5 ms·

Interesting differences to the pi 3 io is the dual hdmi out. I don't use the hdmi out very much on any of my pis so I find this interesting. Are people using t

Interesting differences to the pi 3 io is the dual hdmi out. I don't use the hdmi out very much on any of my pis so I find this interesting. Are people using these as workstations? Even with stripped down Debian they seem kind of slow even just browsing the web.

eknkc 7y ago
Was thinking the same thing. It can drive two 4k displays. Yay! Who the hell uses these like that?
- jonhendry18 7y ago
  That's two menu screens at a fast food restaurant. (They need not be 4k, of course.)
michielr 7y ago
They get used as a 'kiosk' a lot, even for commercial use. I'm guessing this caters to that need.
ycombinete 7y ago
I’ve often noticed Pi’s attached to the back of tvs running adverts in retail situations. Perhaps this has something to do with it.
cmauniada 7y ago
Apart from work, we learned to write bare bone code on these so it was necessary having an HDMI output. Our project was to re create a classic game without using the OS, straight up programming on metal. So the HDMI was much needed.
wrong_variable 7y ago
Definitely ! I do not use my laptop's keyboard, mouse or monitor. Everything is external for me. A much more powerful rPi means it might be possible to ditch the laptop form factor for good. The only missing piece of technology for me is a laptop body WITHOUT a compute core ( only screen and a cheap keyboard ). So that I can attach a rPi at the back. Linux runs very well on ARM, in relation to Intel. and the power consumption is tiny ! I can run an rPi on portable battery for days ! it would be really cool if I could attach, reattach multiple battery pack onto my laptop.
- weikju 7y ago
  There's the Nexdock / Nexdock 2 [0], if to be believed that will be shipping later this year, And some other projects listed here in a Purism thread [1] [0] http://nexdock.com/ http://nexdock.com/ [1] https://forums.puri.sm/t/librem-shell-idea-razer-project-linda/2206 https://forums.puri.sm/t/librem-shell-idea-razer-project-lin...
  - etrautmann 7y ago
    This is the opposite though as it forces one to use the laptop form factor.
    - weikju 7y ago
      Is the opposite of what? Wrong variable was asking for a laptop without compute part to which they could strap a Pi. That’s exactly what the Nexdock is at least.
resfirestar 7y ago
Education users? K-12 classroom use probably would be as workstations, and dual displays would be useful for the teacher (monitor + projector).
asark 7y ago
Looking at the 3 vs. 4, my eye went to the memory options—up to 4GB in the 4, versus 1GB in the 3—the USB 3 ports, and the fact that the 4 just says "Gigabit Ethernet", not "Gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0". H.265 hardware decoding's pretty big too. Had made them a subpar choice for Kodi boxes and such for a while. I... may be getting a few of these. I'd skipped the 3 on account of how the 2 turned out to be kind of a bust for me (have three, none in use...) but the faster IO and higher RAM options makes these one hell of a lot more useful. At 4GB you can kinda use the web, even, as long as you shy away from using more than one or two "web apps" (to include Electron) at a time.
- nine_k 7y ago
  (Nitpicking: real gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0 is impossible, USB 2.0 is limited to 480 Mbit. Still better than 100 Mbit Ethernet.)
  - asark 7y ago
    Yeah, I know, that's why the old one sucked. [EDIT] sucked is harsh—it did what it said it would. It sucked if you actually wanted to use the Pi for serious IO of any kind. USB2.0 and Ethernet limited to USB2.0 speeds was no good at all for that.
- benn_88 7y ago
  Yeah, for the first time it's true gigabit. Results from iperf: Raspberry Pi 3B: 94Mb/s Raspberry Pi 3B+: 285Mb/s Raspberry Pi 4B: 930Mb/s https://twitter.com/ben_nuttall/status/1143037993957187584 https://twitter.com/ben_nuttall/status/1143037993957187584
nine_k 7y ago
Imagine that you want to build a dashboard (performance, build status, things like that) for a roomful of engineers. Yes, you pick an RPi, an cheap but large 720p TV, and you've got an wireless dashboard device for under $200 and couple of hours spent setting it up.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
cosmie 7y ago
I'm not sure how common it is to use it as a workstation, but I've seen a lot of instances where a pi is used to power displays in business settings. Think internal things like dashboards, team/company messages, project calendars, etc. As well as external facing things such as menu boards, "Welcome" messages behind front desks, building directories, etc. Whether a pi is the most appropriate device for that is another matter, but it seems to be a frequent enough use. And being able to power dual screens in these scenarios would be really helpful. That said, between the marketing messaging and this[1], it seems like they really are pushing it as a potential low-powered workstation. So maybe that is something people do... [1] https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-desktop-kit/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-desktop-...
- sl1ck731 7y ago
  I've also seen it used as dumb clients for POS-like things. Imagine the screens technicians at the lube center you get your oil changed at use to lookup your information.
- jdboyd 7y ago
  It took a few years for me to accept this, but the ongoing commitment to continuing to make available most Raspberry Pis is a pretty compelling argument for many business purposes over using a random old used PC or a more powerful SBC that may not longer be available in a year. The development of specialized OS distributions for some of these tasks only furthers the strength of the choice for going with what could be otherwise under powered hardware.

eknkc 7y ago

Was thinking the same thing. It can drive two 4k displays. Yay! Who the hell uses these like that?

jonhendry18 7y ago
That's two menu screens at a fast food restaurant. (They need not be 4k, of course.)

michielr 7y ago

They get used as a 'kiosk' a lot, even for commercial use. I'm guessing this caters to that need.

ycombinete 7y ago

I’ve often noticed Pi’s attached to the back of tvs running adverts in retail situations. Perhaps this has something to do with it.

cmauniada 7y ago

Apart from work, we learned to write bare bone code on these so it was necessary having an HDMI output. Our project was to re create a classic game without using the OS, straight up programming on metal. So the HDMI was much needed.

wrong_variable 7y ago

Definitely ! I do not use my laptop's keyboard, mouse or monitor. Everything is external for me. A much more powerful rPi means it might be possible to ditch the laptop form factor for good. The only missing piece of technology for me is a laptop body WITHOUT a compute core ( only screen and a cheap keyboard ). So that I can attach a rPi at the back. Linux runs very well on ARM, in relation to Intel. and the power consumption is tiny ! I can run an rPi on portable battery for days ! it would be really cool if I could attach, reattach multiple battery pack onto my laptop.

weikju 7y ago
There's the Nexdock / Nexdock 2 [0], if to be believed that will be shipping later this year, And some other projects listed here in a Purism thread [1] [0] http://nexdock.com/ http://nexdock.com/ [1] https://forums.puri.sm/t/librem-shell-idea-razer-project-linda/2206 https://forums.puri.sm/t/librem-shell-idea-razer-project-lin...
- etrautmann 7y ago
  This is the opposite though as it forces one to use the laptop form factor.
  - weikju 7y ago
    Is the opposite of what? Wrong variable was asking for a laptop without compute part to which they could strap a Pi. That’s exactly what the Nexdock is at least.

resfirestar 7y ago

Education users? K-12 classroom use probably would be as workstations, and dual displays would be useful for the teacher (monitor + projector).

asark 7y ago

Looking at the 3 vs. 4, my eye went to the memory options—up to 4GB in the 4, versus 1GB in the 3—the USB 3 ports, and the fact that the 4 just says "Gigabit Ethernet", not "Gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0". H.265 hardware decoding's pretty big too. Had made them a subpar choice for Kodi boxes and such for a while. I... may be getting a few of these. I'd skipped the 3 on account of how the 2 turned out to be kind of a bust for me (have three, none in use...) but the faster IO and higher RAM options makes these one hell of a lot more useful. At 4GB you can kinda use the web, even, as long as you shy away from using more than one or two "web apps" (to include Electron) at a time.

nine_k 7y ago
(Nitpicking: real gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0 is impossible, USB 2.0 is limited to 480 Mbit. Still better than 100 Mbit Ethernet.)
- asark 7y ago
  Yeah, I know, that's why the old one sucked. [EDIT] sucked is harsh—it did what it said it would. It sucked if you actually wanted to use the Pi for serious IO of any kind. USB2.0 and Ethernet limited to USB2.0 speeds was no good at all for that.
benn_88 7y ago
Yeah, for the first time it's true gigabit. Results from iperf: Raspberry Pi 3B: 94Mb/s Raspberry Pi 3B+: 285Mb/s Raspberry Pi 4B: 930Mb/s https://twitter.com/ben_nuttall/status/1143037993957187584 https://twitter.com/ben_nuttall/status/1143037993957187584

nine_k 7y ago

Imagine that you want to build a dashboard (performance, build status, things like that) for a roomful of engineers. Yes, you pick an RPi, an cheap but large 720p TV, and you've got an wireless dashboard device for under $200 and couple of hours spent setting it up.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

cosmie 7y ago

I'm not sure how common it is to use it as a workstation, but I've seen a lot of instances where a pi is used to power displays in business settings. Think internal things like dashboards, team/company messages, project calendars, etc. As well as external facing things such as menu boards, "Welcome" messages behind front desks, building directories, etc. Whether a pi is the most appropriate device for that is another matter, but it seems to be a frequent enough use. And being able to power dual screens in these scenarios would be really helpful. That said, between the marketing messaging and this[1], it seems like they really are pushing it as a potential low-powered workstation. So maybe that is something people do... [1] https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-desktop-kit/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-desktop-...

sl1ck731 7y ago
I've also seen it used as dumb clients for POS-like things. Imagine the screens technicians at the lube center you get your oil changed at use to lookup your information.
jdboyd 7y ago
It took a few years for me to accept this, but the ongoing commitment to continuing to make available most Raspberry Pis is a pretty compelling argument for many business purposes over using a random old used PC or a more powerful SBC that may not longer be available in a year. The development of specialized OS distributions for some of these tasks only furthers the strength of the choice for going with what could be otherwise under powered hardware.