Last Updated on September 12, 2024 by pg@petergamma.org
Raspberry had problems with availability for around 3 years during Corona. And now Raspberry Pi is on the stocks, and we suppose this will have negative consequences for users, for instance price instability, stock market speculations and sculping. So we invite you use an alternative to Raspberry Pi single board computers if possible. The Orange Pi zero 3 can almost anything which is required for our projects:
- It runs armbian and has a community
- It is affordable
- Orange Pi single board computers where available also during Corona in sufficient amounts and started to be a recommended alternative to Raspberry Pi’s
- Home Assistant runs on the Orange Pi zero 3
- NextCloudPi is available for the Orange Pi 5,
- and it is worth testing if it runs also on the Orange Pi zero 3
- There is Python software available from armbian to control the GPIO pins
- The GPIO pins are not compatible with the GPIO pins of Rasbperry Pi SBC
- The GPIO pins of the Orange Pi zero 3 are larger than those of the Raspberry Pi
- Many software which runs on the Orange Pi zero 3 runs also on the Orange Pi zero 2 w
- The Orange Pi zero 2 w uses the same connector as the Raspberry Pi zero 2 w, but the pin layout is not compatible
- But with the Orange Pi zero 2 w, only the software needs to be adapted if we use a Raspberry Pi shield, and we do not need a special shield for the Orange Pi zero 2 w.
- Someone in the armbian forum for instance tested a RS485 CAN HAT for the Raspberry Pi with the Orange Pi zero 2 w:
https://forum.armbian.com/topic/31654-orange-pi-zero-2w/page/2
https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/RS485_CAN_HAT
This extension board from Waveshare for Raspberry Pi has a 40 pin GPIO header for Raspberry Pi series board which fit’s also for the Orange Pi zero 2 w