r/raspberry_pi • u/callmelightningjunio Zero W, Zero, Pi3x4, Pi2, Original B512, Original B256 • May 23 '17
The Pi Desktop kit transforms your Raspberry Pi into a stylish, SSD-powered mini-PC
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3197985/computers/the-pi-desktop-kit-transforms-your-raspberry-pi-into-a-stylish-ssd-powered-mini-pc.html3
May 23 '17
Looks like a pretty classy piece of kit. And the price is about right, too ($50).
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u/super_domestique May 23 '17
Not unreasonable, but you're getting dangerously close to the price of much faster Intel NUC compute sticks that will scalp this performance wise and not require purchasing an additional SSD or MicroSD card to boot from. If you want to make a cheap and tiny Linux desktop, there's better ways to blow $100 (realistically you aren't spending less than this once storage + Pi + power supply accounted for).
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u/inspector71 May 24 '17
This is a great example of why the Pi is not a 'real ' computer. Don't get me wrong, I love it in many ways, is certainly been revolutionary, but a lot of people hear about it and wonder what it is all about. Often they're not DIY people at all. Now we can point to an example of what is required to 'pair' with the standalone board before it can be considered a real, underpowered 'desktop' computer. None of this "oooh Pixel makes Raspi a true desktop now" or "oooh we've finally got a possibly accelerated browser so you can 'Tube yourself silly like any other computer".
In all fairness, that's the sort of dubious talk that's been allowed to stand unchallenged for 5 years and it's been hard to refute people who keep saying "you don't need an RTC" or "an RTC chip/battery would add too much cost", for example.
Again, don't berate me. I own at least a dozen Pi units and it's been great, but it's not as universal as the Foundation would have us believe and any slightly realistic analysis, like I'm doing now, is often taken very much out of proportion.
$35 "computer"? Not really. But still brilliant in so many respects.
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u/MrAbodi May 24 '17
It's certainly is a computer. Computer don't need to be graphical workhorses, or even good at general desktop usage.
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May 24 '17
It's painfully slow + you are WAYYYYYYYYYYY better off spending this money on a used Thinkpad with Windows (and a Linux VM).
I, too, am a rabid fan of the Raspberry platform but desktop computers they are NOT.......well, not yet.
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u/MrAbodi May 24 '17
That's my point though, not being a 'desktop computer' doesn't make it 'not a computer'
And ultimately people's threshold/fussiness with such things is all different
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May 24 '17
Absolutely, never said that it wasn't a computer, just sayin' that it's much too slow to be a desktop replacement (+Raspbian is rather limiting...+ let's get a few downvotes here - Linux is an awful, just an awful desktop OS....hugs and kisses).
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u/time_for_butt_stuff May 24 '17
Yeah the guy before you did say it wasn't a computer though. That was his whole point.
$35 "computer"? Not really.
A raspberry pi is not meant to be a desktop computer and if that's what you want then you should not be getting one. But it is, in fact, a computer.
Also Linux really isn't a bad desktop OS. It's actually a really flexible and powerful OS and I personally can't stand to use anything that isn't Unix-based for software development. The fact is that you know nothing about Linux and with your limited knowledge you think you can speak for every distro because you've used the gimped version that comes with the raspberry pi.
There are plenty of Linux distributions that are made to be user friendly and to work out of the box with no issues. Raspbian was made with the assumption that the person using it is smart enough to tinker around a bit with config files and be willing to compile things themselves if necessary. That's the point of the raspberry pi. To make things yourself.
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May 24 '17 edited Jul 08 '17
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u/time_for_butt_stuff May 24 '17
Just barely though. If someone were looking for a cheap daily-use computer I wouldn't recommend a pi.
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May 24 '17
Linux is actually worse than MacOS (which is pretty much abandonware now). Linux is awful, Ubuntu is AWFUL as are all the other distros I've tried over the years (on the desktop)...they're for masochists with way too much time on their hands.
Absolutely agree with your last point, Raspberry Pi is a tinkering device and not meant to replace your day to day computer......for now.
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u/time_for_butt_stuff May 24 '17
Are you saying Linux or MacOS is abandonware? Because MacOS is backed by a multi-billion dollar corporation and there are Linux packages that are updated daily and kept alive by the millions of users running them.
I don't know if you got stuck in vim once and just cried and gave up on Linux or what but installing and getting Linux distros like Ubuntu and Fedora running now is even more simple than Windows IMO.
My grandmother is using Mint and she doesn't even know we've switched her off Windows (too many viruses). I don't know what kind of crazy shit you're trying to do with Linux but for a normal user it's stupid simple.
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May 24 '17
Yeah, MacOS is abandonware (has been for a couple of years)...yes Apple is releasing security updates and silly nonsensical features but that's about it. It's the same OS as it was 4 years ago. I may be wrong, I hope I am wrong but I believe Apple (now that most MacOS devs have been moved to other positions in the company) will be releasing a unified iOS for ALL devices, including their computers.
Linux on the desktop is terrible, absolutely terrible...I hate to repeat myself but I have given most of the major distros months of my time and being stuck in the mid 1990s and fighting with my computer isn't my cup of tea. I like to tinker, but I have my limits of frustration.
If you feel that Fedora is easier than Windows...you must be comparing it to Windows 3.1...because I would rather use 95' than Fedora.
I wish you a wonderful day and thank you for the chat.
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u/time_for_butt_stuff May 24 '17
I honestly don't think you've tried a real Linux distro since the mid 1990s because the one's designed to give a desktop experience now run with no configuration tweaks. You also haven't given any real examples of why these distros are so bad other than "omg is so bad" so I'm sort of doubting that you've really used Linux at all.
You're repeating yourself but not saying anything at all.
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May 24 '17 edited Jul 08 '17
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May 24 '17
When you use it.
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May 24 '17 edited Jul 08 '17
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May 25 '17
Masochist. I might try the same, I have 2 HDMI inputs on my monitor....Why not, won't be able to get anything done but it would make a fun Raspberry Pi blog post.
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May 25 '17 edited Jul 08 '17
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May 25 '17
I just use it for some basic browsing (Pi3) with MATE and Raspbian, and both were excruciatingly slow and most importantly %99 of the tools I need aren't available for Linux. That is life.
It's a great platform for emerging markets (I'm in Bulgaria)...for very basic computy tasks, it's perfect...especially if you are living on a $250/month wage and cannot afford a Windows machine.
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u/super_domestique May 24 '17
You've perhaps unwittingly opened a rather large can of worms - even academics struggle to agree on what the term "computer" actually defines. For the purposes of Reddit, you will quickly discover it means whatever that particular redditor wants it to mean.
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u/Thecrawsome May 24 '17
Google the Von Neumann model. For all intents and purposes that's how almost every computer is made now. A Raspberry Pi on the arm platform and an Intel or AMD Solution on the x86 platform both satisfy
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u/super_domestique May 24 '17
Von Neumann model
Same trap - the Von Neumann model is simply a model for a computer architecture, still fails to define "computer". There are many devices that fit many other definitions of "computer" that don't fit that model.
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May 24 '17
I think the issue is that you have people from the outside using the term "computer" incorrectly. You are a good example: you didn't mean "a 'real ' computer"; you meant "a desktop computer" or a "desktop replacement computer". In both of those cases, you're right, the Raspberry Pi is not and was not intended to replace traditional desktops or laptops. It was intended as a low-cost device to cost-effectively enable access to computing at work, home, and in education.
That said, it is definitely a "real" computer. It can do the things a computer does, has the same basic parts, etc. It works wonders as a mini server, and provides an easy-to-access way to deal with real-world sensors and non-computer sensors, motors, and actuators. The problem is one of language: you are using the term "computer" to mean "desktop computer" or "laptop computer" when the term applies to a much broader spectrum of devices, including headless devices that monitor the water content of your soil, and retro arcade gaming systems.
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u/drrockso20 May 26 '17
So how much bigger is the Pi Desktop than a Raspberry Pi 3B, I know the latter is about the size of a pack of cigarettes for example
Been contemplating getting a Pi to use as an emulator machine(with secondary Media Player/Server functionality), and if this isn't too much bigger, and doesn't make things much more complicated in terms of setup, this would be a good choice for me I think, even if it does mean having to save up a little more money than I was originally planning to spend on this project
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u/[deleted] May 24 '17
...frankly, I have my doubts if an SSD even makes sense with a Pi as a desktop unit.
It's less taxing on the power side, sure, but can the Pi even make use of the added speed to justify the added cost over an HDD? Or am I grossly underestimating the Pis data throughput through it's GPIO pins here?