If a person doesn't need GPIO pins or other direct access to hardware [1], I don't understand why people are trying to use them with 1080p and 4K displays, keyboards and mice as general desktop linux computers. You can get a far more capable small form factor or ultra small form factor used Intel Core i5/i7 something corporate desktop with 16GB of RAM and a real SSD for like 150 bucks on eBay (USD). It'll be significantly faster.
Install barebones debian amd64, 'sudo apt install xfce4-desktop', it'll pull in all the xorg and other dependencies and also install a GUI login screen.
20 seconds of searching turned up something that doesn't suck: https://www.ebay.com/itm/820084016851?_skw=dell+optiplex+16G...
The one raspberry pi model which is still close to the original's $35 price is the raspberry pi model 4 1GB which is $49 in Canada. Accounting for inflation and difference between USD:CAD, that's about the same as 35 bucks. I think there are still a ton of uses for raspberry pi 3B+ or model 4 1GB particularly because you can power them off an 802.3af power over ethernet switch and cable, to stick one in a weird place with power and ethernet in one cable, with a basic $15 PoE splitter to USB-C power on the load end. [2]
[1]: https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/rpi-gpio-pins
[2]: https://www.amazon.com/UCTRONICS-PoE-Splitter-USB-C-Complian...
Highly agree with this option. But it's actually far worse than this because the total cost of a Raspberry Pi 5 is also higher than a brand new mini PC that comes with everything (including SSD). You can get an Intel N150 with 16GB RAM and an SSD for $250+ CAD while a Raspberry Pi 5 16GB with required accessories is $400 CAD. More if you want to use an SSD instead of an SD card.
They are also terrible in education. Unreliable, huge set up time, no education software runs on them properly.
On the unreliable thing I got booted off their forums for writing a technical evaluation of the RPi 1 brown out issues with USB. That really put a bad taste in my mouth. Refuse to use any of their products since.
For example, various kinds of STM Nucleo boards with MCUs having far more useful peripherals for an embedded computer than Raspberry Pi can be found for less than $20, and you can connect them to any PC with USB, to load programs on them and to debug them, or if you pay a little more, you can also connect them wirelessly.
The smallest such boards have the size of the through-hole dual-in-line integrated circuits from the past (0.6" width, like the UVPROMs from ancient PCs), and they can be inserted in standard solderless breadboards.
Story: I spent roughly 140 USD and a 20 hours or so integrating RPI 5 2g into my vehicle ODB2/12v system. Programming the PID data from ODB2 into something readable on the RPI is something I never want to do again, and the power issues on RPI (and, lack of support) have made it largely not worth it. Further, I thought I would come up with some use case to use the GPIO pins, (IE a hat for "mechanical" GPS, G force, etc.) but the headaches with power, programming and even the touchscreens I procured have made it not worth it.
I am now working on a basic NUC to replace that and it's a dream in comparison and cost next to nothing. GPIO access on RPI is negated as a "feature" by simply using USB on a NUC or similar mini pc for the same.
In comparison, my older laptop idles at around 5 W, even with multiple applications open. Similar experience more recently when looking at setting up a small home lab, the new Pi 5 seems to idle at around 5 W. A friend told me he has an Intel-based mini PC that draws less power. I'm tempted to try re-purposing an old phone, that should in theory do better.
I'd say the cheap ac to dc power supply it came with is no more than 80% efficient so 6.56W DC would be what I might expect to see if I peeled apart its DC feed side power cable and put a precise clamp ammeter around it.
Absolutely maxed out with stress-ng it's 24.6W at the wall.
You can take upstream kernel and u-boot and tf-a, just build it, flash it and have a working system for 10s of different boards from various manufacturers.
2 GB costs a fraction (but maybe get 4 if you want/need margin) and is more than enough for most projects. And I say this as someone whose opinion is that 32 GB is the absolute bare minimum for a general purpose computer (including laptops).
I've seen someone used the entire raspberry pi zero(dual core 1Ghz cpu with hundreds of MB ram) just to do some http request and display on a simple LCD, with python no less. All can be done with a simple esp32.
But hey, as long as it works, right ?
1. It’s so much easier using RPis for that work. It can be done with no soldering at all and there are tons of easy to use libraries. Not having to solder is a huge plus IMO and I have a workstation with iron, hot plate, air gun, etc. ready and waiting.
2. Why hate on doing it Python? Even ESP32 embedded development ecosystem treats Python well with CircuitPython and MicroPython.
3. At least they are making something!
4. Even a simple ESP32 is overkill for what you described, so why are you hating on people using an RPi when your suggestion is just as laughable when taking your hardcore embedded stance?
As someone who has been working on embedded work since RadioShack was a good source of components - let’s not gatekeep makers.
2: What i mean is the main reason they use Rpi because it can run Python(at least easy, this was before CP/MP mature). If they had spent some effort in C, they can get away with not using rpi.
3: I agree with that, but i really do wish they step out of their comfort zone a little more discovering what is possible.
4: I dont think esp32 is overkill, it's the cheapest and easy to acquire wifi MCU, if you have better suggestion i would like to learn, there is esp8266, but the cost different is not that much.
It's weird there's cheap and plentiful STM32 series things with physical ethernet ports (but they're very weak microcontrollers with little CPU or RAM) which do manage to have real ethernet ports on them...
If you just want a cheap computer the Pi's don't seem so great these days, but the Picos are where the fun is now.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisstokelwalker/raspb...
These days I can buy a old FB marketplace or Craigslist laptop and get EVERYTHING in 1. Maybe have to buy a new battery. Usually $100-150.
If I need IO for controlling sensors and things, there's clone Arduino nanos for $5 from CN or $10 from US. And if anything burns out, it's a simple replace.
I've been done with RPi for a while now.