this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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Hello. At the end of the last year, in October or November, I had this obsession or impulse to buy a Raspberry Pi. Don't ask me why, because it was an ADHD thing of mine. Because I couldn't find any Raspberry Pi 4 out there, I went to a Raspberry Pi 400, because it was the most similar device to a Pi 4. I was happy, I had a computer which ran better than my slightly old Mac Mini 2016, despite having 4 GB of RAM too.

And, since December, almost January, it's collecting dust. I don't know why I don't use it, and I don't know why I can't take the decision to use it despite thinking about it sometimes. I can play games on my Mac Mini which I can't play on my RP 400, but those games are still old, abandonware in some cases. But it's struggling with few programs opened, including my browser, and I don't like that, so I'm eager to use my RP 400 again.

So, tell me, what other things can I do with my RP 400, besides browsing the web, listening to music or playing emulators? Or, in other words, is a RP 400 better than a Mac Mini 2016 to do the same stuff?

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[–] Helvedeshunden 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You could try some completely different operating systems like Amiga (PiMiga) or RiscOS to see a different way the world could have gone.

[–] Ignacio 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I didn't know about those systems. I only knew about Raspberry Pi OS, or some linux distributions with ARM support, or even RetroPi.

[–] Helvedeshunden 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The former is basically just a pre-configured high-end Amiga that runs extremely well through software emulation. It comes with a large selection of software, games and demos to play around with, and Chris Edwards has customized it to an unbelievable degree. Version 3 is the latest.

RiscOS is at least as interesting from a user interface perspective, but perhaps a little less fun in the software department. You know that ARM chip that's in your Pi? That came from the company that also made RiscOS, so this is the original native ARM OS. You might want to watch a little video about it first (there are some great ones on youtube) to understand just how differently it works.