The Raspberry pi 400 I ordered has arrived and working with it has opened my eyes to what I have come to expect and accept from Microsoft and Apple. In the Microsoft & Apple world, computer owners and users are a source of income as well as a pool of alpha and beta testers. How wonderful is it to get paid to have folks test your software instead of having to pay a team of programmers and randomized users to test that software!
Compare that to what happens in the Linux world (the Raspberry Pi 400 runs a version of Debian Linux, or any other OS you care to load that supports ARM processors). Software is developed mostly in the public domain, tested and improved by volunteers driven by a love of the products, the environment, and the community that has grown up around Unix, Multix, and Linux (among a few others – I prefer OS-9) all tracing back to the work of Kernighan and Ritchie.
Back to the Raspberry Pi 400, like previous Pi computers it is comprised of a System On a Chip (SOC) with some interesting peripherals (USB ports, mini-HDMI ports, socket for a Micro SD card, Bluetooth, 802.11 a/c, gigabit ethernet port, all built into a compact keyboard. Provide power, a mouse, and an HDMI display and you have a complete computer more than adequate for all web services, video streaming, word processing, spreadsheet work or play and much more.
This version debuts a 1.8ghz processor with nice video support. The “kit” I purchased came with a power supply, a USB mouse, a mini HDMI to HDMI cable, a 16GB memory card with linux pre-installed, and an easy to read book to introduce you to the system, its OS, and some of the included software. Libre Office is preloaded along with Scratch (a beginners language), Python, and Java IDEs (integrated development environment). A web browser built in Chromium gives good access to the web that behaves very much like Google Chrome. On top of all this, the system boots up into a Graphical User Interface any Mac or Windows user will find familiar if a bit less confusing.For the $120 (including shipping) how wrong can you go for a school access computer, a teaching tool, or a home computer for browsing the web, watching streaming videos, reading and writing email, etc.