How do I make a raspberry pi a node in the testnet blockchain ? Is it possible?

Question

Me and my friends have decided to do a small project using 3-4 RPIs and making transactions between them using smart contracts.

The smart contracts will trigger events based on weather or any real time data, and will make a transaction to the other RPI's in this small blockchain, which will then trigger a function that will turn on a LED or display something.

First of all, is it feasible ?

Then , would i need to download the whole testnet blockchain on the RPI's or there exists another solution that will need less time or space ?

Finally, what frameworks or packages would i need to do it ?

Thanks

Answer 1

You're code will need access to the Blockchain via an Ethereum node (geth or parity for instance). Running those on a Raspberry Pi using testnet might work, but a more attractive solution might be to use a cloud provider for access to the Ethereum block chain. Check out Infura (https://infura.io/). As far as frameworks go, if node.js works, checkout truffle and web3.js or ethjs. If you opt for truffle + infura, here's an additional helpful read.