[GTALUG] Raspberry Pi 4 Desktop Kit

[Aruna Hewapathirane]

On Fri, Aug 7, 2020 at 10:39 PM <mwilson at vex.net> wrote:

> > Hello,
> >
> > I stumbled across this recently:
> > https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/
> >
> > I can use some guidance and advice from folks who have experience
> > with Raspberry Pi's. What I read so far looks good but I have questions.
> >
> > If 'you' were to use a Raspberry Pi as a desktop replacement which one
> > would you recommend?
> >
> > Is there a major difference in response times between the 4Gb and 8Gb
> > models ?
> >
> > How hot does the unit become ? Does it require an add on fan shim ? Or
> > will work fine without one ?
>
> I started with a 4GByte kit from ABRA in Montreal.  It did adequately
> replacing my old 1-core I386 desktop, mostly running Firefox and Gnu Image
> Manipulation Program.  GIMP seemed to encounter strange crashes with many
> images open, so I lately upgraded to an 8GByte kit from CanaKit in BC, as
> soon as they announced the 8GB.  It is also working well, with occasional
> GIMP crashes.  I don't have anything like benchmark results to tell you.
>

Hi and thanks no bench marks necessary you just told me what I need to
know. So
Scott was right the more memory you have the more tabs+windows you can
have  :-)

>
> Both kits came with a fan.  The ABRA case+fan had an annoying resonant
> buzz that built up, until I replaced the steel bolts that held the fan
> with nylon.


Oh dear..


> The CanaKit fan is a press fit onto studs molded into the
> case, so it was noisy from the get-go, with no chance for modification.


I guess any fan will generate some sort of noise.

I
> left the fan off.  The 8GB board is running fine with the supplied
> aluminum heat sinks venting straight up through the opening in the case,
> Air coming out of the case is barely warmer than ambient, so under my
> workload, the fan seems totally optional.
>

Oh-kay this is something I have to test and double check.

Besides my big 2 apps, the usual Linux/GNU stuff just works: networking,
> rsync, ssh, apt-get, etc.
>

Sounds good :-)


> I went with packaged kits, just to save my own time, and to be able to get
> to work as soon as the parcel arrived.  I don't think I'd change.
>

I like to compile my stuff just so I can see how long it takes and
sometimes I make
customisations that require a re-compile.

I sprang for a 128GB SD card, the medium size Raspbian image takes up 5%
> space, 2% inodes.
>

I wonder how much the Pi supports when it comes to SD storage ?

>
> > How easy or difficult would it be to boot off an external hard disk as
> > compared
> > to the SD card that comes with the Pi ?
> >
> > Any other things to watch out for and be aware of before I purchase ?
> > Instead of buying
> > the kit would it be cheaper to buy each item separately from different
> > vendors ?
> >
> > Thanks - Aruna
> > ---
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> >
>
>
>
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