Raspberry Pi Zero Released

[drmike]

I just spent 2 hours robbing my parts stashes.


Got the Pi Zero tethered to a HDTV.   


It's slow as it gets.   Probably the fault of the SD card I have on hand.    So searching for a better one to try. Probably ordering one online again... these cards get lost just because of their size.


I am unimpressed all said.  I have a spaghetti heap of cables and parts just to get the damn thing going.  They sorely need an autoinstaller that just does the necessary and gives you notifications somehow when it's all done.    


Also, wifi dongles under noobs is retarded.  Two different dongles and neither detected in their setup front side.  One works just dandy post install in Raspbian.  


Now where I am impressed, is someone out there has done some power testing on the Pi Zero and with a few adjustments like LED turned off and the HDMI disabled and idle they have these down to 30ma power consumption.  That puts it down in more embedded controller / Arduino type space.   For me 30ma is a game changer with the right batteries.  Even if we bump that up to 50ma over 24 hours = 1200ma which is quite affordable per se for battery and corresponds to long life.  


Prior Pi's I've tethered to a pack have been meh, measured in hours like 4-6. 

 

[HalfEatenPie]

That's some pretty cool specs.  Thanks for sharing. 


Honestly, it's too low-level under-powered hardware that I don't think I'll actually end up getting it.  I mean it's cool as a novelty, but right now my Raspberry Pi Model B is sitting at work just monitoring the network and my Raspberry Pi 2 is at home running some light functions.  In the end, it's something that's cool as a novelty, but nothing much more beyond that.  


It's cool, and I mean it's really cool, but I don't see it doing much beyond nitch/very specific projects.  

 

[risharde]

Thanks drmike, definitely not purchasing, too much of a hassle at this point in time, appreciate the detailed explanation!

 

[drmike]

I am in a mode today monkeying with devices.  Been long on my list to clear my parts stash up - organize and get some gear back to usable state.


The Pi Zero is a single core BTW. 1Ghz allegedly.  512MB on board, but you are going to eat a chunk of that for reservation by the video chip (which is adjustable).  There is no audio.  Well technically, no headphone output.  You can get audio off the HDMI though, allegedly.


My goal is to get the Pi Zero online as a shell connected device and figure out how to slim the connector stack.  At minimum one needs power and USB NIC.  NIC can get shoved onto a cheap OTG adapter (have one laying around from Android device).  Power is a bit trickier.  1A power should suffice, so that's a mere 5 watts ceiling.  You can do that off nearly any USB in theory.  Power might be a good bit lower all said real world, especially with the LED turned off and HDMI off (which means we should be able to reclaim RAM otherwise going to video).


So how small?  Pi Zero is small. Is under the size of 3 fullsized SD cards put side by side.  OTG connect is a bit of bulk and a few inches of cable + the bigger fullsize USB. Probably can bend the cable, but long term stress might fatigue the connectors or cable.  The wifi can be itself barely sticking outside the USB end on the OTG.  


If and when I get that slim, the power issue remains on a tidy compact use scenario (think embedded or wearable).  Batteries are costly big picture and bulky.  Prebuilt flat packs exist - like what you use in cellphones.  That would be a decent setup, but need to find housing for the battery and way to affix the Pi to it or running cables to it.  For mobile and wearable, that's the ticket.


For perma embedded, meh, I am probably going to need to find a buck converter to step other power down and spit out USB plug side to the PWR plug on the Pi.  Unlike most, I want to bury things and not continue this habit of 500 wall warts and spaghetti wire.  


That leads me to 110-120V standard USB power to USB, but as a real electric part, not these silly wall warts.  This way I can tap main lines at junction point and install the module as part of the electrical build (where I'd like to see more devices and computing going instead of the fashion of it on desks and other surfaces or in racks which are meh unless you have rack gear and like living in an airplane hangar).  Real electric to USB isn't cheap.  Even end desk-side plugs with embedded USB are $30+ from electric parts suppliers.  Finding something in-line (much like we do with ahhh powering halogens and other gear in fixtures) isn't really out there - well I haven't seen such.  Expecting to be bled for it.  Alternative is cutting up this questionable conversion gear dumped out of China.  But burying that in electrical plant and inevitable fail is counted in months I'd guess.


Yeah, the Pi Zero is neat, but the whole form factor coolness, meh, it's not all that when you add up the pieces dangling for most use.


I think they named this one right ZERO.  Highly niche.  If you got these for $5 or even free, swell.  Paying more than that, maybe $10 would be worth it.  Anything more and you will be disappointed.


Also, I was going to finally run some wire for DIY low-end 12VDC power.  Get that in place and put panels up come spring (yeah I have panels in storage).... I do have a 12VDC to 5VDC buck converter.... but it's sketchy import thing with lack of docs....  I may roll the dice for fun with this when all done...  These are likely alright for solar / off grid applications where you have space and tiny and clean isn't requirement, but low power is and needing fuller Linux environment (i.e. Raspbian/Debian).

 

[wlanboy]

For perma embedded, meh, I am probably going to need to find a buck converter to step other power down and spit out USB plug side to the PWR plug on the Pi.  Unlike most, I want to bury things and not continue this habit of 500 wall warts and spaghetti wire.  


That leads me to 110-120V standard USB power to USB, but as a real electric part, not these silly wall warts.  This way I can tap main lines at junction point and install the module as part of the electrical build (where I'd like to see more devices and computing going instead of the fashion of it on desks and other surfaces or in racks which are meh unless you have rack gear and like living in an airplane hangar).  Real electric to USB isn't cheap.  Even end desk-side plugs with embedded USB are $30+ from electric parts suppliers.  Finding something in-line (much like we do with ahhh powering halogens and other gear in fixtures) isn't really out there - well I haven't seen such.  Expecting to be bled for it.  Alternative is cutting up this questionable conversion gear dumped out of China.  But burying that in electrical plant and inevitable fail is counted in months I'd guess.

Second that.


It is cool to just plug things into USB to have power and data connection at once. But runnung it stand alone (adding WIFI or BT to power consumtion) doesn't make things easier.


Still looking for a good USB power that is LiPo buffered...

 

[willie]

I'd worry about the pi0 itself failing if deeply embedded somewhere.  I don't think they build those things to the highest reliability standards.


The guy with that blog about power saving posted a correction, minimum power draw is about 80mA rather than 30.  That affects batteries of course.


I think the beaglebone did a better job with the usb network thing.  You plug it into a usb port out of the box and it appears as a network device, so you can ssh into it and start using it.  It also gets power from the same port as data. 


Given the costs of installation and electrical stuff, you can probably start out with a more expensive board without feeling it too much.  Olimex has some nice ones, for example.   Why do you want such a powerful computer embedded in a wall anyway? 

 

[drmike]

Embedding in structures is what I've always preferred. 


Geeks have had racks for years and that gets tricky, noisy, etc.  Form factor dictates rack.  Maybe if you are space endowed, that rack lives elsewhere in structure so you don't need to hear it and have space conditioned by the heat output, RF interference, etc.


With small stuff, why not building embed it?  I get nothing out of looking at unsightly heaps of cables, power gear, etc.  Does nothing for well being looking at these devices.  Being electric devices, I think they should ride on the electrical infrastructure outright.   Thing exactly like transformers do for various lights and gear in homes and commercial space.

 

[JahAGR]

I think the Zero will find a fair bit of use in embedded stuff where a microcontroller might typically be used (probably just hobbyist grade but still). Form factor looks pretty similar to an Arduino Micro, the GPIO ports should make interfacing pretty easy, and there is still a USB port and the power of a full OS on tap if required.


For non-microscopic low power Linux applications I still like the Banana Pi - I feel like it has a great feature set for the price (and all the different kinds of IO without needing adapters is nice)


When the "$5" Zero actually becomes $5, I will pick up a few to play with. Will probably be waiting a while though if previous Pi releases are anything to go by...

 

[KuJoe]

If anybody in the US has a RPi Zero that they are not happy with or have no current use for, I'd be willing to buy/rent it from you so I can do some comparison testing.

 

[Neo]

Eh, added my self to like 5 email alerts, got none atm.


Actually wanted to buy 2 of them for 5$.

 

[InfinityDaniel]

Yeah the Raspberry Pi's have always been cool in my opinion but the Raspberry Pi Zero is even cooler! very small computer but still has some good specs and for the price!