hacked.

Linux also isn't a real-time OS which is often important when dealing with motors and sensors.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#222

Post by 3onyc » Thu, Nov 26, 2015, 1:15 PM UTC

simon_vetter wrote: post #212

bambax wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's great, thanks!! I have a pi as a media server* connected to a projector via HDMI, that reads media files from a NAS on my home network; very efficient and lightweight. I will definitely try pi-hole; maybe I can have both running on the same pi. * via Raspbmc, which I just found out has apparently ceased to exist...

> * via Raspbmc, which I just found out has apparently ceased to exist... Try OSMC [1], it's a massive improvement over Raspbmc and is being developed actively. Works like a charm. If I'm correct, the main Raspbmc dev went over to OSMC a while back. [1] https://osmc.tv

OSMC is actually the successor of Raspbmc (And Crystalbuntu)

http://kodi.wiki/view/OSMC

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#223

Post by andygates » Thu, Nov 26, 2015, 1:15 PM UTC

drcross wrote: post #198

yuvadam wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're basically saying you're not getting enough value for $5?

No, but like the Op, I would gladly pay double the price for some sort of onboard network connectivity.

There's nowhere to put it! And if you want bigger and more connected, just get the mainstream Pi.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#224

Post by Tepix » Thu, Nov 26, 2015, 1:17 PM UTC

aqrashik wrote: post #177

TeMPOraL wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I meant Chinese clones. Arduino is Open Hardware, it's perfectly legal (that's kind of a point of Open Hardware movement). It's equivalent in form and function to the genuine Arduino made in Italy.

Do you have a link? I was just about to get started on a project and getting a $2 Arduino would be great for tinkering

Go to AliExpress.com and search for "pro micro" or "pro mini".

You can get a Pro Mini clone for less than $1.50.

A full-size Arduino R3 clone (with a cheaper USB chip, the CH340G) is less than $3 with free shipping.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#225

Post by TeMPOraL » Thu, Nov 26, 2015, 1:18 PM UTC

StavrosK wrote: post #183

Vaanir wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that terminology at a really low cost, awesome. I feel like this comment could be turned into a popular blog post.

I can write up the sensor setup I have at home, if you want. It has motion, temperature, humidity, light sensors and IR/RF remotes for controlling devices, and a burglar alarm.

Please do write about it. Personally, I'll be happy to steal as many ideas as I can for my upcoming home installation :).

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#226

Post by Tepix » Thu, Nov 26, 2015, 1:19 PM UTC

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…

Same with Arduino. You can use dozens of off-the-shelf shields and libraries to make it do exactly what you need without having to understand every little detail (however, if you want you can change every little bit or resistor!). Instead you can focus on solving the problem at hand, mostly writing high level glue code.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#227

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Nov 26, 2015, 1:20 PM UTC

jawns wrote: post #203

For $5, I'm in. Now: What the heck can I do with it?

Just about everything you can do with a regular linux computer, if you need networking you're going to have shell out a couple of bucks for an interface.

Ideal for embedded stuff, computers that you tie to some appliance, robotics, data acquisition, scada stuff, media players and so on.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#228

Post by jon-wood » Thu, Nov 26, 2015, 1:20 PM UTC

Tepix wrote: post #213

sklogic wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy to imagine multiple simple designs. You can couple it with an ESP2866, for example, using a number of attinys to access their analog inputs, or with a CAN-SPI head collecting data from multiple sensors, processing and then reporting through an ESP2866.

The ESP8266 is quite slow, network wise. You could hook up the sensors to the Pi Zero directly using the GPIO ports and use a cheap USB WiFi adapter to upload the data.

In the context of the device the parent comment describes the ESP8266 being quite slow doesn't really matter that much, it just needs to be fast enough to push whatever telemetry its collecting on a regular basis, which an ancient modem could probably manage. Not everything requires the ability to push data at 10s of Mbps.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#229

Post by dankohn1 » Thu, Nov 26, 2015, 1:20 PM UTC

geofft wrote: post #219

Tepix wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can think of plenty of interesting projects¹ where the Zero is perfect as-is. However, you can just add WiFi or Ethernet via USB if you need it. Remember, on the first Raspberry Pi, the Ethernet port was connected via USB internally, too. ¹ One example https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1985705009/piplay-deskc...

This one has micro-USB ports, which mean the usual slim USB wifi interfaces will need a cable. Are there micro-USB wifi interfaces? (Is it even possible to make a similar form-factor interface that fits mostly inside a micro-USB plug?)

$3 for this is just crazy: http://www.amazon.com/Gino-Micro-Ethernet-Adapter-Tablet/dp/...

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#230

Post by StavrosK » Thu, Nov 26, 2015, 1:21 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #225

StavrosK wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can write up the sensor setup I have at home, if you want. It has motion, temperature, humidity, light sensors and IR/RF remotes for controlling devices, and a burglar alarm.

Please do write about it. Personally, I'll be happy to steal as many ideas as I can for my upcoming home installation :).

Great, I'll give it a shot tomorrow. I also have a mini-ecosystem of Python scripts to communicate with the sensors over serial and to read values, etc. I'll post that as well.