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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday November 10 2020, @04:59PM   Printer-friendly
from the slice-of-pi dept.

Raspberry Pi 400: Its designer reveals more about the faster Pi 4 in the $70 PC's keyboard:

Raspberry Pi's designers have revealed more about the overhauled design of the Raspberry Pi 4 inside its new Raspberry Pi 400 keyboard computer.

The new $70 Raspberry Pi 400, announced on Monday, offers fans of the Raspberry Pi single-board computer a polished, modern take on far less powerful classics from the 1980s like the BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum and Commodore Amiga.

[...] Raspberry Pi senior principal engineer Simon Martin has posted a blog answering the questions some fans have raised about whether the Pi 400 is a left-handed device.

[...] Martin explains that the Pi 400 team didn't opt for the Raspberry Pi Compute Module – a compact variant of the board without ports for industrial applications – because it was more efficient to make a custom PCB at the scale at which the Pi 400 is being made at Sony's manufacturing facility in Wales.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Raspberry Pi: Ten Years of the Forum and Blog 29 comments

Although initially expecting to only sell a few thousand units, the Raspberry Pi has sold more than 40 million computers to date. Over time it has developed quite a fan base. Part of cultivating that base has been through a dedicated blog and help forum. The Raspberry Pi blog and forum have now turned 10 years old.

We’ve kept every single blog post we’ve ever written up on this site, starting way back in July 2011. Ten years is a long time in internet terms, so you’ll find some dead links in some earlier posts; and this website has undergone a number of total redesigns, so early stuff doesn’t tend to have the pretty thumbnail associated with it to show you what it’s all about. (Our page design didn’t use them back then.) But all the same, for the internet archeologists among you, or those interested in the beginnings of Raspberry Pi, those posts from before we even had hardware are worth flicking through.

There are two organizations involved. Raspberry Pi Trading makes the hardware, the magazines, the peripherals, etc. The Raspberry Pi Foundation runs the charitable programs.

Previously:
(2021) Raspberry Pi Begins Selling its RP2040 Microcontroller for $1
(2021) The Ongoing Raspberry Pi Fiasco
(2021) Raspberry Pi Users Mortified as Microsoft Repository that Phones Home is Added to Pi OS
(2020) Raspberry Pi: We're Making it Easier to Build Our Devices into Your Hardware
(2020) Raspberry Pi 400: Its Designer Reveals More About the Faster Pi 4 in the $70 PC's Keyboard


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2020, @07:04PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2020, @07:04PM (#1075822)

    That they did not use the compute module (or two!). That why as new modules come available (faster/more ram/etc...) Then just buying new module and snapping it in nice.

    Even the 4B could have been designed the same way. So 4B is motherboard/io interfaces and compute the "cpu/gpu". See higher cost since socket for compute would be needed but, easier upgrades and more compute modules sold, hence lower cost.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 10 2020, @08:40PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday November 10 2020, @08:40PM (#1075858)

      In Sony plant Pencoed, Raspberry makes you.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 4, Touché) by FatPhil on Tuesday November 10 2020, @09:27PM (4 children)

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday November 10 2020, @09:27PM (#1075890) Homepage
      And if only they'd made the keyboard separate, so that it was actually usable.

      I really don't want my keyboard plugged into my monitor, so this is a complete failure. I remember the 80s, I don't want to relive them.
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2020, @10:00PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 10 2020, @10:00PM (#1075912)

        https://hackaday.com/2019/03/24/heres-the-first-person-to-put-a-pi-in-the-raspberry-pi-keyboard/#comment-6013294 [hackaday.com] and probably the inspiration to do the Pi 400, instead of having to hack the parts DIY style.

        So yes, you can buy the keyboard alone. https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-keyboard-and-hub/ [raspberrypi.org]

        Unless with "separate" you meant a bluetooth (or any other crappy wireless) keyboard.

        • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday November 11 2020, @12:47AM (2 children)

          by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Wednesday November 11 2020, @12:47AM (#1075962) Homepage
          Yes, separate as in separate. My screen's over there, I'm over here. Why would I want the two to be mechanically connected? That's an antifeature.
          --
          Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 11 2020, @03:39PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 11 2020, @03:39PM (#1076172)

            Because you're clearly not doing any serious work if you're not in relatively close proximity to the monitor. People doing serious work want to be closer to the monitor so that they can make better use of the pixels. Even people doing less than serious work benefit from being closer to the monitor, it's one of the key reasons that computer monitors historically had better dot pitch than regular TVs did.

          • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday November 11 2020, @05:00PM

            by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday November 11 2020, @05:00PM (#1076192) Journal

            My wireless keyboard is about 2 inches away from my TV/display which is connected to a Pi 4, and it stays there 99% of the time.

            Pi 400 is interesting, except for the 3.5mm removal. But the target market (education) probably doesn't need that and is fine with the keyboard being connected to the display.

            --
            [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday November 10 2020, @07:42PM (2 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday November 10 2020, @07:42PM (#1075835) Journal

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h86D_6yh1nk [youtube.com]

    The updated BCM2711C0 SoC can boost up to 2.2 GHz and sustain it without active cooling with the help of its massive heatsink/plate. I'm not sure about the GPU, but it should be able to overclock to at least 750 MHz. Newer Raspberry Pi 4 Model B units might get the updated SoC as the old stock gets sold off.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by KilroySmith on Wednesday November 11 2020, @02:17AM (1 child)

      by KilroySmith (2113) on Wednesday November 11 2020, @02:17AM (#1076000)

      >>> might get the updated SoC as the old stock gets sold off
      Depends on whether Broadcom charges more for the more capable SoC. I'm guessing yes, so no.

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday November 11 2020, @02:49AM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday November 11 2020, @02:49AM (#1076013) Journal

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepping_level [wikipedia.org]

        This is pretty normal and I don't think Broadcom/Sony UK are going to charge more for new revisions, or at least the cost is not getting passed on.

        The Pi 400 is aggressively priced, seemingly not reflecting any increased cost. It's $15 more expensive than a Pi 4B 4GB ($55) with the same amount of RAM, integrating a keyboard that is also a passive cooling case. A USB port, 3.5mm jack, and some other stuff is dropped.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Subsentient on Tuesday November 10 2020, @09:45PM (2 children)

    by Subsentient (1111) on Tuesday November 10 2020, @09:45PM (#1075908) Homepage Journal

    This is one of those products that I really want, even though I have no practical use for it. It just looks like a cute computer to mess with.

    --
    "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by bmimatt on Tuesday November 10 2020, @11:37PM

      by bmimatt (5050) on Tuesday November 10 2020, @11:37PM (#1075937)

      Same here. I just ordered one today from chicagodist.com. I figure once I'm bored with it, it'll end up being a file/media server or something equally boring/useful. Before that happens though, I think I will have plenty of fun with it.

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday November 11 2020, @05:22PM

      by Freeman (732) on Wednesday November 11 2020, @05:22PM (#1076201) Journal

      I've already blown a good bit of play money on multiple Raspberry Pis, including a Raspberry Pi 4. So, not likely to get this latest iteration, though the massive heat sink and upgraded CPU is a large plus.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
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