Devices

Raspberry Pi

Works fine by default!

Orange Pi & other A20 / H3 based boards

Note: Please don't use system images from the vendor. Just DON'T. They are complete and utter crap and they might even cause overheating / damage to your boards. Use Armbian instead. It's awesome, it's as secure as possible, it's up-to-date and it's loaded with features!

You have these options:

1. Use the orangepi platform.

This will allow you to use a push button and LEDs! Right now, you have to install the library for this manually:

pip install git+https://github.com/duxingkei33/orangepi_PC_gpio_pyH3.git

Unfortunately, you have to run AlexaPi under root for this. To do this:

1. If you're running under systemd (as you should), which is the default, after the installation is complete, put ```

Use this only if you need access to GPIO on a platform that doesn't support root-less GPIO!

[Service] User=root Group=root ProtectHome=false

    in `/etc/systemd/system/AlexaPi.service.d/usergroup-root.conf`. Then run `systemctl daemon-reload` for the changes to take effect and then you can (re)start your AlexaPi!

  2. If you've stuck to the old way, edit `/etc/init.d/AlexaPi` and set the user and group there to `root`.

  Be sure to understand what the pin numbers mean before you break your board or spend hours trying to debug it. Check out the [pinout of the Expansion port](https://linux-sunxi.org/Orange_Pi_PC#Expansion_Port) of Orange Pi PC (check other pages for your board, it might be different!) and the [simple formula for calculating the right pin number](http://linux-sunxi.org/GPIO#Accessing_the_GPIO_pins_through_sysfs_with_mainline_kernel).


2. Use the general _sysfs gpio_ platform.

   Not yet available.

3. Use the _dummy_ platform.

   If you don't care about button triggering or LEDs, you can use this. You can then run AlexaPi securely under the _alexapi_ user.

## Desktop / development machine

The best option is probably the `desktop` platform as it will allow you to trigger Alexa with your keyboard.

If you don't care about that, you can use the `dummy` platform.

Another option, possibly only for developers is to install [fakeRPiGPIO](https://github.com/ArmlessJohn404/fakeRPiGPIO) and use the `raspberrypi` platform. You won't be able to trigger Alexa other than by the trigger word, but you'll see output (function calls) from the _fake_ library. This will allow you to partially test the logic in the _raspberrypi_ platform without actually running this on a Pi.

## Other boards / computers

If none of the above platforms is suitable for you, you can use the _dummy_ platform. You will then have voice activation only with no indicators (other than process output). This is a good idea for getting AlexaPi to work on new unsupported systems - you make sure the AlexaPi itself works under the OS and then you bother yourself with the device platform itself.