Raspberry Pi 500 Launches Along With Raspberry Pi Monitor

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  • Grawp
    Junior Member
    • Jul 2009
    • 44

    #21
    Originally posted by npwx View Post

    I bought a Pi400 for my 6 year old son. The device is well suited for a child, not much he can break, doesn't take up a lot of space and is enough like a real computer that it is actually interesting to him.
    That's actually something I haven't thought about. Children! That makes question they decision not to include at least one standard HDMI connector - which is quite robust - even more.

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    • moonwalker
      Senior Member
      • Dec 2013
      • 220

      #22
      Originally posted by Grawp View Post
      Pi<x>00 as a concept I've never fully understood. Why inseparably bind a horrible keyboard with a (mediocre - but that doesn't matter now) SBC. Why there even is a market for a device that let you choose your own display but not keyboard?

      Anyway, regarding the monitor. I've immediately ordered one because the price is quite good for a 15" FHD IPS and being able to power it from 5V is very nice for with my use-case being a portable workbench monitor for SBC when working with osciloscopes (without its own display), logic analyzers, flashing and debugging tools etc.. and also for my SteamDeck when traveling which I use instead of a laptop. (I can't stand laptop keyboards like at all... )
      Maybe the key is in "I can't stand laptop keyboards like at all". Which, while not unique, is not universal either. You don't need to like it yourself, you just need to understand that people are not built from exact same blueprints, there are plenty variations so that different people like different key shape, size, travel, layout, etc., and there are enough people that do like laptop-style keyboards and some even prefer them over more traditional or "ergonomic" ones for various reasons. And for those people that are okay with laptop-style keyboard and want to use RPi as a desktop, RPi 400/500 are near perfect machine: they are simpler to set up as you don't need external keyboard and don't have to figure out case and cooling - built-in heatsink in RPi400 is more than adequate while 100% silent. It's an even better starter/learning machine than the standard SBC RPi.

      There was only one downside to RPi400 as opposed to RPi4 - you couldn't get it with 8GiB RAM. With CM5 being promised to become available with 16GiB RAM, I am a bit disappointed RPi500 is fixed to 8GiB, and ever more so - lacks M.2 slot for SSD.

      BTW, physically the RPi400 keyboard looks virtually identical to the keyboard used in PineBook Pro, and keyboard in PBP can be re-flashed with different firmware to remap some keys. I haven't tried doing that with RPi400 though.
      Last edited by moonwalker; 09 December 2024, 03:26 PM.

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      • rclark
        Senior Member
        • Oct 2021
        • 199

        #23
        I will probably get one ({edited} in fact just ordered one up from the pishop.us). Since you really need a keyboard and screen now to initially setup a new RPI SD/usb ssd, this will come in handy. Right now I have to have a keyboard/mouse handy (and an HDMI display) when I build a new disk image. With this I can eliminate a keyboard and a test RPI sitting around for those times I need them. An all-in-one. When done, just toss the RPI-500 back on the shelf and workbench is clear.

        I've also thought about using the 'motherboard' of the RPI-400 for a project as all the connectors are on one side. Now we have the RPI-500 as well as an option. I just haven't come up with such a project where it is needed... yet! Seems like there should be!
        Last edited by rclark; 09 December 2024, 03:33 PM.

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        • caligula
          Senior Member
          • Jan 2014
          • 3331

          #24
          Originally posted by Grawp View Post
          Regarding voltage boost: Small (embedded) displays actually have step-down circuitry (or even just linear regulator) from 5V to above 3.something V (actually regulating current not voltage but the voltage is dropped nevertheless). Laptop displays very probably have multiple LEDs in series to more closely match input voltage which might be 16-20V. Unless somebody tear down the Pi display I'd say it is hard to be certain whether it has LEDs also in series or just in parallel.
          Yes the logic boards probably use 3.3V or less. 5V would be quite good for white LEDs in parallel, but that's wasteful. The voltage drop is much higher. 12V would allow chaining up to three LEDs. The brightness would be controlled with a current limiting circuit.

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          • thomasjkenney
            Phoronix Member
            • Oct 2023
            • 66

            #25
            Originally posted by Terr-E View Post
            Same!
            This absolutely feels like the modern equivalent of the C64. And I hope it will inspire a young generation to start tinkering with hard- and software, just like we did back then.
            COUGH-COUGH-amiga500-COUGH-COUGH

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            • QwertyChouskie
              Senior Member
              • Nov 2017
              • 637

              #26
              Originally posted by alexenv View Post

              Unpopulated bits on the left are for Power over Ethernet.

              This device really makes little sense over a Pi 5 with all the stuff that's currently missing. Just buy a (better) keyboard and connect it via USB...
              Looks like there is room for some sort of port as well, so I kinda doubt it's only for PoE.

              I do hope we see a Plus model come to fruition with NVMe, PoE, whatever that side port is for, and perhaps 16GB of RAM. While the market for this version would certainly be smaller due to the increased cost, it's quite likely that there is a big enough market to make it worthwhile. After all, they already clearly did the board design work...

              Comment

              • anda_skoa
                Senior Member
                • Nov 2013
                • 1192

                #27
                Originally posted by thomasjkenney View Post
                COUGH-COUGH-amiga500-COUGH-COUGH
                Yes, and the Atari ST.

                This all-in-one form factor and using a simple TV instead of a computer monitor did help a lot to spread the usage of computers at home.

                What the Pi500 shares specifically with the C64 is the direct access to programmable pins.
                At least I don't remember the A500 (or A1200) and Atari ST having them.

                Comment

                • alexenv
                  Junior Member
                  • Jun 2024
                  • 45

                  #28
                  Originally posted by QwertyChouskie View Post

                  Looks like there is room for some sort of port as well, so I kinda doubt it's only for PoE.

                  I do hope we see a Plus model come to fruition with NVMe, PoE, whatever that side port is for, and perhaps 16GB of RAM. While the market for this version would certainly be smaller due to the increased cost, it's quite likely that there is a big enough market to make it worthwhile. After all, they already clearly did the board design work...
                  That cutout appears to be for the PoE step down transformer.

                  Comment

                  • stormcrow
                    Senior Member
                    • Jul 2017
                    • 1514

                    #29
                    Originally posted by ayumu View Post
                    Cute.

                    Too bad about only 8GB RAM.

                    It will be better to wait for the 16GB variant, even if it possibly will never come.
                    8GB is sufficient for the target audience of tinkerers and most desktop uses, including anyone building the vast majority of open source projects. No one in their right mind is going to be building Chromium on any Pi regardless of how much RAM it has.

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                    • ayumu
                      Senior Member
                      • Oct 2008
                      • 659

                      #30
                      Originally posted by stormcrow View Post

                      8GB is sufficient for the target audience of tinkerers and most desktop uses, including anyone building the vast majority of open source projects. No one in their right mind is going to be building Chromium on any Pi regardless of how much RAM it has.
                      I use a 16GB laptop that's always clogged deep into swap in normal usage (plasma with browser, text editor and little else). 16GB is survivable. 8GB, not so much.

                      Of course, if I wanted to use it primarily to build chromium I'd want at least 64GB.

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