Subj : Re: Small BBS Machines (was: Re: NTVDMx64 issues?)
To   : Mindsurfer
From : Nightfox
Date : Thu Dec 11 2025 10:58 am

  Re: Re: Small BBS Machines (was: Re: NTVDMx64 issues?)
  By: Mindsurfer to Nightfox on Thu Dec 11 2025 03:22 am

 Ni>> I think some people like the 'coolness factor' of running a BBS on a
 Ni>> Raspberry Pi, or the newness of it, so it's less about the money spent.

 Mi> yep, its a cool little machine. I have 1,3 and 4. I even have a laser
 Mi> etched wooden case for the 1.
 Mi> But it ended for me with the 4 for the reason of cheap MiniPCs with a 15W
 Mi> TDP (even much lower on idle) :)  You still can have a Raspberry Pi 1 and
 Mi> just learn coding in C++ or something on it. Or you can take it with you
 Mi> and power it from a power-bank. Whats also cool about the Raspberries in
 Mi> comparison to other SBCs is the huge and creative community around it.

Yeah, they're cool machines.  One of the devices I have at home is a Zynthian V5, which is a music synthesizer & effects unit built around a Raspberry Pi 4. You can buy the Zynthian hardware kit online; this is the page for the Zynthian V5:

https://blog.zynthian.org/2023/07/zynthian-kit-v5-is-here/

They have a V5.1 now too, which uses a Raspberry Pi 5 rather than a 4.  I saw that it can be possible to get a Raspberry Pi 5 to fit into the Zynthian V5 kit I have, but it would involve modifying the Zynthian case.  I previously had an earlier Zynthian kit too, which I sold on eBay..  I think the Zynthian stuff is pretty cool, as an open-source music synthesizer.  The Zynthian kit hardware is fairly well-built, and I think the Zynthian software is good, too.  From what I recall, the Zynthian kits ship from Europe, so they may be more affordable to you than for me..  Also with Trump's tarriffs in the US now, I'd wonder if they'd be even more expensive for me now (thanks Trump), but that's another topic.

Nightfox
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