In the category of SBC's, it's pretty much the only one that has good software support, not outdated images made with a bunch of kernel patches for a specific kernel version.

This is certainly the reputation but I'm not sure they deserve it. They've always had the horrible closed-source bootloader with threadx running on the gpu, without a free alternative. At least up to pi4 they weren't bad at linux mainlining, but progress on upstreaming pi5 support has been glacial.

Cf. the various Beagle boards which have mainline linux and u-boot support right from release, together with real open hardware right down to board layouts you can customise. And when you come to manufacture something more than just a dev board, you can actually get the SoC from your normal distributor and drop it on your board - unlike the strange Broadcom SoCs rpi use.

I'm quite a lot more positive about rp2040 and rp2350, where they've at least partially broken free of that Broadcom ball-and-chain.

This sort of comment is great - it's good to know if the tech situation changes, which you could call Hacker News

I use mine for a plex server.

I don't need to transcode + I need something I can leave on that draws little power.

I have a powerful rig, but the one time I get to turn it off is when I'd need the media server lol.

There's a lot of scenarios where power usage comes into play.

These clusters don't make much sense to me though.

That’s insane, drawing very little power from an always on server is a solved problem.

What's your idea of very little power, though?

I know for many who run SBCs (RK3588, Pi, etc.), very little is 1-2W idle, which is almost nothing (and doesn't even need a heatsink if you can stand some throttling from time to time).

Most of the Intel Mini PCs (which are about the same price, with a little more performance) idle at 4-6W, or more.

Not to mention there's more cost, effort, and energy effective compute from old laptops.

Unless you have a robot body for your potential RPi, don't buy one.

How?

I can fit a raspberry pi and external ssd in my pocket.

I cannot do that for a server.

I could use a laptop, but simply plugging in a firestick to the hotel tv or a projector when camping is nicer.

> an overrated, overhyped little computer.

No, you are dismissive because you don't care about the use-cases.

The R.Pi 4 , 400, and the 500 are great models. Consider all the advantages together:

i= support for current Debian

ii= stellar community

iii= ease of use (UX), especially for people new to Debian and/or coding and/or Linux

iv= quiet, efficient, low power and passively cooled

v= robust enough to be left running for a long time

There are cheaper, more performant x86 and ARM dev boards and SOCs. But nothing compares to the full set of advantages.

That said, building a $3K A.I. cluster is just a senseless, expensive lark. (^;