Thursday, October 8, 2020

Raspberry Pi Cases: Round 3

The Raspberry Pi cases I have mentioned previously because of their appearance  and noise have been replaced by one which improves on both annoyances and more.

The new case, the Argon ONE Pi 4 Raspberry Pi Case, solves a number of minor issues:

  • A Raspberry Pi system normally has cables coming out both the back and side, which can make taming the lot of them a bit tricky.
    This case uses a small daughter board inside the case to reroute all the cables out the back.
  • A Raspberry Pi 4 can run a little warm, thus requiring a fan.
    This case is all heat sink, which drops the usual temperature of the unit 15ÂșC. 
    This case also has a well integrated very quiet fan, but it is rarely needed.
  • A Raspberry Pi has no power switch. The usual work around is a power switch on the cord.
    This case adds a switch to the back of the case.
  • This Raspberry Pi 4 system previously used a metal case which blocked the power LED indicator.
    This case puts the power indicator behind smoked glass.
  • Raspberry Pi 4 system cases are generally square and geeky. 
    This case at least looks like someone thought about the appearance. 
After a system failure of the house server (DHCP/DNS/IPv6 tunneling), the Raspberry Pi 4 which was and is handling my retro computing needs moved downstairs; it took on the duties of the failed house server (and it still loafs).  Here it is on duty:

Wile E. Coyote, this week's server
Wile E. Coyote
This Week's Cool Running House Server
     
Lest one worry that our entertainment center has lost its Hobbit Modern Geek look, have no fear; even after removing a couple of items (network controllers for our thermostats), it still has enough gizmos to fill the highly visible eight-port switch:

Our Hobbit Modern Geek entertainment center

(Not shown are the Eero WiFi access point, the FiOS router, and the Chromecast.)

So the balance of Geek is preserved.  

p.s. Click either image for a larger view.