Got my new Computer

[Ianab]

Courier just dropped off some parcels. 
Now normally I don't buy NEW computers, but I made an exception this time. 



 

So what's in the box?



 

The computer, case, power supply, SD card and cables. Just add a screen and keyboard / mouse. 



  

That's the whole computer. 
Quad core CPU, 8gb RAM, Wifi and Bluetooth, 2 HDMI video outs, gigabit ethernet, USB 3 etc. 

I'm off to play with it now.  ;D

[Ianab]

So far, so good. 



 

[Ianab]

Aaaaaannnd.. we're online. 



 

Taken longer to post the pictures than it did to get the system working. :P

[Ianab]

Just showing off now.

Posting the picture from the Pi

 

[JJ]

for OS and SW, is there a hard drive, maybe solid state or is it all on the cloud?

    JJ

[Ianab]

for OS and SW, is there a hard drive, maybe solid state or is it all on the cloud?

   JJ

It runs the latest desktop Linux, a version optimised for the system, but you can change that and run others that support the ARM processors. Doesn't need internet to function, it has LibreOffice and stuff pre-loaded.
Local storage is a regular micro-sd card, a 32gb came with the kit with the OS, pre-installed. Says about 16 gb free, you could get a larger SD card, or connect a USB3 hard disk, or access files from your network. 
This is the whole computer sitting on top of a regular 3.5" hard drive. 


 
The Pi computers were first made in the UK a few years back to basically bring back the "fun" that us techies used to have with cheap electronics kits back in the day. Idea was the schools or students could buy them and learn to program / build robots / weather stations  / whatever. If they blew them up, they were only $15 to replace. So the board has I/O lines that can connect to sensors / switches / relays built in as standard.  This model 4 starts at US$35, but the 8gb model, with the power supply / case / SD card and cables would get you up over $100. But the software is all Open Source, so no subscription or charges for that. 
They thought they might even be able to sell 10,000 of them. I read they are over 40 million sold now, with wide range of specs. They are getting built into commercial equipment too, advertising signs etc. 
There is also another new version that fits in a regular size keyboard. That's it, the keyboard. Plug in monitor and power, connect bluetooth mouse, and it's good to go.

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Huh.  I'd sure like for you to come set up a new one for me.  I'm hopeless.

[Southside]

So for $100 you basically have a laptop from a "brain" standpoint? 

[Ianab]

So for $100 you basically have a laptop from a "brain" standpoint?

A pretty budget laptop, but with the solid state "disk" and plenty of Ram it handles web browsing etc just fine.
The cpu is what you might find in a basic smartphone or Andriod tablet.
Considering the whole machine runs off a USB cellphone charger, it does pretty well.

[Ianab]

Huh.  I'd sure like for you to come set up a new one for me.  I'm hopeless.

It has to one of the easier setups I've done. 
Put the circuit board in the box, plug in the sd card, connect the cables and you are at the setup screen.  Setup up language, location and wifi and it's good to go.
Doesn't even require a teenager  :D

[aigheadish]

I remember hearing about these, in the sense of what you are talking about, as mini-pcs for experimenting around with, and I thought they sounded pretty neat. It's really cool they've blown up so big! They are cheap enough to buy just to doink around with. I wonder if one could run LightBurn for my laser engraver. Right now I've got an old Surface Pro 3 running the laser and while it works fine I could see a day where it doesn't and I'd rather not have to buy a whole new laptop for it. 

Thanks for sharing, I'm off to do some learning!

[Southside]

Put the circuit board in the box,

See - you already confused me.  In your first picture the computer is already in the box....

[Ianab]

I wonder if one could run LightBurn for my laser engraver.

I just looked up LightBurn and from what I can see on the web page the ARM CPU version of Linux isn't supported. The high spec Pi probably has the ram and processor power to run the software, but they haven't yet written a version for it. Previous versions of the Pi haven't really been up to running  full desktop applications. The original ones only had a single core ARM CPU and 512mb of RAM, so it needed a pretty stripped down system. 

Basically there are 2 "families" of CPU. Think of it like Gas and Diesel engines if that helps. Intel and AMD have the high end desktop and server side, and Windows, sown up. The lower power end, cellphones and tablets is ruled by the ARM chips, which run totally different  instruction sets. It's become a little more blurred lately as Apple laptops have moved to ARM based chips, and multi-core ARM chips have have appeared in the server world. Then you get the Operating system, basically Windows / Apple / Linux, and how they support the different chip  architecture. Fortunately we have basically settled on 2 different chip families, and 3 main Operating Systems, it was a lot more complicated back in the day. :D

There are small computers with Intel CPUs that can run Windows, (Intel NUCs etc) but they aren't as cheap and low power as the Pi. This Pi kit was a complete computer for about the price of the Cheapest Intel i3 Chip only. OK the case is 2 pieces of plastic that clip together, and the "power supply" is a heavy duty cellphone charger, and the "hard disk" is a micro SD card.  :D. 

General consensus with Lightburn is to pick up a cheap refurbed small form business machine. Ex lease ones are cheap as chips, and if they have fitted a SSD and some more RAM they run pretty well.  Maybe US$200 plus a monitor for something decent. 

[SwampDonkey]

Must be the same company making hardware to emulate the Amiga and I think C64 to and have USB, HDMI. Basically you gut the old machine and put this and maybe some other boards into the old machine. Sometimes some 3D printed parts for the case.

There's one company actually building C64's on new hardware and emulating sound and CPU and some other stuff, but you have a bread box style case and keyboard and it looks like an old C64. I see some actually at Walmart, there is a mini and full blown one to scale as well. Lots a retro geeks out there. ;D

[Ianab]

Must be the same company making retro hardware for the Amiga and I think C64 to emulate old hardware and have USB, HDMI.

Not the same company, but using the same sort of tech. 
The new ARM CPUs running Linux have enough power to emulate a C64, or even Amiga. Remember that they ran the CPU at 4 or 8 Mhz.  
ARM is an interesting company. They don't make CPUs, they just design them. They are developed from the chip in the old BBC microcomputer. So they have the patents and design specs, constantly being developed, and then licensed to any chip maker that want's to make CPUs.   No need to re-invent the wheel, buy this design, and all the software support is already there. 
Result is you can buy a Pi Zero (the super basic model) for about $5 US. That's a 1 ghz CPU, with 512mb of RAM and HDMI video out. 
For $5... 

[Ianab]

There is also the Pi 400, which is like the modern version of the C64. 


Well apart from running Linux, and having 4gb of RAM, HDMI, USB 3 etc.  But the computer is built in a regular size keyboard. 


Hook up power and HDMi to your TV, and it's good to go. 

[dgdrls]

So cool!  Love that Linux platform,

D