The year is 198x. Holiday ads promote the latest all-in-one computing wonder, whether it’s the BBC Micro, the Atari ST, or the Amiga 500, and its potential to unlock a whole new world for prospective buyers. My first computing experience was with a BBC Micro plugged into the family television, which was by design of the BBC Computer Literacy Project, conceived to ensure the UK’s participation in the ensuing microcomputer revolution. Fast forward four decades and one of the most anticipated gifts of the season is yet again an all-in-one computing marvel that puts a world of possibilities at your fingertips.

Table of Contents

• PI 5

  • Pi 500

  • Pi Monitor

  • CM5 Dev Kit

PI 5

Four years after Raspberry Pi’s 400, named in homage to those 80s breadbin computers, the Cambridge crew have released an updated model based around the incredible computing power of the Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer (SBC) – for just $90 – including a 32GB microSD card. Compare this to the semi-eponymous Atari 400’s $550 in 1979 money, which is equivalent to about $2490 today. For that you’d have got a sub-2MHz 6502 CPU, a membrane keyboard, 8KB of RAM, and … no storage. And you still had to come up with a display from somewhere, which is also the case with the Pi (the latter also requires the purchase of a power supply if you don’t have a sufficiently beefy old USB-C phone charger handy).

Pi 500

The Pi 500, albeit with four and a half decades of advancements in computing technology and associated price reduction, offers a 2.4GHz quad-core processor, 8GB of RAM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and dual 4K (frustratingly still micro) HDMI outputs, for around $2400 less. This is a full desktop-class computer for under $100, even after you add the official microHDMI to HDMI adapter cable. Just like back in the 80s, that vision of joining the computing revolution by plugging a box into an existing display is once again in reach!

Pi Monitor

But what if you don’t have a suitable display? The original Raspberry Pi Model B (named for 1981’s BBC Micro Model B) incorporated not just a (thankfully full-size – those were the days!) HDMI output, but also component video for connection to older televisions – just like those 80s breadbins. But with the cost of displays plummeting along the same lines as processors, Raspberry Pi have been able to deliver the vision (literally!) of a computer on every desk and in every home without having to bring your own display, thanks to a new 15.6” USB-powered HD monitor. The included cable allows it to be powered directly from the host Pi (whether 500 or SBC), obviating the need for (or expense of) a second power supply, although adding a dedicated 5V/3A PS will allow users to exceed the 60% brightness and 50% volume (did we mention the built-in speakers?) limitation of Pi-powered usage. Retailing at just $100, this yields a full computing solution when combined with the 500 for just (slaps back of monitor) $200!

CM5 Dev Kit

It’s been a long year and my creative juices are running low, so I can’t think of a clever way to tie the third in the triumvirate of Raspberry Pi releases into the retrocomputing theme, thus I’ll just focus on facts for the (deep breath) Raspberry Pi Development Kit for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 as it’s officially titled.

This hefty box contains everything you need to prototype solutions for RPi’s latest industrial form-factor board, in a fairly deluxe package. Whereas the CM4 IO board broke out similar functionality, this bundle for the CM5 includes a beefy case, cooler/fan, power supply, antenna (so that signals can escape that beefy case!), and even cables for its dual (full size!!) HDMI outputs. The result is a comprehensive package that lets you dive right into prototyping without having to shop around for the various bits and bobs required to bring up the CM5. All for just $130, including a wireless 4GB RAM/32GB eMMC CM5 module.

That’s it for 2024’s boards newsletters! I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. I’d love to hear your feedback either way at [email protected]. And here’s to hoping you are in receipt of some exciting new gear for {insert your holiday tradition / gift-giving custom here}, and a Happy Hardware Holidays to you and yours! <3

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