The goal is to off-load a handful of $400+ equally-oddly-custom-programmed multi-port controllers to >reduce rack space, variables, power consumption... most interfaced with RA-35 or RA-40, and testing a >newish comprehensive "pi-hat" out of Canada.
Being that your goal is somewhat the same as mine was some time ago... I might suggest not using the Pi for primary radio control. To 'cantankerous' so to speak. I said a long time ago when everyone went for the small micros that I would never put my 'time-on' these devices since you are stuffing 10lbs of stuff into a 5lb package. But never to I want to stand in the way of development for anyone to figure out a way to 'do it'. It has been done and it's great. But not reliable enough for me everyday with the things 'I DO', your mileage may vary ! Been using Intel atom D2700 boards with 2 cores 4gb ram using Parallel port for i/o on a 12v power supply for 5 years now for radio systems. Somewhat limitless for most of the stuff we do and experiment with. The cost factor for me is no different for the path I took vs Pi's and BBB's but much easier to work with and plenty of resources to do it with. I'm not looking to update them anytime soon either. Utill a Pi is out there with the same resources, I'll stick to what I have and just play with the Pi's for cute novel things. So they might use 50-70% more power than a Pi3b+ and 4 times the size, but I get a repayment in the form of time messing with it and available resources. If I have the need for something more powerful, I can now make use of Virtual ASL installs on VPS to 'get-r-done'. Just my opinion, but it works for me. ...mike/kb8jnm. On 07/16/2018 10:10 PM, Jim Aspinwall No1PC wrote:
The goal is to off-load a handful of $400+ equally-oddly-custom-programmed multi-port controllers to reduce rack space, variables, power consumption... most interfaced with RA-35 or RA-40, and testing a newish comprehensive "pi-hat" out of Canada.