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Raspberry Pi 500+

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Re: Raspberry Pi 500+

#301

Post by justinrubek »

qhwudbebd wrote: post #52
LiamPowell wrote: post #22

All the marketing for this advertises it as a desktop computer. What's the appeal of this compared to a cheaper and more powerful N150 NUC, or a used mini PC if it's for personal use where you just need one? A N150 has about twice the CPU performance, hardware video decoding that isn't crippled, and much more software built for its architecture among other things.

And the N150 had mainline linux support from day one, whereas I'm not sure if there's proper support for pi5-family devices in a released mainline kernel even now, two years after the launch. They used to do an good-to-adequate job of linux support, but nowadays they seem rubbish at it. Nobody wants to be stuck on a downstream kernel full of cobbled-together device support that's too poorly-written to upstream.

This has been the primary hurdle for me. I like it when I can just install regular linux and be on my way. Having to do a bunch of kernel nonsense is just not fun. I don't even mind messing with the kernel, but I want to use the mainline kernel.

Re: Raspberry Pi 500+

#302

Post by al_be_back »

ruperthair wrote: post #261
al_be_back wrote: post #163

Finally, a complete modular portable desktop, made in Europe, for about $350 usd (keyboard, mouse, camera, mic, display, power supply). I'm impressed. Although, a little late in the race to compete with US or Chinese PC makers. However, they've a good chance to influence drone and robotic computing, same goes for Arduino.

Sorry to say that I don't think any of it is made in Europe. From https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/meet-the-engineers-behind-r... : Hardware engineers Simon Martin and Chris Martin have been beavering away on Raspberry Pi 500+ for years, through a process of iteration that’s seen a total of ten factory trips to China, six PCB revisions...

You're correct actually, I missed that. With Raspberry Pi they moved production to the UK (Wales) in 2012 - (Factory tour article in 2023 - https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2023/how-raspberry-pis-are... ).

I wouldn't be surprised if they move production back to the UK assuming Pi 500+ starts doing well.

Re: Raspberry Pi 500+

#303

Post by al_be_back »

lostlogin wrote: post #287
al_be_back wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jobs was "inspired" by a visit at Xerox labs, they showed him a GUI built using Smalltalk (which they'd also invented). So naturally, he ran back to his office and invented GUI ;)

There is no prize for second… unless you do it better.

Or for third I guess lol Jobs demoed a mac gui to Gates, and apparently Gates ran strait to his Microsoft office, where he too invented gui. Jobs was very upset for years.

Re: Raspberry Pi 500+

#304

Post by bigiain »

bestham wrote: post #274
MomsAVoxell wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but it was much more stylish: ⌘ /s

No, it was not Steve that found the Symbol but Susan Kare the Macintosh graphics artist. https://www.folklore.org/Swedish_Campground.html

But unlike Steve, Susan will live on immortal - as the inventor of the Dogcow.

Re: Raspberry Pi 500+

#305

Post by OhMeadhbh »

OhMeadhbh wrote: post #3

Oh man! It has a REAL keyboard! TAKE MY MONEY!

Ack. I got one of these things and they are HORRIBLE.

1. It would be very nice if there was anything in the box with a pointer to setup instructions (since it's obvious setting up the 500+ is different than setting up previous models.) A QR code, a URL, a printed manual. Anything. But I can use DuckDuckGo and found a couple of third-party sites and a few YouTube videos. I tried piecing together the process. It would be great if the Raspberry Pi team would make a simple web page that tells you things like:

a. Where do I download the image for the Pi 500+ (since the stock 2025-05-13 image doesn't work for the 500+.)

b. I only have one monitor, which HDMI port to I use?

c. Every other machine I've had, you can plug a mouse into the USB 3 port. I mean, you probably want to save that port for a peripheral that can use the extra speed, but it should work. Is this true for the 500+? Will I destroy the machine if I plug the mouse into the blue USB ports? I'm embarrassed I have to ask this since any other machine I wouldn't worry about it, but the out-of-the-box experience is so bad, I've lost faith in the Pi organization to make anything that works, much less performs well.

2. I needed a display so I figured I would buy a Pi branded monitor. At least this thing came with an insert that told me it wouldn't work without an external power supply. Could you have put that on the web site so I would have known to purchase an extra power supply? No problem, I have several around the house.

But... what does it mean when I plug everything together and the monitor power LED blinks red, then turns of and then nothing happens. I verified the monitor works by plugging it into a different machine, but shouldn't it work with the RasPi 500+??? I'm missing something here and it's not in the documentation.

3. I finally got the 500+ turned on and generating a picture. It stops on the "booting from SD card," the display flashes and then it says "waiting for network. connect ethernet cable." I have to connect via an ethernet cable to configure it? You mean the OS image on the SD card doesn't know how to configure the device?

This thing is NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME. I'm going to see if I can return this one cause after several hours of fiddling, I can't get the Pi to drive the Pi monitor (but the Pi will drive an Asus monitor I have in the lab and my "regular form factor" Pi 5 can drive the monitor. There's something screwy going on here and there's no documentation describing how to setup the 500+.)

Save your money. Wait several months for them to get the kinks out.

Re: Raspberry Pi 500+

#306

Post by OhMeadhbh »

OhMeadhbh wrote: post #305
OhMeadhbh wrote: post #3

Oh man! It has a REAL keyboard! TAKE MY MONEY!

Ack. I got one of these things and they are HORRIBLE. 1. It would be very nice if there was anything in the box with a pointer to setup instructions (since it's obvious setting up the 500+ is different than setting up previous models.) A QR code, a URL, a printed manual. Anything. But I can use DuckDuckGo and found a couple of third-party sites and a few YouTube videos. I tried piecing together the process. It would…

Though as best I can tell, the keyboard is quite nice. If I can't return it, I'll probably rip it apart and try to graft it onto the Pi 400 I have downstairs.

Re: Raspberry Pi 500+

#307

Post by OhMeadhbh »

OhMeadhbh wrote: post #305
OhMeadhbh wrote: post #3

Oh man! It has a REAL keyboard! TAKE MY MONEY!

Ack. I got one of these things and they are HORRIBLE. 1. It would be very nice if there was anything in the box with a pointer to setup instructions (since it's obvious setting up the 500+ is different than setting up previous models.) A QR code, a URL, a printed manual. Anything. But I can use DuckDuckGo and found a couple of third-party sites and a few YouTube videos. I tried piecing together the process. It would…

I got the monitor to work. Turns out you CAN'T drive it with a Pi 500+, even though the insert in the monitor box says you can, but at lower brightness settings. (I turned the brightness all the way down and tried powering it from the 500+ but no dice.) If you get one of these, you will DEFINITELY require an external power supply, at least if you're using it with a 500+. I'm using the (I think) 95w power supply from an old MacBookPro, seems to drive the monitor like a champ.

Re: Raspberry Pi 500+

#308

Post by OhMeadhbh »

OhMeadhbh wrote: post #306
OhMeadhbh wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ack. I got one of these things and they are HORRIBLE. 1. It would be very nice if there was anything in the box with a pointer to setup instructions (since it's obvious setting up the 500+ is different than setting up previous models.) A QR code, a URL, a printed manual. Anything. But I can use DuckDuckGo and found a couple of third-party sites and a few YouTube videos. I tried piecing together the process. It would…

Though as best I can tell, the keyboard is quite nice. If I can't return it, I'll probably rip it apart and try to graft it onto the Pi 400 I have downstairs.

Hmm... tried editing the original post, but no love.

Turns out it was a pair of bad video cables. I swapped in the video cable from the "normal" form factor RasPi 5 I bought a few months ago and everything works fine.

I still think there should be a piece of paper in the box that says "plug the cable in THIS HDMI micro port," but everything else seems to work. The keyboard is quite nice. Not as good as my IBM Model M, but what is?

The CanaKit support guys were quick, polite and pointed me towards several decent debugging steps, but they are selling HDMI cables that don't work with the 500+ (or the RasPi 5 I have downstairs.) And I thought I was buying an official RasPi power supply, but I looked back at the order and sure enough it was the cut-rate CanaKit branded wall-wart. The power supply was on me, I didn't look closely enough when ordering. But the bad cables are on them. I can't really recommend purchasing from them when there are other options where you can buy working accessories.

But... moral of the story is... a bad video cable can make the system look like something weirder and worse is going on. I should have known to test the simplest thing first, but I had to trudge downstairs, move a bit of equipment to get to where the good cables were. So I guess there's an additional moral which is "always have a known good video cable handy."

Re: Raspberry Pi 500+

#309

Post by OhMeadhbh »

OhMeadhbh wrote: post #308
OhMeadhbh wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though as best I can tell, the keyboard is quite nice. If I can't return it, I'll probably rip it apart and try to graft it onto the Pi 400 I have downstairs.

Hmm... tried editing the original post, but no love. Turns out it was a pair of bad video cables. I swapped in the video cable from the "normal" form factor RasPi 5 I bought a few months ago and everything works fine. I still think there should be a piece of paper in the box that says "plug the cable in THIS HDMI micro port," but everything else seems to work. The keyboard is quite nice. Not as good as my IBM Model M…

Okay. I can recommend CanaKit again. When I told them it was a cable problem they refunded my card. No muss. No fuss. No paperwork.
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