Should users who are looking for a zero form factor SBC & use LibreOffice & Chromium buy the Banana Pi M2 Zero running Armban?

Last Updated on May 1, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org

According to NicoD’s SBCs:

  • The device gets too hot, but a cooler could eventually solve the problem.
  • NicoD’s SBCs confirms, that there is an Armbian version for it, but it is not from Banana Pi.
  • He does not show Armbian in his demo.
  • the device has only 512 mB of Ram
  • with a light-weight Linux OS as Armbian, this helps with a device which has only little Ram.
  • Other competitors as for instance Mango Mi MQ quatt run Debian which is a heavy distro for a device which is not very powerful.

According to Explaining Computers

  • the Banana Pi M2 Zero is a low cost device.
  • It has more processor power than the Raspberry Pi zero 2.
  • But software support is behind the Raspberry Pi zero models.

We have a new video which shows Armbian, LibreOffice and Chromium

  • it picks up comparisons made by Explaining Computer with other SBCs.
  • We know of now users who use Armbian on zero boards to this date.
  • Can someone confirm that he uses it?

We currently only know of the Armbian demo of the Mango Pi MQ quatt which runs Armian as a zero board which offers Armbian demos:

  • the Mango Pi MQ quatt can do hardly any video playback on Armbian.
  • How is it with the Banana Pi M2 Zero and uses is with Armbian, LibreOffice and Chrome?
  • Do you own a Banana Pi M2 Zero? Can you confirm the findings of BananaPi-Chen with Armbian, that we can work with the device running Armbian and LibreOffice and Chrome?
  • We made before negative experiences with for instance LibreOffice on the PinePhone which was very difficult to install, altough it was shown in demo videos.
  • Therefore we are looking for user experiences of users who confirm to use Armbian, LibeOffice and Chromium on the Banana Pi M2 Zero
  • Or can eventually an independent user confirm that this software runds on the device?
  • BananaPi-Chen eventually works for Banana Pi and want to sell us the device which has a very large stock, therefore be careful.
  • Banana Pi M2 Zero is available at Conrad Switzerland with 446 pieces and costs CHF 33.95.
  • That the device is in stock in such a high numbers is extraordinary for Swiss shops.
  • With the Raspberry Pi 3 A+ , Digitec says that there are a view devices on stock, and at Conrad Switzerland as well.
  • The numbers which are on stock for the Banana Pi M2 Zero are much bigger.
  • But this could evantually be the stock from Conrad Germany for Europe.
  • Conrad is a seller who originates from Germany and eventually has it’s stock there.
  • Should users who are looking for a very small SBC which runs LibreOffice and Chromium on Armbian buy the Banana Pi M2 Zero? –
  • What is your opinion about this topic? Write it in the comments below or make you own YouTube video about it.
  • LibreOffice and Chrome running on an Armbian zero device is something extraordinary, which is eventually worth to investigate further by reviewers which are not BananaPi-Chen.

https://forum.armbian.com/topic/28113-can-the-banana-pi-m2-running-armbian-be-used-to-work-with-libreoffice-chromium-for-web-surfing/