So I have some ideas for a project or 2 that I plan to hack together on evenings and weekends, so I ordered my first Raspberry Pi. I got the Zero, as the small form factor fits well with my plans for what I ultimately want to build… however, I’m curious if there are some projects / tutorials out there that anyone has done that they feel are particularly valuable / useful for someone just starting with the Pi?
I have deep knowledge of Xojo, and a dozenish years programming in it and other stuff - so I am not looking for help with programming, just wondering if there is a “here’s what you need to know when a crusty old desktop app developer starts to try to build something for Raspberry Pi” sort of thing out there I should read/try/do.
Thanks!
As long you realise that you will not be doing anything with Xojo on the Zero ? (Xojo does not support the Zero at all as it has older CPU generation)
Now if you are aware of that then you will need to use C or Python to get anything done if you were going to use it to program something.
A Pi Zero is not compatible with Xojo (it is just an ARMv6 device) so this should probably be on the off-topic channel. Pi 2/3 work with Xojo.
Uhh… what?! Xojo does not support the zero? How did I miss that small little tasty tidbit for requirements? I’d normally chalk that up to being my fault for not looking closely … but I think a pretty good case could be made that this fact is VERY easy to miss when reading this page: http://www.xojo.com/raspberrypi/
I was really looking forward to using Xojo for raspberry pi (zero) development. I guess I’ll have to use one of the other dev environments available for it. 
On a totally unrelated note, is anyone interested in buying a Pi Zero with lots of extra accessories?
You can use any of the following:
*Raspberry PI 2
*Raspberry PI 3
*Orange PI (Any model as far as I know) I have tested Orange PI One. Orange PI Lite, Orange PI 2, Orange PI PC, Orange PI Plus 2, *Orange PI Plus 2E - Orange PI is great to say the least after Armbian started focusing their OS to support it.
*Banana PI (some at least will work, I would stay away from Banana PI though the maker is awful, making poor hardware choices and errors, which have meant that not even Armbian is willing to support all their models and my Octa core M3 sits as useless rubbish because of poor power circuit design). (Have tested M2 and M3 with Xojo)
*Chip - I have not tested them a lot but enough to see Xojo applications running.
If you want easy thing for learning, just something that works then take Raspberry PI 2 or 3.
If you want cheap board to deploy for tiny solutions then Orange PI One or Lite (they cost $9 and $11), and I have done GPIO just fine one them (can see the fan controller project on my web as example of that).
If you want fast / powerful for some sort of Server or to use for some sort of CPU intensive processing. then some Orange PI model…though if it needs fast IO then then old Orange PI PC or the new Orange PI Plus 2e (which is sometimes called the dream machine as Armbian crew hand picked the best features from the other models and asked Orange PI to manufacture one like that).
(Mind you, you will need to cool them else they slow down !).
Chip…I dont know where it fits in, its a bit of a toy at the moment, it was supposed to be really cheap $9 computer but…its accessories are expensive. And Orange PI has far more powerful $9 computer anyhow. Time will need to tell where it fits in or if it fits in. As for GPIO on Chip on that one then there is not a lot about it at the moment especially not a lot that you could use in Xojo.
There certainly are other types as well that will work with Xojo that I have not tested…YET !
There is for example Odroid board that I want to test but I have not really found suitable place to buy it that fits for shipping to Iceland.
Björn,
Thanks for the great summary. I have been trying to figure out if I can use a Pi Zero and Python but this gives lots of Xojo options.
QUESTIONS
Do the Orange Pi Lite and One models with less memory (256 MB) have enough RAM to do anything useful with Xojo?
Mark
EDIT …
After another look I see some mixed up specs on one Website. The picture shows a note with 256 MB but apparently the Orange Pi Lite with WiFi has 512 MB.
The both have 512, its just their pictures are confusing, their showing 256 MB chips which is correct but there is a 2nd 256 MB chip under the board.
I just ordered an Orange Pi Lite (which has WiFi) from Aliexpress (part of Alibaba in China) for $12. The shipping for the board, a power brick, and case to the US was $5.60 (for the standard method). It will be 20-40 days before I see it but the price was right.
Grats !
Dont try to use system images from the Orange PI web, go straight to www.armbian.com and grab system images there for your board, that is your source of stable systems for Orange PI. Thats basically what saved Orange PI taking it from unusable really great computer.
If you need to know how to get started with GPIO on them then you can check the Fan controller project on my web. There are links in that to the Orange PI GPIO library and all that. Once you have that set up the its same as on Raspberry PI pretty much. Only difference I have noticed on GPIO is that the pins don’t seem to have fluctuating state if not pulling them down, like on Raspberry Pi (which is a good thing).
I do plan on interfacing a relay board to switch 120V A/C power and a thermo couple to make a Sous Vide cooker (constant low temp cooking in water). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide
I will be sure to explore your fan controller project.
Thanks for the tips.
I ordered an Orange Pi One not a long ago from AliExpress
it took less than a week to come to France . $24 for two boards shipping inclusive. not bad.