OK, so crossing the streams, on the Lines forum @thetechnobear you wrote:
also have Orac (inc PD) / MEC (my software) and EigenD, running on my Norns PI - so Ive likely installed it as part of that.
I’d be interested in hearing a little more about this. Are you using the eigenharps to control the Norns apps, or using Norns as eigenharp->midi out? I’ve still not got around to getting either a working Pi or Norns, but am intrigued by this.
Ive had EigenD compiling running on a rPI for quite a while…but honestly I don’t use it.
the reason is EigenD really needs a GUI, so xwindows ( local , virtual or remote you choose 
) , and it’s just a bit too heavy for the rPI, esp. if you just need OSC/Midi.
I use MEC, which is pretty lightweight and gives me both Eigenharp and Soundplane , throwing out both midi and osc (t3d) - this Ive then been using in Orac/PD (Organelle and rPI) and also on Bela.
I’ve thought about Norns integration,
this would not be difficult as MEC runs as a ‘library’ as well as standalone app, so I could embed into Matron very easily, but architecturally its a bit ‘meh’ - norns uses a single event queue and processing thread for lua - hit that with lots of events and its not going to be pretty.
(remember we are talking a rPI, single core here!)
Ive ideas about to sidestep matron/lua and go directly to the sound engine (sc) , which would improve that - but thats a bit more effort, and is pretty norns specific.
I dunno, I don’t find myself using Norns, but I guess if one day Norns becomes more useful to me, I might give it a go.
for now, my priorities are Orac/MEC, which I use quite a bit… and has its own following 
who knows, Ive so many ideas in this area esp. now with modular, its all comes down to what I fancy spending time on!
(*) you have to be very careful with eigenharps as the rPI , as the rPI kernel has a really chequered past with isosynchronous USB - various kernel version break/fix it.
(basically the BCM2837 used by rPI/Norns was not designed for this apparently, so its all a it of a hack)
unfortunately, that means, whilst its worth a punt with a rPI, I cannot tell you if it’s going to work on the Norns or not.
I’m new to EigenHarp and Raspberry Pi (but I am computer literate). I’m looking to build a dedicated synth/sample player for my Eigenharp Pico. I don’t need anything as sophisticated as Norns or the Organelle (nor as expensive TBH, at this stage at least).
Will a current version of the Pi (Pi 3 Model B) be a good prospect or do you suggest a specific version.
I’m so far highly impressed with the Pico but anticipate a steep learning curve and wonder if I should have just bought a Akai EWI instead…
as with anything, it all depends what you want to do, and how much effort your willing to spend on it…
the advantage of organelle or norns is they are commercially backed, so you know you can get support etc
(note: as of now, no one, afaik, has a eigenharp working on norns - only the organelle, see my comments above)
the rPI3 has the cpu as Norns, so its every bit as powerful, just you need to source your own display, and controller and then figure out how to connect it altogether and what software to run.
recently Ive released Orac, really for that purpose…
see my youtube channel : https://youtube/c/thetechnobear for videos
also, imho, Norns, Organelle and Orac whilst you can ‘just run them’, really their strength is when you invest time in them , and ‘make them your own’ with your own patches.
also really think why do you want them?
sure they are portable, but so is a cheap laptop, which has a fair amount more power/flexibility - so again it comes down to - what are you trying to achieve?
It’s a project, I’m retired and would like to make the Pico usable for me in as many situations as possible. I’m a guitar player first but also play a little flute and whistle. Maybe running EgenD on the spare MBP would make more sense that trying to get an RPi working, I will try that first, but a more compact, pocket sized, solution would be nice. That’s for the future though. If it doesn’t work out I plan to build an RPi media server/streamer anyway so it won’t go to waste.
Thanks