Hacker News Reader

Comment by adr1an | Hacker News Reader

Buying an SBC to then use extra modules (pcie, camera, etc.) sounds like defeating the purpose of the 'single board' computer. Interesting experiment nonetheless.

View on HN

Let's ignore the concept of Raspberry Pi hats for a second and instead look further back.

Nearly all SBCs have been used as simple platforms to interact with extra peripherals. The idea that SBCs shouldn't support peripherals is new, and arguably pointless. Want a computer with no peripherals to just run code? Pay a VPS provider.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-board_computer#History

Not really. I like the idea of building NAS where i can upgrade the RPi5 to RPi6 when it's released. It's not like i need everything to be "single board". But the fact most of the important components are on that single board, means the thing can be quite small (even with few extra project-specific peripherals attached)

It is reminiscent of the 1980s micros that inspired the Pi; there was a thriving scene - commercial and homebrew - of plug in modules. If you think of the Pi in that context rather than an SBC, it makes sense.

If extra modules aren't a purpose of the RPi then why does it always come with GPIO pins? The point isn't to only have a single board but to have a simple base that's easy to build upon.

Single-board computers without any extensibility are primarily sold by Apple. Very different target audience and purpose.

It is exactly the opposite. Raspberry pi are created for learning and experimentation, and hobbyists too. There is an entire industry based around using it with expanded components.

It's just a motherboard with the CPU soldered on, it's not really /that/ much different from my Intel desktop in the sense that it's a general purpose computer that you can plug other things into. Focussing on the S bit of SBC isn't really helpful.

Ultimately a Pi or other SBC is a pretty nice size for using as a dedicated and specialised device for lots of things. I've got one plugged into my boat to monitor boat related stats, I've got one that does logging and graphing of environmental stats around my house (and runs Octoprint). Both running SSDs, and though I could for sure run these services on a larger "proper" computer there's really no need to take the space and power.

Running one as a NAS would be pretty sweet because it would be pretty small compared to my smallest NAS which is a Dell Optiplex USFF machine (https://willj.net/posts/fitting-two-hard-drives-and-an-ssd-i...)

It is a single board computer. Are you adding daughter boards? No? Even your phone has separate storage pieces. Adding storage has never broken the concept of a single board computer. I'm not sure why it would now.

> (...) sounds like defeating the purpose of the 'single board' computer.

What purpose do you think it is? Why do you think people spend their cash on a Raspberry Pi or any other RPi clone?

Well, I was aiming to the NVMe storage mainly. To me that point is valid (as in, SD cards are unstable), but I draw the line. I think microdesktops with passive cool down are better suite for many applications, specially if you're looking forward to having an SSD. That was what I had in mind. Still, SBC with extendability is great for Diy and many IoT applications. Indeed.

Happily streaming music with an rpi 4 plus HiFiBerry DAC extension hat. What would you suggest I should have used instead?

RPi, librespot, USB DAC with studio monitors. My main remote audio stream system at home that anyone on homenetwork can use.

What difference does it make using a USB DAC as opposed to a plug-in hat DAC? How is the RPi still meaningfully "single-board" if you have to plug it in to a USB peripheral?

Not sure what you mean? Why limit to single-board?

The comment I was originally replying to said adding on peripherals defeated the purpose of a single-board computer, which I disagree with.

The Ardunio from 20 years ago was designed to use hats. It has always been this way.

yeah the costs add up and you could have just gotten an old android phone at that point

> Buying an SBC to then use extra modules (pcie, camera, etc.) sounds like defeating the purpose

Agree, except cameras are often more practical or flexible to buy separately.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com