I'm thinking of buying the Pi 4 to use for web surfing and watching
anime and YouTube videos. I don't have any intentions to do video
editing or other such productivity tasks.

I've followed reviews from the "Explaining Computers" YouTube channel
and from ETA Prime. I realized that neither, as far as I remember,
have discussed how well the audio performs.

My intention would be to put the Pi 4 next to my Roku TV, run a cable
to the Pi 4 from my internet router and connect the Pi 4 to the TV
using HDMI. The TV would act as both monitor and as sound output. I
would use a browser, preferably Firefox, to surf the net using the Pi
4. I intend to keep it isolated as much as possible from my primary pc.

how feasible does this configuration seem? Again, I intend to use the
TV as both monitor and sound output for the Pi 4. My TV has HDMI
ports, and I'm using my current pc with it for web surfing (both audio
and video).

Does Firefox work in the Pi 4 O/S? I've had problems before using FF
with Mint where the vertical scroll bar of FF failed to work. I've
also frequently have times when audio would disappear until you reboot.

Also, these days I frequently use magnifying s/w to help me read stuff
on the screen. Does the Pi 4 O/S have a function like that?

Thanks,

John

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On Thu, 5 Nov 2020 21:46:33 -0000 (UTC), "Yes" <noone@invalid.invalid.com> declaimed the following:

Does Firefox work in the Pi 4 O/S? I've had problems before using FF
with Mint where the vertical scroll bar of FF failed to work. I've
also frequently have times when audio would disappear until you reboot.

It might -- but the "native" installed browser is Chrome/Chromium.

Also, these days I frequently use magnifying s/w to help me read stuff
on the screen. Does the Pi 4 O/S have a function like that?

The R-Pi OS is a customized version of Debian (10 currently) with a highly customized desktop. However, you can either configure the desktop
font sizes -- the trade-off being that even with a 1920x1080 (HD TV)
display, it will act as if it were fit to a 1280x800 or so, meaning fewer
lines of text will be visible. OR -- you can search for Debian packages
that provide such magnifier features.


--
Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber AF6VN
wlfraed@ix.netcom.com http://wlfraed.microdiversity.freeddns.org/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

"Yes" <noone@invalid.invalid.com> wrote

| My intention would be to put the Pi 4 next to my Roku TV, run a cable
| to the Pi 4 from my internet router and connect the Pi 4 to the TV
| using HDMI. The TV would act as both monitor and as sound output. I
| would use a browser, preferably Firefox, to surf the net using the Pi
| 4. I intend to keep it isolated as much as possible from my primary pc.
|

I'm doing exactly that, minus the Roku. It works
fine. I got a wireless USB keyboard and mouse, which
I set up on a tray. So when I switch to the Pi4 on
the TV I get the Linux desktop. I also set up a
custom Chrome using drivers someone came up with,
so that I can stream movies that use Widevine DRM,
such as Hoopla.


https://blog.vpetkov.net/2019/07/12/netflix-and-spotify-on-a-raspberry-pi-4-wit h-latest-default-chromium/

Widevine is a Google invention that they seem to want
to control. So there's no version for ARM Chrome or for
Firefox. But the man at the link above worked it out.

It all works great. You don't need the customization
for Youtube. Firefox works. With a second TV I've done
similar with a Win7 box. I play a movie or video on Win7
and pipe it via HDMI as a second monitor.

Zoom functions? I don't know. But in general the Pi4
acts like any PC. I got it mainly because it allows me
to have a computer the size of a deck of cards hooked
into the TV. And it's very cheap compared to providing
a dedicated PC for the job.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 05-11-2020 22:46, Yes wrote:

how feasible does this configuration seem? Again, I intend to use the
TV as both monitor and sound output for the Pi 4. My TV has HDMI
ports, and I'm using my current pc with it for web surfing (both audio
and video).

Audio over HDMI works perfectly on any Pi from the very first model to
the latest. It's a digital connection, so the quality is as good as it
gets (i.e. it still depends on the recording quality, of course, and on
the speakers in your TV).

Also, these days I frequently use magnifying s/w to help me read stuff
on the screen. Does the Pi 4 O/S have a function like that?

Yes, a magnifying glass is part of the Recommended Software selection
which can be accessed from the Preferences menu. The magnifier is not
installed by default so it must be installed manually using that tool,
and requires a reboot.

I would recommend buying the new Raspberry Pi 400 Kit, where the Pi
comes inside a keyboard. It is a neat package which also comes with a
power plug, a mouse, an hdmi cable, a ready-to-use SD card with the
RaspiOS and a printed user manual. It also has a slightly faster version
of the chip (1.8 instead of 1.5 GHZ, not much but every little bit
helps) and it has a massive heatsink built into the system so that it
has no overheating trouble whatsoever, even when overclocking. They
really fixed that. Not that the latest Pi 4 still overheats easily, but
it can, especially in a closed case. (Nothing bad happens, it just slows
down when overheating.)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 05/11/2020 21:46, Yes wrote:

I'm thinking of buying the Pi 4 to use for web surfing and watching
anime and YouTube videos. I don't have any intentions to do video
editing or other such productivity tasks.

I've followed reviews from the "Explaining Computers" YouTube channel
and from ETA Prime. I realized that neither, as far as I remember,
have discussed how well the audio performs.

My intention would be to put the Pi 4 next to my Roku TV, run a cable
to the Pi 4 from my internet router and connect the Pi 4 to the TV
using HDMI. The TV would act as both monitor and as sound output. I
would use a browser, preferably Firefox, to surf the net using the Pi
4. I intend to keep it isolated as much as possible from my primary pc.

how feasible does this configuration seem? Again, I intend to use the
TV as both monitor and sound output for the Pi 4. My TV has HDMI
ports, and I'm using my current pc with it for web surfing (both audio
and video).

Does Firefox work in the Pi 4 O/S? I've had problems before using FF
with Mint where the vertical scroll bar of FF failed to work. I've
also frequently have times when audio would disappear until you reboot.

Also, these days I frequently use magnifying s/w to help me read stuff
on the screen. Does the Pi 4 O/S have a function like that?

Thanks,

John

The new Raspberry Pi 400 sounds ideal for you. I wouldn't bother with a
direct LAN connection - just use Wi-Fi.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/?resellerType=home

The Chrome works OK.

The Pi supports 1920 x 1080. There is a magnifier (I read) started by Ctrl-Alt-M.

--
Cheers,
David
Web: http://www.satsignal.eu

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 05/11/2020 21:46, Yes wrote:

My intention would be to put the Pi 4 next to my Roku TV, run a cable
to the Pi 4 from my internet router and connect the Pi 4 to the TV
using HDMI. The TV would act as both monitor and as sound output. I
would use a browser, preferably Firefox, to surf the net using the Pi
4. I intend to keep it isolated as much as possible from my primary pc.

how feasible does this configuration seem? Again, I intend to use the
TV as both monitor and sound output for the Pi 4. My TV has HDMI
ports, and I'm using my current pc with it for web surfing (both audio
and video).

Completely feasible, I have either a Pi 4B or an earlier model connected
to each TV in the house. The 4B with 4GB (or more) is very much a leap
forward in usability for desktop and browsing, from the previous models
which had less memory and slower processors.

Does Firefox work in the Pi 4 O/S? I've had problems before using FF
with Mint where the vertical scroll bar of FF failed to work. I've
also frequently have times when audio would disappear until you reboot.

Firefox does work, but I use Chromium as it has hardware acceleration of
video, plus the h264ify plugin to turn Youtube VP8/9 videos in to H264
which can be accelerated.

Also, these days I frequently use magnifying s/w to help me read stuff
on the screen. Does the Pi 4 O/S have a function like that?

There is accessibility software which can magnify parts of the screen,
but you can also customise the desktop to use large fonts which easier
to read at TV viewing distances.

---druck

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 05/11/2020 21:46, Yes wrote:

I'm thinking of buying the Pi 4 to use for web surfing and watching
anime and YouTube videos. I don't have any intentions to do video
editing or other such productivity tasks.

I'm a bit confused by the other responses. I tested Raspbian desktop on
my Pi4 4GB just over a year ago and it wasn't utilising hardware
graphics acceleration in the Chrome ("Chromium"?) browser. HD video, fullscreen, youtube, was unwatchable in Chrome. None of the other
browsers seemed better, I think Firefox was "experimental".

Sure, you could set it up to play video with something like KODI that
does use x264 hardware acceleration (maybe even x265), but the default
youtube browser experience was unwatchable.

Maybe things have improved in the last year, but I would confirm that is
true before going ahead. The problems did seem to be software/drivers
rather than hardware.

I now use my Pi 4 headless.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 06/11/2020 10:11 am, Pancho wrote:

On 05/11/2020 21:46, Yes wrote:

I'm thinking of buying the Pi 4 to use for web surfing and watching
anime and YouTube videos. I don't have any intentions to do video
editing or other such productivity tasks.

I'm a bit confused by the other responses. I tested Raspbian desktop on
my Pi4 4GB just over a year ago and it wasn't utilising hardware
graphics acceleration in the Chrome ("Chromium"?) browser. HD video, fullscreen, youtube, was unwatchable in Chrome. None of the other
browsers seemed better, I think Firefox was "experimental".

Sure, you could set it up to play video with something like KODI that
does use x264 hardware acceleration (maybe even x265), but the default youtube browser experience was unwatchable.

Maybe things have improved in the last year, but I would confirm that is
true before going ahead. The problems did seem to be software/drivers
rather than hardware.

I now use my Pi 4 headless.

According to this:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=268356

Pi0-3 have hardware accelerated decode for H264, MPEG4, H263, and
through optional codec licences for MPEG2 and VC1.
Pi4 has the same hardware accelerated decode for H264, but not the other codecs. It also has a separate block for HEVC.

The block for H264 etc can only be accessed via the VPU firmware, which
means either MMAL or IL. That applies to all platforms.

More info at the above URL and here: https://lemariva.com/blog/2020/08/raspberry-pi-4-video-acceleration-decode-chro mium



--

Chris Elvidge, England

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 06/11/2020 11:02, Chris Elvidge wrote:

On 06/11/2020 10:11 am, Pancho wrote:

On 05/11/2020 21:46, Yes wrote:

I'm thinking of buying the Pi 4 to use for web surfing and watching
anime and YouTube videos.  I don't have any intentions to do video
editing or other such productivity tasks.

I'm a bit confused by the other responses. I tested Raspbian desktop
on my Pi4 4GB just over a year ago and it wasn't utilising hardware
graphics acceleration in the Chrome ("Chromium"?) browser. HD video,
fullscreen, youtube, was unwatchable in Chrome. None of the other
browsers seemed better, I think Firefox was "experimental".

Sure, you could set it up to play video with something like KODI that
does use x264 hardware acceleration (maybe even x265), but the default
youtube browser experience was unwatchable.

Maybe things have improved in the last year, but I would confirm that
is true before going ahead. The problems did seem to be
software/drivers rather than hardware.

I now use my Pi 4 headless.

According to this:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=268356

Pi0-3 have hardware accelerated decode for H264, MPEG4, H263, and
through optional codec licences for MPEG2 and VC1.
Pi4 has the same hardware accelerated decode for H264, but not the other codecs. It also has a separate block for HEVC.

Yes I know it had hardware acceleration, KODI, was good for HD H264 full screen. My point was that Chrome wasn't using it.

The block for H264 etc can only be accessed via the VPU firmware, which
means either MMAL or IL. That applies to all platforms.

More info at the above URL and here:

https://lemariva.com/blog/2020/08/raspberry-pi-4-video-acceleration-decode-chro mium


OK so this guy is say Chrome still doesn't use hardware GPU acceleration
by default, but if you are willing to follow his guide you can get it to
work.

I'm a little bit sceptical about how well it works. If it really worked
well wouldn't Raspbian do it by default. It is astonishing that such a
critical issue would not be addressed.

In the past when I have tried this type of stuff I have found
non-standard solutions to be fragile, particularly with HTPC.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

"Pancho" <Pancho.Dontmaileme@outlook.com> wrote

| I'm a bit confused by the other responses. I tested Raspbian desktop on
| my Pi4 4GB just over a year ago and it wasn't utilising hardware
| graphics acceleration in the Chrome ("Chromium"?) browser. HD video,
| fullscreen, youtube, was unwatchable in Chrome. None of the other
| browsers seemed better, I think Firefox was "experimental".
|

I don't know from hardware acceleration, but I got
a Pi4 kit and it worked great from the start. I don't
use Chrome, except the custom version for streaming
movies. Youtube works fine on FF. (Though it's easier
to use youtube-dl for large videos, put the video on
a stick, and walk it over to the Pi.)

What about your network setup? I think all Pi4s
have an ethernet input, which is how I'm using it.
Wifi is for the birds if you can reasonably easily get
a cable to the Pi. In my case I've run cables around
the house because I have an open cellar ceiling and
lots of pipe chases/heat vents. For some people it's
not so easy.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 06/11/2020 14:07, Mayayana wrote:

I think all Pi4s
have an ethernet input,

No, the Zero does not


--
"Strange as it seems, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and
higher education positively fortifies it."

- Stephen Vizinczey

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 06/11/2020 15:12, Andy Burns wrote:

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Mayayana wrote:

I think all Pi4s
have an ethernet input,

No, the Zero does not

I'll say it ... a zero isn't a 4

Ah. speed read and missed the 4...

--
"What do you think about Gay Marriage?"
"I don't."
"Don't what?"
"Think about Gay Marriage."

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

"The Natural Philosopher" <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote

| On 06/11/2020 14:07, Mayayana wrote:
| > I think all Pi4s
| > have an ethernet input,
|
| No, the Zero does not
|

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I don't think a Zero is a 4:

https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/raspberry-pi-buying-guide

There are 3 Pi4s, varying in terms of RAM. I don't
think anyone would be wise to consider anything
but a Pi4 if they want to stream video, run Firefox, etc.
I'm not an expert on this, but it seems that the capacity
to realistically do such things is pretty much a Pi4
development.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Mayayana wrote:

I think all Pi4s
have an ethernet input,

No, the Zero does not

I'll say it ... a zero isn't a 4

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On Fri, 6 Nov 2020 07:05:45 +0000, David Taylor <david-taylor@blueyonder.co.uk.invalid> declaimed the following:

The new Raspberry Pi 400 sounds ideal for you. I wouldn't bother with a >direct LAN connection - just use Wi-Fi.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/?resellerType=home

<GASP> The return of the TRS-80 Model 1 <G>

* in that the keyboard held the main processor and RAM, and connected to a
TV (yes, that monitor was nothing more than a B/W Sony TV with the tuner section removed and holes where the channel dials would have been covered
by a plate with the TRS-80 Logo).


--
Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber AF6VN
wlfraed@ix.netcom.com http://wlfraed.microdiversity.freeddns.org/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On Fri, 6 Nov 2020 10:12:37 -0500, "Mayayana" <mayayana@invalid.nospam> declaimed the following:

There are 3 Pi4s, varying in terms of RAM. I don't

Four variants... Originally in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB, subsequently they are 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB.


--
Wulfraed Dennis Lee Bieber AF6VN
wlfraed@ix.netcom.com http://wlfraed.microdiversity.freeddns.org/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On Fri, 06 Nov 2020 11:13:54 -0500
Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

On Fri, 6 Nov 2020 07:05:45 +0000, David Taylor <david-taylor@blueyonder.co.uk.invalid> declaimed the following:

The new Raspberry Pi 400 sounds ideal for you. I wouldn't bother with a >direct LAN connection - just use Wi-Fi.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/?resellerType=home

<GASP> The return of the TRS-80 Model 1 <G>

It's a fraction of the weight with a million times the memory, tens
of thousands of times the processing power and millions of times the I/O
speed and far cheaper (IIRC they were £400 at first release) ... but yeah
that was my first thought too.

Not bad progress for a bit over four decades.

I worked in Tandy Cambridge at the time the TRS-80 came out in the
UK and knew BASIC so I got to program the demo one a month before they went
on sale. "Make it do something eye catching" - that set an early record for vague requirements that has never been beaten in a long career of
programming.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays C:\>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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In article <ro37hd$32r$1@dont-email.me>,
Pancho <Pancho.Dontmaileme@outlook.com> wrote:

I'm a bit confused by the other responses. I tested Raspbian desktop on
my Pi4 4GB just over a year ago and it wasn't utilising hardware
graphics acceleration in the Chrome ("Chromium"?) browser. HD video, >fullscreen, youtube, was unwatchable in Chrome. None of the other
browsers seemed better, I think Firefox was "experimental".

Sure, you could set it up to play video with something like KODI that
does use x264 hardware acceleration (maybe even x265), but the default >youtube browser experience was unwatchable.

There's a Kodi add-on for YouTube that works like a champ. A small number
of older videos won't play (not transcoded to H.264, perhaps?), but the vast majority play flawlessly, full-screen. I ran it under LibreELEC for a long time, switched to Raspbian recently to try to get LBRY working, and am currently working on getting 64-bit Gentoo running again. (That'll enable
newer versions of Kodi, and can easily be cross-compiled on more powerful hardware...and it might also have better support for windowed video.)

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

David Taylor wrote:

On 05/11/2020 21:46, Yes wrote:

I'm thinking of buying the Pi 4 to use for web surfing and watching
anime and YouTube videos. I don't have any intentions to do video
editing or other such productivity tasks.

I've followed reviews from the "Explaining Computers" YouTube
channel and from ETA Prime. I realized that neither, as far as I
remember, have discussed how well the audio performs.

My intention would be to put the Pi 4 next to my Roku TV, run a
cable to the Pi 4 from my internet router and connect the Pi 4 to
the TV using HDMI. The TV would act as both monitor and as sound
output. I would use a browser, preferably Firefox, to surf the net
using the Pi 4. I intend to keep it isolated as much as possible
from my primary pc.

how feasible does this configuration seem? Again, I intend to use
the TV as both monitor and sound output for the Pi 4. My TV has
HDMI ports, and I'm using my current pc with it for web surfing
(both audio and video).

Does Firefox work in the Pi 4 O/S? I've had problems before using
FF with Mint where the vertical scroll bar of FF failed to work.
I've also frequently have times when audio would disappear until
you reboot.

Also, these days I frequently use magnifying s/w to help me read
stuff on the screen. Does the Pi 4 O/S have a function like that?

Thanks,

John

The new Raspberry Pi 400 sounds ideal for you. I wouldn't bother
with a direct LAN connection - just use Wi-Fi.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/?resellerType=home

The Chrome works OK.

The Pi supports 1920 x 1080. There is a magnifier (I read) started
by Ctrl-Alt-M.

Thanks. Seen reviews of it, but my tv sits more than six feet away
from me, so not interested in the Pi 400

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

Mayayana wrote:

"Yes" <noone@invalid.invalid.com> wrote

-- edited --

... acts like any PC. I got it mainly because it allows me
to have a computer the size of a deck of cards hooked
into the TV. And it's very cheap compared to providing
a dedicated PC for the job.

That's what I'm thinking too.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

On 07-11-2020 00:30, Yes wrote:

Thanks. Seen reviews of it, but my tv sits more than six feet away
from me, so not interested in the Pi 400

WTF. So instead of me laboriously instructing you how to install the
magnifier, I could have told you: go sit closer.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)

Yes <noone@invalid.invalid.com> wrote:

Mayayana wrote:

"Yes" <noone@invalid.invalid.com> wrote

-- edited --

... acts like any PC. I got it mainly because it allows me
to have a computer the size of a deck of cards hooked
into the TV. And it's very cheap compared to providing
a dedicated PC for the job.

That's what I'm thinking too.

Cheap to run as well as to buy initially, a Pi consumes a lot less
electricity than even a modern 'desktop' machine. However as the Pi
gets bigger and PCs get smaller and more economicial the difference is diminishing. Unless you need the processing power of a Pi 4 then some
of the lesser versions maybe somewhat cheaper in the long term.

I'm still running a Pi 2B as my home LAN's DHCP/DNS server, it's quite
adequate for the job.

--
Chris Green
·

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 07/11/2020 10:32, Chris Green wrote:

Cheap to run as well as to buy initially, a Pi consumes a lot less electricity than even a modern 'desktop' machine. However as the Pi
gets bigger and PCs get smaller and more economicial the difference is diminishing.

Slightly diminished, but still substantially better.

Unless you need the processing power of a Pi 4 then some
of the lesser versions maybe somewhat cheaper in the long term.

I don't think the difference between a Pi4B and a 3B or 3B+ is going to
be noticable, unless you are using a peddle powered dynamo.

---druck

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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"Chris Green" <cl@isbd.net> wrote

| Cheap to run as well as to buy initially, a Pi consumes a lot less
| electricity than even a modern 'desktop' machine. However as the Pi
| gets bigger and PCs get smaller and more economicial the difference is
| diminishing. Unless you need the processing power of a Pi 4 then some
| of the lesser versions maybe somewhat cheaper in the long term.
|

My impression is that Pi4 made a big jump in functionality.
Loading the latest Firefox, streaming movies or videos to
a TV... unless you've done that easily with a Pi3 it might be
best not to recommend it. Electricity usage is hardly a top
concern when there might be issues with CPU power, RAM,
etc.

For example, the ability to install Widevine to the Pi's ARM
Chromium seems to be Pi4-only. That may not matter to you,
but for me it was the main reason I bought the Pi. And the OP,
similarly, wants the Piu for video streaming.

https://blog.vpetkov.net/2020/03/30/raspberry-pi-netflix-one-line-easy-install- along-with-hulu-amazon-prime-disney-plus-hbo-spotify-pandora-and-many-others/co mment-page-1/#comment-458345

(At this moment I'm unable to load that page, but I expect
it's a temporary server glitch.)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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druck <news@druck.org.uk> wrote:

On 07/11/2020 10:32, Chris Green wrote:

Cheap to run as well as to buy initially, a Pi consumes a lot less electricity than even a modern 'desktop' machine. However as the Pi
gets bigger and PCs get smaller and more economicial the difference is diminishing.

Slightly diminished, but still substantially better.

My desktop, which isn't *that* modern consumes 18 watts "at the power
socket" when doing normal sort of work. The 4 consumes around 600mA
at 5 volts, that's 3 watts but probably a bit more "at the socket"
because there will be some loss in the power supply. So the Pi 4
consumes about a quarter of what my (not *very* modern) desktop
consumes. Give it another generation of each and they'll be nearer.

Unless you need the processing power of a Pi 4 then some
of the lesser versions maybe somewhat cheaper in the long term.

I don't think the difference between a Pi4B and a 3B or 3B+ is going to
be noticable, unless you are using a peddle powered dynamo.

Well, according to this:-

https://raspi.tv/2019/how-much-power-does-the-pi4b-use-power-measurements

the 4 consumes something like twice the power of a 2B or 3B. OK, it's
not a lot and won't cost much (I reckon on about £1/year per watt) but
it is more and *might* be significant if one is using one away from
mains power.

--
Chris Green
·

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Mayayana <mayayana@invalid.nospam> wrote:

"Chris Green" <cl@isbd.net> wrote

| Cheap to run as well as to buy initially, a Pi consumes a lot less
| electricity than even a modern 'desktop' machine. However as the Pi
| gets bigger and PCs get smaller and more economicial the difference is
| diminishing. Unless you need the processing power of a Pi 4 then some
| of the lesser versions maybe somewhat cheaper in the long term.
|

My impression is that Pi4 made a big jump in functionality.
Loading the latest Firefox, streaming movies or videos to
a TV... unless you've done that easily with a Pi3 it might be
best not to recommend it. Electricity usage is hardly a top
concern when there might be issues with CPU power, RAM,
etc.

Absolutely, but for some things a 3 or 2 is perfectly adequate, for a
home LAN DHCP/DNS server my 2B is *more* than adequate.

--
Chris Green
·

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