First new home computer for decades - Raspberry Pi 400
... and it runs Linux. https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/?resellerType=home
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 08:15:21PM -0500, Stewart Russell via talk wrote:
... and it runs Linux.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/?resellerType=home
It looks great, but of course my first thought is: Why 4GB and not 8GB ram. Certainly reading a few reviews, it seems for running a desktop, it is slightly ram starved with 4GB. My second thought was: They removed the composite port. I probably would never personally use it, but I could imagine there are some people that like attaching things to old CRTs for gaming that would miss it. But perhaps most people like myself just don't care about analog video anymore so they probably made the right call on that. -- Len Sorensen
On 2020-11-10 9:56 p.m., Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:
My second thought was: They removed the composite port. I probably would never personally use it, but I could imagine there are some people that like attaching things to old CRTs for gaming that would miss it. But perhaps most people like myself just don't care about analog video anymore so they probably made the right call on that.
A CRT monitor would have to be pretty old. I bought my first LCD monitor almost 15 years ago and even then it was a refurb. Then we get to wasted space and power.
On Wed, 11 Nov 2020 at 09:10, James Knott via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2020-11-10 9:56 p.m., Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:
My second thought was: They removed the composite port. I probably would never personally use it, but I could imagine there are some people that like attaching things to old CRTs for gaming that would miss it. But perhaps most people like myself just don't care about analog video anymore so they probably made the right call on that.
A CRT monitor would have to be pretty old. I bought my first LCD monitor almost 15 years ago and even then it was a refurb. Then we get to wasted space and power.
And let's not forget weight: a 17" CRT was 20kg. They're freaking brutal to move. All that lead shielding and a huge glass tube ... The death of the CRT is mourned by very few indeed. -- Giles https://www.gilesorr.com/ gilesorr@gmail.com
On Wed, Nov 11, 2020 at 9:55 AM Giles Orr via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On Wed, 11 Nov 2020 at 09:10, James Knott via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2020-11-10 9:56 p.m., Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:
My second thought was: They removed the composite port. I probably would never personally use it, but I could imagine there are some people that like attaching things to old CRTs for gaming that would miss it. But perhaps most people like myself just don't care about analog video anymore so they probably made the right call on that.
A CRT monitor would have to be pretty old. I bought my first LCD monitor almost 15 years ago and even then it was a refurb. Then we get to wasted space and power.
And let's not forget weight: a 17" CRT was 20kg. They're freaking brutal to move. All that lead shielding and a huge glass tube ... The death of the CRT is mourned by very few indeed.
I still have one in the house - - - - 1600 x 1200 and a screen resolution and clarity that none of the LCDs can even get to. Yes its old - - - but for an occasionally used monitor - - - - its still quite nice. Yes its power consumption isn't great but for the amount it gets used - - - - no sense in replacing it for that reason either.
On Wed, Nov 11, 2020 at 10:55:40AM -0500, Giles Orr via talk wrote:
And let's not forget weight: a 17" CRT was 20kg. They're freaking brutal to move. All that lead shielding and a huge glass tube ... The death of the CRT is mourned by very few indeed.
I got to use my dad's old 20" CRT at university in the last 90s. 36kg. Ouch. :) He had a newer 21" with much better resolution and refresh rate. -- Len Sorensen
On 2020-11-13 3:47 p.m., Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:
On Wed, Nov 11, 2020 at 10:55:40AM -0500, Giles Orr via talk wrote:
And let's not forget weight: a 17" CRT was 20kg. They're freaking brutal to move. All that lead shielding and a huge glass tube ... The death of the CRT is mourned by very few indeed. I got to use my dad's old 20" CRT at university in the last 90s. 36kg. Ouch.:)
He had a newer 21" with much better resolution and refresh rate.
Several years ago, when I was setting up some computers in Queen's Park, some people were getting 27" monitors, but were in small offices. With the monitor in there, there was hardly any room to move!
On 2020-11-10 9:56 p.m., Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:
My second thought was: They removed the composite port. I probably would never personally use it, but I could imagine there are some people that like attaching things to old CRTs for gaming that would miss it. But perhaps most people like myself just don't care about analog video anymore so they probably made the right call on that.
A CRT monitor would have to be pretty old. I bought my first LCD monitor almost 15 years ago and even then it was a refurb. Then we get to wasted space and power.
The thing to watch out for these days would be LED monitors with DVI-D interfaces. They're showing up as special offers from various big-name retailers. They will work with RasPi, but need their own form of cable, and adaptors, for extra $.
From the looks of the product picture at CanaKit, the kit includes an ordinary boxed Pi 4B board. I could be wrong, but if that's true then an 8GB memory version would just be a matter of price.
On 11/11/20 12:19 PM, mwilson--- via talk wrote:
On 2020-11-10 9:56 p.m., Lennart Sorensen via talk wrote:
My second thought was: They removed the composite port. I probably would never personally use it, but I could imagine there are some people that like attaching things to old CRTs for gaming that would miss it. But perhaps most people like myself just don't care about analog video anymore so they probably made the right call on that. A CRT monitor would have to be pretty old. I bought my first LCD monitor almost 15 years ago and even then it was a refurb. Then we get to wasted space and power. The thing to watch out for these days would be LED monitors with DVI-D interfaces. They're showing up as special offers from various big-name retailers. They will work with RasPi, but need their own form of cable, and adaptors, for extra $. From the looks of the product picture at CanaKit, the kit includes an ordinary boxed Pi 4B board. I could be wrong, but if that's true then an 8GB memory version would just be a matter of price.
It looks like its actually a custom board to fit in the bottom of the keyboard case. https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2020/raspberry-pi-400-teardown-and-review -- Alvin Starr || land: (647)478-6285 Netvel Inc. || Cell: (416)806-0133 alvin@netvel.net ||
On 2020-11-11 1:38 p.m., Alvin Starr via talk wrote:
It looks like its actually a custom board to fit in the bottom of the keyboard case.
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2020/raspberry-pi-400-teardown-and-review
It is. You can't easily fit a Raspberry Pi 4B in a case that thin, keep the interfaces AND stop it overheating. Like I said in the meeting: it's a true home computer because it has a giant heatsink. In the old days, the heat came from the voltage regulators (linears like 7805s aren't thermally efficient at all) but now, it's mostly from the CPU. The CPU is also a new beastie that runs at 1.8 GHz instead of 1.5. Yes, it needs a new firmware blob to manage the CPU. The Raspberry Pi Foundation never announce next products, so any 8 GB version will have to wait until the new year. Like the old home computers, xmas sales are everything for this machine. (For context, World of Commodore used to take over an entire exhibition centre near the airport. I'm told that the December 1983 one took something like $6 million in sales ...) On 2020-11-11 10:55 a.m., Giles Orr via talk wrote:
The death of the CRT is mourned by very few indeed.
I can only think of three groups who still love 'em, but they're pretty niche: 1) Retrogamers who obsess over screen latency; 2) Retrocomputing types who run computers with ancient video standards like Amigas and the Apple IIgs; 3) The good folks in and around Elliot Lake, ON who depended on the yttrium extraction from the mines there. Latterly, the uranium deposits apparently made more money from yttrium byproducts for CRTs than any of the radioactive stuff. cheers, Stewart
On Wed, Nov 11, 2020 at 12:19:01PM -0500, mwilson--- via talk wrote:
The thing to watch out for these days would be LED monitors with DVI-D interfaces. They're showing up as special offers from various big-name retailers. They will work with RasPi, but need their own form of cable, and adaptors, for extra $. From the looks of the product picture at CanaKit, the kit includes an ordinary boxed Pi 4B board. I could be wrong, but if that's true then an 8GB memory version would just be a matter of price.
No it doesn't use a 4B board. I think the kit includes a power adapter in one box and a mouse in the other. -- Len Sorensen
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 08:15:21PM -0500, Stewart Russell via talk wrote:
.. and it runs Linux.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/?resellerType=home
And, no price! -- William Park <opengeometry@yahoo.ca>
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 10:36:10PM -0500, William Park via talk wrote:
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 08:15:21PM -0500, Stewart Russell via talk wrote:
.. and it runs Linux.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/?resellerType=home
And, no price!
So far price of US $70 has been mentioned in reviews. -- Len Sorensen
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 10:36 PM William Park via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 08:15:21PM -0500, Stewart Russell via talk wrote:
.. and it runs Linux.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/?resellerType=home
And, no price!
https://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-400-desktop-computer-kit.html?cid=cad&src=raspberrypi and https://www.buyapi.ca/product/raspberry-pi-400-complete-kit/?src=raspberrypi
On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 11:17:37PM -0500, Aruna Hewapathirane wrote:
https://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-400-desktop-computer-kit.html?cid=cad&src=raspberrypi
and
https://www.buyapi.ca/product/raspberry-pi-400-complete-kit/?src=raspberrypi
I don't understand these things. If you need I/O pins, or non-standard I/O ports (like device USB, as opposed to the usual host USB), then OK. I personally have used them for that, at work. But, if you need commodity PC, then just buy commodity PC. You know, I bought my T450 for $300 CAD 2 years ago, on Black Friday sale if I remember. When Sinclair, Commodore, Atari came out long ago, there were no other alternatives. But, now? Maybe their market is baby boomers reminiscing about the good old days. -- William Park <opengeometry@yahoo.ca>
On Wed, Nov 11, 2020 at 12:42:17PM -0500, William Park via talk wrote:
I don't understand these things. If you need I/O pins, or non-standard I/O ports (like device USB, as opposed to the usual host USB), then OK. I personally have used them for that, at work. But, if you need commodity PC, then just buy commodity PC. You know, I bought my T450 for $300 CAD 2 years ago, on Black Friday sale if I remember.
A T450 would have been a current model 6 years ago, not 2 years ago. 2 years ago should have been a T490 perhaps. Although for $300, a T450 would make sense for $300 off lease at about 3 years old 2 or 3 years ago. As for how useful it is, well some people like to play with stuff and it sure is a cute little computer. -- Len Sorensen
participants (10)
-
Alvin Starr -
Aruna Hewapathirane -
Giles Orr -
James Knott -
lsorense＠csclub.uwaterloo.ca -
mwilson＠Vex.Net -
o1bigtenor -
Stewart C. Russell -
Stewart Russell
-
William Park