RPi Zero question

[Cryosec]

As strange as it could sound, I managed to get a Raspberry Pi Zero here in Italy. I just need to know if I could use the RUN pins connected to a button and other GPIO pins connected to another button as a "on/off" circuit. GPIO button as shutdown, RUN button as reboot from shutdown state. Would it work?

[deadaccount69]

No you can't start the raspberry pi with a button. It turns on as soon as you give it power. You can program a button to automatically shut it down though fairly easily. Just Google raspberry pi Python gpio.

[KuJoe]

You can get a USB hub with individual power switches if you don't want to unplug the RPi Zero each time.

[deadaccount69]

1 minute ago, KuJoe said:

You can get a USB hub with individual power switches if you don't want to unplug the RPi Zero each time.

Yes, that's an option but it must be shut down properly or it will get corrupted. I would just get a normally closed switch inline with the power so if you shut it down you can press that to"reset" it, effectively making it boot.

[KuJoe]

22 minutes ago, ryan27968 said:

Yes, that's an option but it must be shut down properly or it will get corrupted. I would just get a normally closed switch inline with the power so if you shut it down you can press that to"reset" it, effectively making it boot.

I rarely shutdown my ARM devices and never had any issues with them. Unless you're doing a lot of IO read/writes (poor SD card) you should be fine.

[deadaccount69]

1 hour ago, KuJoe said:

I rarely shutdown my ARM devices and never had any issues with them. Unless you're doing a lot of IO read/writes (poor SD card) you should be fine.

Have you used the raspberry pi specifically though? Remember that it's full blown Linux not just Android or something like that. Everything I've read says they you gotta shut them down properly but I don't have a raspberry pi myself to test.

[KuJoe]

37 minutes ago, ryan27968 said:

Have you used the raspberry pi specifically though? Remember that it's full blown Linux not just Android or something like that. Everything I've read says they you gotta shut them down properly but I don't have a raspberry pi myself to test.

Yeah, I have quite a few and I think I've gracefully shut them down maybe 1-5% of the time and just pulling the power rest of the time. Keep in mind that power loss is only an issue if you're writing data at the time of power loss or you've got data in the disk cache (and you don't have any battery backup/capacitor). 99% of the time a fsck will resolve any issues a power loss causes. In all of the years I've been using ARM devices (including multiple Synology NASes) I've never once had an issue with sudden loss of power except for a lengthy fsck afterwards.

 

[Cryosec]

16 hours ago, ryan27968 said:

No you can't start the raspberry pi with a button. It turns on as soon as you give it power. You can program a button to automatically shut it down though fairly easily. Just Google raspberry pi Python gpio.

didn't mention a button for boot up, I'll use buttons only for shutdown and reboot (the RUN pins should still listen even in a shutdown state)

 

16 hours ago, KuJoe said:

You can get a USB hub with individual power switches if you don't want to unplug the RPi Zero each time.

Nah I'll mount it behind the TV as a media center (osmc), it will always be plugged in. 

 

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in the question (my bad), I just need to know if a button for a soft shutdown (through a GPIO and a script) and a button on the RUN pins for reboot from shutdown will work