Why we choose the Orange Pi 5 as a platform for our projects & eventually to build a Ubuntu laptop from it – PETER GAMMA (Director & Physiologist), MEDITATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE SWITZERLAND (MRIS)

Last Updated on August 1, 2026 by pg@petergamma.org

For a project we are looking for a mobile single board computer. A Raspberry Pi 4 can run on a batteries 3 batteries of a of a reasonable size for 24 h in our tests.
Explaining computers has tested this more in debth

Explaining computers has tested this more in debth:

A Rasbperry zero 2 w would be better, and would only require one battery in our testing.

But we are against Raspberry Pi s to choose for our projects due to negative experiences with this company in past during the Corona crisis.

So we choose an Orange Pi 5. The Orange Pi 5 is widely recognized as the top single board computer (SBC) of the year 2026.

We can use it as our every day computer to do some testing, and to develop our own device.

Home Assistant can run on smaller platfroms such as teh the Raspberry Pi zero 2 w or Orange Pi zero 3
But many have chosen the Orange Pi 5 for it. It is more straight forward and better supported and tested.

Se when we are becoming interested in real-time databases, the Orange Pi 5 is a good choice.

The Orange Pi 5 is a powerful choice for Home Assistant, particularly for users seeking high performance and NVMe storage at a low cost.

The Orange Pi 5 is more power hungry than the Raspberry Pi 4, but the difference should not be huge.
And an Orange Pi 5 with a battery of a reasonable size (we estimate 3 – 4 batteries are required to run it 24 x 7, or one big battery as shown by Expaining Computers) can also be used to us an Orange Pi 5 as a Ubuntu Laptop.
All this needs to be tested.
And if we want to build our own laboratory in our home, Home Assistant is great.
We have there already the software which is necessary for temperature measurements and to control heaters and coolers to get a constant room temperature.
Such a constant room temperature is necessary for specific scientific experiments where the room temperature influences physiological parameters such as heart rate, etc.