I hear the nay-sayers regarding the time cost and complexity of embedded programming, but as a hobbyist I think this is a great recommendation to at least consi

I hear the nay-sayers regarding the time cost and complexity of embedded programming, but as a hobbyist I think this is a great recommendation to at least consider. The projects that I've been able to accomplish on a microcontroller have been more reliable (over decades) than my Pi-based projects, and I don't have to worry as much about them being part of some botnet because I forgot to change the default ssh configuration (wasn't it `pi:raspberry`?). Beyond micropython, the no_std rust support for ESP32C3 is getting better every month. For people doing little home automation projects because they are fun, the additional constraints can make things a lot of fun and very rewarding. But yes, for those that are already handy with Linux, a Pi is generally going to be much easier, though IME will be at least 10x as expensive, and the additional setup to get it in the same ballpark for reliability (SSD booting vs network booting vs ro-rootfs, watchdog setup, etc) and the increased power usage (esp for a Pi5) should at least be small part of the decision making.