[frigo_1337]

I don't see anything about Ethernet/Wi-Fi. Am I missing something?

I understand they had to cut some features to reduce the prize. But networking is such a fundamental requirement for these types of systems, you'd think that it would be the last feature to be excluded.

[david-given]

Can the HDMI port be abused for some kind of networking?

There are a whole bunch of extra features tucked away inside HDMI. I know the Pi doesn't support Ethernet-over-HDMI, because it's missing the necessary PHY, but apparently it does support I2C-over-HDMI. I2C isn't very fast (tops out at 3.4Mbit, if you're lucky); is there anything else which could be used hidden inside somewhere?

One interesting thing about I2C, though, is that it would be cheap and easy to build a chassis with a whole bunch of these $5 modules wired together via I2C. It's almost certainly not cost effective in any way, but would be interesting, particularly if you could get useful work out of it...

[TD-Linux]

The networking on the other Pis is attached via USB. It's a very easy and obvious thing to drop.

[frigo_1337]

Yeah I guess.

Still, I for one would be more than willing to pay a few extra bucks for a stripped-down version of the Pi with wireless included.

Actually, all I'm looking for in this type of machine is Linux, Wi-Fi and GPIO, in a reasonably compact format. Maybe the Pi isn't a good fit, since it is more about "teaching computing" than "building your IoT stuff".

[Tepix]

Exactly. If you need Ethernet, a USB-to-Ethernet adapter is $1.50 on AliExpress including free shipping from China.

[smarx007]

And one kind person suggested PPP over serial in comments to the Make article: http://elinux.org/RPi_Serial_Connection#Network_connection_w...

[ryan-c]

I set up ppp between a pair of RPis a few years ago - you can crank up the speed quite a bit past 115200 baud.

[vincentkriek]

I agree, if this would include an ethernet port it would be the cheapest embedded linux board with wired networking. I would really like such a device and am kinda sad it doesn't exist. Like a ESP8266 but wired.

[sagischwarz]

http://swag.raspberrypi.org/collections/pi-kits/products/off...

[MarcScott]

There's a USB port.

[tomjacobs]

Plug a wipi into it via the USB OTG cable. Done.

[cherioo]

No. Wireless adapter needs better power source, so it's RPi to powered hub to WiFi, which makes the setup quite a bit bulkier and pricier.

Like gp I wish some sort of network connectivity can be included to make it more complete as a standalone computer.

[tomjacobs]

Nope, we have hundreds of Pi2's with two wipis in them, yeah it's fine.

[TeMPOraL]

You don't need a hub, you need a smartphone charger (one that gives you more than 500mA at output).