The Real Problem with Consumer Computers

Okay, the price wasn’t down there with Raspberry Pi stuff, but get this: for less than $200 you could buy a notebook computer with a quad-core processor, a 14-inch full HD screen (1920×1060), HDMI out, USB 3.0 (one, plus two 2.0), and 4GM of RAM upgradable to 16GB. Nominally the catch was the storage, this was in the “Chromebook” category (even though it was running Windows 10, not Chrome OS) so.. they crippled the storage capacity. Big time. There was only a sad, slow little 32GB M.2 eMMC board running through an adapter to make it look like a real SSD… but if you opened the case, there was a vacant space for a hard drive or SSD, only lacking a cable and caddy, and another empty space sized for an optical drive (but with no case opening) that could easily hold a SSD and an optical-to-SATA adapter taken from an $8 caddy, giving you any amount of fast storage you cared to pay for. It was made by Hewlett-Packard (HP), and it had the lovely and memorable name of 14-on013nr. It was a bargain, and with a little work and a little money you could hot-rod this sleeper into a very usable general-purpose notebook for a fraction of the typical prices of anything comparable.

The PirateBox Pi Papoose

The basic idea is that you’ll be able to walk into a coffeehouse or take a table on the sidewalk somewhere, pull out a notebook computer with some electronic bits stuck somehow to the back of the lid (very cyberpunk aesthetic, sort of like a DeLorean with high-tech stuff stuck on the outside), have PirateBox up and running in the background to entice other folks around to log in and share whatever while you work on the notebook and on the Internet in the foreground, but you’re still able to connect to the PirateBox, monitor and control things there from the notebook.

Bluetooth Gets More Useful… Very Slowly

Obviously, Bluetooth is a digital protocol, and the mini-stereo jack output is analog, so the device doesn’t only contain a Bluetooth receiver, it contains a digital-to-analog converter, or DAC… and with that step we’ve set foot in the analog universe with a very, very inexpensive piece of gear. Is it a good DAC? Is it even adequate? We have no clue, they’re trying not to even bring the issue to mind.The one thing we do know is, whatever the DAC is, it’s cheap.

Powering a Raspberry Pi from a Powered USB Hub While it Uses the Hub

It is possible with some powered USB hubs to use the hub itself as the power supply for a Raspberry Pi while the Pi is using the hub for peripherals, avoiding the need for both a powered USB hub that supplies 5 volts over a USB connection and a USB charger that supplies 5 volts over a USB connection… which is a little silly, when you think about it.

Tech – Element 14’s new Pi Desktop- This One Might Be Important – Update: utter disappointment

The Raspberry Pi is very I/O bound, always has been. The latest processor is a four-core and amazingly capable for the price, the 1 mb of memory is pretty scanty but enough to run Linux well, the memory access is plenty fast enough, but of all the “storage” access, the micro-SD card socket, the USB ports, the Ethernet jack, the on-board Bluetooth and Wifi, the fastest is… the USB ports. USB 2.0. That’s just sad, and really, really hampers the user experience. Anyone who has upgraded their main machine from a hard drive to a solid-state drive will tell you that it’s the single most effective thing you can do to improve the entire user experience, short of upgrading a whole machine… and the Raspberry Pi is sort of in the opposite direction, with storage being slower rather than faster.

A Pocket Recording Studio

A few days ago there was a deal on Slickdeals (now expired) for the Samson Go Mic USB Microphone. I think MSRP on this is $50, it seems to go for just under $40 normally, the deal was for $30 from Adorama with a $5 mail-in rebate* for a net cost of $25 shipped. I had seen it and read some things about it before, so I was intrigued- but the place is filling up with microphones, I clearly didn’t need another, so I resisted for a few days. Finally curiosity won out, as it usually does with me, and I ordered it. It got here yesterday and I played around with it for a few hours last night. Turns out I don’t regret the purchase in the least. I’m impressed with the little beastie, I hope I can express why.