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Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop PC

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Re: Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop PC

#471

Post by JohnJamesRambo »

diehunde wrote: post #356
ineedasername wrote: post #265

This blows my mind. I know, it's much more incremental than it is revolutionary, but I think the form factor achieves a much greater degree of access for many people than a typical Pi whose bare hardware may be a lot more intimidating. Now, it's "just" a computer, which happens to expose a 40-pin connector for the standard Pi hardware fun. And unlike other options you might find, this has the massive built-in communi…

I was talking to some friends who are teachers about remote learning the other day. They were saying many of their students (they work in rural areas) had the devices but no access to internet. It's a very complex issue now with all the restrictions.

You've reminded me of my anger about telcos promising to Congress to connect the USA shore-to-shore to the internet and then they just gave up and said "phones will be good enough." No, no they aren't.

https://www.ntia.doc.gov/legacy/broadbandgrants/comments/61B...

"Using the Bells own words and filings, by 2000, approximately 50 million homes should have been rewired with a fiber optic wiring to the home, capable of 45 Mbps in two directions, which could handle over 500 channels of video and was totally open to competition. About 86 million households should be wired by 2006."

Still waiting on that fiber optic connection to my home in 2020...sure would be useful to all the kids that are trying to learn remotely via a damn phone right now.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop PC

#472

Post by m463 »

qz2 wrote: post #59

Can we please have a Pi without a crappy storage interface. It's either a microSD card or something dangling off USB. An M2 SATA or NVMe would make this credible but 99% of the problems I've had with the Pi platform is storage related, either being knackered microSD cards, terrible performance or USB power problems.

I think usb-c/usb 3 solved most of the problems.

I used to have the low-power indicator show up all the time in the past, but it seems the usb-c power supply has resolved that.

Additionally usb boot + usb3 speed has made running completely off of usb instead of sd a good solution. There are also pretty fast yet small form factor drives like the samsung fit to choose from as far as physical size.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop PC

#473

Post by steffan »

pharke wrote: post #466
baq wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...I don't know. I mean, I've had an Atari 65XE myself when I was a kid, but tvs are much bigger nowadays, less accessible and HDMI cables are much more difficult to run through the room (stiffness and length limits are real issues); OTOH keyboards and mice are easy to come by. The hard part of the Pi is the display. The kit also doesn't include a cam nor a headset, nor even a mic. This is super important for online…

I don't know if the monitor is as big of an issue, a quick search on walmart.com yields their cheapest option at $69.99 for a 19". That's if you have to buy one new. I'm sure the local craigslist would have second hand TVs with HDMI in. A lot of households already have multiple, cheap flatscreens. If we narrow the discussion to only those who cannot afford or do not have any of the above then I think we're also talki…

Even though it's not included (and supplies are incredibly constrained right now for new ones) a standard USB webcam can work. Logically it doesn't really make sense to include a built-in webcam for a keyboard form factor. Adding an external one doesn't make sense in terms of meeting their pricing goals.

Doubtless one of the resellers will augment this with a package that includes an inexpensive USB webcam.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop PC

#475

Post by peatmoss »

Does anyone have any good recommendations for resources / projects for a computer-interested 12 year old? I was thinking of buying a Pi4 for my niece who is “getting into computers” but I fear my tastes in what constitutes interesting or age-relevant content might be out of touch.

I also, look at the various books that they sell on the Raspberry Pi site, and worry that they’ll be out of date pretty quickly.

If anyone has recommendations for educational materials or projects that I could help my niece with, I’m sure others on this thread are looking for similar ideas. This new all-in-one device really feels like a well timed gift with lockdown and holidays.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop PC

#477

Post by JohnBooty »

cactus2093 wrote: post #409
ineedasername wrote: post #265

This blows my mind. I know, it's much more incremental than it is revolutionary, but I think the form factor achieves a much greater degree of access for many people than a typical Pi whose bare hardware may be a lot more intimidating. Now, it's "just" a computer, which happens to expose a 40-pin connector for the standard Pi hardware fun. And unlike other options you might find, this has the massive built-in communi…

> The district couldn't secure all of the necessary Chrome Books, and some students have been left attempting remote learning via their parent's phone, or simply left behind. A cheap mass market device has some truly amazing potential to fill in these gaps at the same time that it enables more advanced S(T)EM learning than you could get with a typical cheap Chrome Book. How many households in this situation have an e…

    How many households in this situation have an extra monitor lying around to plug this into
You just need a television. In a single household it wouldn't even necessarily need to be an extra television, unless it's some kind of truly abusive household where the kid's not allowed to pre-empt the family TV to attend school.

Of course, in a multi-kid household, yes - one screen per kid would be needed.

    plus they'll need a separate webcam
Yes. Though, I'd be shocked if drivers were much of a hassle.

    This new Pi form factor is kinda clever but surely a
    $200-$300 chromebook or tablet is still significantly 
    more accessible.
Surely, but is the extra money more accessible?

    And how does a desktop enable more advanced STEM learning 
    than a laptop?
It's not the form factor. It's the OS. A fully-open OS, versus a locked-down OS.

Of course, whether or not this matters depends on the kid and the curriculum. If all the kid's doing is some web-based online curriculum whose needs are perfectly serviced by a Chromebook, then yeah - an RPi device isn't magically going to grant them magical STEM learning powers by osmosis.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop PC

#478

Post by code4tee »

cactus2093 wrote: post #409
ineedasername wrote: post #265

This blows my mind. I know, it's much more incremental than it is revolutionary, but I think the form factor achieves a much greater degree of access for many people than a typical Pi whose bare hardware may be a lot more intimidating. Now, it's "just" a computer, which happens to expose a 40-pin connector for the standard Pi hardware fun. And unlike other options you might find, this has the massive built-in communi…

> The district couldn't secure all of the necessary Chrome Books, and some students have been left attempting remote learning via their parent's phone, or simply left behind. A cheap mass market device has some truly amazing potential to fill in these gaps at the same time that it enables more advanced S(T)EM learning than you could get with a typical cheap Chrome Book. How many households in this situation have an e…

Most people’s TVs at this point are basically a 1080 monitor hooked up to a computer (cable box) so I don’t see this as a big challenge. If a monitor is needed they are quite inexpensive at this point compared to what they used to cost.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop PC

#479

Post by pricci »

onesun wrote: post #380

My only wish for v2.0 of this would be an integrated touchpad so I don't have to use a separate mouse. Similar to a Logitech K400 wireless keyboard. I don't know how many times I've been in a situation where it's challenging to find a surface to use a mouse on when I'm working on a Pi project. Workshop, electronics bench, just doing something real quick on my lap, etc.

I know it's a niche, but I would love to have a trackpoint on it.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 Desktop PC

#480

Post by ampdepolymerase »

peatmoss wrote: post #475

Does anyone have any good recommendations for resources / projects for a computer-interested 12 year old? I was thinking of buying a Pi4 for my niece who is “getting into computers” but I fear my tastes in what constitutes interesting or age-relevant content might be out of touch. I also, look at the various books that they sell on the Raspberry Pi site, and worry that they’ll be out of date pretty quickly. If anyone…

The key is to follow up. It is not about which present you get them. No amount of Raspberry Pis or Lego MindStorms are useful if you are not willing to spend time to guide her through it. Interest and passion is only helpful if there is nothing else. Children now have iPads and countless sources of entertainment/distraction. A Raspberry Pi to a Gen Z kid is not the same as an Apple II from your childhood to you.
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