Starting with orange pi

Swoncen

Hello,

I worked a bit with raspberry pi's the last 2 years and always had an eye on orange pi's, since they are cheaper and now also smaller. I have a specific setup and application needs and I would like to know what is possible. What I need is:

- Orange pi zero
- Ubuntu 16.04 (server edition, I don't need any GUI)
- Camera image (no webcam, but the orange pi camera)
- Audio data
- ROS (robot operating system)

For Ubuntu, I've seen that there is lubuntu available. It would be great, if there is a server version of Ubuntu 16.04, but I couldn't find any.
ROS is usually available in Ubuntu, so this would be solved if I can get Ubuntu 16.04 on the orange pi.
Camera is a bit of a problem I guess, because I think that the opi zero doesn't have a camera interface, not even the interface extension board, right? Do I have to take the opi one for this purpose?
Audio data: I think I need the opi lite for audio, since it has a mic already. Is this microphone fully functioning, or is it just a interface?

Another option would be to use a webcam with built in microphone. It would be a bit heavier, bigger, more expensive, but would work much more easily I guess.

Thank you for your comments!
Kind Regards

igorpec

Better get Opi Lite (wireless) or One (ethernet) ... in any case rather get Orange pi PC+. You won't regret those extra bucks.

Ubuntu Xenial or Debian Jessie (much more polished and fixed than any other build)
Server or desktop, soon with kernel 4.x ... but CSI camera won't work soon there, USB only.
https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-pc-plus/

Swoncen

Hi Igor,

thanks for your advice. A big plus for the opi zero is that its very small, which I would really prefer. Also a goal of my project is to make it as cheap as possible. If there is a camera interface and a microphone already on a board, then it can be much cheaper than a raspberry pi + usb webcam including a mic (~25 dollar for the logitech c270 + 35 dollar for the pi = 60 dollar without sd card, case and power supply).

For now I see the orange pi lite as the best option:
- wifi on board
- mic on board
- camera interface
- the set price is really good: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/O ... b_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_2_10065_10068_10501_10000074_10503_10000032_119_10000025_10000029_430_10000028_10060_10000067_10062_10056_10055_10000062_10054_10059_10099_10000022_10000013_10103_10102_10000016_10096_10000018_10000019_10000056_10000059_10052_10053_10107_10050_10106_10051_10000053_10000007_10000050_10084_10083_10000047_10080_10082_10081_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_10115_10000041_10000044_10078_10079_10000038_10073_10000035_10121-10503_10501,searchweb201603_7,afswitch_3,single_sort_3_default&btsid=10ad7a7c-d7bf-4b2f-be42-38878b4fe3e8

So, the question is: is this mic good, or is it only a interface? Could you please answer me this one last question?

thanks

igorpec

So, the question is: is this mic good, or is it only a interface? Could you please answer me this one last question?

Hard to say anything about the mic, sorry ...