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First Impressions with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

blog.alexellis.io

41–50 of 81 posts

Re: First Impressions with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

#41
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because SystemD network management is harder to use on a headless install. With a Raspberry Pi you just need to edit a couple of lines in the boot.conf to have it connect to WiFi on boot. You can deploy one without ever plugging in a keyboard or monitor.

How do you edit boot.conf without a keyboard or monitor?

it's on a FAT partition, you can edit it by plugging the sd card into something else

Re: First Impressions with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

#42

I know many of you may be wondering if you should get one of these, and if they can be used to create a cheaper cluster than RPi4s. I try to answer that as well as talk about my experience with the RPi Zero and how quick it is with Go and Node.js compared to the older generation. Are you running Zeros now or other models? What would you run on an RPi Zero 2?

My dream device for clustering is dual core 1Ghz+, 1GB ddr4 (ddr3 in a pinch) and wired Gb ethernet. In bulk (where bulk ~ 100) price $5-10. Some of the allwinner and rockchip based pi clones get close but price is a lot more.

Re: First Impressions with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

#43

I know many of you may be wondering if you should get one of these, and if they can be used to create a cheaper cluster than RPi4s. I try to answer that as well as talk about my experience with the RPi Zero and how quick it is with Go and Node.js compared to the older generation. Are you running Zeros now or other models? What would you run on an RPi Zero 2?

I run rpis in my house with an RTOS I wrote. It'll be nice to dump support of armv6 for space constrained use cases that I used a W.

Re: First Impressions with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

#44

Does anyone else have feelings about “there’s too many tiers of Pi” yet? I’m not sure if I feel that but it’s on my mind.

I don't know about too many tiers, but they've certainly run out of sensible naming ideas. Who the hell signs off naming a product 'Zero 2' let alone the 'Zero 2 W' ?

It's becoming like USB version names. If you're familiar with them from working with them all regularly, you can just remember what name means what. But for newcomers, it's a massive struggle. I feel that naming things in general imposes a lot of cognitive burden on people. Chrome version numbers are beautiful. Just incrementing integers, the way we numbered things as kids.

I wonder if the naming mess is intentional for marketing or an accident of not predicting the future well enough? They certainly seem to be trying to keep it simple and it's nowhere near the impossible muddle of, say, Intel and AMD CPUs or Nvidia GPUs yet.

Re: First Impressions with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

#45
post #17
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What baffles me is the rather bad availability of older versions. I'd have guessed that there's somewhere a warehouse full of Pi Zero Ws, but I can't buy one right now in Germany. There's a shop in Switzerland, but I'd have to pay import taxes and whatnot to get hold of that. So, let's try a Model 3 B+ then... Same as before: Official vendors are almost all sold out, one has some but it's 15 to 20 Euro above the reco…

if you don't mind a soldered-on header then berrybase seems to have plenty of Pi Zero WHs

I prefer the WH, unless you have serious space constraints, soldering your own is a little fiddly.

Re: First Impressions with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

#46

Does anyone else have feelings about “there’s too many tiers of Pi” yet? I’m not sure if I feel that but it’s on my mind.

IMHO, the relevant ones are 3B+, 4B+ and zero. The zero comes on many forms, but if you are using it, their difference should be clear enough.

For random stuff you do once, if you need a powerful computer (weak-desktop-like) with great IO, you go with 4. If you need great IO on a weak normal computer, you go with the 3. If you need a powerful-desktop-like computer, you go with AMD64, and if you only need great IO and not much of a computer, an Arduino.

The zero goes on things that you will do many times or that have very specific constraints.

Re: First Impressions with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

#47

Raspian still relies on inferior wifi management. You have to replace with network-manager to get it to connect to Enterprise wifi. Is there any specific reason why it's not the default?

Well that's stock on both Debian and Ubuntu still, right? It's more of a question why they haven't replaced it either.

Been a while since I've used Debian but I'm sure Debian is already using NetworkManager. This means the Raspberry OS has actually removed NetworkManager from its Debian base and put in something else. I agree with the OP this shouldn't happen. For my Raspberry Pi, I ended up switching out the Raspberry Pi OS' default networking manager thingy in preference for NetworkManager so I could share wireless networking configuration among my devices. It also helps with troubleshooting as well since I can just use the same commands I use on other Linux machines even those running other distros.

Re: First Impressions with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

#48
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because SystemD network management is harder to use on a headless install. With a Raspberry Pi you just need to edit a couple of lines in the boot.conf to have it connect to WiFi on boot. You can deploy one without ever plugging in a keyboard or monitor.

How do you edit boot.conf without a keyboard or monitor?

you pre-configure the boot.conf and other settings on the same system you use to write the raspbian image onto the microSD card, before you put it in the pi. if you get the config right you should be able to boot a pi headless and ssh to it over your 802.11n/ac/ax network immediately after the first time it powers up.

Re: First Impressions with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

#49
post #33
post #31

How are people dealing with subpar SD card storage option which is guaranteed to fail if there are ANY consistent writes? Why don't they add M.2 port?, it would instantly make Pi lot more reliable.

I've switched to only buying SD cards from AAA+ platinum-rated photography websites (B&H, Adorama), they seem to be the only reliable places to buy non-counterfit SD cards these days. I've never had an issue with an SD card since I made this shopping change. Shipping and price are about 10% higher, but guaranteed quality product is worth it. If you buy your SD cards from Amazon or Ebay you can't guarantee quality for…

What SD brands do you usually buy? Are the Sandisk Extreme range any good?

Re: First Impressions with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

#50
post #6

Does anyone else have feelings about “there’s too many tiers of Pi” yet? I’m not sure if I feel that but it’s on my mind.

What baffles me is the rather bad availability of older versions. I'd have guessed that there's somewhere a warehouse full of Pi Zero Ws, but I can't buy one right now in Germany. There's a shop in Switzerland, but I'd have to pay import taxes and whatnot to get hold of that. So, let's try a Model 3 B+ then... Same as before: Official vendors are almost all sold out, one has some but it's 15 to 20 Euro above the reco…

The PI is almost always sold off, since the first version. Availability has always been low.

What you are seeing is probably because the 3B+ is the most sold version, and replenishing anything is slightly harder right now.

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