All Linux Things

Raspberry Pi foundation has announced the release of the Raspberry Pi 5. It will be available in October. It looks like it gets a pretty good speed bump and an independent I/O chip. The full announcement can be read at <https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/introd ... erry-pi-5/>

I would like to up the capabilities of my NextCloud server perhaps looking into adding more media storage. and get my Pi 3B+ back to running RISC OS.

Ive seen a number of previews on Youtube about it with Explaining Computers as one example.

Tom's Hardware has some good stuff on it.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/raspberry-pi-5

It looks like the Raspberry Pis are getting back in stock. The new Pi 5 is showing up as shipping end of November. I also noted that Pi 4s and 3s are once again showing up for sale. The new Pi 5s are more expensive, but they are also more impressive. Pi designed their own silicone to handle I/O on USB and it has added support for a PC slot (M.2?). It does use a lot more power as well. I am pretty sure I do not have a use for the Pi 5, but I am looking to perhaps get a Pi 4. I would like to upgrade my NextCloud server, and take the Pi 3B+ back to playing with RiscOS. The Pi 5 looks like a big leap forward in performance. It gravitates to being a desktop machine. Part of that seems a shame, because it feels like a small maker kind of thing meant to play on. You know an erector set for the big kids.

As I was poking around the Raspberry Pi side I decided to download the Raspberry Pi OS for desktops to give it a try. It remains a 32bit Debian Bullseye build, with the Pi Desktop. When I have used it on the Pi it seems quite functional, while being very minimal.

$60-$90 is a lot for the Pi5. Ive got HP Elitedesk 800 G2 minis with a i5 6500t 35w cpu ,with m.2 nvme slot ,as well as sata 2.5 support ,with two ram slots(up to 64gb ram) for $30-$35. The system pulls about 14w at idle and is a very small system overall with an abundance of ports. The Pi5 also appears to need active cooling according to the article. Pi4 looks like a much better option.

I have a few Pi's v1 v3 v4 and am pretty happy with what they do but I can't see the need to upgrade to a v5 at the moment, although if I spot one at the right price (pretty doubtful on past experience) I will probably pick it up. They are great playthings and have some great uses but not enough (IMO) to warrant rushing to buy one, like CC said a cheap second hand laptop will probably outrun it in terms of capabilities and for only a few watts more of power.

The mini pc I mentioned above can be had for $30-50 with 4th or 6th gen cpus. Dell Latitude laptops like the e6440 can be had for $40-$60 with 6th gen cpus but the 4th gen are even cheaper.

Yes, there seems to be an abundance of cheap low power laptops on the market right now, I think mainly due to M$ trying to kill of all old hardware, I just picked up 10 laptops (no ram or hdd) for 99p on ebay! all work and have good screens, one has a key missing but only 1 has a good battery, although for small projects that can remain plugged in they're a bargain!

What will you use the 10 laptops for? I got my two Dell E6440s with good batteries, 16gb ram, good screens with psu adapters and a docking station for $120.

crosscourt wrote: ↑Sat Oct 28, 2023 9:51 pmWhat will you use the 10 laptops for?

Tbh I'm just going to set up a small network for testing, I want to use low power devices for economic reasons and even my server is an old dell E5570, which again didn't cost a lot (it was "spare or repair" purchase that I repaired). I bought a small network switch and am hoping I can have a small network (10 clients, 1 server, and a switch) for less that £100, Although by the time I cable it all out I might creep over the budget a little but those laptops certainly gave me a good start.
I did have to collect the laptops and that cost around £25 of fuel, but still keeps me within budget.