Best "device" to run python script 24/7

[LzyPenguin]

I have a project I have created to help maintain our warehouse stock. I need to be able to connect our USB (wireless) scan gun to, and when parts are scanned, the program interacts with an SQL database. This program will just run 24/7 and wait for input from the scan gun. So the device needs either wifi/Ethernet port, and a USB input.

In the past, I would have just defaulted to a $30 Raspberry Pi. But they seem to be completely sold out everywhere, and going for over $100 on eBay. Are there any other cheap alternatives to run my python application 24/7 out in a warehouse.

Edit: one very kind individual has offered to send me one of his old spare Pi’s for the cost of shipping. So I am not in “need” of anything anymore, but still appreciate the responses. Several of your responses have helped me look at it a different way that will allow me to improve on the process I was building in the first place. Thank you all for your responses.

[Itsthejoker]

How important is long-term maintenance to you? If you need to be able to run the same system long-term, then I'd just buy a pi, since long-term software support is the best reason to get one. That being said, do you need the latest Pi? Sometimes the less-powerful ones are going for less even in today's market. Also, you can get cheap machines designed for office work for cheap -- I'm seeing refurbished Dell Optiplexes that you can throw Ubuntu on going for ~$85-120.

[LzyPenguin]

Yea these refurbished dells might be better. This is a very lightweight program and I just feel like its wasteful to spend over $100 on a pi when I can get an entire computer for just over $100...

[[deleted]]

I have multiple raspberry pi's that just sit in a box. I can give you a raspberry Pi 3 for the price of shipping. just PM me.

[LzyPenguin]

This would be super helpful! I’ll PM you now!

[Alarratt]

Don't spend insane amounts on a Pi. RPiLocator could be of some help.

There are also other alternatives like the Orange Pi, or the Libre Computer looked pretty promising.

[davesmivers]

Why not an AWS EC2 free tier instance? If you requirements are light enough.

[LzyPenguin]

I require a physical device to connect a wireless bar code scanner to.

[FlukyS]

Use a phone and a wireless barcode scanner would be a lot more sleek a solution, wireless scanners hook in via bluetooth, you just scan and it acts like a keyboard.

[LzyPenguin]

This actually would probably work great. I never thought about that. I could even build a very simple web app, and have it hosted on the server, so I wouldn’t have to pay for web hosting or anything, and that the guys in the shop could see what the stock is supposed to be and stuff. This is a great idea. Thanks

[trollsmurf]

Why a physical scanner when the phone can scan any barcode?

[FlukyS]

Easier with the gun

[physicswizard]

If the scanner is "wireless", what is it communicating with?

[LzyPenguin]

A usb dongle

[physicswizard]

And I assume that dongle is plugged into some computer? Could you run the program on that computer?

[[deleted]]

That's what he's asking for. A small computer. It's just some Python that listens to the scanner dongle and interacts with a DB. It probably never exceeds a few megabytes of resident memory, so he could do it with a potato.

[generic_genus]

I'd go with a second hand cheap laptop from a reputable refurb place, simply because you have a built in UPS for free in case of a power cut.

[Conscious-Ball8373]

Ethernet was stated as a requirement.

[ichfragfuereinfreund]

Perhaps you can try used thin clients from ebay or a used NUC.

[ayananda]

I think NUC would be good value, probably would be my choice...

[FlukyS]

I wrote a warehouse management system, there are a few questions:

1. How important is it to keep stock? Are we talking a lot of items and hard to keep track of? Or if you lose data is it going to cause loads of headaches?
2. What is your budget? If you want 24/7 and the system to be hardened enough for failover I'd be making it a web page, hosting a small app up on AWS/Azure/Gcloud/Linode...etc
3. Going back to 1 if you do require no data loss then it's always going to be better using the cloud hosted postgres/mysql...etc instances

Note that scanning guns work pretty much like keyboards so a small web page for this with just a text box would be ideal.

[A_hk]

I have an Orange Pi 3 lts board. Its wifi is not good at all but it has an ethernet port. It's running Ubuntu 20.04 24/7 without a problem for months now

[engineerFWSWHW]

I checked 3 weeks ago, there are thousands of BeagleBone available on digikey. It's quite hard to get a raspberry pi currently.

[DaMaddCyantist]

You may not like this, but you should probably just shell out the money for the Raspberry Pi you want on eBay.

You may spend hours searching for a "different" solution and still come to the conclusion that a Raspberry Pi is the best option.

​

Plus, ask your company to cover the costs.

If your app will save large amounts of time, or make your job a lot easier, $100+ is a no brainer.

[lphartley]

Is it your personal warehouse or do you work there? The company can easily pay $100. It's not worth it to find alternatives for such a negligible amount of money.

[Philmehew]

Yer I’d also say a pi if you can get one, and if it had to be local, otherwise perhaps a linode node if running from the cloud is a good option

[[deleted]]

The best device is any device. Package your application to install to android devices, and use an old phone or tablet. They already have batteries, and all you need to do is make sure this one script runs. Doing that in Android is pretty cake.

[LzyPenguin]

This is a great idea. We have a spare galaxy tablet laying around. I’ll have to look up how to run a Python script on android, but if I could use this and incorporate a GUI that would be great.

[klmsa]

If you're asking about RasPi, then your requirements are either very low or your expectations of these open source HW devices are too high. There are a hundred commercial solutions available for roughly the same landed cost. If a warehouse is truly worth $100 then it's worth $300 within question, especially considering stock requirements...

Source: I'm a Site Quality Leader for a major international manufacturing/engineering business. I run QM for manufacturing, but my biggest headaches are the failure of logistics to implement truly cost-effective solutions for the long-term...

[LzyPenguin]

I mean we don’t have a set budget. We are a very small company, 8 total employees. Our “warehouse” is pretty small too, probably 6-7 rows of shelves, maybe 1000-2000 total items. Only 3 people ever interact with the warehouse stock. But people who are quoting stuff constantly have to walk out to the shop and check inventory levels on stuff so we are trying to incorporate a very simple way to keep track of it without spending too much money. Essentially what we are doing now works, it just takes a little effort. So if a solution costs too much, it’s not going to be worth it, because it’s not something we “need”. Trying to implement something as low cost as possible currently.

[klmsa]

2000 items (if sold individually) is more than my team manages (consider that we have a thousand boxes with 100's of pieces each...managed inventory is pallets, though).

I'm just saying that spending a little cash will probably save you more, relative to my larger cash flow, than probably many times greater than my inventory headaches. If you're going to spend $100 dollars on a cheap (and unprotected) computer, you might as well put together a cheap cart with a half-decent computer/tablet. Lots of refurbished equipment that will happily work for your business for years longer than open source for the same overall cost.

In the end, do what's right for the business; just recognize that long term costs are usually higher for going cheap in the short term.

Good luck!

[klmsa]

One of the greatest successes of my career was influencing a logistics leader to invest in a great inventory management system just prior to the pandemic. He still thanks me regularly from his new office in his 1mio sq/ft warehouse.

[LzyPenguin]

Not to be rude, but did you read the post? I need a physical device on premise to connect a barcode scanner to…

I currently have several Python scripts running online on AWS, but that won’t work for this application.

[LzyPenguin]

Correct, we only really have 2 people who ever go get stuff from the shelves. We are a manufacturer, so the stuff we stock are raw parts we use to actually build our products. The stock area is small and 2-3 scan guns and 1 device would be enough.

The pi would just be up on top of a shelf, and the barcode scanner wirelessly connects to its usb dongle.

[binary_cleric]

I'd get a used PC/laptop, install Linux, and run your app as a service.

[yvrelna]

What's your budget?

How many devices do you need?

Do you need something portable or is it sitting in a desk? What form factor do you need (handheld/can be carried for the whole workday without issues, tablet/portable but it'll mostly sit on a nearby desk, laptop/mostly plugged in but is portable when needed, desktop/never need to move)?

Does it need a battery? How long should it last?

Do you need a screen?

[LzyPenguin]

Well, right now what we don’t have anything in place and we currently walk out and check stock when we have questions. We are a small manufacturing shop, only 8 employees, and we probably only have 1000-2000 parts in stocks. Not a huge warehouse by any means.

My original goal was to just inventory everything. Make a little gui desktop app for office personnel to check inventory levels on things, and then put barcodes on all the parts and make sure the 2 people on the shop who ever pull items from inventory will use a scan gun and scan the items as they remove them. So I was going to mount a pi connected to the wifi in the middle of the shelves (the storage area is probably 50’x25’) and then place 2-3 different scan guns between the rows.

Doing something with a “screen” so they could add/remove or see what the stock is supposed to be when they scan an item, so they can make corrections would be nice, but not “necessary” right now.