Still waiting for a Pi 500 and wondering what do this summer?
- Reference: 1723624512
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/08/14/still_waiting_for_a_pi/
- Source link:
The [1]Raspberry Pi 400 is getting a little long in the tooth these days. Initially launched in 2020, 12 months after the [2]Raspberry Pi 4 made its debut , the computer-in-a-keyboard was a throwback to those halcyon days of plugging a BBC Micro or Commodore 64 into the family TV and getting down to typing without worrying about plugging in a keyboard.
It has been almost a year since the [3]Raspberry Pi 5 was introduced , with a jump in performance, memory, and price. However, the launch date for the Pi-500 remains as yet unconfirmed.
[4]
Pi supremo Eben Upton was playing his cards close to his chest on the matter, simply acknowledging to The Register : "We know people are waiting for it."
[5]
[6]
The Raspberry Pi is nothing if not a device for tinkerers and hobbyists to do their worst – or best – with. As we wait for the official Pi-500, here are a couple of stand-out builds to keep you and your 3D printer amused over the summer.
Coming in at the end of 2023 was [7]Christopher Barnatt's excellent Pi 500 . Barnatt's [8]initial build came soon after the release of the Pi 5 and so lacked some of the fripperies (such as the [9]M.2 HAT that turned up in 2024) but was notably chunkier than the Pi 400 since it is a brave person that runs a Pi 5 without some sort of cooling solution – ideally active.
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There's a certain retro-chic to Barnatt's design. While the color was apparently chosen to mimic that of the original Amiga 500, the whole thing puts us much more in mind of an Acorn Electron, just chiclet keys instead of Acorn's beefier device. If it weren't for fear of destroying a classic bit of hardware, there might be scope for using a real Electron case and keyboard. After all, [11]it's been done before .
Barnatt used extenders for a full-sized HDMI port, Ethernet, and USB sockets. However, he also used USB to connect an NVMe SSD.
Unlike Arnov Sharma, who was able to make use of the official M.2 HAT for his 128GB SSD. Sharma has also dubbed his unit: [12]the Pi 1000 .
[13]DEF CON badge disagreement gets physical as firmware dev removed from event stage
[14]Raspberry Pi Pico 2 lands with (drum roll) RISC-V cores
[15]Pi goes to spaaaaace... for a bit longer than planned
[16]Raspberry Pi OS airs out some fresh options for the summer
This device takes an ordinary membrane keyboard and replaces the backing plate with a custom enclosure for a 4GB Pi 5 and associated hardware. However, unlike Barnatt's design, the Pi 5 is clearly visible, with ports accessible through a gap in the custom case rather than via extenders.
Then again, the use of the M.2 HAT makes for some impressive performance from the diminutive machine. The addition of a chunky volume control also has a certain appeal.
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For version 2, Sharma intends to aim for a thinner form by making the keyboard from scratch.
While we wait for the official Pi-500 to appear, Barnatt's and Sharma's takes on a modern all-in-one are ideal fodder for summer tinkering and will give the Raspberry Pi team food for thought about what the actual hardware should look like. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/02/pi-400/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2019/06/24/raspberry_pi_4_model_b/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/28/raspberry_pi_5_revealed/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZryARud2hNwme6BLhQRwXgAAAM4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZryARud2hNwme6BLhQRwXgAAAM4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZryARud2hNwme6BLhQRwXgAAAM4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://youtu.be/2WphP4qpaM8?feature=shared
[8] https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/explaining-computers-beat-us-to-raspberry-pi-500/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/15/raspberry_pi_m2_hat/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZryARud2hNwme6BLhQRwXgAAAM4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://youtu.be/NU6UKHG0lqk?si=HgFalaaCCsXBq0CV
[12] https://www.hackster.io/Arnov_Sharma_makes/raspberry-pi-1000-6b8710
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/13/defcon_badge_disagreement_gets_physical/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/pi_pico_2_risc_v/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/18/pi_in_spaaaaace_for_a/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/09/raspberry_pi_os_5_3/
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZryARud2hNwme6BLhQRwXgAAAM4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Point
Intel N100 is much better in almost every metric.
Why bother with RPi?
Re: Point
Because we want to?
Pretty sick of N100 spam . . .
Re: Point
There are people who are into self harm...
RPi missed the mark with that release. I bought RPi 5 a while ago and it's rubbish.
Re: Point
Pretty scummy reply.
Re: Point
... and it's rubbish.
It's always good to see a careful, considered, and generally well thought out criticism.
Re: Point
The PCIe implementation is half baked, good luck finding NVMe drive that will work with it and then build trust it is not going to randomly crap out.
I couldn't get Ethernet to work reliably with the stock distribution and WiFi dies after few days and requires hard reboot.
I don't have time to troubleshoot that pile of eWaste.
Re: Point
N100 and N305 and Intel's most exciting CPUs from the past few years. Similar power draw to ARM CPUs of the same performance but with open drivers, cheaper and with the x86 ecosystem where you can just use a generic ISO to install the OS instead of needing a custom built ROM for each SOC.
Re: Point
Translation: I want to run Windoze and those nasty Pi people won't let me ;)
Re: Point
The N100 appears to be a CPU rather than a complete system.
Recommended price is $55 apparently, so I assume everything else required will push that up, and will the resulting system end up being anything like a Pi, or just a low-end PC? Which isn't what the Pi was really ever meant to be.
On top of which, no-one claims that the RPi is the best in pure bang for the buck terms- you've long been able to buy similarly-named Chinese knockoffs if that's your main priority.
The Pi's ecosystem and support is as much a part of the appeal.
Re: Point
You can buy complete N100 mini PC cheaper than similarly specced RPi 5
.
Re: Point
Feel free to provide a link or example, which I'd have thought you'd have done anyway.
But I suspect that even if such machines exist, they're not going to fill the same niche as the Pi.
If the N100- based system was closer to what you wanted, good for you. Let us know how you got on with it.
> There's a certain retro-chic to Barnatt's [custom-built Pi 500]. While the color was apparently chosen to mimic that of the original Amiga 500
I clicked the video link, and the colour looks more like an aged and yellowed Amiga 500, certainly not the light cream/beige it would have been when new.
(It even has the mismatched key colour you see in devices where the plastic in different components has aged at a different rate).
A similar complaint was made about that mini Atari 400 replica that came out recently.
Are people under the impression that's what all those vintage computers looked like originally, or were *meant* to look like? Or do some *want* them to look like degraded 40-year old antiques, even if that's not flattering?
I hope it arrives by Autumn, and that it exposes the PCIe a little differently and conveniently since it will in inside a wide case, so hopefully room for custom PCIe expansions to have some space in there alongside (not on top of) the system board.