4 ms·

The reason that the old '80s microcomputers were often plugged into TVs was that monitors were too expensive. Sharing the TV with every other device and person

by leoc 6y ago

The reason that the old '80s microcomputers were often plugged into TVs was that monitors were too expensive. Sharing the TV with every other device and person in the house was a necessary evil. TV-hogging is probably about as problematic now as it was then, while displays are much less expensive. So including a screen makes much more sense for a low-cost access-to-computing device these days.

rini17 6y ago
It's not so problematic today, there are multiple TVs in most families now. And old functioning, like, 1280*1024 LCD monitors can be had for free.
- 867-5309 6y ago
  it's more likely an old keyboard is lying around. a Pi4 and cheap enclosure could then be picked up for half this price
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - thinkmassive 6y ago
    That's a pretty big exaggeration considering the 4GB Raspberry Pi 4B typically sells for $55-60. This adds a keyboard and case for $10-15 on top of that.
    - 867-5309 6y ago
      > $55-60 let's allow a more realistic $80 delivered yes, it's a great price for a great piece of kit, don't get me wrong. but if the price is still an issue (as implied by free monitor), it shouldn't be a big exaggeration to expect to find a second hand Pi4 for $40-50
      - thinkmassive 6y ago
        Adafruit $55 + $4.55 shipping Amazon.com $59.43 + free shipping (1-day w/Prime) PiShop.us $55 + $7.95 shipping ...so $60 seems very fair including shipping, not to mention this larger keyboard model will cost at least as much to ship.
  - ineedasername 6y ago
    An 8 year old kid with non-technical parents is not going to have an easy time of it compared to what is essentially a plug-and-play solution. And I'm talking about households that literally do not have computers. There is no old hardware lying around, much less not just a keyboard & mouse, but the HDMI adapter, SD card, ability to apply the Raspbian OS image to the SD card, etc. Sure, search craigslist or similar, ask friends/family, you might get by. That's not a scalable solution for 1,000 kids in my school district that lack resources, much less the thousands more in surrounding districts. As with many technical problems, scaling is a challenge, not the single one-off solution.
    - 867-5309 6y ago
      > An 8 year old kid with non-technical parents is not going to have an easy time of it compared to what is essentially a plug-and-play solution. that's an entirely different argument, which I agree with you on. the original argument was that it's more likely a spare keyboard is lying around than a comparatively expensive monitor (which is more prone to being repurposed) > mouse, .. HDMI adapter, SD card, ability to apply the Raspbian OS image to the SD card these would still be required anyway, they're not included in the price
kevinpet 6y ago
You're replying to a comment about kids trying to distance learning on their parents phone or without a desk. You're missing the point.
- leoc 6y ago
  I am not. In the developed world there's comparatively little chance that a school district or national education system could afford about $100 per head for a rollout of RPi 400s but not the say $240 or so per head (being pretty conservative) for a rollout of clamshell devices instead. Especially since you'll make some of that $140 back just by avoiding the technical support costs of helping families get the computers working with a zoo of BYOD HDMI TVs. Meanwhile in the developing world the assumption that everyone has at least one HDMI HDTV at home goes out the window. The original comment mentioned a supply issue with Chromebooks, but it seems unlikely that something like the RPi 400 is going to be much more secure against supply disruptions than a clamshell laptop.
bee_rider 6y ago
In this particular moment, it might not be so bad for many use cases -- school hours are usually times when people are working anyway, so it isn't as if parents will be sitting around watching TV. Plus, it isn't like the goal here is just to goof off and play games, the kid is 1) learning 2) distracted. Seems like a pretty good tradeoff.
samatman 6y ago
Monitors last much longer than their desirability these days, there are hundreds of thousands of old clunky Dells just sitting around. It does call for a bit of scrounging, but an acceptable used monitor should be twenty bucks or free. Including a screen is optimizing for pessimism: the best you could do is something useless for the majority, and only as good/cheap as the minority could get a new one for.

by leoc 6y ago

rini17 6y ago

It's not so problematic today, there are multiple TVs in most families now. And old functioning, like, 1280*1024 LCD monitors can be had for free.

867-5309 6y ago
it's more likely an old keyboard is lying around. a Pi4 and cheap enclosure could then be picked up for half this price
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- thinkmassive 6y ago
  That's a pretty big exaggeration considering the 4GB Raspberry Pi 4B typically sells for $55-60. This adds a keyboard and case for $10-15 on top of that.
  - 867-5309 6y ago
    > $55-60 let's allow a more realistic $80 delivered yes, it's a great price for a great piece of kit, don't get me wrong. but if the price is still an issue (as implied by free monitor), it shouldn't be a big exaggeration to expect to find a second hand Pi4 for $40-50
    - thinkmassive 6y ago
      Adafruit $55 + $4.55 shipping Amazon.com $59.43 + free shipping (1-day w/Prime) PiShop.us $55 + $7.95 shipping ...so $60 seems very fair including shipping, not to mention this larger keyboard model will cost at least as much to ship.
- ineedasername 6y ago
  An 8 year old kid with non-technical parents is not going to have an easy time of it compared to what is essentially a plug-and-play solution. And I'm talking about households that literally do not have computers. There is no old hardware lying around, much less not just a keyboard & mouse, but the HDMI adapter, SD card, ability to apply the Raspbian OS image to the SD card, etc. Sure, search craigslist or similar, ask friends/family, you might get by. That's not a scalable solution for 1,000 kids in my school district that lack resources, much less the thousands more in surrounding districts. As with many technical problems, scaling is a challenge, not the single one-off solution.
  - 867-5309 6y ago
    > An 8 year old kid with non-technical parents is not going to have an easy time of it compared to what is essentially a plug-and-play solution. that's an entirely different argument, which I agree with you on. the original argument was that it's more likely a spare keyboard is lying around than a comparatively expensive monitor (which is more prone to being repurposed) > mouse, .. HDMI adapter, SD card, ability to apply the Raspbian OS image to the SD card these would still be required anyway, they're not included in the price

kevinpet 6y ago

You're replying to a comment about kids trying to distance learning on their parents phone or without a desk. You're missing the point.

leoc 6y ago
I am not. In the developed world there's comparatively little chance that a school district or national education system could afford about $100 per head for a rollout of RPi 400s but not the say $240 or so per head (being pretty conservative) for a rollout of clamshell devices instead. Especially since you'll make some of that $140 back just by avoiding the technical support costs of helping families get the computers working with a zoo of BYOD HDMI TVs. Meanwhile in the developing world the assumption that everyone has at least one HDMI HDTV at home goes out the window. The original comment mentioned a supply issue with Chromebooks, but it seems unlikely that something like the RPi 400 is going to be much more secure against supply disruptions than a clamshell laptop.

bee_rider 6y ago

In this particular moment, it might not be so bad for many use cases -- school hours are usually times when people are working anyway, so it isn't as if parents will be sitting around watching TV. Plus, it isn't like the goal here is just to goof off and play games, the kid is 1) learning 2) distracted. Seems like a pretty good tradeoff.

samatman 6y ago

Monitors last much longer than their desirability these days, there are hundreds of thousands of old clunky Dells just sitting around. It does call for a bit of scrounging, but an acceptable used monitor should be twenty bucks or free. Including a screen is optimizing for pessimism: the best you could do is something useless for the majority, and only as good/cheap as the minority could get a new one for.