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Can raspberry pi 3b run multiple projects at the same time ?

elim67

Hello,

 

I am starting to interested with raspberry pi 3, and i have some questions:

 

1. Can raspberry pi 3b run multiple projects at the same time ?

    For example: let say i am going to connect to it some sensors: Motion sensor, Water plant soil sensor, A proximity sensor, Auto light switch etc.

    Every sensor project can work alone with a python script, but can i write a program / software that can monitor all sensors and act on them

according to the software instructions ?

 

2. Is there enough GPIO pins for all sensors to work together ?

    Can i add more input / output pins to use more sensors and other devices (like motors, LEDs, speakers...) ?

 

3. What programing language can i use to do all that (that includes a user interface on screen) ?

 

4. Does the power supply that comes with the raspberry good enough for all projects or should i add a PSU modules too ?

 

I have a lot of questions, but That's it for now.

 

 

Thanks

Eli

  • 0

    To answer it in full would be a book.But the short answers are:

    1. The Raspberry Pi 3 runs Linux and can multitask. Therefore many things happen nearly at once. But, this is not a real-time system. If a sensor must get a response at exactly 250 nanoseconds, you will be hard pressed to handle.
    2. GPIO pins limited. But they have protocols like SPI and I2C that multiplex things somewhat, To expand, hats use these to add more functionality like ADC (analog to digital conversion) etc.
    3. Languages include Python, C, Basic, Forth,  etc Anything that runs under Linux!
    4. Power is limited to the power supply you use. If too much current is drawn the voltage drops giving trouble. Best consider a powered hub for USB devices.Relays work for other things requiring AC or higher voltage items. Consider cicuits to isolate those to prevent feedback and a fried processor.

    Clem

  • 0 in reply to clem57

    Hi Clem

     

    Thanks for your response :-)

     

    For my first questions, just to clarify my self, i do not mind if it is not in real time, don't mind if there is a delay of 1ms-2sec, as long as

    the raspberry pi can manage to monitor a big project that is constructed from small projects (light switch + motion detector + soil humidity +. . .etc),

    then it is ok by me, do you agree on that ?

     

    I so some books on amazon about python programming language and books about managing raspberry pi (installing,projects,programming...),

    Can you have recommend on a good book(s) ?

     

    Thanks

    Eli

  • 0 in reply to elim67

    Hi....I am not onto python that much but am using JAVA and JAVA supports multi-threading. So if you are comfortable with JAVA you can enjoy JAVA over the Pi and JAVA again supports numerous front-end and back-end processes like GUI, HTTP calls, GPIO Access etc. To use GPIO with JAVA you can take a look at Pi4J Library...I have some videos around JAVA on Raspberry Pi you can checkout those.

    http://bit.ly/2eB1O2K