#BananaPi

[@michaelnorton1886]

i like that you are willing to look at rpi alternatives as the scarcity of pi's has driven the cost and availability out of reach for a hobbyist. nice overview. was reluctant to commit to a bpi until they were better supported and seeing the community growing makes me want to commit for a project or two. again,thanks for your time sir.

[@WiFiSheep]

You've very welcome. The clones have come on hugely in recent years, to the point some im actually using as daily drivers for my work etc. For me the catalyse will be a true Raspberry Pi Clone, one that is 100% software / hardware compatible! Hence you can put i Rpi SD card in it and it boots! ..... were not there just yet!

[@vadergb]

That’s a great little video on the Banana Pi, specs, form factors, what’s similar and different to the RPI, downloading the os, booting into desktop mode and showing what’s on the image. I think I might just get one.

[@nyny]

thats cool stuff! ill keep an eye on them

[@GustavoMsTrashCan]

You should have gone for the android image, since its a guarantee it'll "just werk" for all sbcs. That aside, can't really make a proper judgement since its linux support is borked right now, but eh. Might be a viable option if it is cheaper than the orange pi zero 3. -EDIT- Just checked and it actually isn't. Oof, nvm.

[@johnstogner6397]

Love to see a CSI camera on one of these.

[@capsbr2100]

Really great video review thanks! Any chance you do a review on the Radxa Zero 3W and compare it with the BPI-M4 Zero?

[@hanliu5753]

Hi, could you help measuring its power consumption, please? It will be very interesting if we can use it on battery powered applications. Cheers

[@WiFiSheep]

Spec details are here docs.banana-pi.org/en/BPI-M4_Zero/BananaPi_BPI-M4_Zero The Bpi M4 Zero is rated for 5v 3 amp power input. Consumption will depend if your using wi-fi and/or bluetooth on the device. It should run on a little under 4.5v from battery. Alternatively a 9v supply could be used, if first ran though a voltage regulator to generate the 5v line required. Power can also be supplied directly though the GPIO pins, negating the need for any USB C cable interface. Although this method dose bypass any surge protection the device may have.

[@GaryStango]

Does the BPI-M4 Zero support PXE boot? I want to put one in a very remote location with POE and dont want to ever have to dig it out if i screw up the image.

[@WiFiSheep]

Hi this might be helpful forum.banana-pi.org/t/banana-pi-network-boot/9913 Out of the box I dont think Bpi does ... but unlike Raspberry Pi Zero or Zero 2 the BPI-M4 Zero dose have onboard NAND flash storage, meaning a bootable linux kernel and files can be loaded directly onto the device removing the need for an SD card which is a common failure point when remote working.

[@GaryStango]

@@WiFiSheep Got it. I'm sure at the very least i could flash a static boot loader to it and just mount a remote file system.

[@WiFiSheep]

Yeah at a guess that should be doable

[@darkshiftyzero]

driver support is severely lacking for this device, the only thing they offer is their os images.

[@JesusCendejas-uv1xr]

Hi. Is it possible upgrade to 4 gb ram?

[@WiFiSheep]

I would say unofficially, technically yes, but it would involve the removal of the surface mount RAM IC and replacement with a compatible, which is not for the light hearted and will void any kind of product support to warranty. Hopefully an upgraded version might appear with more RAM at a later date but you'd have to contact Banana Pi directly to ask.