Why are raspberry pi's so popular?

[Fascinate]

Outside of cool custom builds like turning old game boys into something modern why do people choose these? You can get windows tablets with stronger hardware for not much more money. (i at least assume atoms are faster than the broadcoms that come inside the pi's) I had a cheap one from microcenter (think i paid 49.00 bucks open box) that had full sized usb port, wifi and hdmi out. Do people use pi's as HTPC's also? Because windows tablets would do a far better job there as well. I just have never understood the hype other than those custom builds i mentioned earlier.

What are people using these for, and can you give examples of why they would be a better choice than a cheap windows tablet? I would mention windows PC sticks but those are actually more expensive than tablets which is baffling because they generally have the exact same hardware, minus everything that a tablet includes.

[Khuros]

We use ours for emulation for old games. and robot making.

[Fascinate]

We use ours for emulation for old games.

Right i get that and i mentioned that, but of course this can be done on windows tablets as well lol.....and may i say its a far easier process on windows. I am not trying to bash on these things, i just dont get them when cheap windows tablets exist.

[chazus]

Simply put, it can do a lot more things than a tablet can (and a tablet can do more things than a pi) A simple google search will come up with at least like, 50,000 things you can do with em

[Remilia]

Cause of the size and customization along with software flexibility makes it decent choice for more tech users to do weird things. Full sized HDMI and Ethernet ports are also something that you won't be finding commonly in a tablet these days and most tablets use HDMI via HML, which requires compliant HML displays in order to use.
There are different form factors to it like those credit card sized ones more used for embedded applications for your hobbies or whatever shits and giggles you can think of.

[Fascinate]

Simply put, it can do a lot more things than a tablet can (and a tablet can do more things than a pi) A simple google search will come up with at least like, 50,000 things you can do with em

Examples? What can it do better than a windows tablet that does not have space limitations (like turning an old game boy into a new style emulator). Talking everyday tasks here, not projects.

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Cause of the size and customization along with software flexibility makes it decent choice for more tech users to do weird things. Full sized HDMI and Ethernet ports are also something that you won't be finding commonly in a tablet these days and most tablets use HDMI via HML, which requires compliant HML displays in order to use.
There are different form factors to it like those credit card sized ones more used for embedded applications for your hobbies or whatever shits and giggles you can think of.

Not common but there are quite a few el-cheapo tablets with full sized usb ports and HDMI outputs. Again i fully get those cool custom builds that have space requirements (that seems to be the most common use you guys are saying for pi's) so this is what 90% of people do with pi's?

[chazus]

Examples? What can it do better than a windows tablet that does not have space limitations (like turning an old game boy into a new style emulator). Talking everyday tasks here, not projects.

That's kind of the point. It's literally built as a 'project' tool. It can do lots of normal stuff, but keep in mind... If I wanted to use a tablet as a gaming emulator for my TV.. That means I gotta hook it up every time to the TV.

Lets say I want to have some security cameras set up around the house on the cheap.. Gonna have several tablets for that?

You can build a handheld gaming emulator/controller

It can act as a full media center, which a tablet can do but would be obnoxious.

It's not so much that it can do things laptops can't, but that they aren't designed for the same usage. It will sit at your tv or wherever you use it, doing it's thing cheaply and quietly. You take your tablet with you, and when it's with you, it's not doing 'that thing' it was doing when it was doing that thing.

But there are thousands of projects that it was made for that tablets simply cannot do.

[Remilia]

What chazus said! But yeah, while yes it's popular among emulator user, there's far more uses for it. A lot more DIY type of users, not so much plug and play kind of thing.

[Fascinate]

No no you arent getting what im saying, i mean actually leave the tablet in HTPC or whatever project you are doing space permitting, these things are CHEAP. (plus they usually have crap screens anyways)

Example:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/4...t_-_Black?ob=1

Dont go by current pricing, for months on end these were 59.99 and ive seen open box as low as 35 bucks (same as pi's). This is just microcenter, i know there are tech websites that i cannot remember the names of that have tons of these windows tablets for very low costs. Also dont forget you need to buy kits most times with pi's (they dont come with power adapters or cases or anything, just the board).

Edit: I should probably include why i started the thread lol. I watch seriousgaming on twitch and dude is putting together an old school arcade with a PC monitor....and they sent a pi along. He could have easily put some velcro on a tablet like the one i linked above and had it up and running in no time:

https://www.twitch.tv/seriousgaming/v/84149993

There are plenty of projects like this i am sure you could easily fit a tablet inside. I more just want people aware of how cheap these tablets are as an alternative to a pi, especially if you dont wanna mess around with getting custom rom's working and just want windows out of the box.

[Remilia]

Now hook that up to a security camera and use it as network surveillance equipment 24/7. There's a specific camera port and such that allow for such functionality on Raspberry Pi. Or stick it on some dumb robot for fun AI things. It's these kinds of functionality that people are looking at, not just videos and stuff.

[Fascinate]

I probably should have titled the thread differently lol, something like "cheap windows tablets as alternatives to raspberry pi".

But ya.

[chazus]

Running non-windows is also a huge benefit as well. Those $40 tablets often run like garbage, and are poor quality as well.

[Orbrim]

Mostly for DIY projects (which the emulators you mentioned fall under aswell).

The important thing are the GPIO ports to which you can connect anything you could possibly imagine.

My own example (using a BeagleBone Black, not a raspbery, but it can be done with both).
I connected a Bluetooth module and a relay to the board, wrote a program that listens for web and bluetooth input and controls the relay. Now I can control all the lights in my house via web or bluetooth devices. Further it can be extended with motion detectors, light senors for reporting if the lights are on or off, etc...

[mrgreenthump]

It is quite decent little machine to use as a mini server for yourself and do projects with. It is not the best solution, but it being so versatile, makes it a must have for a techie with a budget.

[Hottage]

They offer a lot of accessibility for things like IoT which would be tough to do with standard PC tech.
They are flexible, meaning they have a wide range of applications outside IoT.
They are relatively cheap, so not a huge deal if you brick the device while playing with it.

[Meagree]

Simply put, it can do a lot more things than a tablet can (and a tablet can do more things than a pi) A simple google search will come up with at least like, 50,000 things you can do with em

Am I retarded or does this make no sense at all? Which can do more things, the tablet or the pi?

[the boar]

Am I r-slur or does this make no sense at all? Which can do more things, the tablet or the pi?

tablet can do things 1 through to 100

pi can do things 50 through to 150

they can both do lots, just not the exact same lots.

[Vash The Stampede]

#1 The Pi's are cheap, like ~$35 cheap. Windows tablets are cheap too, but not less than $100.
#2 The Pi's are equipped with a GPIO connector for custom projects.

#3 It's a great tool to learn Linux, as Raspbian is the primary OS used to operate the Pi's.
#4 They are small, and the zero model is credit card small.
#5 They suck very little power.

That being said, they do have flaws. They aren't exactly $35. Include power cable, shipping, and a SD card and you'll easily reach $50, given you don't have these things already. They are also very slow. I've tried to play YouTube full screen on a 1080p monitor and it just won't play smoothly. There's no working OpenGL driver yet, though the Ubuntu 16.04 distro for the Rpi 2+3 do have the ability to enable it, but it's rather buggy. Pi's also don't come with certain hardware codecs enabled, making it rather hard to play back videos smoothly. And to enable them, you need to pay money. The Rpi 3 is a bit faster so they don't really need this, but you will use up the CPU to playback videos. As far the the Rpi 3 is concerned, it is has a 64-bit CPU but so far no 64 bit kernel, and therefore no 64-bit OS, which just means the Rpi3 isn't as fast as it could be.

While there are plenty of alternatives to the Rpi's, like Orange Pi and Banana Pi, they aren't as good as the Rpi's because some of the hardware isn't open. Which means you're stuck using whatever kernel is released by the company who makes the product. That being said, unless you need something ultra small and compact, you're always better off going with a PC. Something like a AMD A4 6300 with a cheap motherboard will be magnitudes better than a Rpi3. You can install Linux or Windows or whatever you want.

Depending on your needs of course, like a Rpi vs a PC for emulation there's no contest. A media server would also favor a PC. Even something like a FTP server would favor a PC, since you can add a lot more data storage to a PC.

[Meagree]

tablet can do things 1 through to 100

pi can do things 50 through to 150

they can both do lots, just not the exact same lots.

What the fuck is an r-slur? Is that some PC bullshit?

Also, if A can do 50 more things than B, there is no mathematical possibility for B to be able to do 50 more things than A. In your example, A can do 100 things, B can do 100 things. Neither can do more than the other, not both.

[ComputerNerd]

Am I retarded or does this make no sense at all? Which can do more things, the tablet or the pi?

If you consider being able to do something then it isn't a good argument, since there are things you can do on both via different methods, one likely to be more difficult or requiring additional hardware.
You can use a screen on the Pi, you can make it portable through additional hardware.
Same with a tablet which can be connected to a variety of sensors, though the use of adaptors either wireless via bluetooth or via USB.