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10 Reasons Why Raspberry Pi Sucks. Think before buying!

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Raspberry Pi has been in news for quite a time and is seen as some sort of computing revolution that comes in a price tag of $25. For an average technology enthusiast, it generates quite a bit of curiosity. If you pondering over the question “Should I buy Raspberry Pi”, the answer is a big NO. I’ll give you not one but ten reasons why Raspberry Pi sucks.

It’s all hype that is created around Raspberry Pi and the manufacturers are cashing on the hype. There are limited availability of the stock and I had to wait for 3 months after registering. And when I finally got it, I was highly disappointed with whatever I was given in the name of a micro computer. There are several additional things you need to get your Raspberry Pi working.

Here are 10 reasons why Raspberry Pi sucks:

  1. The price tag $25 is a deception. It is simply not available. While another model is available for $35, it is much more than $35 if you are not lucky enough to be an US resident. Raspberry Pi, a UK-based company, selling a $35 device in 32.7 GBP. And since I used my French Credit Card, additional blow for using foreign currency. So this so-called $35 device cost me around $55. Talk of being cheap, huh!
  2. Second blow, Raspberry Pi does not comes with a power lead. I know that Raspberry Pi FAQs clearly tell that it doesn’t provide power lead and it can be bought separately but imagine your self buying a cellphone and they tell you dude, we sell phones not chargers, buy it separately.
  3. No memory what-so-ever. You just bought a computer without a memory.
  4. No OS pre-loaded. Obviously there is no question of OS without memory.
  5. It has a Micro USB power port but official website advises not to use your computer to power it up. Great! Another option gone. Now you don’t have any option other than buying a power lead.
  6. The basis concept behind the birth of Raspberry Pi is “a tiny and cheap computer for kids” that can be used school computer labs. Now the Raspberry Pi is a naked device that doesn’t come in a box. How long will it last before breaking apart? Despite of promises of a default case included by as early as 2012, it still does not have one.
  7. There are only two USB ports. One goes for your keyboard and the other for your mouse, hdmi port for the monitor. Now you can have no more connectivity. Enjoy!
  8. No Wi Fi here. Go back to stone age and use wired Ethernet connection. By the way Raspberry Pi A doesn’t even have the option for Ethernet.
  9. You have to boot from the SD card. You cannot use a USB device as storage.
  10. You pre-order it and wait for months before you could get your hands on it. And then you realize that you have to spend more money buying its case, SD card, power lead etc.

Before some one start pouncing at me with “value for the money” and “this is the best you can get in this price” stuff, I definitely am not looking to Raspberry Pi as a replacement of regular laptops but there are better alternatives to it available in market for e.g., . Considering the additional price you have to pay for SD card, power lead etc. it comes almost in the same range. Only you get better configuration for a few dollars more.

While Raspberry Pi is a great concept in itself, it’s not the best out there. What you think of it? Does Raspberry Pi sucks or you have reasons enough to love it? Do express your views.

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  • Robert

    Anyways the shittiest problem of the Raspberry Pi is that it lacks well written USB Drivers for USB support and the GPU. The fundation helds the attitude: “We don’t advertised your USB devices would work with our ports”… sad

  • Mike

    Are you a retard? Stop blaming others for your own stupidity … it makes you look … stupid!

    • https://computerandyou.net/ Abhishek Prakash

      No.. I am not.

    • Ryan

      Actually that photo makes you look pretty retarded.

  • Anon

    I’m inclined to agree with the post. I’m locked into the Windows world at work but I’ve always wanted to try to get on with GNU/Linux because I hate the direction that Windows and Office are headed in. I have tried many times to understand the GNU/Linux world but I’ve always given up within the end because of the unintuitive faff. I so wanted the Raspberry Pi to work for me but I gave up after a week or two. Far too much fucking around with command line that I had to copy, without any understanding, from the Raspberry Pi forum. I couldn’t stand the attitude of the mods on the forum either. Far too many locked threads and any poster of critical posts is accused of trolling. I blame Evan Upton’s missus, a proper diva. Recently, though, I discovered Linux Mint after a recommendation from a sympathetic expert. It’s ideal for someone like me preparing to migrate from Windows. It just works, relying on proprietary software as appropriate. I now have it installed, with GRUB, on a tiny USB stick (Sandisk Cruzer) which is permanently plugged into my netbook. It’s effectively a dual-boot although there is no Linux Mint on the netbook hard drive. It’s installed on its own EXT2 partition, no swap, and it works beautifully, accessing the NTFS partition on the remainder of the same thumb drive, and the netbook’s hard drive, without any issues. If I’m surfing or emailing I regularly boot into Linux Mint to save time. It was my utter disappointment with the Raspberry Pi that led me to Linux Mint so, in a way, I’m grateful. I can’t see Raspberry Pi being much use to school kids. The forum seems to be dominated by 40+ beardies.

    • https://computerandyou.net/ Abhishek Prakash

      Spot on!
      It is termed as a revolution for school kids but in reality it is more of a geek toy than anything else.

      • Ryan

        Yeah, the hype was simply to attract kids into a massively understaffed industry but it’s not really working out too well. There’s too many retarded IT teachers in comfortable jobs in the UK.

        I bet 95% of the units they’ve sold are being used as low-spec servers by people who can’t figure out that it’s a £65 device masquerading as a £25 device.

        Humble cause, shit device.

        • effthepi

          Change low-spec servers to a poor HTPC or an overglorified crappy “retro gaming console” crap.

    • Ryan

      You need a Windows-like distro to transition to. Once you’re comfortable using it as a day-to-day machine, you can learn other things without being forced to rely on them. I’m absolutely positive that anyone who sticks out the command-line/hacking/customizing side of things will eventually be lost without it. It makes you realise just how much important detail and “magic” is deliberately hidden from you in Windows. Unix is not rocket science at all — it’s just too much to take in when all you want is a working desktop.

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  • Ron

    including leads is not allowed for a lot of appliances in europe.
    so i am pretty much used to most leads missing. you bought a raspberry, not an ipad.

    • https://computerandyou.net/ Abhishek Prakash

      That may be true. My new Kindle Fire HD is without leads too.

  • Pic889

    The major drawback IMO is the lack of OS. Yeah, trust those distro maintainers that they will spend months writing code for a closed SoC to support an ultra-niche project. When the Debian folks mean “support”, they mean with a lousy driver that lacks any kind of hardware acceleration or ability to use any of the features of the hardware whatsoever. These are the guys that think it’s cool to remove binary blobs from the Linux kernel to reduce support for WiFI cards and USB printers/scanners.

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  • AL

    haha this post is really silly sry..

    2) My Raspberry Pi did come with a wall power adapter.
    3) If don’t have an SD card around the house then your not a tech guy then the Rasberry in not for you . (Have like 5 around the house)
    4) Installing is a 5 min process , and many people do like Installing the OS.
    5)My Raspberry Pi did come with a wall power adapter.
    6)HAHA for kids, yea i would like to see a 6 year old on linux, its not for beginners ..lol man
    7)How many USBS do u want 10,,get a USB hub then..
    8)If you want Wifi add a usbWifi adaptor on the usb hub you just installed , and rg45 is much better than wifi…PS to make you happy i think you want an I7 extreme with fiber optic connection lol again man
    9) Again your wrong. I have a 3TB storage on my Pi

    • Ryan

      2) Then you probably didn’t pay $35.
      3) It still cost money at some point.
      4) No it isn’t.
      5) You already said that.
      6) It IS for kids. Even it’s creators emphasize that.
      8) But then that’s an extra cost, which you must consider when comparing it to another device. It’s not $35 any more.
      9) Greg Kroah Hartmann has said the USB driver is “so bad that no one will even touch the code”. Kernel engineer types usually avoid hyperbole so if he said that in public, the drivers must be f*cking awful. So great for you that you have 3TB but the throughput must be laughably slow.

  • Gothic Kitten

    Hahahahahahahaha!! You are so stupid! You really don’t understand the Raspberry Pi, or who it is for.

    The first release came with no case because it is for all of the smart people to buy and use it for projects, make MAME cabinets for it, build it into something awesome, or just to be creative and have fun with it without worrying about how it look (or even getting kids to make cases out of lego!). it also keeps the cost down I got mine for £25, as I already had the correct leads and spare SD memory cards (as they are the most used memory card around), I don’t need a case for mine.

    Also, yes they are for kids to use, but it needs adults to be able to use the stuff and make stuff for the kids to use, the Raspberry Pi foundation isn’t huge, and a lot of it will have to come from community stuff, once the community has built a bunch of software and documents that kids will be able to use, then it will save schools a shit ton of money!

    People rely on Wifi too much, and the Pi isn’t really something that needs it, I’ve got mine hooked up to my T.V. I’ve got a little switch next to my T.V. (originally for my PS3 [yes it has built in wifi but I would rather have it running off a cable] and so I don’t have to have two [or more] long cables running from my router [which does have wifi capabilities] to my desktop computer or anything else I want to cable in.) which feeds the internet to it, and it draws power from my PS3.

    • Ryan

      Gothic Kitten? You are what, 10 years old? Wind your neck in and go learn something, kid.

  • Well

    1 true. 2 true, 3 false as it has 256 MB of memory (you are talking about storage space; the sd card slot). 4 true yet easy to do. 5 true as usb ports only give out 500mA and the computer needs at least 700 mA. 6 true yet a simple thing to fix until an official case; even a cardboard box will do. 7 use a hub if you need more, duh, that’s how it is with all computers. 8 use a usb wifi dongle then. 9 false, you can use usb for storage, yet you still have to boot from SD sure. 10 built my own case from my old legos, had a 1mA usb charger in a drawer, sd card sure did cost a few bucks but only a few bucks and sure, I was lucky with all that. Still, even if I didn’t have those, for all in all it’s a very cheap, low-power and SILENT home web server / HTPC (media) computer with smooth full HD capability.

  • Matt

    Pretty poor article…

  • http://twitter.com/SimonTheBarnett Simon Barnett

    so you have a problem with the raspberry pi because even though they told everyone what it comes with and what it can’t do, you bought it anyway and somehow expected more?

    I fail to see any logic in your post. for the price it can’t be beat! I currently use mine for hosting a web server that runs home automation and it works beautifully. before that i had a play and couldn’t believe the quality of the 1080p video it was pushing out. i guess some people just expect the world! :/

  • Lani Garcia

    Spot on! It is kinda slow and I was really thinking that undressing a $50 ARM10 8GB flash 512 mb ram ICS android tablet would have gotten me a better experience…I would have the ports plus a screen and the speakers with the power cord and battery, and I can sill mod it as needed.

  • Heapster

    Sounds like you’re just butthurt because you didn’t read the page before you bought it. And I’ve never heard it “being projected as a $35 replacement of a regular computer” anywhere. It’s for learning and tinkering.

    • gyugyugyuyuggyu

      Yet you zombies are flooding us with these retrogaming bs.

  • Cristi C

    I came to realize that for my own media player, a better option than RPi exists.
    For instance, Gooseberry, 60 USD, wifi included, processor 3x faster than RPi. Or, take MK802, power, case, mic, cables, better processor, all for 54USD.

    The reality folks is that Chinese are hard to beat. All the components that the Sony factory in Wales where RPi is built are coming from China. So all the Chinese needed to do is follow the trend and optimize the costs. So they did.

  • jamesh65

    1. Model A release will be by Xmas 2012. Model B is $35 before tax and shipping. That’s the money. That has always been the case.
    2. No power lead. Correct. Usually they are attached to the charger, but can be purchased for very small amounts of money.
    3. No memory? What do you think the 512MB RAM is then?
    4. OS goes on the SD card – it’s very easy to do. Trying reading the instructions.
    5. Your point make no sense. You can plug in to you PC if it provides enough power – some can, some cannot – hence thr advisory. What’s that got to do with buying a lead?
    6. Educational release will be before end 2012 – this will come with a box + ancilliaries and all required certification for education.
    7. Buy a hub if you need more USB ports. Adding them on the board makes it bigger and more expensive.
    8. No wifi. Correct. Why is that a problem – I use wired at home – more reliable and secure. Get a dongle if you really need it.
    9. Boot from the SD card, use USB drive for storage. Works fine.
    10. Currently available within 5 days from Farnell in the UK.

    Instead of going in to slag off mode without determining all the facts, why don’t you use the device for what it’s intended for- learning. Or is that too difficult for you?

    • Ryan

      MK802III is about $55 including shipping and tax. The performance is about 500% that of the Raspberry Pi, it has 4 times the memory, comes with a full set of cables, built-in wifi, built in 8GB flash and a quality (non-lego) case. The Raspberry Pi is an awful piece of trash, with terrible i/o performance, awful drivers, awful distro support (ARMv6, WAT?). I’ve been running optimized Rasbian with a light server load and it’s performance is totally crippled. Try a non-optimized distro (Fedora 18 armv5tel) and it may as well be a $35 brick. Fuck the Raspberry Pi.

      • Damak9

        MK802III is Android device. Android can’t do proper 24p pulldown no matter what. Because of that it instantly fails as media center. All those bells and whistles can’t hide the ugly stutter occurring every 41 second when watching h.264 – 23.96fps content. Here we are, 2 years after your post, even with Android 5.0 and 8 core CPU’s, those devices still fail to meet a basic requirement for watching movies properly.

        The other side of the ugly truth (that you somehow turn it to your advantage) is that those devices rarely (if at all) receive any kind of upgrades. The XBMC team (now Kodi) has a hard time optimizing the code for all those cpu’s (mediatek, qualcomm, Allwinner, Rockhip etc) and because of that, and stubborn chip manufacturers, you get half-assed hardware accelerated rendering support (Mediacodec and Libstagefright) that often have troubles rendering anything above 20 mbit/s and dealing with microstutters, droped and skipped frames and no HDMI audio passthrough.

        In the meantime, OpenELEC is at version 5.0.3 and works flawlessly on the new Rpi2, delivering performance close to Intel’s NUC embedded PC’s.

  • Raja Varma

    1. Yes it is around $55 USD, but still its cheap. I can’t get a motherboard with all Raspberry-pi components for $55 USD.

    2. Yes no power lead. I have a Nokia small pin phone charger capable of 850 mA and I bought an adapter for 50 cents. It can take a Nokia charger type small pin or big pin (two options). That did it.
    2. A. Else get a micro USB phone charger it won’t cost more than $2 USD. In the official forum it is recommended to buy a iPad charger, certainly no need for that.

    3. I already had an SD card and couldn’t use it. Now I bought another one for $4 USD. Class 4 cards works seamlessly

    4. You can buy preloaded SD cards when you buy a Pi itself. If don’t want to fiddle around, this is your option.

    5. It is not a battery operated smartphone, that you can charge with the power from your computer USB. It needs 750 mA to work, so they don’t want you to blink, after having connected it to your PC. Your PC may/may not deliver 750 mA.

    6. Accepted. But when they buy for kids they can buy cases as well. So they are not pushing the cases for customers who don’t want it. Which is an advantage in one sense.

    7. Yes had to buy an external USB powered hub, but Pi has 14 GPIO pins, DVI, Audio connectivity options as well. By the way, giving more than two USB ports in such a small space will make it un usable.

    8. Most of the PCs still use Ethernet, I don’t find them belong to stone age. Have never seen a PC working on WiFi.

    9. Don’t know about that. Have read some where that I can use USB storage, but I’m not sure.

    10. Read product catalogue before buying.

    • https://computerandyou.net/ Abhishek Prakash

      For point 1: You should not advertise something which actually costs double of the said price.
      For point 2: Not everyone has a smartphone (yes, its true). Not everyone has a Nokia phone with a pin charger. Buying a $2 USB charger is something which should not be recommended as it is the cheap rip-off and will not last long apart from screwing your device.
      For Point 3: Why could you not make it work??? It should be simpler for tech-savy if not for kids, isn’t it?
      For Point 4 & 7: Another investment
      For point 5: If the PC dont deliver 750mA, your Raspberry Pi may not even boot up (according to its own site)
      For Point 6: They promised long back that they will be shipping the case in the same price. No words yet. A promise unfulfilled is a promise broken.
      For Point 8: True, but those are mostly older computers. Even desktop now comes with WiFi. But it will increase the cost again
      For Point 9: Its from their official site.
      For Point 10: How many people really do that?

      • faruqsandi

        point 10: no one.

  • Randee

    Raspberry Pi is awesome for those wanting to stretch beyond an Arduino. Saying that it’s made for kids to use is silly – how many young children can use linux? Not many. But you’re way out of line the way you’re slamming the Raspberry Pi. Don’t be hating – you knew what you were getting into.
    No OS loaded – that’s a complaint?!?! Putting an image on an SD card is easy.
    No wi-fi? You can run wi-fi over USB.
    Only two USB ports? Ever heard of a usb hub?
    Again, don’t be hating!

    • https://computerandyou.net/ Abhishek Prakash

      Its not about being “absolute hating” (a little for sure).
      Saying that it’s made for kids to use is silly— The About Us page of Raspberry Pi suggests that the driving idea behind this was to make it easy to use and available for kids.
      No OS loaded- The Wiki suggests to be extremely cautious while loading the OS as it may wipe out the everything on current partition. This line only will scare away several beginners. And then they provide the link to BUY pre-loaded SD card.

      No wi-fi? You can run wi-fi over USB….. Another investment.

      Only two USB ports? Ever heard of a usb hub?…Again..another investment.

      My point is not that Raspberry Pi is trash or something. It definitely has its potential. But it is being projected as a $35 replacement of a regular computer in the media (internet and social) which is a complete lie. It costs much more than a mere $35.

      Moreover, the article was written right after I got the delivery and was highly disappointed. I have written couple of more article and will write more on Raspberry PI as I explore it with time.

      • Bigmek

        I am not a teacher per se, but I do educate youngsters in kind of a after school project. We have, and still do, use a lot of arduinos and the raspberrys have been a blast so far. The Raspberry has a lot of advantages that you simply don’t have with a regular PC. The biggest advantage for us is small size and low power usage. Using them for things like Data logging (and hosting the data at the same time), time lapsing or robotics is cheap both on budget and power. The small size allows it also to be incorporated in various projects without any effort and power supply is almost a non issue. I am talking about about wifi enabled weather stations and similar stuff here.

        Don’t forget that any regular PC with win7 o similar will cost a lot more for a school because of Software License issues. We simply can’t use an OS copy that just “happens to lie around”…

        And speaking of an OS, most kids can use any OS equally “well” if it has a GUI. Most wont write their own code anytime soon, and those how can, wont mind linux.

        • https://computerandyou.net/ Abhishek Prakash

          Agree.. :)

      • http://twitter.com/WarOfTheNerd Martyn Hare

        Up until a couple of days ago, I ran entirely on Ethernet. When the carpet is next done, my PC will be again running on Ethernet.

        Wi-Fi is unreliable/awful still in the year 2012, even with 802.11n.

        • https://computerandyou.net/ Abhishek Prakash

          I won’t say that about Wifi…. I like to feel free with my laptop going anywhere in my home along with me. Moreover there are several mobile devices taht simply cannot use ethernet.

  • Mountain Programmer

    Geez… Can’t you read? All of the talk online describe what you get. No surprises. You sound like you were expecting all of the stuff you didn’t get (points 2 thru 10). As for the price differentials, I have no experience with that, so you may have a point. Also, you don’t have a spare modern cell phone charger? Geez!

    • https://computerandyou.net/ Abhishek Prakash

      Its true! I was expecting a lot from it. Though these points have been mentioned somewhere in forums or FAQs, these things are not that obviously pointed out everywhere. As a buyer, one may be disappointed when the famed Raspberry Pi arrives and this is the reason why I wrote this article.
      By the way, I am getting along with it now but as they say, first impression last impression.

      • lala

        Don’t you read the features before you buy?It clearly says on the site that for $35($50 after shipping,tax and duty),you get the raspberry pi and nothing else.And you dont even have a phone charger?what kind of tech guy are you?And I’m asking you because the schools that buy it will at least read and understand what they’ll get after ordering it.It does come with memory! Dont you read the specs before you buy or did you just buy it because it was cheap without bothering to see what you get for your money?If so,then SHUT UP!And those kids and people who buy it will at least know or learn how to burn an OS onto an SD card.(It’s also on the instruction paper that comes with it)It was never advertised as a plug and play pc.Also,the foundation never advertised it without mentioning that it’s price was before tax and shipping and so do the magazine/newspaper articles.
        All of the points you gave are obvious and most people would already consider them before buying after reading the short list of specs online(or wherever they buy it from).

      • Shah Jahan

        I’m selling the Taj Mahal. Everything is bundled up. Make an offer and I’ll sell it to you.

        • https://computerandyou.net/ Abhishek Prakash

          I am afraid you cannot do that. I still own Taj Mahal and have absolutely no intentions of selling it to a guy dead in 18th century.

  • Ryan

    Raspberry Pi, £30. Case £10. Wifi adapter, £10. SD Card, £10. Power cable and socket, £5. That’s £65 already.

    I regret buying this piece of shit. Not because it’s not worth the money but because it’s not worth the time. The guys working on the official distro and nasty binary-only firmware also have no fucking clue what they’re doing. One step forward, 2 steps back.

    Great effort guys, but it’s a royal fuck-up.

    • https://computerandyou.net/ Abhishek Prakash

      Agree,
      The USP of Raspberry Pi is its low price which it self is deception..

    • ….

      “guys working on the official distro and nasty binary-only firmware also have no fucking clue what they’re doing” if they have no clue as to what they are doing, then why don’t you make your own distro?
      Also my main use for the raspberry pi would be as a home multimedia device.

    • Vincent

      so £65. what other computer can you get for that? a second hand 5yo machine from ebay? with only VGA output but without monitor, IEC power cord or wifi. so add in £40 (monitor), £10 power cord (yes really, check Maplin) and a £10 wifi dongle. £125 for a second hand PC.

      or you could buy a cheaper case (be creative reuse something), a £2 Cat5 cable (not stone age, ubiquitous standard) a £5 SD card and your mUSB phone charger (i have 4 around the house). so its only £37, at least thats what its cost me.

      its sad people want to hate this project for nothing more than trying to do something different, not creating a pretty packaged product. guess what, its not aimed at you, its aimed at schools so they can provide a entire year of kids their own computer for £5k (cost of about 5 regular supported PCs) that they can borrow or buy one themselves for half the cost of a pair of trainers.

      • Ryan

        The MK802 series are about twice the spec on paper and about 3-4 times the real-world performance. They also fully support Android 4.x. There are various other dev boards and plug devices in the £80-90 range that outclass the Pi even further. Most come with a quality case (e.g. not made from lego), a full set of accessories and built-in wifi. Most also support *all* SD cards as opposed to a small subset.

        I don’t “hate” the project, I just see it for what it is. Massively over-hyped and simply a ploy to get kids pumped about Computer Science. Also, it’s not at all “cheap” considering the pitiful specs, the lack of accessories, and not even including tax in the previously guaranteed price. There’s a fair amount of openwashing going on around the drivers too.

        • jamesh65

          Bollocks. I’ll answer your myriad posts in one go.

          1) Performace of the Pi is much closer to the MK802 that you seem to think. The GPU is pretty much on a par (some bits better some worse),and the Arm at 1000Ghz (an easy overclock for most) is not that far behind.

          2) It’s gost between £16 and £25. It’s not surprising boards at £80-90 outclass it! If I was buying something at 4x the prices, I’d what it to be better!

          3) SD cards work. Where do you get the idea it’s only a subset?

          4) The USB drivers are pretty much fixed now, the vast majority of USB devices now work fine.

          5) It is remarkably cheap, since the specs are not as ‘pitiful’ as you make out.

          7) It is entirely a project to get children pumped about CS – that’s the whole point, but with over 1M sold, and some fantastic projects being done, it’s turned out not just to be for that.

          8) You are obviously a twat if you think the people working on the distro and GPU don’t have a clue. I would put money on you not being able to hold a candle to the very talented engineers working on this project (as I know some of them, and they are by far the best engineers I have encountered in a long career in programming)

          So basically, you are in the main talking rubbish. Just because you can’t cope with the Raspberry PI doesn’t mean its not a good product. Sales of 1M seems to contradict you completely.

          • dasasddsasda

            11) Raspberry pi makes you adouchebag

            • jamesh65

              THREAD RESURRECTION! Did you actually read the dates on any of these posts? Is ‘adouchebag’ a French word?

              But since the sales of the Raspi have now gone over 3M, it’s now being used extensively in education, the projects being done with it cover a huge range, it’s probably time for an update…

              This article still sucks donkey balls and is even more wrong now than when it was posted.

    • http://twitter.com/WarOfTheNerd Martyn Hare

      They sell for £26 online. Case is free if you use lego. Wifi adapter is unnecessary, £5 for an SD card if you don’t have one. Power cable? Use a (redundant) mobile phone charger so that’s free too…

      Also, there are plenty of Ethernet cables redundant laying around in most houses or even workplaces if you are friends with the IT dept (or in my case work for the IT dept).

      That’s £26 (or £31 if you need to buy an SD card).

      The official distro is a Debian port. Debian has more packages than any other distribution and the port is optimised for the board. In fact, it’s Debian Wheezy, the best release of Debian in a long time, a release which has decent security and performance enhancements – the boot time is also good.

      I run my Pi as a printer/scanner sharing server and a public-facing webserver, all locked down with TOMOYO. Y’know the security that those clueless hacks promote…. 😉

      • Ryan

        Lego case….. Cool idea bro. Why stop at cases. May as well build all kinds of tacky, “free” junk for your house too.

      • Ryan

        Except for the fact that most people don’t have a house full of cables “lying around” and even if they did, they’re still not “free”. What if you use a cable that’s just “lying around” for the Pi and then happen to need another one in the future? You have to buy a new one don’t you? Same goes for the other things you wrote off as “free”. Sunk costs aren’t “free”, they’re just easy to rationalise as such when trying to prove a point.

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