Yeh, just load the RPI software image on and follow all the guides and.. oh.. yeh it's slightly different in small ways that could trip you up. Great, I love making myself more work.

Now I can't follow the thousands of guides and examples tailored exactly to Pi software and hardware.

Maybe now you can see why "and you're good." isn't actually true?

For tinkering and GPIO stuff I still think the Pi is unmatched, but with the specs of these newer models and the prices, they seem to be entering more of the homelab/desktop/server segment, at which point these mini PCs we're talking about are a far better value proposition.

If you want to connect breakouts and do some electronics work etc, a Pi 4 or a lower-RAM/lower-cost Pi 5 is an excellent choice, for those who were using them to host software like I've been doing mini-PCs destroy Pis these days at the price/feature and price/performance level.

If the Pis weren't looking more like these mini PCs in features and cost, they wouldn't be coming up as comparisons.

Newsflash, Raspbian is just another Linux distro, which means you can still follow the same tutorials on other distributions, Debian is the closest. Unless you play with drivers, bootloaders, Kernel hacking, or try to integrate with another embedded platform, you wouldn't see a much difference.

More news just in: you and I won't see much/any difference because we've done this (playing with computers) before, many times I expect.

But I appreciate some of you left your Pis in the sock drawer and are unaware of the seemingly obvious (to you) things that learners trip up on. I spent years maintaining a Pi-based audio player aimed at beginners. I even tried to support some other platforms, should have been "simple" but the little differences matter to those that don't know what's little and what's big.

I should probably give some examples but I guess this is a case of what's obvious to me, isn't to you.

Of course I use Raspberry, as I already mentioned - it's great for learning typical embedded stuff. But if the use-case is different than embedded, and more like a server or PC, then just go with PC. I too frequently see people putting too much effort into turning a small SBC into a fully-fledged PC, with a poor effect of course.

That's a good point actually, especially when you're a beginner trying to follow a tutorial. Thanks for the input.

I installed Debian on mine and that was literally it, job done.