Hey guys, so I’m planning on using openHAB as a smart home hub and I want to start testing it out. My end goal is to run in on an Orange Pi Lite. My question here is, is it worth to start learning it and running some demos on a Linux laptop and then buying an Orange Pi to use it permanently in order to make the learning curve less steep? Or are there fundamental differences between them making what I learn running it on Linux kinda useless?
The Orange Pi lite has only 512MB ram and will struggle running OH.
It will be sluggish. The more binding you add on the worse it will get.
I would get something a bit beefier.
If you are starting with openHAB then get a Raspi3.
You will get far more support in the forum as hundred of us run it on this platform.
There is even a special version of the Raspian OS called openHABian that you can flash dirrectly on an SD card for the Pi. (openHABbian is more versatile than that but it should get you started)
The Raspi3 is plenty capable of running OH and more. And for $10/E10/£10 extra you won’t regret your investment.
Once you have the hardware, go for it. There is no better way to learn than to go to the deep end of the swimming pool. There are life guards, don’t worry.
The forum is very helpful in general but you need to put in the effort to try to solve it yourself.
My advice on starting with OH.
Read the docs. Do the tutorials. Don’t miss any steps. When you are done. Do it again.
When installing a binding for some hardware or other, READ THE DOCS. TWICE.
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Alright, will do. Thanks!
Also consider the Odroid C2 which is more powerful the. The pi3 and has twice the ram.
Installing openhab is also easy by doing this: