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The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B has been launched, despite months of tricky misdirection implying that it wouldn't be on the market until 2020. The technical specifications include two micro HDMI ports, two USB3 ports, two USB2 ports, dual band Wi-fi, Bluetooth 5, Gigabit Ethernet, and either 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB of RAM. Power consumption is noticeably higher than similar earlier models and the power can be supplied over USBC.
From the spec sheet:
- Broadcom BCM2711, Quad core Cortex-A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.5GHz
- 1GB ($35), 2GB ($45), or 4GB LPDDR4-2400 SDRAM ($55)
- 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz IEEE 802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 5.0, BLE
- Gigabit Ethernet
- 2 USB 3.0 ports; 2 USB 2.0 ports.
- Raspberry Pi standard 40 pin GPIO header (fully backwards compatible with previous boards)
- 2 × micro-HDMI ports (up to 4kp60 supported)
- 2-lane MIPI DSI display port
- 2-lane MIPI CSI camera port
- 4-pole stereo audio and composite video port
- H.265 (4kp60 decode), H264 (1080p60 decode, 1080p30 encode)
- OpenGL ES 3.0 graphics
- Micro-SD card slot for loading operating system and data storage
- 5V DC via USB-C connector (minimum 3A*)
- 5V DC via GPIO header (minimum 3A*)
- Power over Ethernet (PoE) enabled (requires separate PoE HAT)
- Operating temperature: 0 – 50 degrees C ambient
takyon: Review at Tom's Hardware. Cons: "Key software doesn't work at launch, Poor high-res video playback". Cases for the previous Pi don't work due to the new micro-HDMI ports. Tom's measured nearly ten times better storage performance using one of the new USB 3.0 ports, and the gigabit Ethernet port can actually reach nearly 1 Gbps (943 Mbps vs. 237 Mbps for the previous model).
Also at The Verge and Ars Technica.
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
(Score: 2) by Wierd0n3 on Monday June 24 2019, @04:10PM (16 children)
Not just the new HDMI jacks (dongle hell) but the usb-c power jack, and the fact they reversed the order of the USB/Ethernet jacks, means NONE of the old cases will be compatible.
I had hoped the Argon One would just need a new daughter-board to make the rear face compatible, but all of the holes in the back will need to be re-aligned for this sucker.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday June 24 2019, @04:46PM (3 children)
Thanks for this depressing thought.
Looks like Canakit has some cases already made: https://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-4-starter-kit.html [canakit.com]
https://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-4-complete-starter-kit.html [canakit.com]
On the other hand, inclusion of dual monitor drivers goes a long way to acknowledge one of the common use cases for a Raspberry Pi: as a photo/video display driver for kiosks and similar.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Monday June 24 2019, @05:55PM (2 children)
Come on. Pi cases have historically been ultra-inexpensive. And because they're small and not particularly demanding in terms of investment to manufacture, there have been lots of sources, and some of them have been very creative.
There are a lot of truly awesome and handy-riffic use cases for dual monitors. Most people just don't become aware of them until they see two (or more) monitors in action. I run with four monitors here most days, and use the heck out of all of them. When I really get into it, I go with six.
This version of the pi with 4GB RAM and dual monitor output is a great deal more interesting to me than previous versions. This unit would make a terrific SDR controller platform, a decent stand-alone image editing station, and be great for editing documents that refer to other documents. Or just work on one while having your work interactive media, such as IRC, Slack, Ryver or RocketChat, open on the other.
1.5 GHZ / 4 cores and 4 GB of RAM is an environment within which all of those applications could be suitably performant as long as they are well-written (I know, most aren't, but still... some of us still work to write performant software without assuming users buying the very latest CPUs will cover up shitty coding habits.)
With tablets and laptops becoming more common and desktops less so, I suspect that many users simply go about their business without really considering how much more productive and/or fun their lives would be if they had a reasonable amount of working display area, a decent mouse, and a decent keyboard. And a good chair. Mustn't forget that. 😊
Not that it isn't useful to have a laptop, of course it is, but as a primary working station? That's just shooting yourself in the foot.
Oh well... you can lead a quadruped to water, but you can't stop them from defecating in it.
--
The eyes are the windows to the soul.
Sunglasses are the window-shades.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday June 24 2019, @06:27PM (1 child)
It's not the money, it's the $17 touch-screen display case that I bought a few months ago - I'm betting the touchscreen will work with some effort, but the case it goes into will need updating...
That's one approach - I just went with the 30" 4K monitor when they came down out of the stratosphere, and I've been pretty happy with that as my primary screen since then - though I do have a side PC in a different OS on its own 1080p monitor, and two cast-off monitors running as photo frames on a couple of Ras-Pis...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Tuesday June 25 2019, @02:57PM
How do you find the pixel pitch? Does it seem small, or large? Generally under OS X / MacOS this is most obvious when viewing an image at 1:1 (something I do a lot) so I'm quite curious. Also, how's your visual acuity? My eyes are slowly giving up on me, and really high resolutions will probably require really large monitors.
I was considering the new Mac Pro with a large 8k monitor/tv to replace this older Mac Pro, but don't know enough about the details of true 8k display support, etc. I'll have to redesign my desk-space too... not looking forward to that.
I also like the redundancy of having multiple displays... when one croaks, there are others. If a big single display goes, I'm going to be left hanging, and there are no vendors here at all, so it's either a 600 mile road trip or wait for a slowboat delivery service and hope they haven't wrecked the panel in transit.
I do all 2D work, so it's only 2D performance that concerns me.
--
🎶When you're down by the sea
And an eel bites your knee🎶
🎶That's a moray
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Monday June 24 2019, @04:52PM (8 children)
I haven't owned a RasPi since the first version, so I'm unencumbered by old cases. But I would still end up buying a case, micro-HDMI adapter, and ??? which could drive the price up by 50% from $55.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday June 24 2019, @05:19PM (6 children)
Canakit sells "everything but the monitor" for $120.
I'm sitting here looking at an unused 128GB microSD card, wondering....
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday June 24 2019, @06:34PM (5 children)
The keyboard and mouse are the least necessary items (IMO) in these complete kits. It's $20 in the complete kit or $25 separately [canakit.com].
The way I see it:
$55 RasPi 4GB
$7 Micro-HDMI to HDMI
$8 Power supply [canakit.com]
$5 Case [pishop.us]
$5 Heat sinks [canakit.com] (necessary?)
That's $80. You get the Starter Kit [canakit.com] at $100. So $20 is for the 32 GB microSD. You can find a 128 GB Class 10 microSD for $17 [slickdeals.net]. Or you might already have a card and not need one.
So that looks like the move. Spend $75-87 (heat sinks + 2 micro-HDMI cables), get microSD cards as needed or when they go on sale (you might want to store different OSes on different cards or something like that).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday June 24 2019, @07:04PM (2 children)
That's one way.... or, just call it cheap enough and buy as many as you need of whatever you need, plus 2 because they're cheap and you don't want to wait when you figure out a use for another one... optimizing the last 10% out of the cost might be fun, but is it a more valuable use of your time and effort than repeating "you want fries with that?" Especially in a $15/hr minimum wage state.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday June 24 2019, @07:17PM (1 child)
It does not take very long to figure out how to save some money here. The low price is obviously part of the attraction of RasPi, so it's better if we stay closer to that price. And if you are buying multiple units for various projects or to give to friends, family, or whomever, then those savings start to add up.
Plz think of the poor (Gaaark).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday June 24 2019, @08:37PM
Definitely, if I were equipping a school with 100 copies - but, here again, the selection of which monitor to pair them with would outweigh all the cost shaving considerations on the PI side.
They make it easy enough to buy the parts ala carte.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 10 2019, @04:37AM (1 child)
One of the dumbest things about the Pi is the lack of a power off/on button included. Turning it off is relatively easy, provided you can log in, but in order to turn it back on, you're stuck either power cycling it or getting a 3rd party button.
It's kind of hard for me to believe that they still can't provide one built into the board. I realize that these are ultra cheap boards, but this is an unnecessary annoyance
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday July 10 2019, @04:51AM
Read the new story. They goofed on the USB-C charge port.
I'm thinking of getting a FLIRC case [flirc.tv] and an infrared receiver so it can be controlled with a remote (for Kodi). Maybe you could use a remote to turn the thing on and off?
Anyway, I think a lot of people would have their RasPi 4 "desktop" on 24/7. I hardly ever turn computers off.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by kazzie on Monday June 24 2019, @08:32PM
My pair of B's are also of the first generation.
The case shape changed between the A/B and A+/B+ models, so our cases have been out-of-date and incompatible since 2014.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 24 2019, @05:23PM (2 children)
I build my own housing via 3D printing. Will take about an hour to reverse usb and Ethernet. And replace the microbes and hdmi ports. All my current boxes will just take the new sled and be done. I post them all on thingaverse.
(Score: 2) by WizardFusion on Monday June 24 2019, @05:39PM (1 child)
They also mentioned that the USB and Ethernet have also moved 1mm outward. Not sure if it will make a difference to you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 24 2019, @09:47PM
Of course, 1mm outward for the microbes it's a huge difference, like a petri dish football field, tehy are tiny!