Yes it will

Also bear in mind the Zero (either version) doesn't have a 3.5mm out or the associated filters so you'll either have to knock one up yourself if you're handy with a soldering iron ( about £2-3 in components ), use a USB one but you'll then need a hub to plug the microphone in as well or spend more money on a speaker hat.

Perfectly doable and a fun project but if you don't go for the DIY approach it starts eating into the £20 difference between one of these and a Pi 3 which is plug and play.

Definitely recommend a PS3 Eye for a microphone, cheapest decent array mic by some margin, particularly if you pick one up for 50p from CEX :smile:

Might as well get the W by the time you've added wifi.

You don't need one.

Pihole needs to be running 24/7 - so don't turn the pi off when you turn the TV off if running kodi on the same box.

Thanks!

You can certainly run retropie and Kodi on the same one [ it will only ever be running 1 of them at once anyway ]

Not sure what sort of processor hot Pi Hole is to know whether you can run it and Kodi/retropie at the same time

Thanks. Can I use one Pi for all three simultaneously? I.e. Pi-hole, retropie with kids games & Kodi for streaming or will I need three different ones?

Okay, been resisting buying a Pi for many years, but now I am tempted. I am thinking of running Pi-hole to block ads, also install retro pie for old games for the kids and maybe stream Kodi or something similar. Can these all be done on the same Pi? Thinking of buying Pi 3 B model. Thanks in advance.

Also, if I buy a Pi 3 model B, will it come with all or most accessories like USB power supply, HDMI cable, SD card with OS & even a cover, or will I need to buy these separately? Thanks again!

will this run battlefield one ??

Heat added. I've been VERY tempted to get one form of Pi or another since they came out, problem is, I have no idea what I'd do with one, I already have a PLEX server set up on a normal Linux box, and I'm not into games, so a retro gaming box isn't of much interest. Any ideas for putting one to use?

That can be the case, but its more about learning to code/electronics and the achievement of doing it yourself rather than buying something off the shelf. If you have enough knowledge you can innovate new ideas, hence the reason google worked with raspberry pi with the AIY project they gave away with the magazine.

Its not going to be for everyone, but its a neat little product

I use overpriced magic tricks for that ;^>

Spot on there, though it can be a fun way to use stuff you have lying around at little extra cost. For instance, there's no need to waste money on cases, you're bound to have something suitable already, I have my ambilight pi zero running in an old tictac box and my home assistant one lives inside an old router case complete with it's power supply, retro pie has replaced the guts of a dead N64 and I'm thinking of putting the Google Assistant one inside a Mr Potato Head.

Btw, this guy gets it : Pi Zero Overclock

Enjoy :smiley:

I'm fairly tech savvy, but so far I've missed the Pi cart, can anyone help a little?

I'm looking for something to run retro arch and as a media player/streamer for the living room, I'm guessing the Pi 3 would be a much better bet as said by many above? seems a much more complete and capable machine.

The 'W' version makes a fabulous IP Cam when coupled to the new raspberry pi camera module and the official case. Add MotionEyeOS (https://github.com/ccrisan/motioneyeos/wiki) and you have a far more powerful device than most off the peg IP cameras for less money.

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipPnnIJx8bYo32MKXlUfIDMzXEMj80SpICqk3lvL

May give it a bash on my spare Pi3 only need basic console access to remotely administer my server.

OSMC runs ok on a Pi Zero but the Pi3 will be better as the processor is quicker

Tried to get AI Project (from the MagPi Magazine Promo), running on my Zero, failed! Don't 'really' want to upgrade to the the 3 but the Zero is fairly limiting.

Yes Pi3 is always going to run better for that kind of thing. A lot of emulators will run fine on the Pi Zero, but for a media player streaming video you will be much better off with the 3.

No, it operates at dns level - so doesn't affect transfer speed.
It does speed up browsing (no ads) and since it's network wide - even removes ads from android apps :smiley:

Yes, definitely go for the Pi3 for this. There's a good guide here

These are great - you can use this model to make a pi-hole https://pi-hole.net/

Yes, you can.


Yes, but obviously, considering its size and price, it's not a fast computer and because it has an ARM CPU (the type you'd get in a phone, rather than a desktop PC) it's rather limited in what software it can run - the standard OS for it is Raspbian, which is based on Debian (so Unix/Linux essentially), you won't be able to install any normal version of Windows on it (it only supports Windows 10 IoT, which it's ideal for if you have a use for that) or any native Windows apps. You could hook one of these up to a keyboard, mouse, monitor and speakers, go online and browse the internet, watch videos and play music, download files, write text documents, make spreadsheets and play games, all the usual computer stuff, but - again, given its size and price - it's meant to be used more as a microcontroller, i.e. the 'brain' of any smart device you might want to make. Typical uses for a Pi Zero include adding a camera to turn it into a webcam that's always on, adding sensors and using it as a weather station, using it as a low power torrent client or put it inside an old handheld games console or controller and use it to run emulators - basically anything that would take advantage of its small size. The larger Raspberry Pis are more powerful and would be better suited as full-fledged computers, but still have the same limitations in terms of what they can run.


It has micro USB ports so you would connect a USB Wi-Fi dongle (or Ethernet adapter) with a micro USB to USB-A (standard sized USB) adapter. One is included with the 'Essentials Kit' if you order that from the PiHut. You can also solder an adapter directly to the pads on the underside of one of the USB ports or the GPIO pins if you want a permanent solution.


For multimedia you would be better off with the more powerful Raspberry Pi 3. Like I said above, this is intended more for microcontroller purposes. But you wouldn't really need additional parts - just a USB power cable, HDMI cable and something to control it with (keyboard/mouse or it could be controlled remotely from your phone or laptop, possibly even with your TV's remote control if your TV supports it). The main problem you'd have is there are no native Netflix or Amazon Prime apps for it. Last time I checked, to watch Netflix you'd have to install Chromium (open source version of Chrome) and for Prime you could use a Kodi plug-in.

Latest edition of the MagPi magazine features an article about someone using a Pi 3 as a desktop PC. Free to download from here >>>https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/issues/59/

I have one in my home office I use as a PC and while its not as quick as a modern PC/Laptop, its brilliant for £30 and does everything I need it to do. Like you say, if you overload it then it can struggle.

I've got a zero i've had for a few months now and haven't figured out what to do with. I might get the Zero W and the snes controllers pihut sell for £5 and use an emulator to make my own tiny snes. Cheaper than the £80 one that's sold out everywhere.

Power supply yes but you don't need anything else with a W other than an SD card. All the gui does is slow it down so just use the lite version of the os and SSH into it headless, you so all the good stuff in a terminal window anyway.

It depends which version of Linux you run and how you configure it. I've had cheap Windows laptops that struggled with exactly what you describe. The Pi isn't perfect or massively powerful, but it certainly can be a desktop replacement if you only need web browsing, basic games (retro gaming on it is outstanding), media, productivity and coding :smiley:

What OS were you running?

Also note, that you are likely to need something like a Pi Zero Essentials kit along with a power supply to get going with either this Pi Zero, or the better Pi Zero W.
https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero-essential-kit
In particular, you are going to want the mini HDMI adapter if you want to see what is going on.

If you are new to Raspberry Pi, you will have a much easier experience with a Pi 3.
Get this if you want to move on to battery powered projects. It's the low power consumption, not the low price that makes the Pi Zero good.

Well you can add a USB WiFi dongle, but once you've bought that you would have been better off going for the Pi Zero W - especially since the Pi Zero doesn't have many spare USB ports.

There are plenty of embedded projects which don't need any networking - those are the sort of projects that this Pi Zero is best suited for. You might talk to it over the serial port for example. For everyone else, interested in more typical computing, get a Pi with some networking onboard.

Oh you little rotter you :laughing:

With respect, i wouldn't go that far - I did have one running as a kitchen computer but really it wasn't up to the task, any more than 4 tabs open in a browser or streaming media and you are going to end up frustrated.

I wouldn't recommend it, firstly the pi 3 would be much better equipped, secondly while i think that netflix is possible using chromium, it wouldn't be an ideal solution - i, personally, haven't done it so apologies if i sound a little vague. The pi zero and zero w would be best suited to those that have a job in mind, some sort of script to run, home automation that kind of thing, to have a bit of a better computer or media centre i would always recommend the pi 3. That said if it is JUST for a media center there may even be better options at the £30 price point

Skyrim PI edition is being announced soon!

You don't need one.

Yep. The £30 Raspberry Pi 3 can be set up in half an hour with a full operating system and will do pretty much what any entry level laptop will do.

For £7.30?

'back in stock'? they haven't been out of stock for some time now have they? i ordered one last week. Also, if you plan to use this for alexa, i would, personally, for the zero w https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero-w?variant=30332705425

Whatever a computer can do, so can this.

What's it for?

It also drives you to work and is a two week holiday.

Also bear in mind the Zero (either version) doesn't have a 3.5mm out or the associated filters so you'll either have to knock one up yourself if you're handy with a soldering iron ( about £2-3 in components ), use a USB one but you'll then need a hub to plug the microphone in as well or spend more money on a speaker hat.

Perfectly doable and a fun project but if you don't go for the DIY approach it starts eating into the £20 difference between one of these and a Pi 3 which is plug and play.

Definitely recommend a PS3 Eye for a microphone, cheapest decent array mic by some margin, particularly if you pick one up for 50p from CEX :smile:

Pimoroni.com and modmypi.com also have them at same price,
and those two give free postage on orders over £50 - thepihut doesn't.

I was just in Greggs and they also a zero raspberry pi's. :stuck_out_tongue:

Is this not the usual price? Pimoroni has stock too. Didn't think these were in short supply these days.

may as well spend a little bit more and get the pi zero w

What the devil is this device?

It's the non wi-fi/Bluetooth one.

Might as well get the W by the time you've added wifi.