Help in purchasing a basic raspberry pi

[Scoopnrunner]

I want to purchase a basic unit and attach it to a standard PC keyboard and monitor. How much would it cost and are downloads involved or would it be plug and play?

Thanks in advance.

 

[dave3825]

There are many configurations of pi and generally the end user would have to load an operating system on to the sd card. Telling what your looking to use it for could help others give you some recommendations. I have a 3b+ and it runs some things pretty good but not enough horsepower for other things.

 

[Scoopnrunner]

I have an ancient Dell tower that runs slower than mud. I just want the least expensive small pi to replace it. I just want to check my e-mails and live stream internet radio and Youtube videos. I already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers. Does the pi come with software or must I supply it?

 

[k9wkj]

Inovato Home

Inovato Quadra: A Mini PC for school, home, hobby

inovato.com

not a PI but a tiny box that comes with a OS on it
I use them for ham digital modes and rig control
even have one as a remote SDR

 

[kh6idf]

There are Raspberry Pi kits that have the Raspberry Pi operating system (a version of Linux) preloaded onto an SD card.
If not preloaded, it is pretty simple to download the OS and write it to the SD card using a PC.

Unless cost is an absolute priority, I would recommend the Raspberry Pi 5 as it is the latest greatest model for only a little bit more.
If cost is really important you could use a RPi 4. 4GB of RAM should be more than enough but for just a bit more you can get 8GB.

I have 3 Rpi 4's in the house, one is a music player in my hifi system, one is in my office/shack and can be either a music player or Pi-Star digital voice device (amateur radio) depending on which SD card I plug in, and the third sits behind the TV in the living room, used for Internet radio listening and general web browsing. The living room Pi is used with a $25 Logitech bluetooth wireless keyboard / trackpad and I just have the USB dongle plugged into the RPi 4. Worked perfectly first time booting up, no drivers to load.

Here is what I would get if I didn't already have three Pi 4's:

https://www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspberry-Starter-Kit-PRO/dp/B0CRSNCJ6Y/ref=sr_1_1?sr=8-1

Note it comes with two mini HDMI to HDMI cables so you need a monitor with HDMI input. Keyboard and mouse should be USB. It has both wifi and hardwired ethernet capability.

Once you put it together (super easy) and insert the SD card, it will boot up in the RPi OS, ask you a few questions like what country you are in, what language you use, has you create an account name and password, and brings up the desktop. Firefox and Chrome browsers are included in the OS, you can pick one or both and you are up and running. For email you may have to download an email client but you can also use browser based email (gmail.com, mail.yahoo.com, etc).

 

[Scoopnrunner]

Thanks much for the information and the heads up on the different models. I am going to bite the bullet and order the Pi 5. When I recieve it and get it up and running I'll post the results. Thanks.

 

[boatbod]

Having run a RPi as a secondary desktop (for browsing and sdr listening via op25) for a couple years, I'd suggest you consider other hardware that's x64 based. RPis are fun and relatively inexpensive, but slooow when you load them up with a window manager and all the desktop tools. For just a few dollars more you can gain Intel compatibility, a faster processor, and more memory which will make your like so much better. Two of my RPi4s got relegated to Pi Hole duties, and the third is serving as a paperweight. YMMV

 

[dkcorlfla]

I have an ancient Dell tower that runs slower than mud. I just want the least expensive small pi to replace it. I just want to check my e-mails and live stream internet radio and Youtube videos. I already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers. Does the pi come with software or must I supply it?

What OS is the Dell running? What are the specs? If it's a dual core or better with 4 GB ram or better it will run Linux just fine. Does the MB have a spot for a SSD?

Raspberry Pi are fun to play around with and they have a thousand uses but as a replacement for a desktop I would second the idea of a mini computer instead or installing Linux on the Dell.

 

[JimmyJet727]

Raspberry Pi are fun to play around with and they have a thousand uses but as a replacement for a desktop I would second the idea of a mini computer instead or installing Linux on the Dell.

True. I'm running Linux Mint on a Dell mini i-5 quad 2.5GHz 8GB and it's marginal at best. With sdrtrunk running an RTL-SDR dongle it's pretty sluggish to do anything else.

However I'd still love to hear a report from the OP once the new Pi is up & running.

 

[n0xvz]

I second (third?) putting Linux on the Dell tower. Linux Mint or even Raspberry Pi OS should work. I've used both on older hardware with decent success. I also have a RPi 2b that is a "desktop replacement." It doesn't work quite as well as I would like, but part of that is the location I'm using it.

 

[jwt873]

I'm running a BeeLink computer connected to the HDMI of my TV. I have VPN software installed and it acts as a media server. It's essentially a regular laptop squeezed into a tiny case. Costs more than the basic R Pi, but comes with a lot more capability, including a fairly perky processor.. a sizeable hard drive and a fair bit of onboard memory. They run Windows 11 or Linux.. Mine came with Win 11 installed.

This isn't the one I have, but it's similar: https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-Intel-N100-Computer-Desktop-Display/dp/B0BVFS94J5/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CZEUABASTXJD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tGWdm_eaW6VGlsC1mwfqANzWKfhCDlzeAqdgbI8_x9zuOCkgKuRF07mP8kaczw_LhrOlQHD1dyhBtkC1zu-IUD_oXVMZsn1ASbUZfrgWSj4fKcxR1rky5R8__Mw0N9bEK_AEKdoIac-KUJWTfjvMwTdK0KKijvv3vyDT9vIgQR_7ZeJ-apahlJtGUMkYyXwuZp23ozaieVaViwEQp4NeXqSur_8Ahvq6re4aR4UKfek.zGLIKITgrowSpIQd5c5KpeKAAO65FVuGxldJyQyrWmQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=bee+link&qid=1750612664&sprefix=bee+link,aps,122&sr=8-1&th=1

 

[JimmyJet727]

True. I'm running Linux Mint on a Dell mini i-5 quad 2.5GHz 8GB and it's marginal at best. With sdrtrunk running an RTL-SDR dongle it's pretty sluggish to do anything else.

As a follow-up to my previous post, I bought another 8GB RAM stick from Amazon for $15 and upped the RAM to 16GB. It really woke this baby up. Much snappier when multi-tasking. Not surprising of course. Just saying RAM is cheap and sometimes money very well spent.

BTW that BeeLink looks like a lot of bang for the buck. I'm feeling an impulse buy.

 

[foxtail]

Not sure if the N100 are up to the tasks of SDR's. Tried N95 laptop, new win11 install with up to date SDR software. Just seemed to slow. Maybe memory (8gb) wasn't enough? I think I read they are Celerons...someone correct me if wrong....

 

[dkcorlfla]

Not sure if the N100 are up to the tasks of SDR's. Tried N95 laptop, new win11 install with up to date SDR software. Just seemed to slow. Maybe memory (8gb) wasn't enough? I think I read they are Celerons...someone correct me if wrong....

I'm running DSDplus FL on a Win 11 Bmax Mini PC B1 Pro with Intel N4000 (dual core) $100 on amazon. It runs flawlessly but task manager does show about 85% CPU usage.

I have not heard is skip yet.

Really pleased with this tiny and cheap mini but I don't do anything else with it other then P25 decoding.

 

[BinaryMode]

I would refrain from putting Raspberry Pi OS on an SD card. It's very slooooow. Use a small thumb drive. The Pi will auto boot from the USB port... To flash the USB drive with the Pi OS use Raspberry Pi Imager.

A Pi 5 is pretty decent. I bought mine brand new and at a cost savings on eBay.

There are several different kinds of cases, too. Make sure the one you chose is compatible. "raspberry pi case" in All Categories

And you should have a power supply like this one: Amazon.com

It is UL listed.

To go portable a Pi will use a cellphone battery bank like one of these: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=battery+bank

I should note that you can install a header unit thing and use an NVMe drive...

 

[dmchalmers]

I asked this before elsewhere, What is the benefit of using a raspberry pi over a amazon windows 11 laptop???? the price compares!!!!

 

[dkcorlfla]

I asked this before elsewhere, What is the benefit of using a raspberry pi over a amazon windows 11 laptop???? the price compares!!!!

Two completely different animals: Lets start with Linux vs Windows - can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on what you are trying to do.

Size, the Raspberry Pi is much more compact and has a thousand uses for running all sorts of things and has lots of pin input and outputs for hooking up all sorts of things.

If all you want to do is check email and browse the web or do other typical Windows things then go with the laptop or a mini if you don't need portable and want a bigger monitor.

If you want to do custom robot work, setup a advance weather station, run web sdrs and on and on go with the Raspberry Pi.

Also consider the Raspberry Pi if you want to learn more about computers, programming and so on.

 

[W8WCA]

What OS is the Dell running? What are the specs? If it's a dual core or better with 4 GB ram or better it will run Linux just fine. Does the MB have a spot for a SSD?

Raspberry Pi are fun to play around with and they have a thousand uses but as a replacement for a desktop I would second the idea of a mini computer instead or installing Linux on the Dell.

yes these new N100 type computers are hard to beat!

 

[PDXh0b0]

I've use/used pi's for allot of things, mostly iot stuff, radiosonde tracking..etc

As a daily driver..don't plan on multitasking at speed 🙂.

A lot of nice alternatives shared already, I'll add Amazon renewed pc's are worth a look at . This one is $40 less then I paid right now. It is running sdrtrunk with 5 rtl-sdr's with trunking recorder , hf+ discovery with sdr# & fldigi. No issues running several tabs on a browser, running dsdplusfastlane

https://a.co/d/bC33PR8

 

[UTE-GE]

As PDXh0b0 stated, you can get used PC's for very reasonable prices. I have 2 Lenovo M93p's that work great. I have less than $100 in both of them. Fleabay is loaded with them.