At the end of 2024, Raspberry had a great gift for its customers: the Pi 500. This computer is remarkable because it integrates a Pi 5 based computer into a full-sized keyboard, offering a compact, highly portable computer. The Pi 500 has a price tag of only $90. Don’t be fooled by its low price; this is not a toy or gimmick, as the keyboard houses a powerful quad-core ARM-based single-board computer (SBC) running at 2.4 GHz with a GPU and 8 GB of RAM. With this hardware, the system is more than capable of handling a wide range of tasks. In this article, I will assess the feasibility of running Stratodesk’s highly secure and award-winning operating system, NoTouch OS, on this device to transform it into a cost-effective yet capable thin client.
I loved the keyboard format for computers, and in the early days of the PC, many companies such as Timex, Sinclair, Acorn, Apple, and Amiga had computers in their keyboards. I have always hated the cramped keyboards of laptops, but I love the idea of a portable keyboard. With the Pi 500, you get the best of both worlds: a highly compact, portable computer with a full-sized keyboard. Couple this with the power of VDI and cloud-based desktops, and you have a highly secure, reliable, and portable work desktop environment.
Due to its low cost, remote workers could be easily be outfitted with a Stratodesk-based thin client. If they need to travel, they can bring their “keyboard” with them and plug it into a local monitor or even a TV, and they are up and computing—all for under $100.
Pi vs. Pi
Before discussing installing and running NoTouch OS on the Pi 500, let’s discuss the hardware. When talking about the Pi 500, we need to mention the Pi 5, which it is based on, its predecessor, the Pi 4, and the company behind the Raspberry Pi.
Raspberry was established in 2008 in Cambridge, England. It began as a charitable organization with a mission to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and developing countries. By creating affordable, highly accessible computers, Raspberry Pi made computing more attainable and widespread. Over time, the company’s impact expanded far beyond education as others in the tech industry recognized the potential of these low-cost systems.
What started as a learning tool soon evolved into a versatile platform used in various projects and industries. Raspberry Pi devices have been integrated into everything from industrial controllers and robotic arms to innovative creations like smart bird nests equipped with cameras. One prominent example of its early adoption in commercial applications was Stratodesk, which utilized Raspberry Pi as a thin client solution.
The Pi 500 was not Raspberry’s first computer with a keyboard; that would go to the Pi 400. However, the Pi 400 was based on the Pi 4 and only had 4 GB of RAM. The Pi 4 was a good system, but the Raspberry Pi 5 represents a significant upgrade over the Pi 4. The Pi 5 boasts faster CPU cores, better thermal management, and enhanced graphics capabilities, making it suitable for more demanding workloads. This hardware change allows the Pi 5 to have 2.5 x overall speed performance and 2.5 x graphic performance over the Pi 4. It also has two times the capacity out of its USB 3.0 ports. Don’t get me wrong, the Pi 4 is highly capable, and many Stratodesk customers happily use them as thin clients, but they have an older processor and limited performance compared to the Pi 5.
If you would like to know more about Raspberry Pi 5, you can see an excellent video with James Hughes, Principal Software Engineer at Raspberry Pi, and Rich Severson, VP of Solutions Engineering at Stratodesk.
Installing NoTouch OS on a Pi 500 is a Snap
As Stratodesk is a design partner with Raspberry, it is no wonder installing NoTouch OS is extremely easy and can be done in less than 5 minutes by even those with a limited It background.
After downloading the ARM version of NoTouch OS, you will need to burn it onto a MicroSD card.
After unarchiving the NoTouch ARM zip file you downloaded from Stratodesk, you will find a readme file that walks you through burning it to a MicroSD using the included win32diskimager.
NOTE: My Windows system had issues running win32diskimager, so I used Rufus to burn the lnx-3.6.527-EEs-k606-arm64-241216.bin file to the MicroSD.
After connecting a mouse and 2K monitor to the Pi 500, I put the MicroSD in the Pi 500, powered it up, and after a few seconds, it was greeted with the Stratodesk install wizard. After answering a few questions and rebooting, NoTouch was installed and ready to use. Overall, it took less than 5 minutes to install NoTouch OS on the Pi, and it was simply enough that it could be done by level 1 IT tech support or by an end user with a modicum of computer skills.
Is a 100 Dollar Thin Client Possible?
In this article, I looked at the Pi 500, a full-sized keyboard integrated with a powerful Raspberry Pi 5-based computer priced at just $90. The Pi 500 is an upgrade from the Pi 400 as it has a faster 2.4 GHz quad-core ARM processor, a more advanced GPU, and 8 GB of RAM. Raspberry says that this provides 2.5 times the performance over the Pi 4. It also has improved thermal management and true dual 5Gb USB 3.0 speeds.
I installed NoTouch OS, Stratodesk’s secure thin client operating system, on the Pi 500 in under 5 minutes. In my next article, I will use it to evaluate its suitability as a thin client by connecting it to a remote desktop and working with SaaS applications. This will help determine if it is a good low-cost option for remote workers, as it can be easily connected to any monitor or TV and is compact enough to take on the go.
