I bought my wife a Raspberry Pi 400, and now I want one too!

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Wed. Mar. 03, 2021 11:11 am

The Raspberry Pi 400 is an 11.5" wide mini keyboard with a complete Raspberry Pi computer hidden inside of it. It has 4GB of ram on the MB, and a whopper load of ports to cover just about every task you might imagine on the backside of the keyboard. It even supports dual HDMI monitors. We've been playing with it (overclocked to just under the point where Raspberry Pi says the warranty would be voided) for a few days now and it rocks. With a 256GB micro-SD card in it for data storage (plus the linux OS) it handles LibreOffice Calc and web browsing with aplomb. It handles YouTube videos fine if kept to 720p, and gets by occasionally at 1080p. It even has a port where you can connect it to a breadboard and run neat electrical projects off of it (if you know how to write code, which of course is what every coal burner who will not be making solar panels is being urged to do). And best of all the price for keyboard and computer alone is only $70, and if you buy the "kit" with power supply, HDMI cable, A 16GB micro-SD with the Raspberry Pi OS linux operating system on it, an optical mouse, and a rather large book detailing instructions, breadboard wiring and coding projects, etc... it only costs $100. We upped for the kit.

As to overclocking, if you code it to overclock beyond the permitted limit it burns a fuse which is embedded within the microprocessor and raises a flag that can't be lowered (albeit that many simply don't care and go well beyond my level of overclocking anyway). The first thing Raspberry Pi checks for when honoring the warranty is an intact fuse. If the fuse is blown the warranty is voided. It has a huge aluminum heatsink which spans the entire width of the keyboard and really keeps the CPU cool. It has no fan so it is 100% silent. The highest I've seen the CPU get with my level of overclocking (so far) is 39 degrees C. Somewhere around 80-85 degrees C. fries the CPU and its game over. The overclocking wizards like to keep it at or below 70 degrees C.

For $70 to $100 this is the computer your kids need whereby to learn coding and breadboard electronics projects. If adding speakers, they must be USB speakers, or an HDMI monitor with built in audio or audio out ports. If you adults out there merely surf the web and do meager spreadsheet and word-processing tasks and the like, why spend more? It has 3 USB ports. It even picked up our remote wifi internet at the new '5G' level and it connected right up to my wireless Brother printer as well. There is also an Ethernet port if you don't want to connect remotely. Dual HDMI ports. Bluetooth is built in also. To connect to Zoom meeting would require a monitor with a built in camera.

Note, it comes with the OS on a 16GB micro-SD card. We transferred the OS to a 256GB micro-SD card purchased for an extra $27.99. The micro-SD card both provides the Pi with its OS and serves for data storage, and it is right snappy at both. It's nigh on like having a 256GB solid state hard drive.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Wed. Mar. 03, 2021 11:26 am

Tons of projects already coded and in continuous state of improvement over at

https://github.com/

Here are 11,389 public repositories matching this topic...

https://github.com/topics/raspberry-pi

More specific to pi-4....
https://github.com/topics/raspberry-pi-4

fig · Post by **fig** » Wed. Mar. 03, 2021 11:55 am

I’d settle for a slice of raspberry pie.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Wed. Mar. 03, 2021 12:48 pm

I just installed a flatpak of "Warpinator" on the tiny Pi, and successfully wireless transferred files to/from my laptop which is running Linux Mint.

theo · Post by **theo** » Wed. Mar. 03, 2021 3:27 pm

fig wrote: ↑
Wed. Mar. 03, 2021 11:55 am
I’d settle for a slice of raspberry pie.

Homemade i hope!

warminmn · Post by **warminmn** » Wed. Mar. 03, 2021 4:50 pm

I thought this was about an eating pie too, just misspelled.

But its nice when you/we find something interesting to use instead of useless gadgets. I find that happiness in restoring older gadgets and gizmos. Congrats!

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Wed. Mar. 03, 2021 7:26 pm

I should mention that the Raspberry Pi's CPU is not Intel compatible as for an Intel or an AMD (or the old Cyrix) processors. It is closer to a Risc form of CPU. Multi-core, and 64 bit. And small, and not all that fast... But some enterprising people have managed to figure out how to run Windows 10 on it. That must be a painfully slow experience. I'll stick with Linux.

Here's what the tiny keyboard/computer looks like: https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/

Toddburn · Post by **Toddburn** » Wed. Mar. 03, 2021 7:58 pm

theo wrote: ↑
Wed. Mar. 03, 2021 3:27 pm
Homemade i hope!

Between the raspberry pie and Robs post on the maple syrup cake we are eating gooood on the pail!!!!

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Thu. Mar. 04, 2021 9:35 am

Earlier Raspberry Pi's were just a bare and tiny (about 3" x 5" as a first guess) motherboard. The closest of these to the model 400 keyboard/computer would be their model 4B. If you don't need a new keyboard and you want a fully functional 3" x 5" x 1" tall computer, the 4 would work for that. They make tiny plastic and aluminum cases for the 4 that start at about $5 and up. The 4 runs a bit slower than the new 400, and it's CPU runs hotter also. If you intend to overclock the model 4 to where I have my 400 overclocked (which is at 2100 GHz, with 'over_voltage=6') be sure to get a case that comes with a heat sink and a CPU fan. The 'bare' Raspberry Pi model 4 with 4MB of ram on the board only costs $55. With 8MB of ram it costs $75. The 4 has even more ports than the 400. It even has a camera port, and an audio out port.

Edit: To overclock the slower 4 to 2100 GHZ requires 'over_voltage=8', and that is what burns the fuse I mentioned above. The fuse is not required whereby to operate the Pi. It will run fine with or without the blown 'warranty' fuse as long as you don't ever allow it to overheat. The "stock" CPU speeds are 1.5 GHz for the 4, and 1.8 GHz for the 400.

johnjoseph · Post by **johnjoseph** » Thu. Mar. 04, 2021 4:23 pm

I have two seperate systems for work...a chromebook and an Hp laptop. If a person can comfortably operate those mentioned is the Raspberry similar in operation? I don't have a personal computer and am looking for a simple to use system.

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Thu. Mar. 04, 2021 4:29 pm

johnjoseph wrote: ↑
Thu. Mar. 04, 2021 4:23 pm
I have two seperate systems for work...a chromebook and an Hp laptop. If a person can comfortably operate those mentioned is the Raspberry similar in operation? I don't have a personal computer and am looking for a simple to use system.

It's basically just like any other computer operating under Linux. Linux is not Windows or MacOS. But it is easy and intuitive, and the Raspberry Pi OS version of Linux that they include with it is bare bones rudimentary and simple. The included LibreOffice will properly and easily handle just about any Word or Excel file (as long as there are no macros). The Raspberry Pi 400 is aimed at kids, so the learning curve to operate it can't be rocket science. But you can also program it to do things like operate a home security system that you build and install yourself, or right on up to advanced electrical projects of nigh-on any imaginable sort. For but one example, some automated breweries run off of them. And the computer to electronics GPIO port that runs everything is even included on the model 400 keyboard version. It's a lot of power for $70 to $100 (for the kit, which is likely what you would want).

The hardest thing of all is initially figuring out how to clone the OS from the included 16GB micro-SD card onto something like a 256GB micro-SD card, and then (if needed) expand the partition on the 256GB version out to 256 GB so it isn't being seen as 16GB. After that it's all just plug and play. You will need an HDMI capable monitor. Likely they are all HDMI these days.

EDIT: You can't do the OS cloning on the Pi alone, as if you pull the 16GB micro-SD card out you have just yanked the OS and data storage right out of the computer and now it won't run. Supposedly if you have Windows on a PC or laptop which can also read/write to either an SD or a micro-SD card there is a free download utility that makes this cloning an effortless snap, and there are plenty of website links with all of the easy instructions. I wasn't so lucky, as I don't have Windows, but my laptop does at least have an SD card port. Micro-SD's come with SD adapters that they can be slipped into so they will function when placed into a standard sized SD slot. The hoops one needs to jump through whereby to accomplish this OS cloning within Linux require a reasonably more advanced knowledge of Linux. Micro-SD's are available right up to the 1 terabyte size.