What is the problem?
Try to get Pi zero W worked with my ender3
I understand pi zero w is not recommended due to its CPU resource issue. But I am still interested in trying it.
What did you already try to solve it?
I downloaded the latest 0.17 version octoprint. It boots up no problem and I got wifi and octoprint web interface working. But when I connected ender3 via usb. It does not recognize the ender3. dmesg did not print any line. It just looks like a died port or cable. I swap usb cables and another ender3 printer, it does the same thing.
Logs (octoprint.log, serial.log or output on terminal tab at a minimum, browser error console if UI issue ... no logs, no support!)
Octoprint log
2019-12-27 16:04:47,036 - octoprint.plugins.discovery - INFO - Registered 'OctoPrint instance "pp7_ender3"' for _http._tcp
2019-12-27 16:04:47,206 - octoprint.plugins.discovery - INFO - Registered 'OctoPrint instance "pp7_ender3"' for _octoprint._tcp
2019-12-27 16:04:47,276 - octoprint.plugins.discovery - INFO - Registered OctoPrint instance "pp7_ender3" for SSDP
2019-12-27 16:04:47,607 - octoprint.server - INFO - Listening on http://127.0.0.1:5000
2019-12-27 16:04:47,828 - octoprint.plugins.pluginmanager - INFO - Loaded plugin repository data from disk, was still valid
2019-12-27 16:05:07,080 - octoprint.plugins.pluginmanager - INFO - Loaded notice data from disk, was still valid
2019-12-27 16:05:07,957 - octoprint.plugins.pluginmanager - INFO - Loaded notice data from disk, was still valid
2019-12-27 16:05:10,044 - octoprint.util.pip - INFO - Using "/home/pi/oprint/bin/python2 -m pip" as command to invoke pip
2019-12-27 16:05:10,054 - octoprint.util.pip - INFO - pip installs to /home/pi/oprint/lib/python2.7/site-packages (writable -> yes), --user flag needed -> no, virtual env -> yes
2019-12-27 16:05:10,062 - octoprint.util.pip - INFO - ==> pip ok -> yes
2019-12-27 16:05:12,025 - octoprint.server.preemptive_cache - INFO - Preemptively caching / (ui _default) for {'query_string': 'l10n=en', 'path': '/', 'base_url': 'http://192.168.1.32/'}
2019-12-27 16:05:12,132 - octoprint.plugins.tracking - INFO - Sent tracking event ping, payload: {'octoprint_uptime': 56}
2019-12-27 16:05:13,924 - octoprint.plugins.tracking - INFO - Sent tracking event startup, payload: {'python': '2.7.16', 'ram': 387194880, 'octopi_version': '0.17.0', 'version': u'1.3.12', 'pip': '19.3.1', 'cores': 1, 'freq': 1000.0, 'pi_model': 'Raspberry Pi Zero W Rev 1.1', 'os': 'linux'}
2019-12-27 16:05:15,505 - octoprint.plugins.tracking - INFO - Sent tracking event pong, payload: {'plugins': u''}
2019-12-27 16:05:28,320 - octoprint.server.util.sockjs - INFO - New connection from client: ::ffff:192.168.1.19
2019-12-27 16:05:29,751 - octoprint.server.util.flask - INFO - Passively logging in user pi from ::ffff:192.168.1.19
2019-12-27 16:05:29,902 - octoprint.server.util.sockjs - INFO - User pi logged in on the socket from client ::ffff:192.168.1.19
2019-12-27 16:06:48,318 - octoprint.server.preemptive_cache - INFO - ... done in 96.29s
2019-12-27 16:15:22,816 - octoprint.util.comm - INFO - Changing monitoring state from "Offline" to "Detecting serial port"
2019-12-27 16:15:22,928 - octoprint.util.comm - INFO - Changing monitoring state from "Detecting serial port" to "Error: Failed to autodetect serial port, please set it manually."
2019-12-27 16:15:24,548 - octoprint.plugins.tracking - INFO - Sent tracking event commerror_autodetect_port, payload: {'commerror_text': 'Failed to autodetect serial port, please set it manually.'}
2019-12-27 16:15:25,704 - octoprint.util.comm - INFO - Changing monitoring state from "Offline" to "Detecting serial port"
2019-12-27 16:15:25,861 - octoprint.util.comm - INFO - Changing monitoring state from "Detecting serial port" to "Error: Failed to autodetect serial port, please set it manually."
2019-12-27 16:15:27,459 - octoprint.plugins.tracking - INFO - Sent tracking event commerror_autodetect_port, payload: {'commerror_text': 'Failed to autodetect serial port, please set it manually.'}
Serial log
2019-12-27 16:15:22,805 - Changing monitoring state from "Offline" to "Detecting serial port"
2019-12-27 16:15:22,917 - Serial port list: []
2019-12-27 16:15:22,924 - Changing monitoring state from "Detecting serial port" to "Error: Failed to autodetect serial port, please set it manually."
2019-12-27 16:15:22,955 - Failed to autodetect serial port, please set it manually.
2019-12-27 16:15:25,695 - Changing monitoring state from "Offline" to "Detecting serial port"
2019-12-27 16:15:25,837 - Serial port list: []
2019-12-27 16:15:25,856 - Changing monitoring state from "Detecting serial port" to "Error: Failed to autodetect serial port, please set it manually."
2019-12-27 16:15:25,898 - Failed to autodetect serial port, please set it manually.
Additional information about your setup (OctoPrint version, OctoPi version, printer, firmware, browser, operating system, ... as much data as possible)
Ender3 firmware creality 1.1.6
OctoPi 0.17
Octoprint Version 1.3.12
Thank you very much for the help!