Raspberry Pi

[SamSpade]

Can someone explain to me what is the big deal with these things?
So they're tiny computers - they come with nothing, no mouse, keyboard or display and by the time
you find anything to hook up with it to use - you've spent as much money as you might for a tablet
or a low cost laptop.

Why do people like them?

 

[GURPS]

Why do people like them?

Aren't you an engineer

Because they are cheap computers geeks that love to muck around with hardware

the latest ones are potential desktop replacements for low end web surfing


GPIO Pin outs for connecting all sorts of hardware .... build a weather station, a media server

guys have modded them into replacements for Commodore 64 Floppy drives


https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/

https://pimylifeup.com/category/projects/

Expansion Boards

https://www.abelectronics.co.uk/products/18/raspberry-pi-expansion-boards

https://www.amazon.com/raspberry-pi-expansion-board/s?k=raspberry+pi+expansion+board

 

[PeoplesElbow]

To meal the big deal is you can use them and make your own electronics such as a video player, an old school arcade machine, etc.

They are not to replace a real computer in my opinion, but to make anything you want that requires a little bit of processing power.

 

[Gilligan]

Check out the Arduino and the incredible array of peripherals available. You can build a compact flight control system for that homebuilt flying machine for peanuts..

 

[SamSpade]

To meal the big deal is you can use them and make your own electronics such as a video player, an old school arcade machine, etc.

So their value is to hobbyists and electronics enthusiasts who want to build stuff. Ok, makes sense.
Years ago - and I am seriously dating myself - my roommate built a computer around a Z80 processor - and it cost quite a bit
to do it. I didn't quite get it, since he could just BUY a board for much less. Hours of wire-wrapping (I don't know if people even DO
that anymore) and he built a computer he could have just gone to store and purchased.

 

[GURPS]

I didn't quite get it, since he could just BUY a board for much less. Hours of wire-wrapping (I don't know if people even DO that anymore) and he built a computer he could have just gone to store and purchased.

https://www.popsci.com/man-builds-huge-megaprocessor/

 

[awpitt]

Check out the Arduino and the incredible array of peripherals available. You can build a compact flight control system for that homebuilt flying machine for peanuts..

My son used an Arduino for a school project and built a gizmo that would turn pages in a book.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Why do people like them?

Hobby.

The Pi is a mini computer but teaches electronics and programming languages like python, html, and CSS. There just so much you can do without the need or expense of a full blown computer.

I have an Arduino. It's a microcontroller so you have to program everything (in a version of C). My next project (whever that'll be) is an auto-watering garden. I'll probably use a capacitance-type probe to measure the soil moisture and use that to trigger a solenoid valve to sprinklers.