Notes

Raspberry Pi 400 - First Impressions

I was a child programming my TV using a Sinclair ZX81 and later by a ZX Spectum. Computers that are built into keyboards that can be plugged into a TV are a part of my DNA. So, with this in mind, how could I resist buying the new Raspberry Pi 400! ?



The following are my initial thoughts on the hardware, and also on using it for development with light weight.



TL;DR: I like it :)



Tech Specs



The Raspberry Pi 400 is, essentially, a Raspberry Pi 4 housed within the keyboard. There are more detailed descriptions elsewhere however, here are the main aspects of the technical specifications:



- Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex A72 (ARM v8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.8GHz - 4GB LPDDR4-3200 - Dual-band (2.4GHz and 5.0GHz) IEEE 802.11b/g/n/ac wireless network - Bluetooth 5.0, BLE - Gigabit Ethernet 2 USB 3.0 - 1 x USB 2.0 ports Horizontal 40-pin GPIO GPIO header 2 micro HDMI ports (supports up to 4Kp60) MicroSD card slot to operate system and data storage 79-key compact keyboard



(full specifications are available here)



The 400 comes with a 16GB SD card that comes pre-installed with Raspbian and a variety of applications (LibreOffice), dev tools (Geany, Mathematica, Scratch) as well as utilities (Chromium, VLC Media Player), and games (Minecraft).



First Impressions on Hardware



It was simple to plug in the 400 and get it running. It's a nice device with a wide range of ports and connectors at the back. The keyboard is good. The device is called PS67 in the UK. I bought the kit (which includes an electric mouse and power supply, HDMI cable, and an official guide) for PS94. The keyboard is very good for the price, however it feels a bit "plasticy" considering the cost.



The 400 doesn't have an audio-out. Audio is delivered via the HDMI output. This is a problem for me because my monitor does not include speakers. It's not a major issue however, it's something I didn't think of.



The connector to connect the Raspberry Pi camera module is another thing that the 400 lacks. This isn't a big issue for me however it could be a problem if you are planning to build any camera projects using the 400.



The 400has the GPIO header on the back, so using a ribbon cable you can build electronic projects with ease. I have an Adafruit T Cobbler Plus that allows you to connect the 400 to the breadboard and build...stuff!
https://53vv.com/


The 400 is quick to boot up and is extremely efficient as a general-purpose desktop device. I've spent the majority of today surfing the web using it, as well as installing applications and running docker containers and building code, and it's felt fast/snappy pretty much most of the time.



Overall, the hardware is pretty excellent and I like the design. These devices could be purchased by code clubs and schools to be used in their computing labs.



Developer Experience



I set up my Raspberry Pi 400, and I am very impressed. My setup includes:



- Setup Chromium and installed the 1Password extension. Installed Visual Studio Code following these instructions. - Installed VS Code Remote Containers extension to allow me to use Docker containers to develop code development within.



Overall the setup was very simple. So simple, it's almost boring! I had a couple of issues however, in the end it was very easy to set my Raspberry Pi 400 up so that I could write code and use Docker and push any changes to GitHub. For instance, I'm writing this blog post within VS Code, building it using Jekyll inside the Docker container.



The only issue I ran into was the ARM support for various Docker images. The default Ruby dev container image didn't run because it had dependencies that did not come with ARM variations. I used the Ruby 2.7 docker images as a starting point and copied/pasted the components I needed into my Dockerfile (removing Node, Zsh Oh My Zsh and a few others). I'm not sure exactly what it was that was failng to build the image, so I'll have to go back and work out the details, but it's worth remembering that the Rasberry Pi is ARM that it is based on, not all development tools have ARM builds.



After installing the tools and played aroundwith them, I've created some very basic Rust code (with the same build time as my MacBook! I have written some Python 3 code that is GPIOZero built (controlling LEDs and butons) and created a Jekyll/Ruby development container. I also updated and built my blog.



I have several Raspberry Pi computers (1 to 3). They are mostly Model B, but I also have some Zeros. All of them are in a box, unused. I've played with them and then put them away. While the performance isn't great, the form factor is essential. It's as if the Raspberry Pi 400 has the power I require (for simple projects) and comes in the form factor I'm able to leave plugged in on my desk.



It gives me a massive nostalgic rush!



In the image below, I have two instances of VS Code (both running dev containers) and I'm also browsing. It does everything in its stride.


My Website: http://53vv.com/