Pi Options

Choosing a Pi Model

A Pi 5 with 8 GB memory is the best choice if you can afford it. It handles everything Allsky currently does and has enough memory and CPU power for the future. You'll notice the speed increase while producing keograms, startrails, and timelapse videos as well as during installation and upgrades. Taking pictures doesn't require much power so you likely won't notice a difference there. If you use the Pi 5 for non-Allsky work you'll likely notice the speed increase as well.

The next best Pi to get is the Pi 4 with 4 GB memory; if that's still too expensive get a Pi 4 with 2 GB memory.

Pi Speed

Note that in general, the faster a Pi is, the more heat it produces. If your allsky camera's case is not ventilated you may run into problems.

If the options above are too expensive, a Pi 3B+ with 2 GB memory will also work but will take longer to create timelapse videos, and will limit how often you can create mini-timelapse videos. The 1 GB versions of the Pi 3B+ and Pi 4 will work but require adding more swap space, slowing things down and putting more wear on your SD card.

Do NOT get the Pi Zero - its extremely slow CPU and minimal memory will cause problems. You likely won't be able to create timelapse videos. The Pi Zero 2 has a faster CPU than the Pi Zero but still has limited memory and should only be considered if cost is the ONLY concern. You may or may not be able to do timelapse videos. Future versions of Allsky will likely require more processing power and memory so the Pi Zero 2 may not work in the future.

Pi Clones

We have not found any Pi clones except Le Potato to be compatible with Allsky, and it works only with a ZWO ASI120 camera (which we don't recommend).

Choosing an SD cards

We suggest getting at least a 128 GB SD card. They are fairly inexpensive so if you can afford a 256 GB card, get it - it will let you store more images and videos. Unless you are copying lot of files, the speed of the SD card won't make much of a difference.

For speed a v30 rated SD card is recommended