PiCroft is working on Raspberry Pi 3 A+

Archive - Mycroft Project Picroft
1

So I read this page and saw that the Raspberry Pi compatibility chart looks as follows:

  • Pi3 B+ : SUPPORTED <– You should get this device if you want to work on Picroft
  • Pi3 B : SUPPORTED <– You should get this device if you want to work on Picroft
  • Pi2 : functions but very slow, limited wifi support. Not recommended.
  • Pi B/A+/Zero/Zero W/Zero WH : NOT SUPPORTED

Today I got PiCroft working on my Raspi 3 A+. All I had to do is put the newly written image raspbian-stretch_Picroft_2018-09-12.zip into a Raspberry Pi 0 W and run

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Then I added

amixer cset numid=1 65536
amixer cset numid=3 65536

to the top of pi’s ~/.bashrc file.

Finally, I put the microSD card into the Raspi 3 A+ and it works with my CM108 based microphone.

Hope this will help anyone.

2 Likes
2

Are you using precise?

3

What is the reason that you first put the sd-card in another Pi to do the update/upgrade?

5

What do you mean by saying “precise”?

6

It doesn’t boot if you don’t do it. It just remains at the rainbow screen.

7

Thanks for testing this, however we don’t recommend the Pi 3 A+ because of its lower-end specs for RAM. Picroft needs a fair amount of CPU and RAM to function well; for the same reason we discourage using Picroft on the RPi 2.

Pi 3 A+ will remain on our unsupported list.

8

Sure, but it may be added to the list of hardware that “functions”, as was done with the Pi2. So people know what they are getting into, especially when they are considering to even buy a new Raspi just for myCroft. It’s good to know that it works, even if it is neither supported nor optimal.

Actually, once someone is at it I would recommend a rework of the whole list. It’s pretty unclear what is meant by “supported” in this context. Does it work? Does it not work? And so on. I would advise to make a list split into following categories:

  1. Supported, recommended hardware
  2. Not supported, not recommended, but probably working hardware
  3. Not supported, not working hardware
9

Do you notice any performance issues with Mycroft on the 3A+? Does your RAM usage max out when it’s running?

10

I don’t know if it maxes out, I just know that the Raspi was crashing if it was running for a couple of hours. I don’t know why. I didn’t investigate further, because I wasn’t interested to. I know it runs, at all. When the time comes, I may check out more possibilities.

11

I think having more categories will just confuse people.

If people are buying a Raspberry Pi to try Mycroft, we want them to buy the ones that we know work - that is the RPi 3 and the RPi 3B+. What I want to avoid is the inevitable request for support because Mycroft is partially working on another device where it might work under some circumstances - such as the RPi 3A family .

12

Well, as mentioned, I found the current state of the categories very confusing, which was the reason for my request. What also makes me wonder is how adding the 3A+ would change anything about the current state. If your assumption is true, all this already applies to Raspberry Pi 0W, Pi2, etc. So adding the 3A+ to the list wouldn’t change anything, at all, except it would be clearer for people who try to inform themselves.

13

Sure! You can raise a PR on any of our documentation using the link at the bottom of the documentation page.
The link to submit a PR on the Picroft documentation is at;