{"id":1717,"date":"2021-04-02T18:06:57","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T18:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soliloquyforthefallen.net\/?p=1717"},"modified":"2022-04-17T20:18:55","modified_gmt":"2022-04-17T20:18:55","slug":"dutch-apple-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soliloquyforthefallen.net\/?p=1717","title":{"rendered":"Dutch Apple, Please"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s start by recapping my experience with the models and operating systems to frame the discussion.\u00a0 I’ve actually dealt the majority of the models, and my opinion is much the same on all of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Version<\/th>\nComments<\/th>\nOperating Systems<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
2B+<\/td>\nI experienced stability issues and burned up two usb wireless cards.\u00a0 I worked with the Pidora OS primarily, but eventually gave up and switched to Raspbian.\u00a0 This did not make it any better as I can remember.<\/td>\nPidora & Raspbian<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3A\/B<\/td>\nThe only one I actually “like.”\u00a0 Excellent for RetroPie and Octopi.\u00a0 I haven’t used the Raspbian base OS.<\/td>\nRetropie, Octoprint<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4B<\/td>\nI really hate the Pi 4.\u00a0 Its not much of an specifications improvement over the 3B as far as I can tell.\u00a0 I haven’t worked with mine enough to know though.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 I’ve already corrupted (and destroyed) one SD are a result of the power supply issues present in every single iteration of Raspberry Pi.\u00a0 That leads to my main complaint about the Pi 4.\u00a0 Why implement USB-C but not have it negotiate to any of the higher voltage options?<\/td>\nRetropie<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Zero W<\/td>\nIts okay.\u00a0 The SD cards seems to get corrupted often but they aren’t often destroyed.\u00a0 Overclocking seems to work different on every single board I’ve bought.\u00a0 Also, my first ZeroW would segfault when I tried to use the wireless connection.<\/td>\nRetropie, Pi-KVM, PiStar<\/td>\n<\/tr>\nZero W<2\/td><\/p>\nA very welcome update to my Retroflag GPi. Sadly, since its a new system I set up and clean install and by then I was done playing with. I will say though, I wish I had bought 2 of them. It seems stable enough, and I need to take the time to play with it more.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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My main beef with the Pi family is that needing a 5.1 volt USB power supply defeats the purpose of using USB to power them.\u00a0 Add in the awful time I had with the 2B (and the Alfa Alfa AWUS036H that it ate) I’m not really thrilled with them\u00a0 I’m sure someone will say that by using a properly rated power supply all my problems could be solved.\u00a0 However, I would argue that if you need a “special” voltage spec, then use a 9VDC or 7.5VDC barrel jack and step down the voltage on the board.<\/p>\n

What prompted my post about this an article posted on Hackaday<\/a> about modify the pi to try to help with the voltage warnings.\u00a0 My opinion is this: Pi’s are not USB devices.\u00a0 A wide variety are arguments were made in the article’s comments.\u00a0 They’re enlightening, but ultimately I think you know the ones that I agree with this.\u00a0 The Pi5 should feature a barrel jack instead of a USB.\u00a0 There are a bunch of ways to try to help with the problem but at the end of the day if you put a USB connector in people will use whatever USB they have handy.\u00a0 The legrand USB outlet <\/a>I installed at my desk provides 4.87 volts which is with the USB power specification<\/a>.\u00a0 It can power a pi zero, and usually a 3B.\u00a0 However it will completely kill an SD card on the Pi 4.\u00a0 Even the USB-C charger (that will auto negotiate to 9VDC or 12VDC) cannot power my Pi4.<\/p>\n

I loved my 3B retropie setup and in general I’ve been satisfied with the Pi3 devices I’ve deployed.\u00a0 Using octoprint has been fantastic – I can now monitor my 3d printers remotely from work.\u00a0 But I’m not sold on the other models.\u00a0 Here are a few other tips for a less frustrating Raspberry Pi experience.<\/p>\n