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Don't Use Raspberry Pi for Everything

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Re: Don't Use Raspberry Pi for Everything

#11

Post by aqsalose »

metalliqaz wrote: post #8
aplummer wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Difference between "never will" emphasised and "likely never will"

I'm afraid I'm not able to discern your meaning from that little snippet, but... I am willing to go on record now as saying "never will". It hasn't happened yet and the desktop is already dying. The mobile space is the juggernaut now and through Android, Linux is the biggest player.

>the desktop is already dying.

I once heard a joke that the Year of the Linux Desktop will be when the Linux users are the only desktop users left.

Re: Don't Use Raspberry Pi for Everything

#12

Post by freehunter »

yellowapple wrote: post #6
metalliqaz wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh stop it. Is anyone seriously expecting Linux to take over the desktop anymore? Ubuntu is embedded in Windows now for cripes sakes! Be happy with the world's servers and cell phones.

The closest thing to a "Year of the Linux Desktop" is the growing popularity of ChromeOS. Nowhere near rivaling Windows, sure, but not entirely obscure either, and certainly not with a "steep learning curve" (come on MakeUseOf; it ain't 2005 anymore, you can cool it with the tired "Linux is hard to use" crap).

The Linux systems that get brought up in these arguments have a lot of non-default helper programs that obfuscate the underlying OS and remove really any reason to be using Linux in the first place other than it's free and it runs on everything.

I mean, yeah Android is nice. And it technically runs Linux. But so does my wifi router... just because I plugged it in and logged into the web interface doesn't mean I can, with a straight face, claim that I am a Linux user.

Does having a laptop that boots straight into a browser without showing anything lower level than that really count as Linux? Does it really make me a Linux user?

Re: Don't Use Raspberry Pi for Everything

#14

Post by titanomachy »

This article referenced the ESP8266 (specifically NodeMCU configuration) as a cheap alternative for WiFi IOT projects that don't warrant the Pi's complexity. I've played with this chip and was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get it working. The bare chips can be had for a couple of dollars, or $15 for a development board which supports USB flashing.

Don't cheap out on the dev board, the cheapest ones use a shitty USB-serial chip and it was a headache to get the drivers working. The adafruit one worked out of the box.

Re: Don't Use Raspberry Pi for Everything

#16

Post by adrianratnapala »

freehunter wrote: post #10
wmeredith wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now take this comment and insert WordPress instead of Raspberry Pi :) Ubiquity and ease-of-use will win over security.

My job is trying to get ambivalent people to take security seriously, and I'd like to amend your statement. Ubiquity and ease-of-use will win over security as long as security professionals insist on cumbersome practices . Nonsensical password complexity rules. The absolutely asinine technology we have to encrypt emails. Third-party antivirus software. Patches forcing a reboot (hell, patches needing a reboot). Encryp…

Yep.

One of the most annoying habits of computer professionals when talking about security is how we object to every idea by showing how a stupid/lazy end-user could render it useless.

It's not that users will never do that: it's that users can't get into secure habits if we paralyse ourselves into not providing reasonable tools.

Re: Don't Use Raspberry Pi for Everything

#17

Post by aqsalose »

The hardware limitations and the "danger of server maintenance" points are valid. Only that

>That ever-so-slight delay between hitting a key and having it appear on screen will eventually wear you down.

You don't need to run a full blown desktop. TTY is snappy enough on my model 2B.

It's a great "learn to hack stuff on a cheap small computer" platform for my nephew (if I had a nephew [1]), and that's how it is advertised.

[1] On the other hand, I wonder how many RasPi users buy the thing because they wish they would have had it when they were of the age to be someone's nephew.

Re: Don't Use Raspberry Pi for Everything

#18

Post by RaspPiIdiote »

"Don’t Spend $40 to Flash an LED Over the Web"

The new Pi Zero W's are $9 and the include wifi. I used to use arduinios or MSPs for things because i didnt want to "waste" a full pi. But I mean, $4 savings with these NodeMCUs? vs. the platform I already know how to use that's a normal computer that happens to have trivially easy to use IO pins? For one-off type projects i just don't see how it's worth it for me. I'd rather spend the four bucks and skip ahead to the interesting part of the project.

Imho the better thing to consider w/ pi is that even the Pi Zero W consumes a decent amount of power. So for some projects, that really matters.

Re: Don't Use Raspberry Pi for Everything

#19

Post by squeaky-clean »

yellowapple wrote: post #6
metalliqaz wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh stop it. Is anyone seriously expecting Linux to take over the desktop anymore? Ubuntu is embedded in Windows now for cripes sakes! Be happy with the world's servers and cell phones.

The closest thing to a "Year of the Linux Desktop" is the growing popularity of ChromeOS. Nowhere near rivaling Windows, sure, but not entirely obscure either, and certainly not with a "steep learning curve" (come on MakeUseOf; it ain't 2005 anymore, you can cool it with the tired "Linux is hard to use" crap).

If you want to do anything "linuxey" with a Chromebook, don't you need to use something like Crouton and install a whole different distribution anyways?

Is it even possible or simple to install ChromeOS on a Pi? Most projects related to ChromeOS on Pi seem to be dead. There's FlintOS, which had it's last update last month, but in the release notes:

> We have disabled the root password briefly for improved security, subsequent releases will have a better system to maintain security and allow users root access if activated.

There's also ChromiumRPI, which hasn't been updated in a year and does not and will not support wifi.

Also as far as I can tell, none of them can play Netflix unless you're on a real Chromebook. I'd say it's fairly "hard to use".

Re: Don't Use Raspberry Pi for Everything

#20

Post by LamaOfRuin »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #19
yellowapple wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The closest thing to a "Year of the Linux Desktop" is the growing popularity of ChromeOS. Nowhere near rivaling Windows, sure, but not entirely obscure either, and certainly not with a "steep learning curve" (come on MakeUseOf; it ain't 2005 anymore, you can cool it with the tired "Linux is hard to use" crap).

If you want to do anything "linuxey" with a Chromebook, don't you need to use something like Crouton and install a whole different distribution anyways? Is it even possible or simple to install ChromeOS on a Pi? Most projects related to ChromeOS on Pi seem to be dead. There's FlintOS, which had it's last update last month, but in the release notes: > We have disabled the root password briefly for improved security, s…

Define 'linuxey'.

For most people, the realization of the year of the linux desktop would involve it hiding anything traditionally linuxey away from the user.

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