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Ask HN: Is the Raspberry Pi the Commodore 64 of this generation? Cheap computer

by cable2600 on 9/25/23, 6:30 AM with 5 comments

When I was a teenager, Commodore 64 computers were $100. Now I see Raspberry PI computers under $100 and think to myself is the Raspberry PI the Commodore 64 of this generation of teenagers?

  • by porcoda on 9/25/23, 8:50 AM

    No. I grew up on a C=64, and while the Raspberry Pi hits the cost point, it doesn't hit the exceptionally low barrier to entry in terms of usability. No modern computer is as simple and unintimidating as the machines where you powered it on, saw a blinking cursor, and could just type a command and see the machine react. You could buy books (or magazines - I miss Compute's Gazette), flip the power switch on your computer, and just type in what was on the page and run it. The Pi and other systems have many more steps between power-on and seeing the machine do something based on your input. The Commodore and peers didn't force you to think about files, editors, etc.

    If someone could hack together an OS for a Pi that booted straight into something like Processing, maybe it would be close.

  • by brudgers on 9/25/23, 12:43 PM

    No, not really.

    The C64 hooked to a TV, "everyone" had a TV, and there was an RF modulator in the box.

    RPi's don't connect to smartphones out of the box. There's not even an operating system installed. Or a case.

    To use an RPi, you have to already be in to using an RPi. If someone just hands you one, there's nothing you can do with it without a bunch more work. Not even:

      10 PRINT "FART"
  20 GOTO 10

  • by thfuran on 9/25/23, 7:56 AM

    I think Commodore 64 is something like the Gone With the Wind of computing. Nothing will be like it because its time has come and gone.

  • by ben_w on 9/25/23, 12:06 PM

    I don't think so — the world of the C64 is gone, the expectations of the machines is radically different — but it might be this generations BBC or Acorn/RISC OS school computers.

    Also, don't let the number on the sticker fool you: The C64 introductory price was $595… in 1982, which is $1800 today.

  • by vardump on 9/25/23, 8:19 AM

    Raspberry Pi could have been like that if the other options were prohibitively expensive. But they're not.

    It would have been interesting to see how far RPi can be pushed in similar conditions, but we'll never know.

    Still an important device. I have about 10 of RPis and same number of RP2040 based boards.