Raspberry Pi vs. Arduino – Which one to choose?
If you are from the DIY community, and looking for an option which provides a total control over your electronics projects, then you can go for the Raspberry Pi which is a credit-card-sized microcomputer that supports Linux and based on the idea of teaching or an Arduino which is a microcontroller board having a large support community and a big number of expansion shields.
Both the devices have different advantages and uses, which can be achieved using different processes and methods. You can program the Java, C++, Python or other programming languages with which you are comfortable and compile it on both the devices without making any changes. Both the devices are capable of completing the home automation projects and other electronic DIY projects. Then which device is to choose for your smart design? Let’s see more details of both:
The Arduino is a microcontroller board which is a simple computer running one program at a time and easy to use than the Pi while the Raspberry Pi is Linux supported general-purpose computer having the ability to run multiple programs at a time but is more complicated to use. If you want simple and repetitive tasks like opening and closing the garage door, driving a simple robot or just measuring the outside temperature, then the Arduino is the best choice for you. But if you want to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, want to operate a complicated robot or want to perform hard calculations like encryption and bitcoin, then the best option to have is the Raspberry Pi.
The Raspberry Pi constantly need a 5V power to stay on and shuts down via a proper software process like other computers, while the Arduino starts compiling as you turn it on and stops at the time you pull the plug. For the Raspberry Pi, you need some additional external hardware for providing constant power, while for the Arduino, you only need a battery pack that provides the required voltage of certain level. The better thing is that, when the power cuts off, you do not have to face the corrupted operating system or some software errors, the Arduino will continue the code running when you plug it back.
The Arduino has no functionality of direct network connectivity. To set up a proper connection, you need to do some tinkering by connecting an external chip to the Ethernet port. You also need to do some coding and wiring to make your Arduino running, this thing leads some vendors to sell the Arduino versions those come with the built-in Ethernet port. On the other hand, the Raspberry Pi comes with a built-in Ethernet port, which allows you to do an easy set up for running your Raspberry Pi. With a USB Wi-Fi Adapter (Dongle) for Raspberry Pi, you can connect your Pi to a wireless network connection also. After the successful connection, you can use the Operating System to post on the internet, connect to the web servers, process HTML programming or use it as a VPN or print server.
With an easy connection to the Analog sensors to the microcontroller, the Arduino responds to a wide range of sensors with the help of the coding you put on it. This results in making great adjustments to devices and servos by repeating a series of commands. On the other side, the Pi requires some software process to establish this kind of adjustment. Sometimes, this ends in an unwanted process to do in the scenarios like watering your plants or keeping your beer at the same temperature. You can use both the devices in a single project either, the Arduino acts as a control board which executes the commands generated by the Raspberry Pi’s software.
After all of this match made between both the devices, which is the best option to choose for your electronics or robotics project? Well, there is no any clear or straight answer for it, because it really depends on the requirements of your project or the task you want to do.
When you need to change values on motors and other devices or want to read the sensor data, the Arduino is the better choice to have. If you want to read or write the data on the web, view any kind of media, watch reading and data on the external display, or want to do multiple tasks as you do with a personal computer, then the Raspberry Pi 3 Kit is the best option to choose.
You can also use both the devices for a single project, like for having a client-side access, you can use the settings and coding of Raspberry Pi, and the Arduino will gather the data from the sensors and handles the actuation of devices. So, choose wisely and make wonderful projects using any or both the Raspberry Pi and Arduino!
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