Just a quickie that someone might know off the top of their head. I currently run a system employing a 3B as the processor. I want to try a Zero-W so I’ve got one coming. The question I’m looking to answer is will a Zero-W run the same software as the 3B does now i.e. any chance I can just pop the SD card out of the 3, stick it in the Zero, and off we go ? 
I do not see any reason why swapping the card would cause an issue or any harm in trying it out.
A couple of things to maybe look out for are networking and processing load. Depending on how you run your local network, the new Pi Zero may be allocated a different IP address. Not a problem for feeding FA, but your local access may change. If you have additional programs other than Piaware running on the SD card they could tax the Zero’s capabilities.
P.S. I like your avatar - Minder was a good show.
Hi, and thanks for the reply. Yes, Minder was one of my favourite shows ever, and George Cole one of my favourite actors. I have used the Arfa Daily moniker for many years as a tribute nod in his direction.
Ok. On my PiAware situation. I have run the rig for over a year using a 3B. I originally had the antenna with the SDR receiver on an extension mast above my QFH antenna for the polar orbiter weather sats. Unfortunately, the SDR dongle interfered with the sat receiver, severely limiting the reception range. So I took it down and mounted it temporarily in the conservatory, with a new plan to rebuild in a waterproof box and mount on the chimney. However, a grandchild managed to knock the plastic pole, and down it all came from a height of about 8 feet. The impact with the floor actually snapped the SD card in half and broke the surface mount line filter for the built in wifi antenna off the board. I repaired the board and then came to burn a replacement SD card, and had loads of problems getting that to work. It was only on the third computer I tried that BalenEtcher managed to produce a good card image.
I’m now in a position to put together the system that is going up on the roof, and I have decided to use a Pi Zero W as the processor. But I didn’t really want to get into trying to burn another card if I could just swap. I also have the config file modified on the existing card to turn on the wifi and access my PiAware account. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the wifi sleep mode (??) needs to be turned off on a Zero though. Are you aware of anything like that ?
Good point on the router issuing a different IP. It almost certainly will, if for no other reason than the current rig having a fixed address allocated to it…
Geoff
I do not have any hands on experience with Zero W so can’t answer the question. Maybe other forum users with Zero W can share their wifi experiences. That said, the kits Flightaware sell on their website include a Zero W. So I assume the wifi works out of the box otherwise they would have a lot of angry customers.
I’ve read how some people have difficulty getting Balena Etcher to work, but I never had an issue. Maybe because I use Linux not Windows? I don’t know. Good luck with the re-installation and keeping the grandchild away.
I have PiAware running on a Pi Zero W, only config was the wifi SSID and PW, nothing re wifi sleep mode, and it’s been running for days with no issues/sleeping.
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Good information. Thank you !
You’re welcome Arfa (great moniker btw!).
Thanks ! Glad you like it !
I think your SD card swap will work fine, because I did the same thing, in reverse. I was running a Zero W and switched to a Pi4 B simply by swapping the SD card from the Zero into the Pi4. I did this a month or so ago and don’t recall any issues at all. (aside from editing the WiFi settings, which is what necessitated the change of hardware.)
Good to hear. Thank you for your input. Appreciated
Geoff
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I’ve run a Zero W for a few years now with no obvious problems, I always do the setting up in a conventional Pi as on my zero case the MicroSD card is not easily accessible, after set up I transfer into Zero W.
Worth checking signal strength and quality using iwconfig (may have to install wireless-tools) when set up as depending on location wifi can be an issue.
Think Zero would only be a problem if you install various data display software for graphs and pie charts etc.
Geoff
Thanks for your input. I am fitting a U.FL socket to the Zero so I can use an external antenna with it. I will actually be some distance from my router, but I have carried out some tests with the existing rig with a 3B running into the same type of external antenna, so I am hopeful that signal strength / quality will be as good as it currently is. Is it possible to monitor the quality with the rig at its remote location via the connected wifi. Sorry if I’m sounding dumb here, but I’m a hardware engineer really, who just about ‘gets by’ on software issues. I don’t know about wireless tools or how to install them. I guess there is probably a tutorial somewhere ?? I have a colleague who is au fait with all the software, but he is as busy work wise as I am, so its hard to pin him down for help … (Are we both Geoff ??)
Geoff
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Apologies, I didn’t clarify. Meant check the wifi signal strength, not the antenna. My zero is nothing special, close to router and basic aerial close by on a window sill so no wifi issues.
Geoff
Oh, sorry. I understood what you meant. I just don’t know how to do it. I had read somewhere that you could persuade Pi’s to tell you what the quality of their wifi connection was, and I thought it would be interesting to see with my external antenna connected. But I would need to do that via my main Windoze machine, as the Pi will not be accessible to connect any kind of keyboard or whatever to when it’s in place. I was thinking about this a few days ago, and went into the user control interface of my TP Link router, fully expecting to find that information for each connected device, but nothing that I could find, which surprised me as its a sophisticated router with a lot of user accessible advanced features …
Geoff