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Raspberry Pi 400 – First Impressions

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Re: Raspberry Pi 400 – First Impressions

#41

Post by swiley »

simonh wrote: post #34

So going through the actual comments here, what this really needs to make a compelling product is: A built in touch pad, an audio jack, a full size HDMI port (even thought the accessory set includes an HDMI cable), an M.2 or SATA connector and a backlit keyboard. Anything else? Maybe an Intel processor, Windows, a built in battery and a hinged screen that folds down over the keyboard. Are we getting there yet?

Personally I'd far prefer a trackpoint to a touchpad. They're much easier to get right and take up less space.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 – First Impressions

#42

Post by graycrow »

I don't mind to pay extra $30 if next version of the PC will have a M2 port, even USB routed, full-size HDMI, and combined audio/composite video port, same as on RPi A/B boards. Separate DAC could make nice addition. Hope that Raspberry Pi Foundation will listen to people's needs.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 – First Impressions

#43

Post by jaster »

HeyHoJoe wrote: post #25

> I own several Raspberry Pi computers (1, 2 and 3). Most of them are the Model B format, but I have couple of Zeros too. All of them sit in a box, unused. Same for me and most people I know who have bought an rpi. Buy it because it seems like a cool toy and then stick it in a box and never use it for anything.

If you're looking for a fun use for your shelved rpi, I can recommand installing a retro-gaming distro such as recalbox (https://www.recalbox.com/) or retropie (https://retropie.org.uk/).

I installed recalbox on a rpi3, and it runs nes/snes fine, and even some n64 games. On occasions I brought it along when visiting friends, and plugged it into the TV/projector with a couple of joysticks. It has been a blast!

All in all I'm very happy with my small on-the-go arcade machine.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 – First Impressions

#44

Post by m4r35n357 »

swiley wrote: post #41
simonh wrote: post #34

So going through the actual comments here, what this really needs to make a compelling product is: A built in touch pad, an audio jack, a full size HDMI port (even thought the accessory set includes an HDMI cable), an M.2 or SATA connector and a backlit keyboard. Anything else? Maybe an Intel processor, Windows, a built in battery and a hinged screen that folds down over the keyboard. Are we getting there yet?

Personally I'd far prefer a trackpoint to a touchpad. They're much easier to get right and take up less space.

Have you costed up that particular option?

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 – First Impressions

#45

Post by techplex »

DebtDeflation wrote: post #23

I wish the keyboard had a touchpad built in to eliminate the need for a separate mouse.

I don't blame them, Linux touchpad drivers are horrendously bad. I can imagine a young person tryin to learn to use the pi400 and them getting frustrated because the touchpad is hard to use.

I wonder if there are any studies that show a mouse is easier to learn than a touchpad or vise versa.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 – First Impressions

#46

Post by morsch »

gambiting wrote: post #31
lxgr wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What "this" are you referring to? The grandparent post is talking about USB dongles as a workaround, which in my experience work very reliably.

Oh. Either that post was edited or I misunderstood - I thought they were talking about an HDMI dongle with 3.5mm audio jack for audio extracted from the hdmi. But yes, indeed, a USB audio dongle should "just work".

I don't think HDMI audio extractors need a driver, either. The first one I could find claims compatibility with all kinds of source devices. It's probably entirely invisible to the source. I don't how know about HDMI DRM, but that's not a problem for the RPi.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 – First Impressions

#47

Post by kzrdude »

I'm a bit surprised that the raspi foundation made this - I would think this is the realm of build-it-yourself! Of course building it yourself is going to be more expensive than mass produced (and need very messy wiring), but you could at least get a nicer keyboard that way.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 – First Impressions

#49

Post by gambiting »

morsch wrote: post #46
gambiting wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh. Either that post was edited or I misunderstood - I thought they were talking about an HDMI dongle with 3.5mm audio jack for audio extracted from the hdmi. But yes, indeed, a USB audio dongle should "just work".

I don't think HDMI audio extractors need a driver, either. The first one I could find claims compatibility with all kinds of source devices. It's probably entirely invisible to the source. I don't how know about HDMI DRM, but that's not a problem for the RPi.

They don't, but they can be finicky. Most can only extract audio if it's specifically sent as stereo, if the source sends audio as encoded 5.1 stream then most don't know how to decode that. So you will need support for being able to chose the output format over hdmi, which is where I imagine the difficulty in the RPi will start.

Re: Raspberry Pi 400 – First Impressions

#50

Post by tsjq »

exged wrote: post #32
tarruda wrote: post #28

I would consider using this for serious work if they had added support for 2.5 or m.2 drives. There are some third party raspberry pi 4 cases that support m.2 via an internal USB 3.0 adapter [1]. Considering they designed a custom PCB for this product, adding a native M.2 or SATA is a reasonable feature for something designed to replace a desktop PC [1]: https://www.argon40.com/argon-one-m-2-case-for-raspberry-pi-...

There aren't any free PCIe lanes on the SoC, so even if they added a bridge chip for a SATA / M.2 SSD it would have to be connected over USB. Besides, the device is $70. A $10 32GB eMMC chip would be a far more reasonable ask at this price point if greater reliability is desired.

that's interesting. curios: are these two comparable in terms of speeds: eMMC and NVME/M2SSD ? or am I confusing among oranges and apples?
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