[Closed] Raspberry Pi 400, what a cool little bit of kit.

I don’t need one.
I don’t need one.
I don’t need one.

I'm convincing myself I don't need it either but it would be a great little project.

Media centre perhaps?😁

I'd buy one and fill it with ZX Spectrum and C64 emulators.

Yep ordered one this evening, hardly cost much more than a bare Pi 4 4gb.

@zilog6128

Where did you order from matey?

Pimoroni, only place I could find with any stock! They are good though, ordered lots from them before.

^^ Ah, cheers matey!

I wonder if it will run Ubuntu as the Pi 4 does 🤔

@sharkbait Is it not a Pi 4 in a keyboard shaped case? So it’ll run Raspbian and presumably most other flavours of Linux?

Will they do an 8gb version?

So it’ll run Raspbian and presumably most other flavours of Linux?

Yep it probably will but a lot of work has been done to get Ubuntu fully compliant with the Pi 4 - is this just a Pi 4 in a keyboard case?

I can't really decide if I want one or not.
At our other place I've got an USFF pc running Ubuntu and was thinking about a Pi 4 that I could simply stick on the back of the monitor to be tidier and easier to get out/put away.
This may do the job but I'm concerned that the keyboard might be a bit crap and I'd end up regretting not just having a Pi 4 and a 'normal' keyboard (which could be wireless also).
🤔

is this just a Pi 4 in a keyboard case?

"Raspberry Pi 400 incorporates a purpose-built board based on Raspberry Pi 4. Featuring the same powerful processor, Raspberry Pi 400 has specially designed thermals to keep your computer cool and silent while you’re hard at work."

This may do the job but I’m concerned that the keyboard might be a bit crap

Let's not forget of course what the Pi is ACTUALLY for... getting kids interested in & learning about how computers/coding/electronics work, on the cheap... this is an amazing bit of kit for the price! Combined with a cheap Elegoo electronics project kit this would make an awesome Xmas present, would've killed for something like this when I was little 🤣

Would I be able to access my work VDI over Citrix on one? Just needs a browser and Citrix Client install-ability.

@jimmy not done that myself but apparently so:
https://medium.com/@swagattripathy/installing-citrix-workspace-app-on-raspberry-pi-4b-e14399d4b9f3

could even be the PERFECT solution for accessing a work computer remotely 😉

Thanks @zilog6128.

I have a monitor from work but not enough desk space to use the laptop as the PC unit, so this could be ideal.
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Let’s not forget of course what the Pi is ACTUALLY for… getting kids interested in & learning about how computers/coding/electronics actually work, on the cheap

Absolutely.

Would I be able to access my work VDI over Citrix on one? Just needs a browser and Citrix Client install-ability.

Probably - there's a Citrix Workspace app for Linux

I wonder if it will run Ubuntu as the Pi 4 does

Good review on Ars  - https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/raspberry-pi-400-the-under-100-desktop-pc-you-didnt-know-you-needed  

TL;DR yes, but slowly.

Let’s not forget of course what the Pi is ACTUALLY for…

Buying because it's cheap and cool, then sticking in a drawer whilst thinking "I really should do something with that at some point..."?

Ordered one yesterday. Shortly to be a retro gaming thing.

Been trying to come up with an idea for our son's 13th birthday - this could be an option.
Don't know too much about the Raspberry Pi - what sort of stuff could he do on it with an electronics project kit?
Anyone got kids who use these??
Thanks.

Buying because it’s cheap and cool, then sticking in a drawer whilst thinking “I really should do something with that at some point…”?

I had one in my desk draw for years, never used it!

NS - the obvious answer for your son is to build some form of media centre or retro-gaming console.

I use mine to run a weather station that feeds onto t'net..

But the original bare-bones device was somewhat intimidating. You needed to hunt down a set of cables, a mouse, a keyboard and a monitor

The horror!

Or run it headerless and remote into it.

But this one is definitely easier to access..

I got a Pi3 kit for Christmas a couple of years ago. Went for the retro Nintendo kit with case and joypads to set it up as an emulator for old 8 and 16 bit computers.

After playing with the software and getting it to work well, I twigged that I was playing it into the large monitor I also have a nice fairly powefull PC also going into.

Now have the retro stuff on the PC in a nice packaged front end, running much better than it did on the Pi.

The Pi has ended up being a music server, running Volumio and connected to a basic always on NAS for music anywhere.

This new Pi400 is probably great if you want a retro gaming setup plugged into the main TV or similar but, if you have a reasonable PC anywhere close you'd probably be better using that.

Arstechnica review:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/raspberry-pi-400-the-under-100-desktop-pc-you-didnt-know-you-needed/

Been trying to come up with an idea for our son’s 13th birthday – this could be an option.
Don’t know too much about the Raspberry Pi – what sort of stuff could he do on it with an electronics project kit?

As above, the retro gaming stuff is a great project, I'd recommend one of the PiCade kits cos they look proper arcade-y (you'll want a bare Pi though). The Pi 4 is a lot faster than the older 3 but you'll still want to stick to old-school 80s games probably, not SF2 Turbo etc!!

Obviously if you got a bare Pi you'll need at minimum a keyboard & monitor/telly to plug into it to be able to use it, personally I prefer developing on the Pi I'm using but remotely connecting to it from another computer (normally my main computer with 2x 27" screens 😂) so you might want to do this either from an existing laptop/PC or even a Pi 400 (can never have enough Pis 😃)

If you just wanted a bunch of LEDs, buttons, sensors, etc to mess around with doing quick mini projects just to see how everything works (including coding!) then something like this is great, pretty cheap & covers most of the bases https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06W54L7B5/ref=as_li_ss_tl?language=en_US&ie=UTF8&linkCode=gs2&linkId=c23897eaec59d69836295acc4b22efc7&tag=eh0e9-21
This would be fine with the Pi 400. In fact, if you did get the new Pi 400, I think it's pretty essential to get a ribbon cable/extension board for the GPIO pins (which IS included in that kit) otherwise said pins are actually pretty awkwardly placed at the back of the keyboard. These kits are great to get lights flashing, motors spinning, learn about the fundamentals of electronics & programming but they don't actually really DO anything, but could provide a great base to build on & then choose what other projects he wants to do

I think a lot of it would depend on what you think your kid would be interested in & whether you think he will want/be able to learn coding, about resistors/electronics etc to be able to produce independent projects or whether he'd just be happy to follow step-by-step guides & end up with something cool. Also regards your knowledge and/or willingness to learn (you'll get a LOT more out of a Pi if you know how to use Linux properly!)

Just be aware if you are tinkering with the GPIO pins it's pretty easy to instantly kill a Pi e.g. by shorting 5v & 3.3v so it's important to be methodical & check things before applying power, not just go randomly plugging jumper leads in etc!!

Anyone any thoughts on the potential to connect that wirelessly to a tv (something like a chromecast?)... I sometimes sit on the sofa pottering on a pi remotely using my laptop - and this would be ideal if I didn't need cables across the living room to the TV... Mouse rather that a trackpad.

@poly don't think so, I think something like wireless HDMI is probably the (expensive!) solution. Or you could use the Pi to remote into another Pi that is plugged into the telly 😃

Anyone any thoughts on the potential to connect that wirelessly to a tv (something like a chromecast?)… I sometimes sit on the sofa pottering on a pi remotely using my laptop – and this would be ideal if I didn’t need cables across the living room to the TV… Mouse rather that a trackpad.

I have a Pi4B connected up behind the Living room TV that I use for Video calling. I use one of these to operate it from the comfort of my sofa, but have also used a full size logitech wireless keyboard and mouse.

Just googled the launch prices for the Sinclair ZX81 - £69.95 assembled, 270 at 2020 prices

We're home schooling our 11 year old daughter for the time being (not Covid related).

I just bought a Pi 4 and case. I'd always wanted to build one together with her, and show her some fundamentals of computing and programming. There looks to be lots of free resource on their site, and others.

Looking forward to messing about with it.

Pi 400 arrived this morning, not fired it up yet but it looks great - nice design, looks ace in red & white, keyboard seems OK (very similar design to say an Apple wireless keyboard but not quite as nice)