Mastodawn

scy Sep 28, 2023

With the #RaspberryPi5 releasing, don't forget how they boasted about hiring an ex surveillance cop, then ridiculed the people who criticized them for it.

Also remember how you weren't able to buy a Pi for months because they prioritized supplying their business customers.

I'm not buying #RaspberryPi products any longer, nor do I recommend them to my friends and clients. The Pi Foundation has become seriously out of touch.

@scy If you're about to buy yet another single-board computer, consider that right now, for around 150€ you can get a used Thinkpad X270 laptop. That price includes charger, SSD, keyboard, mouse and display, all of which you have to buy separately with an SBC. Additionally, by recycling a used device, you save lots of resources that would be consumed to make a new device.

scy Sep 28, 2023

@jaseg Valid point. 👍

(It’s not gonna be a solution for everyone though, especially when they don’t intend to attach a keyboard and screen and are looking for something with a small form factor to embed somewhere. But other than that: Yes. We should buy more stuff used anyway.)

lori Sep 28, 2023

@scy @jaseg yeah I can't relate to the "use an old laptop" replies, every single project I've used a raspi for has been because of its size.

I mean there are still alternatives for that use too but an old laptop is not a viable replacement for projects like these.

Damon L. Wakes Sep 28, 2023

@lori @scy @jaseg To be fair, one common recommendation for a Raspberry Pi is "It's a cheap way of letting kids try coding etc. on a device that nobody has to use for other stuff" and for that particular niche I think an old laptop is probably much better. As you say, it's not a universal solution, but it does strike me as a sensible first choice (with physical size admittedly being something that'll force a second choice for virtually anything where that's a factor).

@scy @jaseg don't forget stuff like i2c, machine control, sensors,etc, the most common stuff people use SBCs to do, an old laptop is fine if you just want a cheap computer but that's not really the use case for most people.

For some lower power stuff esp32 and arduino could potentially work, they're not a full SBC replacement, but if you're doing anything heavier there's really no alternative than the rpi or clones, at least not in the price range. (you can get similar riscv boards but $200+)

jaseg Sep 28, 2023

@raptor85 @scy You can totally just hook up an Adafruit Feather running CircuitPython to an old laptop, and still save money and the environment. A small microcontroller also has the advantage that even using CircuitPython you get less random scheduling delays when you're e.g. polling something, compared to an SBC running a normal non-realtime linux. You can even reasonably bitbang stuff in CircuitPython.

@jaseg @scy that's cool, I'll just shove a laptop in the 3"x3" space I have available for my remote units running off POE. Again, a laptop is great if you're replacing a computer, not so good replacing an embedded device/machine controller, completely different use cases, plus the screen/keyboard/battery is a ton of useless power draw/weight. There's clones like the Orange Pi and and Le Potato that are...ok, not great, but it would be nice to have a bit more competition in the <$100 range

Niklas Sep 28, 2023

@raptor85 @scy @jaseg

Funfact for i2c you can use the VGA Port of the Computer

https://dernulleffekt.de/doku.php?id=i2c_over_vga

i2c_over_vga [dernulleffekt]

…might work for coffee…Sep 28, 2023

I think it is different use cases, at least for me.

But to chime in, with rpi throwaway computing basicly started. A small Linux server became cheaper than going to the movies.

There are plenty of people needing cheap Laptops, so consider donating them after fixes/upgrades.

Draisinen Dieter Sep 28, 2023

@jaseg @scy Also one can get one of those mini PC(Fujitsu esprimo for example) refurbished for like 80€, if there is no need for a screen etc and the size matters.

Only issue I have with these is that I cant get the power usage close to what a rasperrypi is pulling.

Lightning Bjornsson*

evdonia_corner_emblem

@jaseg @scy There are X380 Yogas available for not quite 1.5x that price and they have quad core x86_64 processors and built in drawing tablets.

If you don't need gpio and the power draw isn't a problem it's a strictly superior option.

mei Sep 28, 2023

@jaseg @scy wah, my daily driver laptop is getting compared to a raspberry pi ;-;

jaseg Sep 28, 2023

@mei @scy I didn't mean to throw shade, I've only migrated off an x230 last winter myself 😅

Phil M0OFX Sep 28, 2023

@jaseg @scy I've just read this, and the X220 I'm typing on is suddenly looking very scared indeed.

ToroidalCore Sep 29, 2023

@jaseg @scy If what you need is really just a small, low power server, a thin client is a great choice. I have an HP t530 that runs Debian in pretty well, and only uses about three watts when idling.

Saagar Jha Sep 29, 2023

@jaseg @scy I guess the general issue with this is that the form factor is kind of awkward

LeoBurr Sep 30, 2023

@jaseg @scy I like HP Mini systems. They’re powerful, efficient, cheap, and small. I liked them so much, I built a 3 node proxmox replica cluster on some new models that I run my instance off of.

Here were a couple 8th gen Intel 35w systems with 32gb and 256gb SSDs that I sold a year Ago for $125 per.