[GTALUG] Raspberry Pi as a desktop or settop computer

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

When the Raspberry Pi first came out, it was appealing to think of it as 
an ultra-inexpensive computer for your desktop (perhaps as a very 
secondary unit) or to play media on your TV.

Note: this wasn't the intent of the Raspberry Pi designers.  They wanted a 
totally hackable, cheap, simple (as possible) computer to encourage kids 
to dive into computing.  They fondly remembered they youth spent hacking 
and mastering BBC Micro and other home/educational computers.

There was little competition at the price point of the Raspberry Pi.  But 
it wasn't powerful enough for a comfortable desktop (for most people).

Since then, a few things happened:

- a bunch of new SBCs inspired by the Pi have been released.  Each has its 
  own advantages and disadvantages compared with Raspberry Pi models.  
  None has the depth of support of the Raspberry Pi.

- Raspberry Pi models improved a lot but the price crept up.  Note: older 
  models are still available at roughly original prices.

- streaming media players were introduced at RP prices.  They play better 
  with the many forms of DRM that infest the services.  Oh, and new TV 
  sets include embedded streaming media players.  (This bothers me on a 
  philosophical level.)

- tiny x86 boxes have become a lot better and cheaper

My current opinions:

- instead of a desktop computer, consider a laptop.  That market is much 
  larger and the competition has produced some quite good option.

- for desktop computers, x86 seems to be a more practical choice.
  At the low-end, I'd probably pick one based on an Intel N100.
  I'd select a brand like Bee-Link or models from a similar tier of 
  Chinese brands.  I actually want more performance on my desktop
  so I currently use a much more powerful Bee-Link Mini PC (a SER7).

- for set-top boxes, first I'd get a dedicated streaming device.  If I 
  also felt the need for a computer, I'd pick an N100 box.  We do this 
  (except our mini PCs are much older).

- Raspberry Pi computers are still a great choice for learning and for 
  embedding into projects.  Much more fun than x86.

Note: all of these things run or can run Linux.  Except for the Apple 
streamers.