Oh, I like fitting more into the same space, a 512GB SD card is many
orders of magnitude better than a 512mb SD card and the 512mb SD card
was already many orders of magnitude better than a 1.44mb 3-1/2
floppy. On a related note, I think it a shame DVD and Blu-Ray never
saw much, if any, commercial use for fitting CD-quality audiobooks and
radio programs or entire television series of DVD-quality video onto
fewer discs and don't like the way standard jewel cases for DVD and
Blu-ray are larger than those for CDs(and even standard CD Jewel cases
seem needlessly bulky for single-disc releases).
That said, I don't like miniturization that comes at the cost of other
desireable qualities and as far as I'm concerned, full-sized SD cards
are already at the lower limit of how small you can make the physical
housing of a solid-state memory module and it still be suitable for
being handled by humans. MicroSD is fine for applications where the
card is installed and then never touched again but I don't think I've
ever run into such a situation(granted, a lot of card swapping could
be avoided if all devices simply acted as USB mass storage devices
when connected to a PC).
I also don't get the aversion so many device makers have to things
like making their device slightly thicker to accomodate a larger
battery, dedicating faceplate real estate to physical buttons, and
when physical buttons are a thing, making them large enough, tactile
enough, and spaced enough that people with large fingers don't have to
worry about pressing the wrong button(I have a flip phone because
dialing blind on a touchscreen is impossible, but those tiny, nearly
flat buttons make me miss the days of land lines with wireless touch
tone handsets. Wouldn't want a return of the bulk demanded by NiCad
battery packs made of three AA cells, but the return of larger buttons
would be nice), and in general, I hate that larger screens seem to be
the only consideration ever made to "bigger might be better". As an
aside, I was an avid handheld gamer prior to going blind, thought the
GBASP was an ergonomic nightmare and only got one because of the
built-in screen light, purchased a refurbished DS classic because I
didn't like the smaller size of the DS lite and hated that the 3DS was
closer in size to the DS lite than the DS Classic and probably
would've upgraded to a 3DS XL if not for going blind in my one usable
eye. Also didn't like that the last time I was in the market for a
laptop, pretty much every brand thought being thin more important than
having an optical drive.
As for wireless audio, earphone wires have been the bane of my
existence since the 90s(to put that in prospective, I was born in 86
and have no memories prior to 1990) and it kind of annoys me that
while wireless USB keyboards and mice and wireless game controllers
have pretty much become ubiquitous plugging a wired pair of earphones
into a 3.5mm audiojack remains the easiest way to get sound out of
most things that lack a built-in speaker. The dongle for my wireless
keyboard barely has enough sticking out to pull it out of the port,
but to my knowledge, there doesn't exist any 3.5mm dongles for adding
bluetooth audio to older devices or even any non-bluetooth wireless
earphones with a 3.5mm dongle, and even on the one computer I own with
on-board bluetooth and a 3.5mm audio jack to fall back on(my Pi 3),
setting up bluetooth audio has proven far from trivial(my last attempt
managed to get my Pi paired with my Echo, which I have used as a
Bluetooth speaker with my Blaze ET, but I never did figure out how to
switch sound output from the 3.5mm jack to the Echo. And if there do
exist dongles for adding Bluetooth audio to devices with only a 3.5mm
audiojack, they are the proverbial needle in the haystack of bluetooth
earphones that assume you already have a device that has onboard
bluetooth.
As for other wired solutions, my experience is kind of limited to
hooking up things like game consoles and VCR/DVD/Blue-Ray players to
televisions and all I'll say on that front is that I don't miss having
to deal with so many different types of cable that all did essentially
the same job. Kind of glad HDMI managed to do for AV connections what
USB did for general data transfer(though it seems like HDMI might be
heading the same way as USB in undermining its simplicity by
introducing different connector types).
If there was an alternative to the 3.5mm audiojack that I felt I could
trust to just work, I probably wouldn't be so worried about the
interface's eventual demise, but as it stands, it appears to take more
work to get bluetooth audio working on the Pi than to get a screen
reader set up and I've never actually managed the bluetooth audio.
Sure, continue making the physical circuitry for each bit smaller and
continue packing that circuitry closer together so you can
occasionally swap out a ram chip or memory module for one with twice
the capacity without altering the rest of the design, and sure get rid
of excessive bulk from a previous model that only existed because of
components that are now much smaller, but once you've run out of
things to stream line in the form of a device, I'd rather further
refinements of form be dictated by functionality or ergonomics rather
than raw(how small can we make it).
But meh, at this point, I halfway expect this trend towards
miniaturization as a terminal design goal to lead to the introduction
of nanoSD cards that require someone with 20/20 in both eyes to use a
pair of tweezers and a jeweler's loupe to install or swap the cards
and for most people to praise them as a wonderful advancement despite
such hassle.
At least the Raspberry Pi foundation isn't prioritizing small over
versatile enough to ditch things like USB-A ports and Ethernet on
their flagship product and save the small for the sake of small
decisions for the Pi Zero line(though, if there's one thing from the
Pi 3 I would've added to the Zero w, it's a 3.5mm audio jack). So, do
we have a release date for the Pi 4?
On 6/25/19, Scott Granados <scott.granados@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Ah spoken like a true luddite.;)===========================================================
I’m kidding, kind of.
I don’t see the objection to micro SD, if size is your only objection I
definitely don’t share it. I like the ability to be able to pack more in
the same place as the older card readers but that’s me.
The audio jack can’t die fast enough for me. It’s cutesy though for the
20th century analog folks.
Put me down as a fan of wireless or digital sound interfaces, not ones
designed by Mr. Bell.
On Jun 24, 2019, at 6:27 PM, Mewtamer <mewtamer@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It might be an unpopular opinion, but I'd gladly pay a bit extra for a
version with a full-size SD slot and honestly can't think of any
advantage to microSD. If nothing else, full-sized SD would make
experimenting with different distros and making regular backups a lot
easier, though admittedly, adding a USB mass storage mode to the Pi so
the card can be flashed/backed up by connecting the Pi to a desktop
while leaving the card in the Pi would be a similar quality of life
improvement.
I doubt anyone will ever convince me microSD was a good idea and while
it's probably inevitable that there will come a day when full-sized SD
slots aren't even an option on desktops and full-sized laptops, I'll
probably lament its passing nearly as much as I'll lament the probably
also inevitable demise of the 3.5mm audiojack.
Ludicrously tiny memory cards aside, I can't wait to get my hands on a
4GB Pi 4, even though it uses a different power port from every other
device I own.
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Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi logo are trademarks of the Raspberry Pi
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This list is not affiliated to the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the views
and attitudes expressed by the subscribers to this list do not reflect
those of the Foundation.
Mike Ray, list creator, January 2013
===========================================================
The raspberry-vi mailing list
Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/raspberry-vi
Administrative contact: <mike.ray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
-----------------------------------------------------------
Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi logo are trademarks of the Raspberry Pi
Foundation.
This list is not affiliated to the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the views and
attitudes expressed by the subscribers to this list do not reflect those of
the Foundation.
Mike Ray, list creator, January 2013
