Raspberry Pis
Depending on whether the Pi will be connected to the network by ethernet or wireless a different range of Raspberry boards are supported.
Ethernet connection
In case of a wired connection the MoBro image should be working with all Raspberry Pi models.
However the following Pi models are tested and verified by us:
- Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
- Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+
- Raspberry Pi Zero (using an USB ethernet adapter)
Wireless operation
For wireless operation the image requires a Raspberry Pi model with built-in Wifi support.
A USB wifi dongle in combination with an older Pi version may also work, but is not quaranteed to and also not tested by us.
We tested and verified the following models for wireless operation:
- Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
- Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+
- Raspberry Pi Zero W
Points to consider
Pi Zero (W) Limitations
The Pi Zero (W) is sufficient to run the MoBro application and is also tested by us.
However due to its vastly slower hardware when compared to the Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 there are some limitations you need to consider when choosing which Pi to use:
- time taken from boot up until the application is started will be longer
- loading the theme (time until the monitoring data is visible) will take considerably longer
- animations/graphs on some themes (e.g. dubbadhar) may be a bit choppy
- switching between the monitoring view and screensavers will be slower
- animated screensavers may be choppy
Temperature
Some of the available themes (e.g. dubbadhar) do make heavy use of charts, graphs, etc. which is rather CPU intensive on the Raspberry Pi.
Hence we do recommend to use at least a heatsink if you plan to have it running continuously for a prolonged time.
If you don't want to add a heatsink or other cooling measures we do recommend you keep an eye on the temperature to make sure it remains within save ranges.
Raspberry Pi 4
If you're using a HDMI display on a Raspberry Pi 4, make sure to connect the HDMI cable to the micro HDMI port that is closer to the USB-C power connector.
Displays
Out of the box the MoBro image already supports all kinds of displays connected via HDMI with no further configuration.
Displays connected via the GPIOs will also work as long as they do come with a driver that works for standard Raspian.
However there is no guarantee that all displays will work properly even if they do come with a driver.