Notes

Raspberry Pi 400 - First Impressions

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



Here are my initial thoughts on the hardware and how it could be used for lightweight development.



TL;DR: I like it :)



Tech Specs



The Raspberry Pi 400 is, in essence an Raspberry Pi 4 housed within a keyboard. You can find more detailed descriptions elseewhere however the most important points from the tech specs are:



- 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 Ethernet - Bluetooth 5.0 BLE - Gigabit Ethernet 2 USB 3.0 - 1 USB 2.0 ports Horizontal 40-pin GPIO header 2 x micro HDMI ports (supports up to 4Kp60) MicroSD card slot for operating system and data storage - 79-key compact keyboard



(full specifications are available here)



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



First Impressions on Hardware



It was a breeze to plug the 400 in and get it running. It's a nice device with a great selection of ports and connectors on the back. The keyboard is good. The device is priced at PS67 in the UK. The kit, which comes with the mouse, power supply, HDMI cable, official guide, and power supply, was purchased for PS94. For the price, the keyboard is incredibly good, but it does feel slightly "plasticy".



The 400 doesn't have an audio-out. The HDMI output can play audio. This is an issue for me since my monitor does not include speakers. It's not a BIG problem but it's something that I hadn't considered.



The connector to connect the Raspberry Pi camera module is another thing that the 400 lacks. This isn’t a major issue for me but it could be a concern in the event that you plan to build any camera project using the 400.



The 400 features an GPIO header in its back. This allows you to easily build electronics projects using a ribbon cable. The Adafruit TCobbler Plus makes it simple to connect the 400 and breadboard to build...stuff!



The 400 is quick to boot and very capable as a general-purpose desktop device. I've spent the majority of today browsing the internet on it, while also installing applications and running docker containers and building code and it's been fast and snappy most of the time.



Overall, I am pleased with the hardware and the form factor. I can see schools/code clubs purchasing these devices and using the devices in their computing labs.



Developer Experience



I've spent the day setting up my Raspberry Pi 400 up, and I'm pretty impressed. My setup includes:



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



Overall this setup was very simple. So simple, it's almost boring! Minecraftservers While there were some issues, it was simple to install my Raspberry Pi 400 so that I could write code and use Docker and then push my changes to Github. For example, I'm currently writing this blog post in VS Code, building it using Jekyll within a Docker container.



The only issue that I encountered was the ARM support for different Docker images. The default Ruby dev container image didn't run because it had dependencies that didn't have ARM versions. 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 some others). I'm not sure exactly what it was that was causing the build to fail and I'll need to revisit the process and figure it out and remember that the Rasberry Pi is ARM that it is based on, not all development tools come with ARM builds.



After installing the tools and played around, I've built some basic Rust code (with build times comparible to my MacBook! ) I've also written some GPIOZero that is based on Python 3 code (controlling butons and LEDs) I've also set an environment for a Jekyll/Ruby development container and updated my blog.



I own several Raspberry Pi computers (1 2, 3 and 1). Most of them are the Model B format, but I also have a few Zeros as well. They are all in a box, unopened. I've played with them and then put them away. While the performance isn't great however, the form factor is crucial. It's like the Raspberry Pi 400 has the capability I require (for small projects) and comes in an enclosure that I'm able to leave plugged in on my desk.



It's a great nostalgic rush!



In the image below, I have two instances of VS Code (both running dev containers) and I'm also browsing. It takes it all with ease.


Website: https://minecraftservers.fun/