Interesting discussion
Just starting to look at raspberry pi as an alternative to my pc
Which spec is best, just to run cmx and feed the various weather services from cmx? Is a raspberry 4 overkill?
Doesn't have to be WiFi, ethernet is available, really only using it for logging
How do you backup from the pi? I assume the logging is to an SD card initially, or would an external USB drive be better? Currently I use a cloud service as backup, can pi do that?
Been a long time since I dabbled in Linux and i am unfamiliar with the Linux distributions that run on a pi
Some pointers would be gratefully received!
If you are will be using the pi as strictlly a dedicated weather appliance then yeah, anything more would be overkill.
The rpi zero 2W has limited ports - just 1 USB2.0 and no ethernet so unless you want to add ports with an expansion HAT it would be easier to use WiFi and use the USB port for backup purposes. For more USB ports you can plug in a mini USB hub. Make sure it is the OTG type. Not sure about cloud backup maybe someone else can answer?
You do not want to backup to a SD card in case it fails/wears out, etc.
There is lots and lots of linux backup software to choose from.
The rpi zero has only 512MB memory so you have to go with a lightweight linux distro. As mentioned, you can install Raspberry Pi OS but there are lighter distros out there.
If you go with a rpi 4 you can install any "full" linux distro and easily run most things.
If you want to try out a linux distro without installing anything make yourself a live persistent USB drive that can run under Windows or mac os.. I ran CumulusMX for quite a few months from a linux USB distro.You can do the same and try it out.
EDIT: Here is a great resource for the zero 2W:
https://picockpit.com/raspberry-pi/everything-about-raspberry-pi-zero-2-w/