So I can't program to save my life. but I have an idea I was wounder if, it was possible. There are programs like Folding@Home. And they are great things to support. But during the summer it would be surprisingly expensive to run because it would be fighting the AC. But that's not true in the winter. But a machine like what I run (I9-9900k with a Zotac OC 2080TI) Could easily swamp even winter heating needs where I live near Portland. So I was thinking it might be cool to have a micro computer like an Aduiono or a Raspberry Pi as a thermal sensor. then some how tie it in software to a Folding program? IDK like I said Code is greek to me.
Do you mean running Folding@Home on a Raspberry Pi, and at the same time as a "space heater"?
These microcontrollers/microcomputers are extremely power-efficient, that I can probably rub my hands together and still generate more heat.
Pi runs pretty warm. They use a 5.1V/3A power adapter.
hzrnbgy:
Do you mean running Folding@Home on a Raspberry Pi, and at the same time as a "space heater"?
No. The "I9-9900k with a Zotac OC 2080TI" is the "space heater" The Arduino or RPi is monitoring the room temperature and controlling the Folding@Home software running on the PC according to the room temperature (Too cold: start folding. Too hot: stop folding).
This is certainly doable. The RPi is overkill in terms of processing power, but if using an SBC is your preference there's nothing wrong with that choice. I would recommend that you first think about how you are going to control Folding@Home, and how you want the Arduino or RPi to communicate with your computer, as this may influence which board you choose.
The most common communication method for Arduino boards is serial, because they all have this capability built in. But it's almost certain that Folding@Home does not have a built-in capability to be controlled via a serial connection, so you'd need to have a separate application running on your computer that receives that serial communication, interprets it, and then controls Folding@Home accordingly.
A more simple option if using an Arduino is keyboard shortcuts. Many Arduino boards (e.g., Leonardo, Micro, MKR) can emulate a keyboard. So if Folding@Home can be controlled via keyboard shortcuts then the Arduino can directly control it.
A more powerful approach would be to communicate with the computer over the network. This could be WiFi or Ethernet.
After you have the communication and control working, you just need to choose an appropriate temperature sensor and add that code in to your program.
It's doable, but slightly problematic depending on how your heating and cooling are set because they may make it hard for the Pi or Arduino to decide based merely on home temperature, whether it's a good idea to run Folding.
It's less fun, but it might be easier to hit a weather service API from your PC to get local temperatures and use that to decide.