47 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
47 lines
2.9 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "Working retro with a Raspberry Pi"
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date: 2022-09-10T00:00:00
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slug: working-retro-with-a-raspberry-pi
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---
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Since moving to a co-working space, I’ve started using a [Raspberry Pi 400](https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-400/) as my primary desktop PC at home to avoid transporting my laptop back-and-forth each day. I’m mainly using it for writing blog posts, playing the odd game, and tinkering with some of my own projects.
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After a few weeks of this, I’ve got some thoughts on the pros and cons of using it.
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## The setup
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- Raspberry Pi 400 board, overclocked to 2.2GHz
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- Logitech G203 optical mouse
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- AOC 1080p monitor, connected via micro HDMI cable
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- 128GB storage via micro SD
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- [Twister OS](https://twisteros.com/)
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- [SpaceVim](https://spacevim.org/) as my IDE
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- [Lynx](https://lynx.invisible-island.net/) and Chromium for web browsing
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I went with Twister OS over Raspberry Pi OS for the simple reason that it has a few retro themes that I like. After a bit of tinkering, I settled on the Windows 95 theme.
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Chromium is *fine* for browsing most of the time, but it’s a resource hog, so sometimes I’ll decide to
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just use Lynx instead - it’s kind of refreshing to not be bombarded with images, ads, and Javascript.
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For working, there is a build of VS Code available, but I found it to be pretty slow and a resource hog, much like
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Chromium, so I use the SpaceVim distribution of NeoVim, which has just enough features to allow me to work relatively easily.
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## [Pros](https://lewisdale.dev/post/working-retro-with-a-raspberry-pi/#pros)
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- It’s pretty snappy, especially after overclocking
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- I get a nice pang of nostalgia when I boot it up into the Windows 95 theme
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- Browsing with Lynx is great for filtering out a lot of the fluff
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- The computer itself runs off a 15W USB-C power supply, which is nothing to sniff at with current energy prices
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## Cons
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- Chromium is pretty slow. I find a lot of pages hanging when scrolling, even with hardware acceleration enabled
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- SpaceVim adds a whole new layer of complexity to Vim, which I’ve not yet fully got to grips with
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- It’s a 1.8GHz ARM CPU, so it’s pretty limited - especially coming from the M1 in my Macbook
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- The Pi 400 keyboard isn’t great - it’s quite cramped and the keys need a surprising amount of force to push
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- A lot of time needed to configure all of the different options
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Overall, though, it’s not a bad working setup. Once it’s setup, it seems to be quite stable. And as a bonus it’s an exceptionally cheap system: the Pi 400 is £70, and comes embedded in a keyboard, meaning you only need to buy a mouse and a monitor. I’d recommend it as either a backup desktop, a first computer, or a budget system for someone looking to get into computing.
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