[HN Gopher] Raspberry Pi 500+
___________________________________________________________________
Raspberry Pi 500+
Author : sohkamyung
Score : 186 points
Date : 2025-09-25 07:52 UTC (15 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.raspberrypi.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.raspberrypi.com)
| rbanffy wrote:
| > When we're designing new Raspberry Pi products, we naturally
| look back to the computers of our childhoods: the tastefully
| beige BBC Micro, the Sinclair Spectrum with its rubber keyboard,
| the Commodore 64 "breadbin", or the grandfather of them all, the
| Apple II.
|
| Now someone needs to make the keycaps with the right themes -
| black with function keys for the BBC, QL-looking for the
| Spectrum, shades of brown for the 64, and brown with "BELL" on
| the G for the Apple II.
| shellac wrote:
| > QL-looking for the Spectrum
|
| I was going to object, but probably right to just skip the
| horror of the true Spectrum keyboard.
| zeristor wrote:
| Maybe they meant the ZX Spectrum II, known to some as "The
| Toaster" for some reason.
|
| Rubber keyboard, I heard it referred to as dead-flesh.
|
| It put me off computing for a few years, that and all the
| bloody modes for different keywords.
| lproven wrote:
| You are mixing up several different computers here.
|
| > Maybe they meant the ZX Spectrum II
|
| No. There was never never a "Spectrum II".
|
| The second model after the original 16K and 48K was the ZX
| Spectrum Plus, in a keyboard derived from the 1984 Sinclair
| QL design.
|
| http://www.retro8bitcomputers.co.uk/Sinclair/ZXSpectrumPlus
|
| Then the 3rd model was the ZX Spectrum 128, in the same
| keyboard, but with more ports and a large external
| heatsink.
|
| https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/2584/sinclair-zx-
| spe...
|
| > known to some as "The Toaster" for some reason.
|
| Nope. The 128 was known as the "toastrack" for the
| heatsink.
|
| > Rubber keyboard, I heard it referred to as dead-flesh.
|
| Not since the Plus model, no.
|
| After the 128, Amstrad bought the brand. It launched the ZX
| Spectrum +2 and +3.
|
| https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/3648/Sinclair-ZX-
| Spe...
|
| https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/509/Sinclair-ZX-
| Spec...
|
| Those are the closest to the nonexistent model number "II"
| but they do _not_ have the QL-derived keyboard.
| JdeBP wrote:
| Although for many years people have just been putting Pis
| inside actual home computer cases. In the BBC case, as a
| (software programmable) Second Processor connected over the
| Tube.
|
| * https://youtube.com/watch?v=mP7fiaync5E
| OhMeadhbh wrote:
| Oh man! It has a REAL keyboard! TAKE MY MONEY!
| geerlingguy wrote:
| For those who don't read through the specs, it uses Gateron
| KS-33 low-profile 'blue' switches (though the plastic on the Pi
| 500+ switches is grey, not blue).
|
| In my testing, the keyboard was between 55-60 dBa from about a
| foot away. Not quiet, but so much better to type on than the Pi
| 400/500's chicklet keyboard that came before.
|
| It's a mid-tier mechanical keyboard with low-end desktop
| performance. So it's not going to move the needle if you're
| satisfied with an N150 mini PC and a cheap keyboard. But if you
| were already thinking of buying a Pi, or you like the keyboard-
| computer aesthetic, this is now the top-end for that
| (especially considering the 16 GB of RAM).
| Kim_Bruning wrote:
| Is it ... is it worth buying for the keyboard alone?
| geerlingguy wrote:
| Definitely not.
|
| Though it would be a decent standalone keyboard if they
| updated the 'Pi Keyboard' design (one of their oldest
| products) with this top case, and with a USB 3 hub integrated
| into it. Price would have to be in the sub-$100 range to be
| interesting, though.
| boneitis wrote:
| If it's just the keyboard appearance itself piquing your
| interest, you might check out the Keychron K3 (the brand has
| apparently grown a lot since I was last shopping around for
| keyboards, so it looks like they have a "K", "K Pro", and "K
| QMK" as well as several other "[Insert Letter Here]" lines of
| models now... back then all they had were K keyboards).
|
| To clarify, this is to say I'm looking on their website right
| now and seeing at least five variants of "K3" alone.
|
| It's hard to tell when all the promotional photos are showing
| either a partial shot or an aggressive angle, but it looks so
| much like my K3 that I actually thought they were going to
| say they collaborated with Keychron on the design.
| josephg wrote:
| Yep I second this. I have a K1 (I think) with blue
| switches. The switches are the most important choice -
| since that controls the entire feel of using the keyboard.
| When I first got mine, I got red switches. But red switches
| don't give you any tactile feedback when it passes the
| threshold to be considered "pressed". I swapped to blues
| and I love them. Very satisfyingly clicky. They're a bit
| loud though. Swapping switches is easy - I think the
| replacement set of blues just set me back $20 or something.
|
| If there are any computer shops you can go in person to try
| them out, I highly recommend it. They make a lot of
| different switches and the feel is a very tactile, personal
| thing. (Though I think I'd also be happy with yellow or
| brown switches after some time with them!)
| M95D wrote:
| Not a real keyboard until it has at least 103 keys.
| amluto wrote:
| Holy smokes, they actually fixed my personal pet peeve of this
| entire product line: it has an internal M.2 slot. The performance
| of pretty much any SD card for a desktop workload is poor to say
| the least, and letting a USB boot device dangle out kind of
| defeats the purpose of the form factor. But this new model has
| actual fast internal storage!
|
| P.S. HN mods, consider fixing the submission name. It's 500+, not
| 500, and that completely changes the meaning of the article.
| jsheard wrote:
| > Holy smokes, they actually fixed my personal pet peeve of
| this entire product line: it has an internal M.2 slot.
|
| What's odd is that the original 500 already had an unpopulated
| M.2 slot, so they considered it a year ago but backed out for
| whatever reason.
| ndxndn wrote:
| I don't think they backed out. It seems clear that they
| always have intended to offer these exact configurations,
| since they are using the same board.
|
| Even the connection to the new keyboard was already present
| on the 500 even though it used another connector than the
| 500+
| dave78 wrote:
| According to Jeff Geerling's video, the main PCB in the 500+
| is identical to the 500, same revision and all. Presumably
| they planned both the 500 and 500+ at the same time so they
| designed a single PCB that could accommodate both, and then
| only populated the m.2 parts when building a 500+.
|
| So I don't think they "backed out" rather just didn't have
| the 500+ ready to launch yet.
| HelloUsername wrote:
| Nice Tenacious D quote
| stavros wrote:
| I wish you were there.
| geerlingguy wrote:
| Nit: It's the Pi 500+ (the + was eaten up by HN's automated title
| sensationalism-removal, I guess)
|
| And I've posted benchmark data to my sbc-reviews repo here:
| https://github.com/geerlingguy/sbc-reviews/issues/81
|
| Performance-wise it's pretty much the same as the Pi 5 16GB (and
| can be slightly faster than the regular Pi 500 depending on the
| task, if it benefits from faster storage or more RAM...)
|
| Since this is the first Pi with built-in NVMe (I'm not counting
| the Compute Module Developer Kit), I plugged in an eGPU and
| tested a new 15-line patch for AMD GPU drivers, which seems to
| support practically all modern AMD graphics cards[1].
|
| [1] https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/full-egpu-
| acceleratio...
| soneil wrote:
| > Nit: It's the Pi 500+
|
| I really want to hope the name is a nod to the Amiga 500+
| (which had twice the RAM of the A500 ..)
| lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote:
| This made me do some research and I'd say it appears so.
|
| https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/raspberry-pi-500-and-
| raspbe...
|
| > Our experiences with that programme informed the
| development of Raspberry Pi 400, our all-in-one PC, _whose
| form factor (and name) harks back to_ the great 8-bit and
| 16-bit computers - _the BBC Micro, Sinclair Spectrum, and
| Commodore Amiga_ - of the 1980s and 1990s.
|
| (emphasis mine)
|
| So the 400 name is explicitly inspired by such systems, their
| next one is called the 500, and the upgrade to that is called
| the 500+. I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that's exactly the
| inspiration.
| deater wrote:
| quite possible because it's from Europe, but remember that
| Apple was sticking + on the end of their model names 6
| years before the Amiga existed.
| chrismorgan wrote:
| > _The ultimate all-in-one PC_
|
| I object to this labelling: the term "all-in-one PC" has always
| been used to mean a computer integrated into a _screen_ , to
| which you must add a keyboard and mouse (or more likely it will
| be bundled with a low-quality keyboard and mouse). But this is a
| computer integrated into a (good) _keyboard_ , to which you must
| add a screen and mouse--and screens are more expensive than
| keyboards. Even a basic not-too-horrible screen will cost another
| $80, and the sort of screen you might like to pair with such a
| keyboard might be double that.
| geerlingguy wrote:
| Yeah; the marketing language around new Pi products is always a
| bit flowery... besides this misnomer calling it 'AIO', the
| marketing also says "uncompromising performance" and "premium
| desktop computer", which I'd argue are quite a stretch, unless
| you're comparing it to SBCs and not... desktop computers!
| TiredOfLife wrote:
| > screens are more expensive than keyboards
|
| This keyboard https://www.norbauer.co/products/the-
| seneca?variant=48640876...
|
| is more expensive than Pro Display XDR with nanotexture and the
| 1k stand
| pdpi wrote:
| Adam Savage posted a video a couple of weeks ago, where he
| discusses this keyboard with Ryan Norbauer. That thing is
| overengineered to the point I'd argue it actually becomes
| some sort of artistic statement.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3FEv1qw4_w
| binary132 wrote:
| Overpriced to the point that it becomes an artistic
| statement: "The buyer fell for it again"
| pcdoodle wrote:
| I really like my new macbook keyboard but hate apple.
| There's something cool about buying from small designers
| that make something you can't get anywhere else, not
| because it's rare, but executed in a way that makes no
| business sense at scale. Find your niche.
| pcdoodle wrote:
| I love it. Great artists ship and they are making what they
| want and lucky enough to have others that appreciate it and
| buy.
| Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
| Seems like the Rolex of keyboards.
|
| People gush over how it's built as if it actually improves
| the function of it.
| vanderZwan wrote:
| At least Norbauer immediately states that it's _" probably
| the world's most insanely irrationally hyperengineered
| keyboard"_ and later on continues that _" nobody needs a
| 3000 dollar keyboard."_
|
| It's clear from that it's a sincere hyper-obsession, shared
| by others within a small community. I can respect that more
| than just making something expensive for the sake of
| appealing to ultra-rich who wish to flaunt their wealth.
| daft_pink wrote:
| I also don't get the language and would prefer to supply my own
| Keychron with a regular raspberry pi.
| esseph wrote:
| Spending more on the keyboard than on the pi! :-)
| imtringued wrote:
| Yeah but screens are dirt cheap if you are willing to buy them
| used via classified ads.
| bombcar wrote:
| The term I've used for these is "single board computer".
| cesarb wrote:
| > Even a basic not-too-horrible screen will cost another $80
|
| I believe the idea is that you'd plug it into the TV you
| already have, like we did in the 1980s.
| close04 wrote:
| Might be good value for the keyboard alone but too bad they
| couldn't put anything better than the 7 year old A76 CPU in
| there. I understand the reasoning, the ecosystem consistency, I
| know that the price limits how cutting edge the internals can be,
| but it's still a pity, for my interest at least.
| wewewedxfgdf wrote:
| What's the point of this? Where does it fit, who is it aimed at
| apart from Explaining Computers and good old Jeff Geerling (hiya
| Jeff!).
|
| Maybe if it has been designed into a retro style case or
| something?
|
| As it stands it's very hard to see who would want this.
| rs186 wrote:
| Since the original 500's release I have never seen a single
| forum post (in generic tech discussions) about the product.
|
| In other words, for me who spends lots of timing
| reading/watching discussions/reviews of gadgets, this never
| came up once, anecdotally.
|
| I don't think you are alone in your confusion.
| jacquesm wrote:
| One has been sitting in my hallway closet running a pretty
| complex HA setup. It has been so rock solid that I more or
| less forgot about it.
| XorNot wrote:
| This one has been on my radar as a first computer for my son
| for a while - just lock out the wifi and set it up with a "boot
| to basic" image maybe?
|
| Certainly something which could grow to support some Arduino
| work.
|
| EDIT: Admittedly this would be a no brainer if there was an
| off-the-shelf Atari ST style thing -
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST purely for the sheer
| mass providing some protection.
| wewewedxfgdf wrote:
| Kids don't want "boot to basic". Old fogey's like me brought
| up on Commodore 64 look back on boot to basic like the good
| old days, but "boot to basic" is long gone and no-one is
| interested in that, except conceptually old people think it
| makes kids learn because that's what made them learn, but
| back in the old days you tolerated boot to basic in a world
| in which the only computer for 3 square miles was the BBC
| micro sitting in front of you.
| JonChesterfield wrote:
| I'm confused by the use case for this. The keyboard gets a cable
| running to a monitor. Might need a power cable as well but let's
| assume usbc covers both.
|
| An alternative is a raspberry pi on the vesa mount, or attached
| to the monitor arm. The cable to a keyboard is now optional,
| wireless USB being much easier than wireless displayport.
|
| Keyboard can now be flat too.
|
| When is this a good idea?
| indigo945 wrote:
| The marketing blurb that's linked makes it quite clear that
| this targets retro hobbyists, who want a modern take on the
| C64. It's not really meant to be a practical design.
|
| It still _is_ a more practical design than a flat keyboard,
| which only masochists would use willingly.
| regularfry wrote:
| So if they had made _one_ change, it would be fantastic as a
| throw-in-the-backpack computer.
|
| That change would be to support display port alt-mode on a
| USB-C port, rather than _only_ having mini-HDMI. If they 'd
| done that, you could plug AR glasses like the XReal One
| straight into it, and not need a separate screen. Your entire
| compute becomes a keyboard+power, glasses, and wireless mouse.
| That would be _really_ nice: two cables, total, one for power
| to the pi and one from the pi to the glasses.
|
| As it is, you need an hdmi to usb-c converter, which also needs
| to be powered, another couple of cables, and more of a setup
| faff each time. It sounds minor, but it's a missed opportunity.
| For me it turns it from "take my money" to "eh... I can do
| better."
| pengaru wrote:
| I thought these kinds of ~affordable computers in keyboards
| were obviously aimed at families/young users plugging into an
| existing TV in the living room, like a modern take on the C64.
| tredre3 wrote:
| > wireless USB being much easier than wireless displayport
|
| I'm sure you meant bluetooth but just so we're all clear:
| Wireless USB isn't easy at all. Hardware availability for it is
| very limited and you'll need adapters on both ends. Frankly
| there's more hardware to wirelessly transfer HDMI than USB.
| thomassmith65 wrote:
| I keep waiting and waiting for a revival of beige plastic in the
| tech industry. This would be a perfect candidate.
| sosborn wrote:
| https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chas...
| threatofrain wrote:
| Depending on what you want to experiment with, a Mac Mini might
| be far more cost-productive for most people wanting to play with
| software and servers.
| pedro_caetano wrote:
| A large part of the original Ethos of the Raspberry Pi
| foundation is to bring back some of the technology fascination
| and allure that children in 1980's Britain experienced with the
| BBC Micro and Acorn computers (which ultimately led to today's
| ARM).
|
| We can assume the 500 is meant more as a nostalgia 'one-
| computer-for-every-child' design more so than a powerful work
| house for developers.
| fsckboy wrote:
| yes, but without us, who will teach these children to piss
| and moan about everything!?
|
| this device would make a very practical workstation for
| developing Raspbery Pi software for little embedded RPi
| projects.
| pjmlp wrote:
| Sure, where can I get a new one at comparable Pi prices?
| threatofrain wrote:
| If you're buying Raspberry Pi's, either the form factor or
| power requirements really worked for you, such as if you're
| in robotics, IoT sensors, or hardware-adjacent stuff, or you
| knew you were spending a little bit extra for the hobby
| space.
|
| That includes all the people setting up home labs for their
| own learning. An M1 is about $250 refurbished under Amazon's
| protection program. If you intend to use this as a hybrid
| device, which many frugal people do, then you'll also likely
| be using this as a desktop device connected to a monitor. The
| cost of electricity will rival your purchase in a year.
|
| If you're gonna buy a throwaway computer for a child to
| experiment with, IMO a used Mac Mini delivers unbelievable
| price efficiency as a general-purpose computer. Use it as a
| server, use it for programming, use it for homework.
| pjmlp wrote:
| I asked for a new one, and I am not going to pay such
| prices for 2nd hand stuff, assuming they exist at all,
| cheapest is 320 EUR on Amazon Germany.
| nsteel wrote:
| If you are going down this path, an N150 machine is
| cheaper, more flexible (Windows), more readily available,
| brand new, and performant enough for all the above use-
| cases. An old Mac Mini makes no sense to me.
| kotaKat wrote:
| STILL no full size HDMI port? Did they let Officer Mayonnaise
| spec the port on this one?
| LiamPowell wrote:
| All the marketing for this advertises it as a desktop computer.
| What's the appeal of this compared to a cheaper and more powerful
| N150 NUC, or a used mini PC if it's for personal use where you
| just need one?
|
| A N150 has about twice the CPU performance, hardware video
| decoding that isn't crippled, and much more software built for
| its architecture among other things.
| omnimus wrote:
| Software support could be one if N150 wasnt x86 from intel.
| hyperbovine wrote:
| Right, this thing is priced from an earlier (pre-BeeLink) era.
| There's just so much more you can get for $200 nowadays, right
| off Amazon.
| binary132 wrote:
| It is fundamentally just a novelty product at this point.
| regularfry wrote:
| The appeal is the form factor, really. A decent amount of
| compute (not amazing, but decent) built into a decent
| mechanical keyboard (jury's out, but I'll believe the sales
| pitch until shown otherwise) is unusual.
| boredhedgehog wrote:
| It requires a separate keyboard, which means more space usage
| and more cables. And not sure, but I think the N150 has a fan,
| so more noise.
| jsheard wrote:
| N150 machines come with or without fans, the chip is cool
| enough to run passively with a decent heatsink.
|
| e.g. https://www.minix.com.hk/products/minix-z150-0db-
| fanless-min...
|
| The ones with fans tend to be cheaper and have better
| sustained performance though.
| card_zero wrote:
| Looks like the whole tiny case is the heatsink, I like it.
| qhwudbebd wrote:
| And the N150 had mainline linux support from day one, whereas
| I'm not sure if there's proper support for pi5-family devices
| in a released mainline kernel even now, two years after the
| launch.
|
| They used to do an good-to-adequate job of linux support, but
| nowadays they seem rubbish at it. Nobody wants to be stuck on a
| downstream kernel full of cobbled-together device support
| that's too poorly-written to upstream.
| Asmod4n wrote:
| It can be used as a usb gadget device, i am not aware of any
| SFF x86 PC that has such a chip.
| rs186 wrote:
| Where's the plus sign in the original title? The current one
| (with "Raspberry Pi 500") does not make any sense.
| glimshe wrote:
| $200 and still micro HDMI? No, thanks.
|
| Who is this product for? I've abandoned RPi after the rise of sub
| $200-PCs on Amazon, which usually come with power supply, on/off
| buttons, dual full size HDMIs, SSDs etc etc.
| sys_64738 wrote:
| That's fine if you want a PC which is totally orthogonal to
| what the Pi is originally for.
| rs186 wrote:
| Since the original 500 was released, I don't think there is any
| other major manufacturer that followed, even the Chinese mini PC
| makers. It feels like nobody really wants this product other than
| maybe some Raspberry Pi users? If this form factor makes sense,
| you would expect other people to build similar devices, like what
| happened after Steam Deck.
| pjmlp wrote:
| Looks quite alright and as someone from the 8 bits generation I
| get the idea, added to my possible gadgets list.
| tiniuclx wrote:
| This seems like an interesting product for tinkerers and
| hobbyists, or possibly for educational purposes (e.g. Linux
| computer for university students to learn on). I find it hard to
| see how this can replace a more typical small desktop computer
| though.
| 72deluxe wrote:
| What sort of things are most people doing on their desktop
| computer that needs more power or RAM though? I can't imagine.
|
| You can still buy woefully underpowered laptops with hopeless
| resolutions and with 4GB of RAM running Windows 11, and that is
| a horrible desktop experience. At least with this it is a
| usable desktop machine, where the normal bottleneck was IO
| speed.
| ceayo wrote:
| The 20 dollar minicomputer has now become the 200 dollar rgb
| keyboard. Still, I've tried and using a raspberry pi as a desktop
| computer but everything is so impractical. Maybe the pi 5 is
| better, but I do not believe it'll ever replace normal desktop
| computers. Raspberry Pi's started as a small board which you can
| even run Linux on, with low power consumption, so toucan run it
| day round for services like home assistant. In my opinion, it
| should stay that way.
| XorNot wrote:
| By the inflation calculator that's dead on the money though:
| https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1960?amount=1
|
| > $1 in 1960 is worth $10.95 today
|
| $20 * 10 = $200
| LiamPowell wrote:
| The first Raspberry Pi was not released in 1960.
| XorNot wrote:
| Huh I read minicomputer and assumed we were talking about
| the first home computers, which that was about their epoch.
| (TBF I don't think any were ever $20 so that's on me).
|
| Although if you go from the Pi 1 in 2012 at $35 at launch,
| it would be about $50 today.
| nebalee wrote:
| The 20 dollar minicomputer has _not_ become the 200 dollar rgb
| keyboard. You can still get a ~20 dollar Raspberry Pi
| minicomputer that runs Linux and has low power consumption: The
| Pi Zero 2. They expanded their range of products on the top,
| both performance and price wise, but boards on the other end of
| the range are still on offer.
| birdalbrocum wrote:
| For 200EUR, you can get yourself an old Thinkpad, flash it with
| some coreboot variation, install a GNU/Linux distribution and in
| process you will learn more things and it is not an RGB keyboard;
| it is really an "all-in-one PC".
| j45 wrote:
| Yes, except the Pi is a throwback to the keyboard as entire
| computers:
|
| - Commodore Vic 64 - Atari ST
|
| Also, this was popular for kids during the pandemic.
|
| I'd consider these pretty viable for kids setup with an apple
| ii emulator to start.
| sys_64738 wrote:
| The power of the Pi comes from the standardized 40 pin GPIO for
| hooking other devices up to.
| lproven wrote:
| I've owned 7, no, 8 of them so far. One is running in my
| "server room" right now, as my Pi-Hole.
|
| I have never ever connected anything to the GPIO.
| sys_64738 wrote:
| I connect various devices over I2C and SPI bus for
| evaluation.
| analog31 wrote:
| This really comes down to a matter of preferences, but I've
| never used the GPIO either. The reason is that a
| microcontroller board makes a much better GPIO for my use.
| Then I can unplug it and put it away when I'm done, use it
| with any PC -- desktop or laptop -- give it away, and carry
| it into the room where my soldering station is. A
| microcontroller also opens up the whole world of stand-alone
| gadgets.
|
| Naturally software / firmware support is an issue. If the
| stuff you want to do is easy to code on your preferred
| platform, that's a reason to keep using it.
| euroderf wrote:
| "It just works", this idea is not.
| ssl-3 wrote:
| "For that price, you can just use an old laptop" has been true
| ever since the OG Raspberry Pi showed up ~13 years ago.
|
| And that's great, and stuff, if what a person wants is the most
| compute they can get for the fewest dollars possible.
|
| But when someone instead wants a quite small computer that is
| actually friendly to hardware tinkering, and they want to buy
| it new, then a used Thinkpad will not scratch that itch -- but
| a new Raspberry Pi will.
|
| (It's a bad comparison. It always has been a bad comparison.)
| fatihkocnet wrote:
| Why they keep raising prices? They are going for laptop prices
| with this pace
| BoredPositron wrote:
| Nice I make good money repairing high end cameras by replacing
| micro HDMI ports. I hope it becomes standard lol.
| bluelightning2k wrote:
| This is impressive but really odd.
|
| Isn't the entire point of Raspberry Pi to _not_ be premium with a
| nice form factor, etc.
|
| And why would I use a mechanical keyboard to drive the type of
| workload I'd be doing on a Pi.
|
| Seems like they've taken super opposite and incompatible parts of
| PC use-cases and combined them in a really odd way.
|
| Great industrial design. Which again isn't something I'd want
| from a Pi. But at the same time we all appreciate.
|
| I kind of like it but do find it baffling.
| florianist wrote:
| So many comments are very negative here. I'm currently using a Pi
| 4 as my home desktop computer and I will probably replace it with
| a Pi 500+. I really want to avoid a pre-installed Windows, want
| my computer to be 100% silent, low energy, and I fancy the
| computer-is-in-keyboard feel. Sure, I might get a mini PC for a
| bit cheaper but I like to support Raspberry Pi. The products are
| easy to get into, have great and lasting software support, and a
| large community behind it.
| apexalpha wrote:
| This would be so much better to use in schools than Macs, iPads
| or crappy Windows PCs.
|
| I hope many schools see this and will consider it.
| extraduder_ire wrote:
| For schools in particular, the promise to keep making them
| until at least January 2035 is a big boon for replacing broken
| ones. Even if it'll likely be replaced with something better
| long before then.
| maratc wrote:
| An improvement over Pi 500 in many ways, but adding keys to the
| right of heavily-used (r) Shift / Enter / Backspace would make it
| much harder to find these keys without looking at the keyboard.
|
| The previous version also had half-height arrows that had some
| negative space ("not keys") above them, and so it was easier to
| position the fingers over the arrows just by feel; this one makes
| it harder.
|
| I'd hope the next generation returns to the previous keyboard
| layout (which was almost perfect for me.)
| JdeBP wrote:
| Earliest post:
|
| * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45370021
|
| Other duplicates:
|
| * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45375782
|
| * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45372608
|
| * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45372319
|
| * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45370260
|
| And yes, the plus sign was omitted in all of them. (-:
| ndxndn wrote:
| The 500+ is nearly my dream PC. While I would have preferred a
| slightly different keyboard layout, it's really nice to be able
| to carry your PC around and have a nice desktop Keyboard.
| KolmogorovComp wrote:
| Why are Rpis still bothering with SD cards? Who did not get their
| pi card corrupted while used as a server?
| kelipso wrote:
| Yeah, worst thing about it. You can't really push it to do a
| lot of tasks because sd cards are so unreliable, compared to
| nvme for example.
| scoopdewoop wrote:
| This has an nvme with the OS pre-installed.
| dave78 wrote:
| Second paragraph in the article:
|
| "Raspberry Pi 500+ boasts ... an internal M.2 socket pre-fitted
| with a 256GB Raspberry Pi SSD"
|
| so I'm not sure what your point about SD cards is in this case.
| Scramblejams wrote:
| I did not!* Through many Pis serving many years and
| experiencing many power outages.
|
| But I'm using CanaKit power supplies (which supply 5.1 volts,
| Rpis are notoriously flaky if the voltage dips just a little
| below 5v) and ATP industrial automotive-grade flash cards (not
| a big premium in absolute terms, I think 32 gig cards are $13
| on Digikey).
|
| * Okay okay, before I switched to those accessories I did have
| problems.
| cypherpunks01 wrote:
| Are sd cards still corrupting all the time in rpi servers even
| with high-quality SLC sd cards, or just with cheap consumer sd
| cards?
| Rohansi wrote:
| Most likely cheap or fake SD cards. I've been running a
| Raspberry Pi camera (recording) to a SanDisk SD card for
| years and it's still going strong.
| Aurornis wrote:
| It has a built-in 256GB SSD
|
| The SD card is a very easy common and well documented way for
| new users to image the device.
| bitwize wrote:
| I put an NVMe SSD in a USB3 enclosure and boot my Pi 4 from
| that, just to be safe. But I've never actually experienced Pi
| SD card corruption. I don't know whether it's because I choose
| good power supplies, good cards, or both.
| drnick1 wrote:
| What's the point of this? Most of us here on HN probably already
| own good to god tier mechanical keyboards. If I really wanted a
| Pi (I don't), I would get a VESA mount for it. But you have to
| keep it mind that Pi's can't even play 4k videos at 60fps
| reliably and are kind of a terrible choice for general desktop
| use against N100 (or later) mini-PCs, or even used thin clients
| like ThinkCenters with laptop CPUs that are far more capable.
| pcdoodle wrote:
| I don't own a mechanical keyboard but it's fun because you
| could upcycle it at end of life to a cool keyboard.
| dheera wrote:
| Maybe it can be an advanced keyboard that does more than just a
| keyboard. Like maybe it calls an LLM and types shit for you,
| and you plug it into something else as a USB device, and
| implement USB 1.0 by bit-banging the GPIO or some shit
| gorgoiler wrote:
| Daily driving with a Pi was very very close to possible for me,
| back in 2020 when I last tried it, but unfortunately a Pi 4 just
| didn't have enough oomph to handle bigger web apps like outlook
| webmail, Google's productivity suite, or a few other tools I
| needed for my job.
|
| How does the Pi 5 family compare, five years on?
| georgemcbay wrote:
| In my experience, its a lot better than the Pi 4 was at fitting
| this niche, but unless you really need ARM or Pi GPIO or some
| other specific feature you're better off just using an N150
| based mini pc.
| kimmygraham wrote:
| Is it possible yet to Miracast from the Pi to a smart TV? I like
| the form factor, but I'd love to only be tethered to power and
| not HDMI.
| vegancap wrote:
| I've been around long enough to find it absolutely astonishing,
| that you can now fit a computer with 16gb of ram, 265gb of
| storage and a quad core processor, with no cooling, inside a
| keyboard.
| thw_9a83c wrote:
| It is astonishing! It's especially impressive when you realize
| that the motherboard itself is so small that most of the
| keyboard interior is basically empty space [0].
|
| [0]:
| https://assets.raspberrypi.com/static/25912715ba437c32c56757...
| vegancap wrote:
| That's incredible!
| thw_9a83c wrote:
| For a comparison, the "similar" computer from 2006 [0] had
| a maximum configuration of 4xCPU @ 1 GHz and 8GB of RAM. It
| weighed 60 lb (27 kg) and looked like this:
|
| https://imgur.com/fc7BWTc
|
| But Raspberry Pi 500+ has already 2.4GHz quad-core ARM64
| CPU and 16GB RAM.
|
| [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Tezro
| segmondy wrote:
| We are going to see a $1,000 Raspberry pi in the next decade,
| won't we?
| kennywinker wrote:
| Their original premise, a super low cost linux system for
| hardware exploration, is constantly being undermined by their
| price, imo. For most projects, as long as you don't need GPIOs
| or super low power consumption, you should probably use an old
| mini pc that's destined for scrap and cost less.
| pinkmuffinere wrote:
| Is it really? If you want super low cost, they have the zero
| w2, the rpi2, the rpi3, etc. I feel they've already mostly
| perfected the products for that purpose. But of course they
| don't want to just 'stop building', so now they're moving up
| to more premium options. I feel there's nothing wrong with
| this. If you want the low cost exploration, stick with the
| things they designed forever ago, which fit that purpose.
| renewiltord wrote:
| A nice nod to the past, but my problem with the Raspberry Pi
| series has always been that the power brick has been immense. One
| thing that would be cool is if there were one like this with an
| integrated power-supply and an internal reel for the power cable.
| As it is, the power bricks are always the largest part of these
| devices.
| forsakenharmony wrote:
| clicky switches are a crime
| Computer0 wrote:
| The ultimate I want it, I don't need it. What would I possibly
| use this for I can't already do? No clue. But there's a fire of
| desire burning in me - for this thing! I am on a no-buying streak
| due to the economy. But in another universe I would've already
| purchased this.
| pinkmuffinere wrote:
| IMO the coolest thing about this is that it all fits in a
| keyboard. It would be awesome if this came bundled with smart
| glasses, so I could walk into a coffee shop with just keyboard
| and glasses, and get work done without having to hunch over my
| laptop. Of course the present offering is lacking in computing
| power (and any form of display)
| lsch1033 wrote:
| Its dimensions are 312mm x 123.06mm x 35.76mm, so volumetrically
| it's 107.8% of a generic 14 inch laptop I'm currently typing on.
| The power button is the top right key on the keyboard, right next
| to the F12 / Delete key.
| watersb wrote:
| Looks amazing.
|
| Keyboards that put various control keys down the rightmost edge
| of the keyboard -- these drive me insane.
|
| Fitt's Law and me with keyboards.
|
| I could just remap the keys, or cover that edge of the keyboard
| somehow.
|
| Which would also be an homage to the classic computers that we
| all grew up with: covering that Reset Key on the Apple ][ with a
| cassette tape case.
|
| (fancy example https://www.callapple.org/vintage-apple-
| computers/apple-ii/h... )
| keernan wrote:
| I've been using keyboards since ... well since they replaced
| electric typewriters which in turn replaced my Royal mechanical
| typewriter. I never much thought about keyboards until the
| keyboard on my Lenovo Ideapad. I thought that was the best
| keyboard ever.
|
| Until I laid out $120 for a mechanical keyboard (a Nuphy Air75).
| I just love it.
|
| And here is a mechanical keyboard with a computer inside
| (actually two; one just to program the keyboard) that isn't that
| much more than I paid for my Nuphy. I already own three rpi that
| I don't use. But the itch to buy one of these is attacking me.
| Maybe I'll get some AI glasses...
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