Raspberry Pi - $35 PC

[InvivnI]

Eurogamer article

Basically it's a PC that will cost, at most, US$35. It's pretty barebones, you get a circuit board with ethernet, composite video, HDMI, SD card slot and a couple of USB ports. No case, no HDD.

But that price makes it very attractive, in my view, as a mini home theatre box. I imagine there are a few more possibilities too. I'm looking forward to seeing what people come up with.

I'm hoping there's some sort of Australian distribution in the works, it looks like it's a UK/US affair at the moment.

Thoughts, anyone?
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[grim-one]

I'm dubious of it displaying "bluray quality video" or playing Quake 3. I think I'll stick with my Ion 330 for a HTPC.
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[jprockbelly]

I'm with Grim on this, I'm a bit incredulous as to how good this can possibly be for $35. However, if it performs as well as it says then I'll be getting one for sure.
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Da Bessssss

[mikezilla2]

if its as good as it sounds then i might just run and jump at this
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[Frozencry]

It's been previously shown on youtube that it can run both Quake and 1080p video.

I'd buy it solely out of the ability to play Quake with ease.
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[grim-one]

Looking back at the min specs for Quake 3, it could probably run on a calculator these days. Pentium MMX 233, 64 MB RAM and any 3D processor that's still being made.

Judging by the youtube video above though, it's not going to look pretty.

1080p video will get handled by the on-board GPU which includes hardware decoding. Good luck if you pick a codec that it doesn't support though (MKV maybe?)

Think low end Android tablet, or iPhone 3G here.
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[Frozencry]

I wouldn't expect it to be in any way a fantastic performer, I mean it's $35 =P

That being said, I normally play quake 3 with basically no textures and at 1024x768 with a tonne of autoexec tweaks, so personally I don't think I'd have performance issues.

It's pretty cool nonetheless though.
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[Vegetable Lasagne]

Would be good to run some automated scripts and such, maybe operate as a low level file/mailserver and router. Maybe even use it to control things around the house automatically.

[StorminNorman]

Err... you guys know it's an ARM-based system, right?

[mikezilla2]

ARM-based ?
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[grim-one]

[mikezilla2]

that and its alot slower at booting Linux ? its felt like "PS3 linux" watching that video - i guess there is already plenty of ARM based downloads pre compiled ?
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[grim-one]

Remember that it was either booting off SD card, or over network. But yeah the ARM11 processor is kind of slow. But the aim of ARM isn't generally to be powerful, but small and low-powered. It's used in a lot of phones, tablets and other mobile-type devices.

As for precompiled Linux stuff, I'm not sure. There's probably a bunch of distributions that ship ARM binaries now. Otherwise, being Linux, you should be able to compile up anything you want.
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[StorminNorman]

ARM is the most widely-used 32-bit CPU architecture in the world. (PowerPC is a distant second).

Linux has had an ARM port for years, so there's no real problem with software, and, of course, every current mobile OS runs on ARM-derived processors.

Basically, don't expect to be able to buy one of these and whack Windows on it and play games. Windows can't run on ARM (although Microsoft are apparently making a new version of Windows for ARM, but I'm betting that'll go down as well as the PowerPC and Alpha versions did).
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[mikezilla2]

im thinking more along the lines of a very cheap HTTPC
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[IHateFrasierCrane]

I'm going to buy a couple of them. One to use as a cheap media centre. One to use as a cheap internet browser on the TV. One to experiment with and do some electronics modding, and if the mood strikes me, one to install in the bog! Got an old 15 inch LCD I could mount on the wall...hmmm
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[Vegetable Lasagne]

Android is designed for ARM isn't it?

[grim-one]

[InvivnI]

Another Eurogamer link (I think they like the whole thing because it's British):

The developers are claiming GPU performance will be double that of the iPhone 4S

Honestly, I'm not fussed about all the tech spec comparisons, but it's good to know the thing isn't hopelessly outdated when dealing with current-day media and tasks.

Still no word on when it'll come to Australia, and I wonder how long that first shipment of 10,000 will last...
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[mikezilla2]

import ?
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[InvivnI]

Might have to - once supply becomes reliable.
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[Pagan's Mind]

I would be interested in modding or upgrading it. Sounds interesting but I think getting one might prove difficult.

[harhis23]

It's surely worth a try... for $35, it's worth the risk. Yeah, I've seen the video on YouTube and have read about it in so many tech blogs. I haven't seen the actual unit yet but it seems like it's getting a lot of positive reviews.

Also, running Quake 3 on 1080p is something. I might just get one of these.