Raspberry Pi - A credit card sized, linux based mini-computer for $30

inspired imo

some are, at least, imo

pi Jukebox decided to die yesterday, just stopped playing after a Dead Can Dance song. i was logged in at the time but i couldn't ls let alone shutdown nicely. pulled the plug but the sd card is now toast, laptop doesn't even see it.

still, something to do...

Pi 5 is the most capable yet, and the most expensive (and needs active cooling?). part of me thinks this is missing the point, but i guess you still have the zeros for the small stuff, even the picos. do i need a third? perhaps not.

(oh, places still have various model 3s and 4s in stock, more than enough choice)

It's weird but you can often find used computer kits that used rpi3 for the brains for cheaper than bare rpi3.

I guess less weird but still weird -- you can find full working laptops for even cheaper.

needing active cooling makes them pretty much useless

some of the new cases have fans built in (but will limit expandability, getting in the way of the pins)

the official word is "continual heavy usage" will cause thermal throttling and a fan will avoid that. also that the 5 is generally cooler than the 4 and faster even if throttling, so it's not as terrible as all that.