Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by soared 1179 days ago
I disagree with the author here. The vast majority of rpi users aren’t trying to purchase the optimal hardware for their project, they’re trying to tinker around with something fun. Literally all of my rpi projects have short lifespans since I know the rpi is able to do so many things, so I use it in many different projects.

Rpis are almost never the optimal/cheapest/best option for a project, but they’re almost always the optimal computer to reuse in 10 different projects over and over!
2 comments
frantathefranta 1179 days ago
I don't know if it started with pi-hole but one of these projects must have been the turning point for "load up an SD card and let your pi run for years at a time with nothing else". That's how a lot of people use them and especially with recent prices it's pretty wasteful. I have 2 pis and both run multiple of the programs that people usually run solo on a pi (Octoprint, MPD server and player, UPS controller, (Zig|ZW)2MQTT and so on)
link
outworlder 1179 days ago
With recent prices I agree it's a problem, but they were otherwise cheap and borderline disposable computers.

I have a Pi3 that's dedicated to Octoprint - just because I want it to have all the resources when printing and I have some heavy plugins (the Arc Welder, for one).

However, the Pi4 is running Home Assistant and several other things within HassIO, like Adguard, NodeRed, the UPS monitor, Tailscale, etc. It's a much more powerful Pi, with 8GB. I would replace it with a TinyMiniMicro if it died today. Although, given that it's currently sitting in a rack, I want to also give it control of the rack fans(heat dissipation is not a problem most of the time) and add some RGB lighting, which would be perfect for the Pi.

I'd argue that, given the current prices, if you don't need the GPIO pins, the author is correct.

link
ryanianian 1179 days ago
I shorted a few RPis in my day. It would hurt to do that now given their price.

Even so, OP is about running server stuff rather than electronics or robotics hobbyist stuff. The Pi works as a little hass and automation server, but only barely.

I've been "mini pc" curious for a while, and TFA mentions a "TinyMiniMicro" resource that seems quite useful.

link