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Ask HN: Does anyone use a Raspberry Pi as your main computer?

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Re: Ask HN: Does anyone use a Raspberry Pi as your main computer?

#21

Post by hkt »

I've done this but got tired of it eventually. I had an 8gb raspberry pi 4. I ran xfce4 under raspbian/raspberry pi OS with lightweight applications - luakit for a browser, claws mail for email, terminal, and a few background processes. I also casted to my TV from Gnomecast and, later, VLC. Coding was all done in micro with a few plugins enabled.

Mostly it worked pretty well, but with too many tabs opened it would start to become cpu bound. Most electron apps were unusable too.

For me it was a process of trying to spend less time online: the idea was I'd alter my behaviour by using a more limited medium. On that count it was a resounding success. I stopped because I missed games, so now I have an Udoo Bolt Gear, which was about £400 and is good enough for what I play without being wastefully over-specced. Same relative minimalism, but just a bit faster with more room to upgrade. I'd recommend trying both.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone use a Raspberry Pi as your main computer?

#22

Post by NegatioN »

For the people who answer this, I'd like to know if they booted from an sd-card or ssd-device as well. I noticed a huge difference in the responsiveness when using my Pi 4 (only via ssh and with a terminal) for some machine learning jobs after I switched to boot from an external SSD. For Pi4s made in the last couple of years, booting from ssd seems to be a built-in feature, without any need for flashing anything on the device first, which held me back from doing it earlier.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone use a Raspberry Pi as your main computer?

#23

Post by FerretFred »

Sort of... I have a bare-bones system which is based on a Pi Zero W (single core) and runs Debian Buster. It has 512Mb memory of which around 60Mb is actually used. Everything is TUI based and I can multitask by starting up Tmux and running (strolling!) my usual apps. I use it mainly as a Lite Laptop and just plug it into the nearest HDMI screen. I use a spare cellphone for Internet and I can also plug a small USB hub into it which gives me expansion options including USB memory stick, Yubikey and ethernet for my home network. There's a lot of great, resource-frugal software out there and it's been great fun to set up.

Edit: the biggest PITA has been Bluetooth. I was occasionally able to connect and pair, but not always. I eventually uninstalled everything --blue-- and hve not regretted it. I now use a cheapo WiFi keyboard to do the initial login.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone use a Raspberry Pi as your main computer?

#24

Post by gexla »

My main system went down, so I have been using a Pi 4 with 8GB of memory for a couple weeks and off and on for a month. My needs are really simple.

My biggest issue is that it locks up a lot with sites with video. Since I use the Pi mostly for work stuff, I can avoid that and do off-time browsing on my phone.

The other issue is the quirks of a new system. Some apps have no ARM option. Some issues require a lot of Googling.

I don't see why you would anyone would go this route intentionally though. It seems like there would be better options for not much more money.

One thing I do like about the Pi, is that it's a lot less bulk compared to my desktop. It seems like the Pi would be great for people concerned about E-waste. It might also be a good option for people who use it as a client to a cloud desktop service. Last I looked, AWS and Azure didn't have ARM versions available though. So, I would have been limited to a web based client. If that hasn't changed, then I imagine it could soon.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone use a Raspberry Pi as your main computer?

#25

Post by nbernard »

washadjeffmad wrote: post #18
warrenm wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why is it a "pain"?

Media elements, JavaScript, RAM limitations, difficult video rendering, and crashing limit its productivity. Looking for ways to apply a new CCD to pi astrophotography recently, I made two mistakes: I didn't block ads and I opened more than two tabs. The pi ended up in swap hell for over a minute before I restarted. This is an rpi4 4GB, OC'd with heatsinks and active cooling, on a good IOPS SD. Browsing the web is th…

Swapping on the SD card is a nightmare. I found out that disabling the swap actually leads to a better experience, even if it means that firefox gets killed from time to time.

[This comment was written on a rpi4, btw.]

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone use a Raspberry Pi as your main computer?

#26

Post by hkt »

mysterydip wrote: post #8
mattl wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d imagine JavaScript heavy sites are pretty miserable on the Pi even the latest models.

Which is remarkable given how many older systems and software the pi can run natively or emulate at full speed. The web really can be embarassing in terms of performance.

It is awful, isn't it? I do wonder how many joules we waste on poorly performing web apps that could be made more efficient by applying less engineering rather than more.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone use a Raspberry Pi as your main computer?

#28

Post by leros »

I tried. I just wanted a machine on my workbench to run a web browser. I got the best Raspberry Pi, a case, and plugged it into an old 24" monitor. Cost me about $80-100.

It worked fine. It could even play a 1080p YouTube video. However, everything lagged. The most painful thing was that it took several seconds to render a website when it's normally instantaneous. I found it quite frustrating to use, so I ended up buying a $200 mini desktop computer that runs fantastic.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone use a Raspberry Pi as your main computer?

#30

Post by krueger71 »

I use a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W as a cupsd print server. It is powered by usb from the Wi-Fi router and connected directly to an old USB laser printer nearby. Works great to print wirelessly.

I also have a Raspberry Pi 4 (8gb) with an Argon One M.2 case and a Kingston SSD. I use it mainly for coding/tinkering in C, Pharo, Racket etc. Not logged into any social media or mail in the web browser, just using it to read docs etc. Fast enough to be usable but no speed demon for sure. Overclocked to around 2GHz/64-bit OS.

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