What Is It?
There are hundreds of small ARM boards and kits out there. I recently acquired and used the OrangePi Zero 3 (OPi Z3) in a recent project. The board is very small, but packs a LOT of power and capability into such a small package. Don’t let the size fool you.
What I Like
- this thing is SMALL!
- quad core H618 64 bit ARM processor
- different RAM options: 1,1.5,2, & 4GB to suit various needs while keeping cost low
- dual band wifi: (2.4 & 5GHz)
- Bluetooth capability
- custom & mainstream distro images readily available
- wired ethernet is an excellent option
- plenty of I/O in this small size to expand many project capabilities
- there is a rumor floating around that OrangePi is already working on a Zero 4! I hope they offer an option for eMMC! instead of SD
What Would Make This More Awesome
I would have liked to see these options offered in this package:
- an option for eMMC instead of SD card – eMMC is much faster and more resilient for industrial applications
- I may be getting greedy, but an 8GB ram option would be icing on the cake
- offerings for custom cases – right now the pickings are quite few if any – you’ll need to fire up your 3D printer for now
- a US based mirror repository – right now the primary software repos are in China – consider establishing more mirrors – or publish a method for using Ubuntu’s official mirrors.
