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Tiny Yet Useful: 13 Raspberry Pi Zero Alternatives

posted by martyb on Tuesday July 21 2020, @06:40PM   
from the how-well-have-they-worked-for-you? dept.

canopic jug writes:

It's FOSS has an overview of 13 Raspberry Pi-like single board computers.

The Raspberry Pi Zero and the Raspberry Pi Zero W were added to the line up of Raspberry Pi's in the last few years. These ultra-small form-factor SBC's have been a big hit and continue to be a part of Raspberry Pi projects from the maker and DIY communities.

Due to the smaller form factor and the prices these boards are targeting, they have had to cut down on many features like a dedicated Ethernet port, slower processor (compared to their full-fledged cousins).

In an earlier article, we listed the best alternatives to Raspberry Pi. In this one, I'll list some alternatives to Raspberry Pi Zero and Zero W.

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Original Submission

• Re:Orange Pi Zero Thermal Issues Re:Orange Pi Zero Thermal Issues (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday July 22 2020, @07:21AM (1 child)

  by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Wednesday July 22 2020, @07:21AM (#1024878) Journal

  Those little heat sinks that you find in RasPi kits don't do much by themselves. You usually need a heatsink case (oh look, there's a FLIRC for Pi Zero [flirc.tv] now), or a fan to make a real difference. You could also point a desk fan at it. You can get one with a clip on it to position both the SBC and fan as needed, and maybe even power the fan using USB (inb4 it all melts).

  That being said, 50°C should not be a big deal. What does it get up to when it's not idling?

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• Re:Orange Pi Zero Thermal Issues (Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Wednesday July 22 2020, @07:54AM

  by stormwyrm (717) on Wednesday July 22 2020, @07:54AM (#1024881) Journal

  So far the only really heavy workload I've put it under so far is statistical testing of the output of the RNG circuit (remember this is custom hardware that I hand-soldered together), to validate that it's actually producing a reasonably high-quality random bitstream. It seems to pass the statistical tests I've figured out how to use and evaluate (Diehard, Ent, and rng-tools FIPS tests so far). I've not yet decided on how best to use it to provide centralised authentication for my home systems.

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  Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.

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