Raspberry Pi - Things to Consider, Look out for, Where to Buy?

geekcohen on 02/10/2024 - 08:43

I am looking at setting up some Raspberry Pi's, 1 to begin with but might add more.

It needs to have ethernet. I am going to set one up for regular speed testing my Starlink connection through to Starlink Status. It's currently set up on a Windows Laptop, but it is awkward, large, and runs Windows 10. I would much prefer to be running some form of Linux (most likely Ubuntu) and also smaller.

I looked at https://raspberry.piaustralia.com.au/ and Element14. I'm not sure whether to go with a Pi4 or Pi5. A Pi5 + Case is about $165 delivered.

Anything else to consider or better places to buy from? I know they come up on special every now and then, but always seem to miss out thus far.

I have a Pi Zero running at the moment for another amateur radio project, which has been cool and has given me some experience. It is WiFi only.

My other thought/alternative is to get a mini PC or similar and just set it up for Ubuntu, but I'm thinking of form factor and power consumption…..

Computing Raspberry Pi Foundation Single Board Computer

Comments

  • Davo1111 on 02/10/2024 - 09:12
    +2

    Why are you speed testing?

    Afaik it uses a huge chuck of pointless bandwidth

    • geekcohen on 02/10/2024 - 10:21
      +1

      I am going to set one up for regular speed testing my Starlink connection through to Starlink Status

      My Starlink is currently a failover anyway and it is unlimited, so why not contribute to the Starlink Status site?

      • foursaken on 02/10/2024 - 10:58
        +4

        Ahhh.. it costs you time and money and adds nothing to your life?

        • geekcohen on 02/10/2024 - 14:42

          It saves my backside when my primary internet goes down plus doesn't cost me anything….. lots of referral credits.

  • Loot N Plunder on 02/10/2024 - 09:14
    +5

    Don't wast your money on a pi just get a tiny form factor for the same price and run linux off it if you must.
    something like this
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/869038
    Find and write down the windows product key before you wipe it

    • whyisave on 02/10/2024 - 09:32
      +2

      RPi has much lower power consumption.

        • whyisave on 02/10/2024 - 11:04
          -1

          Thanks for posting these.

          RPi does have low power consumption,
          and that N100 specs sheet is just for the CPU consuming power,
          but this consumption would be higher with SSDs, case, LEDs, etc.

          When I read your initial post, I thought of those Lenovo Small Form-Factor [SFF] PCs,
          even though you did mention 'Tiny Form Factor' PCs, so that's what I was replying to.

          Personally, I have an Intel NUC myself, and I'm looking for a tiny PC or RPi,
          for a summer-project to run HomeAssistant and other small apps, etc.

    • theguwithnoname on 02/10/2024 - 09:40
      +2

      This is the way. Also don't worry about windows key, just use MAS to activate it after the fresh install.

      I'd only recommend a Pi if you truly have a need for the GPIO, or are aiming for the best power efficiency. Otherwise the value isn't really there.

    • geekcohen on 02/10/2024 - 10:24

      I saw this deal and thought the same thing but was considering power consumption. Isn't a huge amount of difference I guess.

    • bulletmark on 03/10/2024 - 07:49

      I've use RPi for many many years and have many all over my house and elsewhere however I have changed to small form factor PC's like the N100 which are comparable in price (and power usage) but MUCH better performing and easier to use. I install Linux immediately. Also, Linux on Intel is much better supported than Linux on ARM.

  • overthinking on 02/10/2024 - 09:37

    https://core-electronics.com.au/ is where I got mine from.

    Alternatively, you could grab one second hand from FB Marketplace.

  • trongy on 02/10/2024 - 09:41
    +1

    Simple background monitoring tasks without a GUI requires very little CPU and RAM. A 2GB RPi4 should be more than enough and will use less power. However when you are setting up, interacting and learning on the lower speed stuff can be a pain. I have a Raspberry Pi 2 that still works fine for it's background task, but every time I need to update or rebuild, I'm reminded of how terribly slow it is.

    The official Pi5 power supply is 27W, but it's 5V x 5.4A which is kind of rare. Most other USB-C power supplies will only do 15W (3A) at 5V. They do higher power levels by increasing the voltage, but the Pi's can't use higher voltages. It's got that wattage to have enough power for external peripherals. If you don't need that you can probably get by with a cheaper 15W power supply.

    A case with a static heat sink is probably enough as long as you can live with thermal throttling if the Pi is at 100% CPU for more than a few minutes at a time.

    Core Electronics is an another Austrlian supplier that I have used. I don't know which is better.

  • theguwithnoname on 02/10/2024 - 09:43

    FYI if you're just doing speed testing, Pi 4 vs 5 won't make much of a difference.

    If you're interested in home automation, you could get into using Home Assistant. It has a speed test integration which can do what you're planning automatically.

    • geekcohen on 02/10/2024 - 10:23

      Not looking at any home automation as I have that through my Tuya app and not looking at doing anything else. But thanks for the input.

  • sceptical on 02/10/2024 - 10:13

    https://core-electronics.com.au/
    Great vendor - excellent after-sales service.
    You can always use a virtual machine (free) to run your projects while developing. This overcomes the "slow and tedious" part of development, and gives great backup and version control. Migrate to an embedded system when you are happy.

  • skid on 02/10/2024 - 11:03

    Recently got an Orange Pi Zero 2W (with 4GB RAM) for ~AUD$40. There is an optional expansion board (~AUD$10) that has an ethernet port. The CPU is roughly the speed and power consumption of a Raspberry Pi 3B+. I'm pretty happy with it. Works for me running headless over WIFI and have made use of the GPIO.

    • skid on 03/10/2024 - 21:29

      Just noticed that the Orange Pi Zero 2W does not have gigabit ethernet so it won't be suitable.

  • rumblytangara on 02/10/2024 - 15:20

    Pi5 sounds like massive overkill for speed testing (you're just going to run an iperf server or something?) so a 4 would be fine. iirc the 3s and below had 100MB NICs that also shared a bus with the USB controller (which was terrible for anything that required bandwidth).

    As others have mentioned, there are SBC alternatives. I used RockPis during the Covid shortage years- similar or smaller form factor, they run some bog standard Linux version.

    There is a PoE HAT available for the Pi which can simplify cabling if you have a PoE switch (seem to be mixed reports on this though, you'd need to read up a bit). Ditto with other SBCs- my RockPis run via PoE.

    Of course, there are always people who insist on a secondhand USFF, but the downsides of that are more space, chunkier power bricks, and 24x7 fans that suck dust into the casing. They are not quite as set and forget as an SBC.

  • Zaitronics on 02/10/2024 - 17:25

    Completely depends on your budget about whether to go with a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5. Pi 5 8GB is top of the range but if you're going mid range, I'd get the Pi 4 8GB as it's just better value for the price, assuming you have more memory than performance requirements.

    Element14 is a decent place to purchase from but buying from a store locally is generally better as local stores focus more on Pi boards and accessories than just the boards themselves.

    Note - Zaitronics could possibly be an official supplier of Raspberry Pi boards in the coming months.

  • munecito on 03/10/2024 - 13:22

    I think for such a simple use you can use one of this at a fraction of the price

    Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out!
    AU$88.19 | Orange Pi Zero 2 1GB RAM Allwinner H616 WiFi BT 5.0 IR Receiver with ABS Case Run Android 10 Ubuntu Debian OS Single Board
    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004963187656.html

    I use one for pi-hole and it is plenty capable for it.

    Mine is running on their debian image Orange Pi 3.1.0 Bookworm with Linux 6.1.31-sun50iw9

  • Crownanchor on 03/10/2024 - 19:15
    -1

    Core electronics is very good for raspberry pi purchasing. Would avoidpurchasing from zaitronics.

    How does starlink status work? The reason for asking is that i find the raspberry pi may not be the best for testing speeds, although i havnt done any extensive testing, the throughput on wireless will not max out on a raspberry pi. I will have to see what its like on ethernet and using nvme, and speedtest-cli

    • rumblytangara on 03/10/2024 - 21:48

      I will have to see what its like on ethernet and using nvme, and speedtest-cli

      You don't need nvme SSDs to run bandwidth testing, it's all in RAM. And Pi4/5s have gig ethernet ports.

  • munecito on 03/10/2024 - 20:23

    Oh bugger.

    I tried to suggest an orange pi zero2 kit for $54 including case, adapter, sd card etc but got unpublished for . (Affiliate / Referral / Spam links in comments are not allowed)

    Anyway. You can get one of those. I have one running pi-hole on the latest official orange pi debian bookworm image and it is great.

    For your basic application it would work great and it is very economical to run. It has been ticking away happily for about 2 years now.

    https://i.imgur.com/30YJWRI.jpeg

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