“The Pi400 includes possibly one of the most complex pieces of code produced by humanity”

In hindsight, it seems perverse: I have an interest in IoT from a network perspective, and yet I’ve not fiddled with either of the two great platforms most likely to be included in any smart device deployment – and then two come along at once in the same month.

The first one through the door was the Raspberry Pi 400. If you didn’t read the review in last month’s PC Pro (see issue 316, p58), let me alert you that this new packaging for the Pi platform ought not to be left out in the frigid wastes of fizzy drink-proof education-sector projects or stuffed down the back of a smart fridge, LEDs blinking naked and alone to hungry rats and mice. The 400 is completely different (even though it’s entirely the same on the inside): a little keyboard, white on top and red underneath, containing the entire Raspberry Pi architecture. In a neat row of ports at the back you have Ethernet, USB 2, two USB 3 connectors, two 4K outputs, USB-C for power in and a microSD slot.

I know, a picture’s worth a thousand words and all that, but I thought the text list much more in the spirit of the Pi 400. It’s got a certain immediacy about it, requirement of being bigger on the inside. People of my age will also get an immediate nostalgia hit for that whole generation of machines such as the BBC Micro and Commodore 64, which shared the design concept of being a computer in a keyboard.