Orange Pi 800: ARM Keyboard Computer

[@paulbillingham4594]

Hi Chris WHAT WOULD I USE MY ORANGE PI FOR? I have a Raspberry pi 400 which has been amazing and I gave this to my grandsons as they are learning coding. It gets used as my daughters household computer. I have ordered an Orange Pi for my work working in a Children's Hospital. It will be used on a TV as a media player and connected to printer and WiFi. It will be used for open source basic gaming and just about as much as any desktop computer as these SBC's are just as capable as spending £100's. Love your channel and content and have learnt so much. Am writing this using Linux Mint on an ancient Dell which I have upgraded using the knowledge you have shared with the world on your channels. Thank You

[@ExplainingComputers]

Great to hear this -- sounds like your Orange Pi 800 will be put to very good use.

[@andrey_pav]

Best comment !😊

[@EscapeVelocity1]

This is probably the best gift you could give to kids. It's inexpensive, you get them this and a couple of related books, or I don't know a list of websites they could learn stuff about linux, programming, and mame games, and just let them do their thing. They'll do far better than if you get them expensive iphones and ipads, trust me, this will make them engineers the iphones will make them dumb. I'm in my 40s and I still like this computer, it reminds me of the past, I started on something similar to this.

[@wayland7150]

This is truly wonderful. Back in 1983 I had to buy my own home computer and really benefited from learning with it. That's why the PI was made in the first place, to be the BBC B for this new generation. I think it's mostly been used by people who had home computers in the 1980's so it's excellent that you are helping children have this experience.

[@becconvideo]

I have spent my home office working days at my balcony using my Raspberry Pi 400 - connected to my work environment via kvm/Spice. Really nice as I can go inside, pick up the session and carry on at any time. What I don't like with my Raspberry Pi 400: the space bar has issues (as you mention it in the video - it shows me that it is not my unit only) and the machine is a bit too week - though it runs a WebRTC video conference. A basic audio in/out helps taking a call immediately before switching to Bluetooth. So the Orange PI could be an alternative if it was available with German localised keyboard 😞But hopefully the hear our cries and bring out versions in mayor languages...

[@JeffGeerling]

I really like the fact it has a speaker, headphone jack, and full size HDMI. For an educational setting, even just having the built in headphone jack makes this much easier to pick up and use.

[@johnnyquattro]

Welcome Mr Ansible, your book came in handy in my time at Bloomberg - cheers Re: the OrangePI, Would consider purchasing it for the connectivity options alone, so long as it comes with the quotation marks on Shift 2 (instead of @)

[@SergiuszRoszczyk]

I like the fact that they put full size HDMI. Mic/speaker is nice to have for all in one experiment. I miss full size GPIO but on the other hand 26 pin is enough. I think Pi Foundation could have made Pi400 more desktop friendly rather than just enclosing Pi4 in a keyboard. Anyway I have two of them and use them as a handy experiment solution.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings Jeff. I hope that life is treating you well. :)

[@JeffGeerling]

@@ExplainingComputers Hello! Life has treated me better :( - surgery this week. But hopefully after my body's sorted all that out, I'll have a bit better year in 2023!

[@JeffGeerling]

@@geocam2 To be fair, of all the Pi models (outside the microcontrollers), the Pi 400 has been the only one that seems to be available here and there most everywhere. It's a popular format, but much less so than the smaller SBCs in the model B or Compute Module form factor.

[@LandNfan]

One thing I liked about my Raspberry Pi 400 was the programming software pre installed. I bought it mainly to dabble with programming again after a 13 year hiatus since I retired. After 34 years of programming I didn’t think I would miss writing code. Now the old dog wants to learn some new tricks.

[@wayland7150]

A PI 400 supports a Pico like it's Mini Me. Connect the £5 Pico and write the programs using the PI. Rapid Electronics have them in stock.

[@backgammonbacon]

@@wayland7150 The Pico works with any computer as its connected by USB. Python editors that work seamlessly with it exist for all operating systems. There is nothing special about the Pi and Pico matchup.

[@wayland7150]

@@backgammonbacon There is, the PI comes with it ready to use. Having a shallow ramp rather than a steep step learning curve is key. When you booted a home computer from 1983 it went straight to BASIC where you could either LOAD a program or type in your own. No installing libraries or cloning source from GitHub, you were in the development environment instantly. In order to get the Pico with MMBASIC to work on my Linux Mint computer I struggled to get Minicom to work for some time before trying another computer then trying Cutecom then Putty under WINE then eventually discovering Putty for Linux which worked. Once I got there it was easy but getting there was unnecessarily challenging. Handing a child a PI 400 and a Pico kit would get them off to a better start.

[@raresoupninja]

@@wayland7150 as does the orange pi installing the ide dependencies is a easy task and suggesting the more expensive one you sell is greasy hope he bought eles ware with helpful knowledgeable honest staff

[@K9TheFirst1]

I always think it's wild seeing machines like the PI400 and PI800, where it's a single board PC built inside the keyboard. It's like the 80's are back and brought their computers with them.

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@sambranton3346]

The pi400 first impression was that it was a less colourful zx spectrum. These will become highly collectable someday that's for sure.

[@abelbarsony]

I love your videos, they are very well structured and informative. Just keep up this excellent work!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks!

[@montecorbit8280]

@@ExplainingComputers My only problems with your videos usually is your test clip show the machine on a human right leg it's running back and forth. I assume it's some futuristic bone repair, but it makes my leg hurt pretty bad every time I see it. I have to turn my head until it's done.

[@kennethbeal]

@@montecorbit8280 My wife has bad knees. A friend of hers recently had two "replacement" knee surgeries, with a lot of complications. She'd (well, THEY'D!) probably have a similar reaction. Hopefully the future will contain healing devices, not necessarily "3d-printing-healing-devices"; my estimation is they'll be frequency-based. Also, great video, thank you! Am helping my nephew write video games, using a Raspberry Pi 400. Am planning to upgrade his setup this Christmas. This might fit the bill! Or I might splurge and get him a desktop. :)

[@ExplainingComputers]

@@montecorbit8280 Oh dear! I have been planning to shoot a new test clip for some time. The shot you refer to is an visualization of a future insitu bioprinter.

[@montecorbit8280]

@@ExplainingComputers I figured it was just repairing a broken tibia, but that makes it sound like it may be replacing the tibia, or a portion thereof. The new clip might be interesting! I look forward to watching your videos. Tell Stanley the knife I said hi please. What is the name of the floating brain zapping the cell phone? Cell phone/neural interface?? That way people can text faster??

[@NewAgeDIY]

As always, you deliver the Sunday morning tech news that puts a smile on everyone’s face. Great review of a new exciting SBC. Thanks Chris.

[@rutkowskir]

There was a very good Tech show here in the U.S. called Screensavers. It delved into technical issues and programing which was very informative. The show stopped new episodes several years ago. But I have to say Chris, you picked up the slack! There are very little productions as yours out there for the technical audience and I appreciate your wide range of subjects and ideas. Thank you!! RIch

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks Rich.

[@timmooney7528]

Leo Laporte has a blog called This Week in Tech (TWiT) and occasionally has guest stars dating back to the old TechTV days

[@RoboNuggie]

I like the full size HDMI, dedicated power button and onboard storage, something the RPi 400 should have had, and maybe will once the chip shortages have abated. Seeing as you asked - I use my Raspberry Pi 400 as my daily driver running FreeBSD as it's cheaper on the energy side also perfectly usable for browsing, email. The video editing/rendering I leave to the Workstation. Thanks Chris, another excellent video.

[@joegee2815]

I really like how these SBCs are progressing. They are really close to satisfying many desktop replacement needs if they just focused on improving video playback a bit. Personally I can almost replace my desktop but I really need 2 monitors and do watch a fair bit of 1080p media. Another couple of years and I'm sure that will be changed.

[@fred-youtube]

Do you have a GPU?

[@joegee2815]

@@fred-youtube I do but since I don't really do any gaming anymore I could do without one.

[@fred-youtube]

@@joegee2815 You can remove that to save electricity

[@Smytjf11]

Check out the Jetson Orin series from Nvidia. They're set to release a "nano" version that might be able to help a bit with the video problem. For full desktop replacement, I'm looking into clustering SBCs, though. Without needing to game you can set a few specialty nodes that are really quite small and all leave you with a very capable system.

[@another3997]

There are plenty of ARM based SOCs that can play high quality video, but they're just more expensive. They don't get used in cheap devices like these. Most SBC chips simply weren't designed for everyday desktop use. Producing an ARM desktop class SOC would be expensive, and that market is currently dominated by Intel and AMD x86. As Apple have shown, it's possible to make such CPUs, but for any other company, making it financially viable might not be possible.

[@kattz753]

It looks like 2023 is going to be Rockchip's year and Orange Pi is going to be a big part of that. So far, the 800 has had great reviews. There is a lot of interest in the Orange Pi 5 too, with the new RK3588S chip. I bought a Pi 400 when I realized that even those were becoming scarce. I was a bit sorry that I didn't get this one instead. I have also pre-ordered the Orange Pi 5. I'm Canadian and winter is coming. I'll have something to do while hibernating.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for this. I too have ordered an Orange Pi 5 . . . looks good. :)

[@DevilsHandyman]

Just pulled my Raspberry Pi 400 from the shelf and started it up again this past week. I think what I'd like them to change is add a M.2 for storage and double the memory.

[@bitflogger]

I'm enjoying the Orange Pi. Also installed Rust and gcl.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your support. Great to hear that the Orange Pi is going well for you.

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

What a nice keyboard PC! I really dig the full size HDMI port and good software support. I also liked the little cameo from Mr. Carrot and the brief demo of Pac PC running on DOSBox. :) Now, as for what I would do with an ARM keyboard computer, I would be trying to run a big-name PC game that's more gentle to computers like Undertale on there. Skeletons named after fonts and walking, talking goats, anyone? 😉💀🐐

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings, and thanks for your support. Nice emojis!

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

@@ExplainingComputers Thank you, Chris! ❤️

[@cianmoriarty7345]

And then a Times New Roman popped out 😹

[@Praxibetel-Ix]

@@cianmoriarty7345 HA! Sans and Papyrus's long lost cousin Roman. 🤣

[@andrekz9138]

Lol Mr Carrot.. Probably the last we'll see of THAT Mr Carrot, but at least his memory is forever cemented on the world wide web.

[@hackeado_hck]

I'm Brazilian and always watch this guy's videos. Nice work here mate!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for watching. Greetings from the UK! :)

[@sbc_soc_tinkerer]

Greetings! Here I am, back again, watching another fine EC video. You seem pleasantly suprised by this self contained SBC/KB computer as am I. It seems highly usable as a quick desktop PC. Looks perfect for connecting down in my basement to an older monitor which only has VGA and DVI connectivity. I can leave it down there when I want to manage my servers. Sometimes having a PC to do a quick web search for info in resolving issues can be quite handy. No need to carry a laptop back and forth. Well done yet again sir!!

[@AndrewAHayes]

I would have liked to have seen an 8Gb Ram version or even 16Gb, just to get things running even smoother!

[@sbc_soc_tinkerer]

@@AndrewAHayes Unfortunately, Orange Pi decided to stick with the older RK3399 SoC which only supports up to 4G of RAM. Maybe they have a large stock of them to use.

[@dlewis9760]

I paid 150 for a Lenovo Yoga C13 Gen 1 Chromebook. Built in pen and touchscreen. Video out. USB to ethernet dongle works fine. Scanner and printer works fine. Regularly 550 bucks. No, it doesn't have GPIO. At 550 it's a dumb purchase. At 150 it's a steal. Lenovo has offered it at 150 at least 3 times in the last 3-4 months. Really cheap Windows laptops go on sale into the 200 buck range a lot. You get what you pay for, but most have vastly better performance than this stuff. You can buy a HDMI to VGA adapter for 10-15 bucks. I would really like to have a SBC, but my particular use case it would be a toy. And for the performance an expensive one.

[@ElmerFuddGun]

@@AndrewAHayes - This has more... 4GB x 8 bit/byte = 32 Gb! Case does matter! :-)

[@meowareasaservice]

I really love on 04:03 you mentioned the possibility of your bias. Truly amazing review. Probably would buy one in the future

[@jamesdye4603]

Computers coming sort of full circle. Home computers started as keyboard computers. My personal favorites are the Apple IIc and the VIC20. The VGA output of the orange pi makes it interesting to me. I have a few VGA CRT monitors.

[@ExplainingComputers]

It does indeed take us back to the exciting days of microcomputers!

[@jamesdye4603]

@@ExplainingComputers Thank you for the reply.

[@beneddu]

My first computer was a C64, so the "computer in a keyboard" form factor was very much part of my thinking when I bought my daughter a Pi 400 as her first computer :)

[@jamesdye4603]

@@beneddu Hopefully she will learn how it works and not just how to use it. Just suggesting, not meaning to offend at all. Talking to people in person is way better than this, so I hope my thought came across without any animosity, because there isn't any on my end.

[@beneddu]

@@jamesdye4603 yes she has taken an interest in it, but sadly I'm not much of a teacher. I've never been good at explaining computers..... I'll get me coat....

[@McRocket]

You are - by FAR - my 'Go To' channel for all things SBC. Thank you for this. ☮

[@rpavlik1]

Oh, that vga makes much more sense now that you mentioned retro gaming... I mean, lots of monitors still have VGA at least until recently, but ability to use retro displays for retro emulation indeed sounds pretty compelling.

[@brick6347]

I've still got a few 4:3 lcd monitors lurking around, that's a jolly good use for them!

[@Wobble2007]

Awesome for running with a CRT monitor, or a CRT TV via VGA 2 Scart.

[@johndododoe1411]

@@Wobble2007 Would be even better if it could output TV-like resolutions on that port when plugged into devices announcing those EDID resolutions. I'm hoping the list shown is only what ECs converter announced, and not part of the design.

[@EnjoySynthSounds]

Which gaming os can it use? Pi has Batocera, Blast, Retropie, Lakka, etc. How about Orange Pi?

[@wayland7150]

If you want to assemble a cheap retro gaming machine for your children then using an old £20 VGA LCD seems like a good option.

[@rdhunkins]

Very interesting. Raspberry Pi had better solve their supply chain issues, or they will be left behind. I have an RPi 400. The main use I have made of it is to write and upload code on an Arduino. I’ve played with the RPi GPIO a bit, using it as a test bed for the non-existent RPis I would want to permanently upload projects to. I’m really starting to hate this chip shortage.

[@davidlloyd1526]

I think that the supply chain issues are mostly due to people wanting to buy the real thing, rather than these knock-offs...

[@mikepanchaud1]

Raspberry pies are available, click on be notified link on the retailers website. Bob, what monitor are you using for the Arduino programming? Cheers.

[@ДмитрийМ-с9ч]

From my experience most of supply chain issues have ended mid-2021 to the beginning of 2022. Many old chips were phased out, many chips still may be hard to get. But at least you can get something of reasonable quantity and at reasonable price. That's why there are many SBCs in stock. Actually, I doubt there were more SBCs available in 2019 than now. RPiF should stop making their nonsense claims about supply chain issues.

[@kyleolson8977]

@@mikepanchaud1 Raspberry Pis available at elevated prices or in limited amounts with waiting. If you want to pay ~$170, you can get a Raspberry Pi 4 B with specs near the readily available and affordable older Orange Pi 3 which you could get 2 to 4 of for the same money. ("Raspberry pies" are also available, but they may not be great. Raspberry is out of season.)

[@PeetHobby]

And upgrade their ancient GPU with a modern one with some modern features, features like a better videodecoder.

[@andrewd4906]

An interesting alternative to the Pi400. It is good to see that the software works well and that there is a choice of operating system. With the Orange pi 5 due for imminent release I wonder if the same chip will go into the next Orange pi 800, that could be a very interesting proposition. I am pleased that the SBC manufacturers are making new and exciting products for you to review, in your easy to understand style. Thanks

[@englishrupe01]

100% agree.....Orange pi 5 appears to be a real speed demon from what i have seen.

[@johndododoe1411]

To stick to the numbering system of Raspberry Pi, the Orange Pi 800 should have shared its core design and CPU with Orange Pi 8, and Orange Pi 5 should share its features with Orange Pi 500. Their marketing desire to double the number has screwed the system, as usual.

[@OpenGL4ever]

@@johndododoe1411 They just think binary and made a left shift. In decimal this ended in a 800 when you started from a 400. Next number should be Orange Pi 1600.

[@johndododoe1411]

@@OpenGL4ever Or 1000 if in hex. Or maybe even 4K for confusing marketing.

[@OpenGL4ever]

@@johndododoe1411 400 is in binary 110010000. Now do a left shift and add a zero on the right side then you will get 1100100000 which is, oh wonder 800 in decimal. Add another 0, then it will be: 11001000000 which is 1600. Understood?

[@tech29X]

Thank you for taking the time and comparing different distros on Pi800. I think full size HDMI port is very nice to have, many homes that has DVD or Bluray players or gaming consoles, one can hook up Orange Pi to TV easily.

[@TechMadeEasyUK]

This looks like a candidate to replace my NUC on my workbench. I use it for web browsing and looking at PDF manuals mostly, the small footprint and power consumption make it a very attractive prospect

[@KingTrump2024]

Had a Pi400 since they came out, and I'm still impressed with it today.

[@perrymcclusky4695]

Impressive hardware and relieved the that operating systems were reasonable. As always, you gave an honest and fair review. Enjoyed the carrot cameo. Curious what will cameo next in a future video.

[@ExplainingComputers]

There are some cameos next week, several from things that are actually alive!

[@perrymcclusky4695]

@@ExplainingComputers I can’t wait! 👍

[@RoboNuggie]

Thanks!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for your support.

[@kote315]

I'm a bit concerned about the 4 amp current flowing through fairly thin wires. Voltage drops can be quite significant for something to work unstably. Okay, I hope the developers have taken this into account. In general, I like this computer and similar computers. Reminds ZX Spectrum (which I did not have).

[@johndododoe1411]

Would be nice for someone to design a good embeddable DC/DC converter that accepts a nice range of inputs to drive SBC circuitry from 3.3V CPU to +/- 12V standard serial, noting that a number of peripherals do their own lossy conversions to provide standard I/O voltages, but moving those back into the main power circuitry might reduce total power consumption. A relevant power input range could be 2.9 to 28V, making it compatible with USB C PD 5 to 20V and various battery / industrial voltages. Raising max input to 50V would work with PoE and telephone 48V supplies, anything higher would require certified electricians. The opposite end of the range would be for supermarket batteries and LiFePo rechargeables.

[@lukmly013]

What thin wires? The USB-C for power is soldered on. Those wires are just for control LEDs from top. Or did you mean something else?

[@johndododoe1411]

@@lukmly013 I an not the OC, but the wires in USB-C cables must be thin to fit inside the usual USB cable thickness with all those USB 3++ data wires.

[@kote315]

@@lukmly013 I meant the cable from the adapter to the computer.

[@sharonwolff1]

Under the video streaming workload, Chris showed it using 8-9 watts. At 5 volts that would be 1.6 to 1.8 amps being drawn. That 4 amp rating could be a safe x2 over rating to handle extra load on the I/O pins, load on the speaker and who knows what else. Sure the wires may be under sized but you will not overload them in regular usage. At least that's what they hope.

[@jmwintenn]

i really appreciate all the zooms you do in your videos. sometimes i start looking at something else on the screen and the zoom helps reel me in and stay on track.

[@cybair9341]

I use my Raspberry PI 400 daily as a browser for my large screen TV. I control it with a wireless mouse from my couch. Great TV setup with minimum footprint.

[@caesiumtea]

Writing this comment on my new OPi 800 right now! Thanks for giving it such an in depth look; this video gave me the confidence to take a chance on a more "obscure" machine like this. (I agonized over whether to choose this or the RasPi 400, and ultimately chose this for the eMMC.) I wanted a super lightweight computer that I could easily carry in my backpack for the half hour walk to my local maker space, and a few days in, it's working out pretty great! A few hurdles, but they've been manageable. I use it for writing, coding (VS Code), prepping 3D prints in Prusa Slicer, and even a bit of drawing with my Wacom tablet in Krita (and probably soon Inkscape too). One disappointment was that I can't get Blender to run on it at all since there's no OpenGL support--which is an important difference from the Raspberry Pi 400 that I wish I knew about before buying (RasPi 4 does support OpenGL and actually CAN run Blender, albeit slowly). But I'm using it *mostly* for coding and writing, so maybe it wouldn't have changed my decision anyway. I might even use the GPIO pins for some electronics tinkering one of these days!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Great to hear that this worked our for you.

[@pagmann7412]

Hi Chris! As always, your videos are very informative. I look forward to seeing your reviews on new products. Keep up the good work!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks! Will do!

[@davids9139]

Thanks for this informative video! I just started tinkering with SBCs and I have found your videos most helpful!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for watching. :)

[@johncundiff7075]

Just a brilliant video today!!! I'm not a big SBC user but if I ever get one, it will because of watching your videos!! Keep up the good work my friend!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for watching. :)

[@Colin_Ames]

Definitely the best review of this device I have seen. Thanks Chris.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks!

[@NetRolller3D]

It's not just the labels that won't change on the keyboard, but also because the Raspberry Pi 400 is ISO, while the Orange Pi 800 is ANSI, that means the Orange Pi is missing the extra "international use" key that's used e.g. to type the Hungarian letter "í". So you actually can't just remap the keys and slap on a few labels - basic letters of European languages simply can't be typed, except via key combinations.

[@bradscott3165]

Very nice review, as always. IMO none of these new offerings should have less than at least an RK3588 level of performance, and it seems they should be capable of 16GB ram as well.

[@GustavoMsTrashCan]

As someone who is used to browse the internet back in the days at 600x450 resolution whilst listening to a good ol' 56k modem sing... this is a refreshing little device.

[@wernerviehhauser94]

Yeah, modems were nice. Acoustic couplers were hell, especially if your phone didn't have the right shape to fit on the gaskets....

[@BastetFurry]

I have a Pi400 in my retro area for looking up manuals and downloading stuff for the old machines.

[@ThomasBrisco]

Excellent content and great presentation - as always! Very timely, as I've been feeling the crunch on the Raspberry PI supply chain issues, and have been looking for alternatives. The orange pi 800 looks to be a nice fit for much of my needs. I'm impressed with the hex-core and video performance (not to mention full-size HDMI!). I've a Pi 4 (4GB) and to be frank, it's a little disappointing in day to day use. Now that I'm on the OrangePI site, that OPi5 looks quite impressive as well. Thanks for your videos, and keep it up! Thank you!

[@T313COmun1s7]

I think this would be perfect for something like Retropie, or if you can get it to run, Batocera inside an arcade cabinet. It has both HDMI and VGA for your choice of display on the cabinet, a 3.5mm jack to run to an amplifier for the speakers, and when you do actually have to use a keyboard, it can be right under the console and can't be much neater as it is integrated.

[@BagusSumanjaya]

If i had orange pi 800 i would use it in the Office as a main Computer for running Office and Networking. Its very interesting machine. Thanks Mr. Barnatt 🙏🏻😁

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings!

[@BagusSumanjaya]

@@ExplainingComputers always stay tuned 😁

[@edsteenhorst6484]

My takeaway: the product name implies it has twice as much memory as a RPI 400. It doesn't, so that makes the product name misleading. I love the full sized HDMI and VGA ports and the overall configuration, but I don't feel the need to add it to my must have list, unless the RAM is doubled. Thanks for the great review and taking the time buy this product.

[@salat9100]

I am using my pi400 for daily desktop usage and for my university stuff. It works perfectly fine with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Usually I would use Debian but the software support was not so good on the pi400. (Especially the last time I looked it up the Wi-Fi driver was missing)

[@crystalsheep1434]

I always like to see videos on smaller manufacturers like Orange pi

[@b469b]

This will run well off the battery banks i charge with solar panels. It is practical and can be separated from power grid i appreciate those features.

[@golf-n-guns]

Everything old is new again. Reminds me of my first computer, a Commodore 64.

[@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell]

Looks more like a white ZX Spectrum.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Yes, very true. This how the old microcomputers were.

[@PS_Tube]

This orange pi 800 looks familiar and packs enough punch as a portable computer where you only need a monitor and a mouse or just a monitor. For a lightweight desktop replacement for kids or a dos game emulator it feels great to have.

[@trevorford8332]

Just what I've been waiting for, it's a fantastic piece of kit, it'll come in real handy when you do your lectures, I was just wondering what kind of shell do you like to use, zsh, bash, or some other flavours.

[@clark-r]

Great overview; as always. Pleased to see the video playback is quite usable, and I really like the Ubuntu they ship- very snappy. Thanks for sharing! May just pick one of these up for a living room toy. Not to mention, excellent conversation piece for family visits.

[@thedarkknight4243]

Please do a video on GPIO connector(s)

[@sbc_soc_tinkerer]

The usually reserved Mr. Barnatt went "really wild" today with resolution. Cool! Another cool item, AliExpress has a kit version with a wireless Orange mouse.

[@taragwendolyn]

The feature I'd love to see on these types of devices is for the USB-C power port to actually be a full USB-C w/ DP Out & Power delivery. That way there could (theoretically) be just one cable to plug in, if you have a dock that supports power delivery. Still, it's early days for the form factor (or very late days, depending on how you look at it), and I can hope that a future revision will add it -- there's promise with USB-4 since it's an open standard. :)

[@fetchstixRHD]

Seconded, a one-wire setup would be amazing!

[@adrianhendy]

There are already a couple that do that! I just can't remember which ones and where I'd seen them....

[@LivingLinux]

@@adrianhendy Radxa Rock 5B, already featured on this channel.

[@thabophadi]

Another glorious Sunday with Chris, even though I’m not happy with the unpacking because we didn’t see the unwrapping of your Orange Pi Computer, as that’s the only time we get reunited with Mr Scissor and Stanley the knife.

[@JonathanSteadman2003]

Wow it's actually like an upgrade to the pi 400. 😃 I mean the pi 400 is quit limited as they wanted to keep cost down. So the example did not have speakers and a headphone jack. But it's quite affordable. The best thing is that the Orange pi 800 has support for speakers and headphone jack and other connectors to connect the monitor to the pi. But because the orange pi 800 has all those additional hardware I think that makes it more expensive for people to buy. But it's accutally pretty cool. 😃

[@forsch00]

Thanks for the review and make this video Chris, make me wishlist OrangePi 800. Can't wait to see Chris review OrangePi 5 😶

[@ExplainingComputers]

Hopefully soon for the Orange Pi 5 -- they should have shipped now, but I've no evidence of this yet. :)

[@forsch00]

@@ExplainingComputers it's great. I hope you review OS Android as well in Orange Pi 5.

[@waynebickell1793]

Another nice piece of kit with a great review. I'm a little disappointed that the base RAM is still 4Gb. 8Gb seems to be the minimum required these days but for development and light work it should be enough! I'm already thinking of doubling my PC's RAM from 16Gb to 32Gb! 🤣Basically for X-Plane...

[@glrasshopper]

We have come full circle. The first computer I used was a TRS80 that had everything built into the keyboard, and an external screen. Now we have a much more powerful device, built completely into the keyboard, with an external screen.

[@tubegor]

Interesting development on the SBC market and brilliant presentation (as always) from EC. Without a doubt, the Orange Pi 800 has better connections than the RPI-400: Full size HDMI socket, VGA output, audio jack, eMMC, loudspeaker, microphone, but the performance is (at the moment) not convincing. So I stick to the RPI and prefer to eat (orange) carrots.🥕🥕🥕 Definitely year 2023 will bring back beloved RPI for everyone to get.

[@JediBuddhist]

Much thanks. Happy Sunday. 🙏

[@ExplainingComputers]

Happy Sunday!

[@CCoburn3]

Raspberry Pi falls further and further behind. It seems that "supply chain issues" only apply to them. And these problems don't seem to affect the supply chains for the parts Raspberry Pi uses to make boards for sale to industry. Well, I'm glad other companies have picked up the slack.

[@AndrewAHayes]

RPi Org are passing the majority of stock to industry and seem to have thrown their mission statement in the bin!

[@willb1242]

I think rpi is starting to lose their enthusiast luster for sure. For many years their selling point was the stuff actually worked. But with the opi 800 working straight out of the box for Chris … seems a viable option. Rk 3399 is a common cpu now, and powerful vs the rpi.

[@wheezybackports6444]

Once an entity prioritizes profit and forgets their mission statement that means it's time to jump ship.

[@slowlymakingsmoke]

And where would you jump ship to that does not prioritise profit? I am not happy with the pi situation at all either, but profit is not the issue here. I suspect there are other issues at play we don’t know about.

[@TomAtkinson]

I plan to get one for use as a jukebox for my car in conjunction with the RuneAudio distribution of linux, which is based on a customised Arch distro, tweaked for audio playback. For me, full size HDMI, 3.5mm audio, an wifi + ethernet port etc are critical must haves, but it is very nice to see 4amp power supply with barrel connector, the speaker would help a lot, RGB gets me to 75 hz on my dumpster Dell 19", so that is very compelling.

[@deanbaker7080]

Hi Chris, thanks for your review! I look forward to more SBC content in the near future. I have been waiting for your review of the OrangePi 800 in particular because I tend to take you at your word and if your recommendation is anything to go by, that may just lead to me making a purchase. I hope you are doing well and all the best for the upcoming festive season.

[@snakysissy]

Another awaited video that does not disappoint! One question, I see Android amongst the possible OSes, although I'm wondering what it could yield on such a machine. Would that be something we could use for anything else than developing on Android? As for example an alternative to chrome OS? Would it support dual screen?

[@toepunch001]

Since you mentioned 3D printing I would like to see it running Octoprint. Since we have such a shortage of Pi’s.

[@SergiuszRoszczyk]

You can run octoprint on pretty anything. I used Pi 3A+ for over two years. You can use pretty any old terminal for that and you will be fine. Also USB cam should do.

[@williamrutter3619]

a good alternative for a raspberry pi400, considering supply. will do well at many desks, probably a good idea for the future, running devices like this.

[@allluckyseven]

I come here first for the content, and second for the medals! EDIT: That keyboard form factor is something i like a lot. Has the software part of the Orange Pi improved throughout the years? I remember it being very flaky some years ago.

[@marcdraco2189]

Looks to be based on Arabian from what I can see and if it is, it should be rather good. I've been using Armbian to run my nano-servers and it's never so much as missed a beat, even coming back up after an unpexected power outage.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings -- and gold medal awarded! :) The software here is much better than I've experienced on any other Orange Pi computer.

[@allluckyseven]

@@ExplainingComputers I've been looking around and the reason for that stability could be because they opted for a 2 year old CPU chip. Which is good on that front, but a bit disappointing too, I must say. We need more competition among these single board keyboard computers.

[@m8hackr60]

Another fantastic review of a very interesting product! This could replace my RPi that's connected to an old HP Bluetooth keyboard of the same size (meant for the HP TouchPad, an old tablet that came with WebOS). I use this Pi with an old monitor to quickly test something I'm working on, basically part of my test bench.

[@michaelstoliker971]

The one thing I noticed when you had the unit open was how much the board looked like a driver board for a flat panel display which led naturally to the idea that this thing would fit nicely into (or onto) the back panel of any display making it a computer in a screen. A keyboard and mouse could easily be connected into the usb ports and boom, a simple single unit PC! Also , as a huge Atari fanboy from the 80's...Atari had a 400 and 800 now Orange Pi has an 800 version of Rasberry Pi's 400. Coincidence, or planning?

[@ExplainingComputers]

I like your thinking on putting it inside a monitor!

[@sandeeptech8]

AiOs (All in Ones) used to be a thing and still are but they don't seem to be as popular as I expect them to be.

[@madmen2288]

For a bit more you can get a way more powerful mini pc with VESA mount.

[@sandeeptech8]

@@madmen2288 right

[@michaelwong4530]

Another outstanding review. The main board looks well designed. This type of computing reminds me of the vic20 days.. Thanks you for producing this vid..

[@CyrilAndrieu]

We are coming back in the 80' ! Remember me the ZX81, MSX, Thomson 7, Amstrads... And then in the 90' Amiga, Atari ST/TT ! History is an eternal restart ! Even in personal computers history ! By the way, very cool video, thanks a lot for this unboxing!

[@ExplainingComputers]

So true.

[@hugosimoes5119]

1:13 One of the problems with Aliexpress is that they manipulate prices and it changes a lot. One week, things cost x; the next week, it costs x+10; the next-next week, it costs x+15 or the price falls a bit and so on. Few years ago, we could get very nice tech very cheap and if we go again look for same tech again, it is expensive. I just searched for orange pi 800 and I see now prices around 138 euro, first item from the list is free shipping while the others... around 20 uero shipping. The device seems very nice.

[@sneedplays]

4:32 spit my dang ol drink out laughing. Keep it up partner, love the videos!

[@Antonio-fl3nr]

This will give more notoriety to the Orange Pi family. If I get my hands on one of these, I think I use it mostly for entertainment, because my hobby machine is the Raspberry Pi 400 with its huge community. I'm very intrigued by Orange Pi OS.

[@tiberiud]

Greetings! Great video as always! It would be an interesting idea to include a demo of Armbian in your videos. Some people have reported better performance while using this purpose-built OS for SBCs, therefore it would be nice for me, the humble viewer, to have this hearsay put to the test!

[@MCallsen]

This may actually be a nice, low-budget chartplotter for sailors. Connect a GPS and AIS external module and you have a low watts and low price alternative to a 2.000 Euro B&G chartplotter. There are Linux-based full installations for such a use available.

[@RechargeableLithium]

As a sailor running Open Plotter on a RasPi 4, I'll second this message. :)

[@volvo09]

What's a plotter? Does it record your movement over time a map? Low power computers are always good for "off grid" living too, I've come across some projects of people living in narrow boats or houseboats and living off a couple hundred watts of solar and a battery or two. You certainly don't want to fire up a full sized computer in that...

[@RechargeableLithium]

@@volvo09 Exactly - a chart plotter displays nautical charts and interfaces with depth, AIS, GPS, and other sensors. Commercial marine equipment starts around $500 US and goes up crazily from there. The OpenCPN pages will fill in the details if you're interested. Andy aboard SV Jane Ann

[@MCallsen]

@@volvo09 A chartplotter combines the usage of technologies like Global Positioning System (GPS), radar and AIS (Automatic Identification System) to plot and pinpoint the exact location and position of a ship in the high seas and oceans to aid a ship’s captain in easy seafaring. A chartplotter incorporates the computer technology as a displaying device for showing the actually positioned points of a ship when it is in motion.

[@MCallsen]

@@RechargeableLithium Ooops I did not see you answered already :) Always good to have redundancy on the seas :D

[@Kw1161]

Thanks Chris for another great video. The Orange Pi software looks like retweeted Armbian software.

[@ExplainingComputers]

I think you are right. :)

[@BharatMohanty]

The carrots Cameo was unexpected..😂

[@ExplainingComputers]

Always the way with a carrot.

[@silent1967]

Yeah, oranges are better.

[@chromerims]

Dear Mr. Barnatt, Good morning and hope this finds you well. For your consideration, may I cordially recommend making a short series of videos on disaggregated architectures? Subtopics may include UCIe, XPUs/HBMs and RDMA/Infinity Fabric/NUMA. Also related areas are PCIe5/6 with optionable CXL. Moreover of interest are data processors (DPUs) fka smartNICs. As ever, your takes on these changes (and superb reporting style) would be dually useful and educational, and surely well attended. With kind regards.

[@cybernit3]

1 problem is that it has 4 GB not 8 GB RAM; I think it would be good if you could expand from 4 to 32 GB Ram option. But it is good to see an alternative supplier of the Pi 400. I was considering getting one, but the 4GB puts me off. It would be good if someone made something like an PI400 but with better PCI Bus so you can put a decent gfx card; that would compete vs the PC/MAC gaming industry. Like finally some alternative to this Intel dominance....

[@leereyno]

Watching the tear-down makes me think of home computers from the early 80's

[@ExplainingComputers]

So true.

[@strike6uk890]

It would be great if you could show a M1 Mac Mini demonstration, for people who have only ever used PC's. Showing the pros/cons as a desktop replacement.

[@Pippo.Langstrumpf]

no thanks

[@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell]

Cons: Twice the price and won't even run Windows.

[@marcdraco2189]

@@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell Twice the price? It's actually cheaper if you go to Ali Express running at about £95 shipped to your door. You'll have to wait a little longer though, but in my experience (I've had SBCs from both compnies) I expect the Orange Pi will last longer. Time will tell and it's probably a little slow for a daily driver unless you're just browsing, watching the odd video, etc.

[@ExplainingComputers]

I am interested, but not enough to purchase one! :)

[@YourMotherSucksCocksInHell]

@@marcdraco2189 Did you even read OP's comment? This is about an M1 Mac Mini.

[@johndoudar6395]

Another well-made and professional video.

[@Pippo.Langstrumpf]

Wow, that is cool! Me gusta!

[@pifuddled6946]

Great vid. My only 2 concerns here are the lack of UK keyboard and the VGA port. I think I’d rather have 2 HDMI ports. I guess there’s a good reason for it for proper tech folks - which is definitely not me.

[@nrellis666]

It's a minor niggle but the heat sink really shouldn't cover the clock battery

[@ExplainingComputers]

Agreed! They could have cut a hole over that.

[@EcoHamletsUK]

I'm currently using a RPi400 as my daily driver, with an SSD and 13 year old 1920x1080 VGA/DVI screen. I'd been using a micro to full size HDMI adaptor with an HDMI to DVI cable plugged into it for months with no problems, until I moved the computer to a different location and it refused to work. Now I'm using a micro HDMI to VGA adaptor where the connectors are separated by a short cable, and that's working fine. I don't like so many cables (HDMI, USB 3 for SSD, USB 2 to a hub, Ethernet and power) connected directly to the keyboard, so I'll replace it with a Pi 4 sometime (yes I do have an available Pi 4!!!). If the Orange Pi 400 had been available when I bought this RPi400 I may well have bought it instead, mainly because of the built-in storage, and decent size video connectors.

[@Josh10976]

Hi

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings!

[@lucasmayo]

It's like the full circle and nearly 40 years later I am awakened to a "new" ZX Spectrum or a C64 and so much more capable. Love these things.

[@scottwilliams895]

It's pretty weak to simply call GIMP a "Photoshop clone" 😒

[@RodrigoDeVincenzoMonteiro]

Loved your review of this machine, it is amazing product for several applications. I will look for if I can get one for my father!

[@marcdraco2189]

Does what the RPi foundation does - only better and for less money.

[@JacobP81]

I like that the Orange Pi keyboard has extra functions like brightness and volume.

[@gingernutpreacher]

Made in china?

[@ExplainingComputers]

Like 25% of things on the planet!

[@Kim-e4g4w]

Wish we could have a *Made in Europe* computer. How safe are Chinese hardware? HW backdoors anyone?

[@gingernutpreacher]

@@Kim-e4g4w the raspberry pie keep'svfalling behind and when the features everyone wants are on a board they complained at the price

[@Vans89]

I remember once in a seminar we had to hold a presentation and one of my partners had a MacBook. She was puzzled that the beamer had a VGA cable and she did have a dongle for that. My 400€ i3 HP laptop did.

[@phrankus2009]

Not first!

[@ExplainingComputers]

But near to the podium.

[@brick6347]

Reminds me of the Amiga 600. Good days squabbling with siblings over the telly!

[@ExplainingComputers]

So true!

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

I use VGA connection for my Monitor every day. Using FullHD resolution is absolutely no problem and works just fine with basically no real difference between HDMI and VGA, if your cable is not the worst and you're not using VGA splitters cuz those can reduce the signal quality. My only gripe is the VGA port on the OrangePi has no screwholes which can make the VGA connection a lil wobbly. But never the less it's GREAT to have fullsize Ports on this thing.

[@superangrybrit]

What I don't like about Orange Pi line up is the 26pins. Missed opportunity. Anyhow, good video! 👍

[@stefanp.2177]

I love the Dosbox :)) Funny playing Loom, doom and ultima on any maschine:)) Very nice video about the Pi 800:))

[@BharatMohanty]

Greetings sir...I have seen orange pi 800's review many times..but I was waiting for your review..

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks, and greetings!