4 ms·

You can get a Raspberry Pi 4 for $35, add a $5 Micro SD card, a $5 cellphone charger, and a $10 keyboard/mouse combo, and you have a full fledged modern compute

You can get a Raspberry Pi 4 for $35, add a $5 Micro SD card, a $5 cellphone charger, and a $10 keyboard/mouse combo, and you have a full fledged modern computer running a modern OS (Linux kernel 5.10) for $55. That is more in line with the DIY spirit of the subject, and certainly more capable, without requiring commercial software.

loloquwowndueo 5y ago
With no display.
- lucb1e 5y ago
  A blind acquaintance of mine seems to do just fine with just earphones! (I'm joking obviously but this fact does amaze me. Him working on his computer consists of a keyboard, earphones, and the computer unit.)
  - Igelau 5y ago
    That's fascinating. Can you elaborate on how he accomplishes this?
    - MonaroVXR 5y ago
      You cna use Windows and probably MacOS and iOS without display.
    - grendelt 5y ago
      I taught a Linux workshop to blind/visually impaired in Virginia this summer. orca is the main screen reader used in Linux. Most of them were familiar with Jaws on Windows. Orca offers a kinda similar screen reader experience but the hotkeys are different (ability to re-read a line, jump a word, jump a section, etc) They were on laptops so I could still look over their shoulder if they needed help, but after a while they all got the hang of it and we were "off to the races". It was thrilling to see it click for them and to see such a completely different user experience.
    - lucb1e 5y ago
      The short of it is that he uses a screen reader. The thing reads out what is shown on the screen. Things like application title when you alt-tab, page contents on websites, field and button labels/names in forms when you tab through it, etc. I see that u/grendelt already gave some software examples; for mobile I might add that you could try Talkback (built into Android).
  - lostlogin 5y ago
    Watching blind people use phones is probably similar. It’s amazing to see someone in full sun using a phone, face not pointing at the phone.
    - lucb1e 5y ago
      > It’s amazing to see someone in full sun using a phone, face not pointing at the phone. Hello 2006! It was super convenient back when that was normal. Me on a Nokia with barely a color screen and unlimited GPRS data: playing music/podcasts, reading news, chatting, taking pictures, listening to radio, watching short video clips after minutes of downloading. Me today with more than a decade of innovation: playing music/podcasts/audiobooks, reading news, chatting, taking pictures, listening to streaming radio, using satellite navigation. The difference is that in 2006, you didn't have to constantly look at a screen. You can be walking outside and watch where you're going, not even taking the phone out of your pocket for some things like switching songs or turning on a recording when the teacher was throwing a tantrum again (I was not the nicest teenager; I hope I do better now). We're trying to find workarounds for this using bluetooth headphones' buttons that don't work half the time or get passed to the wrong app (Newpipe, Antennapod, VLC, all can take audio focus) or by using long presses or double presses on buttons like power to quick start the camera, but it's very limited what one can do with those.
- phone8675309 5y ago
  That can plug into any television made in the last fifteen years no problem as a display.
  - loloquwowndueo 5y ago
    You assume everyone has a television.
    - brewdad 5y ago
      If you don't need top level performance, and for a cheap PC why would you, you can get a 1080p desktop sized TV (22 inches) for $80.
      - michaelmrose 5y ago
        Old monitors can be found in thrift stores and the facebook market for $5-10 too.
        winrid 5y ago
        Yep - I recently just gave away two 2007-era monitors that still worked fine, for free. It wasn't worth the time to try to sell them for $5...
    - Frondo 5y ago
      I've been in some really, really poor parts of the world, and nearly everyone's home I ever visited, they had a tv set. What they didn't have was round-the-clock electricity (sometimes it was scheduled, sometimes it was just off and on at random) or running water.
    - phone8675309 5y ago
      Statistically, they're more likely to have a television than a computer.
  - morcheeba 5y ago
    Yep, that bring-your-own-tv is the model the Apple II, the Commodore 64, and the Atari 800 all used -- good to see that reuse is still alive.
- Lamad123 5y ago
  add a 100 to that!

loloquwowndueo 5y ago

With no display.

lucb1e 5y ago
A blind acquaintance of mine seems to do just fine with just earphones! (I'm joking obviously but this fact does amaze me. Him working on his computer consists of a keyboard, earphones, and the computer unit.)
- Igelau 5y ago
  That's fascinating. Can you elaborate on how he accomplishes this?
  - MonaroVXR 5y ago
    You cna use Windows and probably MacOS and iOS without display.
  - grendelt 5y ago
    I taught a Linux workshop to blind/visually impaired in Virginia this summer. orca is the main screen reader used in Linux. Most of them were familiar with Jaws on Windows. Orca offers a kinda similar screen reader experience but the hotkeys are different (ability to re-read a line, jump a word, jump a section, etc) They were on laptops so I could still look over their shoulder if they needed help, but after a while they all got the hang of it and we were "off to the races". It was thrilling to see it click for them and to see such a completely different user experience.
  - lucb1e 5y ago
    The short of it is that he uses a screen reader. The thing reads out what is shown on the screen. Things like application title when you alt-tab, page contents on websites, field and button labels/names in forms when you tab through it, etc. I see that u/grendelt already gave some software examples; for mobile I might add that you could try Talkback (built into Android).
- lostlogin 5y ago
  Watching blind people use phones is probably similar. It’s amazing to see someone in full sun using a phone, face not pointing at the phone.
  - lucb1e 5y ago
    > It’s amazing to see someone in full sun using a phone, face not pointing at the phone. Hello 2006! It was super convenient back when that was normal. Me on a Nokia with barely a color screen and unlimited GPRS data: playing music/podcasts, reading news, chatting, taking pictures, listening to radio, watching short video clips after minutes of downloading. Me today with more than a decade of innovation: playing music/podcasts/audiobooks, reading news, chatting, taking pictures, listening to streaming radio, using satellite navigation. The difference is that in 2006, you didn't have to constantly look at a screen. You can be walking outside and watch where you're going, not even taking the phone out of your pocket for some things like switching songs or turning on a recording when the teacher was throwing a tantrum again (I was not the nicest teenager; I hope I do better now). We're trying to find workarounds for this using bluetooth headphones' buttons that don't work half the time or get passed to the wrong app (Newpipe, Antennapod, VLC, all can take audio focus) or by using long presses or double presses on buttons like power to quick start the camera, but it's very limited what one can do with those.
phone8675309 5y ago
That can plug into any television made in the last fifteen years no problem as a display.
- loloquwowndueo 5y ago
  You assume everyone has a television.
  - brewdad 5y ago
    If you don't need top level performance, and for a cheap PC why would you, you can get a 1080p desktop sized TV (22 inches) for $80.
    - michaelmrose 5y ago
      Old monitors can be found in thrift stores and the facebook market for $5-10 too.
      - winrid 5y ago
        Yep - I recently just gave away two 2007-era monitors that still worked fine, for free. It wasn't worth the time to try to sell them for $5...
  - Frondo 5y ago
    I've been in some really, really poor parts of the world, and nearly everyone's home I ever visited, they had a tv set. What they didn't have was round-the-clock electricity (sometimes it was scheduled, sometimes it was just off and on at random) or running water.
  - phone8675309 5y ago
    Statistically, they're more likely to have a television than a computer.
- morcheeba 5y ago
  Yep, that bring-your-own-tv is the model the Apple II, the Commodore 64, and the Atari 800 all used -- good to see that reuse is still alive.
Lamad123 5y ago
add a 100 to that!