In the midst of turmoil, both in the world and in our private lives, you and your channel are the one constant that keeps things in balance, and long may that be!

@Praxibetel-Ix

Ай бұрын

Amen to that!

@michaelmcconnell7302

Ай бұрын

Lol

@marcuspotts7221

Ай бұрын

@@Praxibetel-Ix Seconded

@alanthornton3530

Ай бұрын

I totally agree with you :)

@danyboy1477

Ай бұрын

Natural environement = between an oscilloscope and a PCB

I see the trees in the background and I can't help but be impressed at how far 3D printing has come.

@TinkeringOP

28 күн бұрын

😂

How nice to have a video channel narrated by a real person, with real inflexion in the voice, and with no cuts and chops in between each sentence. Please don't become an A.I. anytime soon!

@stephenlee5929

29 күн бұрын

Wasn't he an AI?

@encycl07pedia-

29 күн бұрын

inflection*

@lawrenceallwright7041

29 күн бұрын

@@encycl07pedia- Blame auto-corrupt.

@alkenstein

28 күн бұрын

Oh my god, the silences between sentences are golden

@gregh.g.83

28 күн бұрын

@@alkenstein Yes they are! [unless 'golden' is some new youth-speak/slang meaning something bad, in which case, no they aren't]. I think he's a university lecturer in 'real life', so he's just doing what he normally does, and it's a very satisfying change on youtube.

That's my favorite tech KZread channel. This channel proves that good audio and video quality alone is not sufficient anymore; good quality content, without annoying distractions and cheesy entertainment, is the differential of this channel. 👏🏼

For Pi content, I'd be mostly interested in Zero 2 (W) content, as I feel that's the real successor to the original Pi, a low cost computer for small projects, instead of the expensive Pi 5. For AI content, I think how to selfhost AI and run it at home is most interesting, to preserve privacy.

@spikekent

Ай бұрын

Very good suggestion.

@Nightwulf1269

Ай бұрын

I second that proposal! I struggle to self build LocalAI which would be a perfect match for my needs. Something like that would be nice!

@PeterBull1951

Ай бұрын

Yes, I agree with both those suggestions. The Zero 2W seems to meet your sufficient hardware criterion for a lot of uses (I'm currently setting one up as a Fruitbox jukebox, where is small size is useful for an existing enclosure). Selfhosting AI, and a review of what uses it is being put to in that environment would also be welcome.

@michaelstoliker971

Ай бұрын

I think it would be interesting to know how can we use AI to increase our power relative to corporations and government. Can we, using AI, work at a level where big money and big government do not dominate us and abuse us?

@verdedoodleduck

Ай бұрын

Sounds good. I would like to see more practical home automation builds that are cost effective and/or niche. Maybe that's only got a small amount of appeal.

I’m certain the trees appreciate your visit.

@julhip876

Ай бұрын

Green World operating system - daily update !!! 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲

@stephenlee5929

29 күн бұрын

Missed the Ducks.😒😒

@inanefool8781

29 күн бұрын

If I were a tree I would certainly enjoy a visit from chris.

Me talking to the squirrels in my back garden: "Greetings! It's been a while since I've spoken to you outside, and so I thought we'd come and visit some trees."

@FlyboyHelosim

Ай бұрын

Ah, good old Mr. Squirrel.

@asystole_

Ай бұрын

Me talking to my devils lettuce dealer:

@SchoolforHackers

Ай бұрын

Totally hear Chris

@ralphj4012

27 күн бұрын

First, there was Acorn.

@SchoolforHackers

26 күн бұрын

@@ralphj4012 Oh ho ho - I see what you did there. ;)

Wow! It's like watching open university on the telly back in the 70's. Nostalgia, you canny beat it.

As a focus, I appreciate your instructions on how to get the most out of modest investments. Your coverage of inexpensive equipment and detailed instructions are key to breaking down the road blocks to computer use.

I love that this channel has pretty much the same design since 2012 I bumped into it as a 14 year old boy

People should realize your post IS THE PRIZE !! A valuable prize.

Man, ever since I've found this channel, I've just grown to like it so much. I like how calming and consistent the video style is, and not only that, the topics are also interesting and grounded.

if you want to appeal to the computing enthusiast old-timers with AI stuff, you need to focus in offline, full in-house stuff we are very weary of external dependencies and subscription models, I'm sure you know because you are one of us at the time it's becoming doable on some levels, it might require some specific deep-diving well beyond the usual raspi review but it will be worth to open it as a branch within your videos

@laurencefraser

27 күн бұрын

Weary, and wary as well.

Here are a few ideas: Home computing / automation m(e.g. what is tasmota or home assistant) , what is the difference between Machine Learning and AI, How do wifi, bluetooth, zigbee, matter etc compare, people seems to like stuff with led (strips), What can you do with old PC equipment? (e.g. I bought a tiny board that turns a PC power supply into a more useful power unit for microprocessors), More topics around microcontrollers: sensors, what is a buckconverter, what is M5 stack?

@kensmith5694

Ай бұрын

A buck converter is a bit off topic for his channel. I am sure others have done one.

@kbce

Ай бұрын

@@kensmith5694 for all topics there are already videos. It's the unique way that Chris presents these topics. And you should not takes these topics literally, more as think in this direction for topics....

I love the “increasingly sufficient computers” as a concept for examination and argument. I live on investments and I see technology being made a battleground. If you look closely, big technology developments are most often about creating insufficienties and inadequacies. AI is the latest and most outrageous example. The compute power to train a model that will litterally be obsolete in no less that a week is astounding. The asault on human trust is absolutely astounding.

@sethbrown1763

Ай бұрын

Very thoughtful comment! The current US-China chip war is totally out of control! Geopolitics affecting progress. :(

@laurencefraser

27 күн бұрын

You also have the fun issue of web design (and often also general programming) getting "worse" as hardware gets better, with the result being little or no gain for the end user, and actually something of a red queen's race where they have to keep upgrading not to have their experience Degrade. I put worse in quotes there because sometimes it's legitimately just straight up worse with no real benefit other than allowing companies to hire less skilled people to do the job of making the thing, other times there is a trade off that does actually provide indirect, or occasionally even direct, benefits as well.

@Thirsty_Fox

25 күн бұрын

@@laurencefraser Wish I could upvote twice. It generally seems to be getting worse and slower, despite faster hardware than ever.

@andresospina5706

21 күн бұрын

@@laurencefraser @skyak4493 There's lots of wisdom in your words, i absolutely concur in the fact that even though it is awesome that hardware is getting incredibly better as time passes, somehow professionals seem to be getting scarce and the new tech people don't seem to be putting as much effort into performance and managing resources wisely. At first i thought it would be a Video games only thing where maybe developers were getting lazier as time went by and people standards became much lower but now it has transitioned to most software stuff and it is getting egregious, applications somehow consume lot's of ram and the web stuff is full of unnecessary bloat, this really harms the user experience in the long run. I pray to God that more people stand up for this, and all of us future programmers actually put good effort in what we work on regardless the project.

@FrancoisSchnell

20 күн бұрын

@@Thirsty_Fox It is Wirth's law from wikipedia : "In 1995, he popularized the adage now named Wirth's law. In his 1995 paper "A Plea for Lean Software" he phrased it as "Software is getting slower more rapidly than hardware becomes faster." This new trend towards lean computing is very well explained in this French video on youtube (just auto translate) : "Et si on divisait par 4 l'empreinte carbone du numérique ?" Also search for : permacomputing, 100 rabbits, web0 manifesto, Ivan Illich convivialism... something is happening but needs more visibilty and maybe a common vocabulary.

Can never have too many Raspberry Pi videos in my opinion. The more the merrier

First of all I watch your channel for the clear and concise explanations without being rushed. Secondly I quite like the small form factor pc builds with reasonable component choices, I always come away with a better grasp of computing hardware and software , and I think your doing a great job of educating the average Joe like myself! Many thanks!

@neilhughes3823

27 күн бұрын

You’re….. not your

Thanks for sharing your vast knowledge Chris, you're doing a great service to humanity. Subs well earned

The problem with 'AI Computing' is it is not AI at all and that is why people get confused about it. Machine learning and leveraging it for computer tasks like vision identification and robotics, has been around for a long time now and so in those fields it is well understood by its users about its abilities and drawbacks. For your average user though, they interact with ChatGPT and will initially be very impressed when it confidently returns information on something you don't know much about anyway, but then if they press it for things they do know about, it quickly goes off the rails and the magic is broken. That is why spinning up a local AI instance for images (Stable diffusion) or voice control (Neon OS) etc is a great way to get to understand what it can do and why people are 'jazzed' about it. I also happen to think the current trends on creating ever expanding collected models to try and distil down into a 'generic' one is doomed to fail. 'AI' will really come into its own when it can be run locally and train its datasets on your individual needs and tasks. Not everyone speaks the same way, draws the same way, plays music the same way, regardless how the scientists imagine they do. So a generic model is just that. Good at most stuff, rubbish at other stuff. But a personally tailored model will be brilliant. So yeah, if you want people to feel engaged with 'AI' don't pander after GPT or Gemini etc show how machine learning can be done on something as simple as a raspberry pi, like voice changers and object recognition etc. A deep dive into any of those ways of using machine learning I am sure will do will when given the EC treatment. Hope that helps.

@Singularity606

29 күн бұрын

Machine learning is a subfield of AI.

HI Chris, with the reference to scams, I think privacy and security is a good topic at user level. Also how MS is using telemetry and AI to harvest user data. And how Linux can help in this area.

@kensmith5694

Ай бұрын

I agree but he needs to do it as a practical alternative like installing Linux Mint to avoid the issue going forward rather than "Microsoft bad bad bad"

@gwgux

29 күн бұрын

@@kensmith5694 I agree, there are way too many videos and channels that do that. An objective breakdown of what Microsoft is doing step by step for people to follow along with some practical easy to use alternatives would be best.

I wasn't aware that your AI-themed videos were not so popular; if it's the case, I think it just reflects most people's negativity towards AI, and not a reflection on the quality of the video. How that can be solved is difficult. Your head-to-head comparison of various online AI image generators was, for me, both a practical demonstration, and a cautionary note; I think that is one way to draw views in: what can AI do for us, but also what should we be wary of.

@Count_Smackula

Ай бұрын

IMO, AI is a "solution" in search of a problem. Burning all that energy for mostly zero improvement.

@Nunya58294

Ай бұрын

A.I. is stupid and shouldn't exist.

@paulluce2557

Ай бұрын

I think we all need to become aware of what AI is and what it means for any and all of us... and the question my cynical mind asks.. What is the driving force behind it... and who benefits from forcing it on us...

@musicalneptunian

29 күн бұрын

Surely there is one thing that is crying out for more AI: learning from Github. Github instructions are double Dutch to me. I cannot break down the task into the steps needed and the order of steps; something that AI is good at. That would be 90 percent of something done. Then I enter the commands in the terminal. To cite a specific example, there is a GUI tool for my focusrite audio interface. But I cannot make sense of the needed Github steps.

@syrus3k

29 күн бұрын

The topic is also very saturated

When it comes to increasingly sufficient hardware I'm still using the 3rd gen i7 system I built back around the end of 2011. Upgraded the video card a few times but it's surprised me how long this CPU has remained valid. With regards to AI content I think stuff that the average person could use it for would be most appealing - for me, recently I was looking into using AI to perform object detection on security cameras connected to either Frigate or Shinobi software. Outside of that though, I struggle to find practical uses for AI in my day-to-day.

Really good, thoughtful video. Here are my ramblings after watching: 1. I really like the way you concentrate on use of modest performance hardware. Buying the latest, most expensive hardware takes shoes off of my kids' feet, so I don't do it. I have lost track of many of the pi-zeros I have around the house, but also have a pi 3, 4, and 5. I still have a good time playing with them. 2. All of the videos that explain how different memory, storage, interfaces, connectors, etc. work are very valuable as a resource. Sort of a "video reference manual". They are well organized and easy to sort through for the content needed. Wonderful! 3. I still wonder where RISC computing is going. Wherever it is, it is still moving slowly. When I put together my Heathkit HS-151 (4.77mhz, 256K ram?, 1 floppy) RISC was supposed to revolutionize computing. As primarily a user and an occasional amateur programmer, I haven't seen why it is important except for a few specialized uses (computers dedicated to one specialized task (like arduinos?). 4, 5, 6, etc. I forgot what I was going to ramble about. Wherever you take the channel, I will be there watching so long as you keep your focus on SBC, Linux, new Pi's, etc. You continue to make every Sunday morning (here on the US Pacific coast) a Christmas morning with presents to open. Thank you, Christopher!

@autohmae

29 күн бұрын

3. well, ARM and RISC-V are more efficient than the x86-derived CISC-like systems, which is hugely important in many use cases obviously, from data center to mobile devices. Which are some of the biggest markets.

@paul_boddie

29 күн бұрын

RISC did revolutionise computing. AMD and Intel effectively incorporated many of the RISC techniques in their implementations of the x86 and x86-64 instruction set architectures. And throughout that period of adoption, RISC architectures - including those from AMD and Intel - drove performance forward quite substantially.

@grokitall

28 күн бұрын

risc came about because we did not know how to write compilers properly. to get around some people looked at one of the currently available machines, and went through the instruction set, looking at each instruction and checking if it was worth the silicon used to implement it. how they did this was they took the instruction set as an api, and looked to see if they could replace the instruction in the assembler with a macro implementing that instruction using a subset of the instructions on the processor, and what that did to speed and space considerations for the final program. if the results turned out to be better, they stopped generating the instruction, and used the macro instead, hence reducing the size of the instruction set. these complex instructions had a number of issues, which give risc architectures an advantage. first, they are no easier to implement in hardware than in software. if you don't believe me you only have to look at the fact of how many intel processor versions you identify by recognising which instruction on the chip is in some way broken. second, they take up a lot of silicon, which could be being used for something better. this has a massive opportunity cost, even before you go multicore. third, they slow down your processor. not only do they typically take multiple clock cycles to run, but also due to the current emphasis on a global system clock, they slow every instruction down to the clock speed of the slowest part of any instruction. for these and many other reasons, there is great interest in moving from cisc to risc. in fact the advantages are so high that most cisc processors are actually implemented like a virtual machine running on an internal risc processor. it also turns out that risc designs can do the same work using less energy, which is extremely important for mobile (where the issue is battery life) and for data center (where cooling is the issue). luckily, the abusive wintel duopoly doesn't control most of computing any more, only the desktop, so it is not really slowing things down too much.

One of the best videos you did was showing AI on a Jetson Nano with the camera telling us it was a banana or elephant etc. but you never followed up with that series. If you want to tackle AI you should go back to that or maybe show how to train AI on top of an existing model. Pull in a training database and Llama3 then show how to build an AI chat box quickly and easily on your local machine (I use a small form factor PC with Llama3 installed).

@jefmes

29 күн бұрын

I like this idea - and to my comment a few moments ago, show us what other methods would have been used prior to having these ML models available. That's the kind of Explaining that really helps people understand where AI/ML is a useful next step vs being the buzzword of the year.

I love the way the tree's branches move, yet your hair and notes remain unruffled!

Most of my personal favorite EC videos have always been about creativity, and the latest innovations in hardware. Learning about generating images using LeonardoAI, or how to control servos, LEDs, or how to build an anemometer, or the many cutting edge SBCs that have appeared along the way, have inspired many of my own projects. Some other videos, such as how to build a NAS, or upgrade a PC, or how digital storage media works, have been slightly less fun, but highly informative, and much more useful or practical than others. Whatever direction(s) you decide take us going forward will undoubtedly be equally interesting, entertaining, and educating, to be sure. You don’t reach a million subscribers or receive a golden play button without providing the very best content around. Very much appreciated! Keep up the great work!

It's been a great past six months for EC despite the odds! Two years of channel memberships, the 1 million subscriber mark and the gold play button that came with it... Big things have happened and I look forward to seeing what's next for this channel. :) In regards to Pi-related content, I'd like to see more projects and more robot builds involving the Pi. Maybe you could bring Kevin McAleer back in to help with a robot? Also, I swear you suggested making a music player with a Pi either in a video or on the website a long time ago. Eitherway, there's a good project idea I'd like to see happen! This is all just wishful thinking, really. In regards to the scams, it really grinds my gears every time I see a scammer in the comments replying to everyone with "pin" or "message me to claim your prize". I wish KZread would crack down on them but unfortunately, they're more concerned on cracking down people for letting a little profane word slip past their lips than keeping the site safe from bad people. With all that said, here's two bucks.

@ExplainingComputers

Ай бұрын

Thanks for your support and ideas, most appreciated. :) Kevin and I do keep talking about doing a collab of some kind.

@Praxibetel-Ix

Ай бұрын

​@@ExplainingComputersYou're welcome! I hope that collab does happen. :D

Congrats on 1 million subs, and doing it without clickbait titles and thumbnails

Appreciate your Linux videos! Well, all your videos, but very much the Linux distro ones

For some of us the most important thing is to find a suitable alternative to W10/11.

@yumri4

Ай бұрын

Really Linux Mint the version cinnamon as it will look and feel the most like windows while not being windows. The main difference most will notice is instead of exe files you have .deb files i think that about it. Most of your windows programs will still work with the same version you are using too through the linux-windows compatibility layer too. Games and professional programs like the Adobe suit have to get the linux version instead of the windows version of it. So most compatible and easiest to switch to distro. Yeah the tables in your .docx files will be opened wrong in the word processor it has by default but unless you are using the built in table function they will open like normal and show the same thing as it did on windows. Same thing for excel sheets still able to open and save to .xls and .xlsx too. For power point well i never tried to use it to open a Microsoft Office Power point the images might be a little misaligned if saved in .pptx due to the XML Microsoft uses but .ppt files will open correctly with everything aligned where you put them. Able to save into both of them too. VLC is on it unsure if by default. Still a good video player for both Windows and Linux. GIMP 2.10 is the default 2D image program instead of a combo of photos and MS Paint on windows. It is good could be better but it is in every distro of Linux already. From what i hear they are waiting for GIMP 3 to release to finally remove python 2 and only have python 3. By default you will have IDLE installed though most do not use it as it isn't one of the better IDEs and most do not program anyways. By default you will have apt mostly as the OS common command of apt-get install and apt-get upgrade require apt. You do not need to use them as Linux Mint has a GUI to do it for you. That last part leads into Linux Mint has a GUI for you to use to update your system so you do not need to go into terminal to update anything. Same with getting known to be supported applications. You still can use terminal and depending on what you want to do with it might be better to but for most general use programs the GUI method that puts most programs you might want to use in one place seems best. Mostly so you do not type the wrong case and/or wrong letter in the command or get tricked into using a command you do not know that will be bad for your system. They took most commonly used programs and put them in one place. They are also updated in the update system thing too so you do not have to go around and get the updates from their websites. For Zoom, discord, and skype yes they are supported though support for linux seems to be an after thought for all 3 of them. KZread runs as well as it does on windows 10. Same amount of ads same ads. No difference sorry if you thought there would be one. Same thing with cloud storage though depending on which one you go with you might run into an issue with the file types not being supported so having to download the files to open them. Mostly for the open source program file types like .ods and .odt kinds of things. The file structure is also different so no C drive you have / then everything on and connected to the computer comes after that. Most will just use the short cuts to home, downloads, documents, pictures and videos so nothing will change as the computer will put you in the correct location for them. Lastly different security holes from windows. Both of security holes just mint linux has different ones from windows 10 and 11 is all. Mint Linux takes a different approach to it by trying to not have the holes in the first place instead of a program to detect when something go through them. So far the way Mint Linux has done it of not having any way for the malware to work has been better than the Microsoft way of catching it after it gets onto the machine. Still anti-malware programs exist for both windows and linux.

@pablosartor6715

29 күн бұрын

The answer is: Kubuntu (Ubuntu Linux with KDE Plasma DE)

@encycl07pedia-

29 күн бұрын

@@pablosartor6715 lol. Yes, Canonical is so much better than Microsoft /sarcasm. They put spyware in Ubuntu. I wouldn't trust any Ubuntu-based distro.

@domsau2

29 күн бұрын

Hello. Lubuntu.

@russellpengilley5924

29 күн бұрын

3 replies, 3 different answers!! This topic is interesting to me as where I live there isn't really money for replacing hardware in schools, businesses and even government. Something more general like how does security work, how do updates work, what compatibility issues will there be, where do you learn about basic admin, etc... (Our tax system requires you to upload an Excel spreadsheet in 97-03 compatible format, the .ods version doesn't work!!!)

I'm back home from working on the road, and I get to watch Explaining Computers natively from my home PC once again!!! It's always a pleasure getting to watch your videos!! I've been thinking on where my own personal journey with computers and laptops will be in the next 5 years. Where I'll be with Windows or Mint..

Good morning! For future video, I'm always up for an electronic project video!

I'd like to see more Pi Zero 2W projects. It's an underrated SBC. It's not the most powerful but gets good battery life and is powerful enough for small applications. The Zero 2 may not be a good desktop PC, but it works well as a camera or robot controller.

Your content is always well produced and you have a great diversity of topics. I suspect many individuals are interested in projects related to SBCs, working with hardware and software or topics related working on the computers. Keep up the good work!

I would love more on systems like the n100s. For me its my biggest interest. Seeing computers with low power but doing great things. Maye some Servers using the n100s? Thanks for your work. I love it. ❤

Greetings once again Christopher. My first thought on a possible project for lower end SBCs would be a home security system with security cameras and possibly an intercom system. Another project idea would be to bring together the various weather sensor projects you have done into a full featured weather station. As always, thank you the excellent content that so many of us look forward to every week. Cheers!!

You've answered your own question regarding AI. A video called "Using AI to Hack, Root Out and Destroy Scams and Scammers" 😂

Congrats on 1 million Christopher! I would love to see how to setup local AI tools on a Pi / other devices with an emphasis on privacy. For example, a sequel to Mycroft AI voice assistant...?

Greetings! It's no surprise that SBC content is one of the most popular. I think it's the USP of this channel.

"Increasingly sufficient hardware" is right on the money. While my main computer is a ridiculously overpowered workstation that I bought only a couple of years ago, I'm quite happily using a 7-year-old laptop as my travel machine and it's perfectly fine. I did upgrade the RAM and switch to an SSD from a mechanical drive, but the laptop has plenty of life left in it still. Of course, I run Linux. Microsoft will assist hardware manufacturers by either making new versions of Windows bloated to the point where new hardware is needed, or by adding features that only work with new hardware (Win11, anyone?). Thanks, MSFT!

_[nature documentary voice]_ And here, we see the very beautiful and majestic Christopher in his natural habitat... Anyway, good morning/afternoon!

@alanthornton3530

Ай бұрын

good afternoon Ford here we are on another glorious Sunday spending time with Chris :)

@Praxibetel-Ix

Ай бұрын

@@alanthornton3530 Indeed we are! It's the start of the day for me and I couldn't think of a more better way to kick off a Sunday.

@legojenn

Ай бұрын

David Attenborough for the win.

@alanthornton3530

Ай бұрын

@@legojenn Oh yeah ;)

@alanthornton3530

Ай бұрын

@@Praxibetel-Ix Yes it's a really good way to start the day, I've been reading through the comments for the last hour & a half & posted a few replies. Last night I finished going through Chris's back catalogue of PC build videos, the info is still relevant today, in fact all his videos are an important encyclopedic resource that needs preserving!! It reminds me of the Hitch hikers guide, described as insanely complicated with the reassuring phrase on the front cover of .....................'Don't Panic' any thoughts Ford? ;)

Thanks Chris. I’d like to see more Pi Pico content please

I like to see more PI programming projects (I think that the main purpose of making the first Raspberry PI is to help learning programming at a low budget). Regarding AI, I think a lot of AI videos I've seen are either so complex to follow (require unnecessary prerequisites) or so stupid that one can do it much faster without AI (I.e. help me create a function that sums up 2 numbers) Also, I like how you kept your website so simple and clean. Thanks Chris!

Chris, I’m a principal infrastructure architect by profession but a computer enthusiast going back to the 1980s. I always enjoy your videos and you’re right about the trends. I might take a slightly different perspective on Increasingly Sufficient Hardware. While this is entirely a true statement for most home use cases, what I would argue is that we are still seeing very significant performance improvements in computer hardware. Much more so perhaps in GPU technologies, but you can see significant performance improvements in CPU and other technologies. This is the point: for enterprises and research and media, and in particular with AI, nothing is ever enough and there is always a major ROI on moving to newer technologies where those are going to enable new use cases and faster go to market and customer experience. Where I completely agree is that it just isn’t necessary to upgrade your hardware for most people. I am running an Intel 3770k with 32GiB of memory and a 1080ti graphics card. I can do most any game I really want or any application I personally need at a very acceptable level of performance. It might be nice to upgrade, but why bother when it’s not going to do anything significantly more or better for my own uses.

I just hope we'll have truly open, widespread ISAs that _stay_ open (without proprietary, important extensions)

@kensmith5694

Ай бұрын

I think RISC-5 wins on that. There are some "do it your self" processor projects on youtube but the ISA for them are always specific to the design the guy did.

For the last 6 or more years, I've always clicked when I see an EC video in my feed :)

I'd suggest having a video about how to have a minimalist computer system that gets the job done for those who use computing for email, word processing, basic surfing on sites that aren't intensive social media or gaming sites, and with this video, talk about the command line and how to use BASH programs to get those jobs done

@sethbrown1763

Ай бұрын

To my understanding, that is precisely the role of Linux Mint, which seems to be Christopher's favourite Linux distro. It's a fairly simple, reliable distro for email, word processing, browsing etc. Not my personal choice, but it's what I also recommend for first time Linux users. I've been recommending it for about 10 years now. Or you mean hardware-wise, basic system?

@michaelwright2986

29 күн бұрын

That might be interesting, but I'm not sure who the audience would be. I'm not afraid of the command line (what I'd really like is a character-based menuing system, like the old Lotus Magellan), but I wouldn't think of using it to do those tasks, which are my major use of a computer these days. Though I suppose I have played with #! ++ on a Core 2 Duo machine, and the application launcher in that distro is pretty neat. Were you thinking of something like that? Or setting up the very basic menu we used to set up to boot into in MS-DOS?

I really appreciate keeping the website up to date - Thank you.

Most Raspberry Pi SBCs don't really interest me. They have become too powerful and too expensive for my projects, so I prefer cheaper Chinese alternatives. But I'm interested in RP2040 microcontrollers. I really like them and am currently doing several projects based on the Pico W. I am having some difficulties due to lack of experience, so I could use some more information about programming them. Especially when it comes to multithreading and interruptions.

Other things you can touch on: Alternative software for doing common tasks Strange bits of software that do unexpected things New unexpected hardware devices for computers. Super low power (consumption) computing devices for extreme battery life or solar powered computing These may not fill a whole 15 minutes on their own but you may be able to combine.

Still watch every week and still love your style of videos. Just keep doing what you are doing, because it works & it educates those of us who are not that experienced in the world of computing, AI, and everything else you cover. Thank you for great content, presented in a lovely way. I don’t always fully get what you are talking about, but I always learn something by the end of each episode.

I visit your channel to stay up to date on small computers and Linux distributions. I am 70 years old and still like to fiddle around with my pc which is a small intel based i5 9th gen CPU. I plan to buy a small computer to have a separate Linux machine. I agree with your comments that we home computer users have enough compute power in our current machines and do not require to upgrade soon. I really enjoy your channel, watching you from Mexico City.

It so weird to see someone wears a jacket during hot summer in my region! Always happy to see a new notification of my favorite channel!

Greetings sir, kindly do a tutorial on SDRs (software defined radio) .

Congratulations on the continued success of your channel. All the best moving forward.

Really love your content. Thank you for all that you do.

I'm probably going to show a great deal of ignorance here so I'll dive in with both feet and a lot of enthusiasm, tongue firmly in cheek: From what I've seen of it so far, AI can: - provide bland, statistical, derivative, usually comical, responses to questions - auto-magic up images of questionable artistic merit - write snippets of (usually trivial) python code, where the correct phrasing of the request and subsequent debugging probably takes as long as just writing the code in the first place - identify cats / dogs / cars etc and do facial recognition in images and videos - spy on everything I do on my devices for {insert corporation responsible for your OS here} - safely drive me from A to B(?) So, for topics: - I'm sure some of the above are fine for casual interest's sake, but what can AI do for individuals that's actually useful today, that would actually get us excited and keep us involved? - will the true value of AI for individuals only become obvious with personal robots with a minimum level of dexterity and functional capability? - given that the inputs for AI are the outputs of human folly, how concerned should we be for our future? :D (I laugh now but I'm not sure my hilarity will age well!)

Hello Chris. I particularly agree with your comment about "sufficient hardware" The only reason I upgraded my main machine late in 2022 was that there was a growing scare about unavailable hardware. The old machine was getting towards a decade old, yet it was an 8-core AMD running at up to 4GHz (except that it was mostly throttled back to ~1.3GHz). I replaced the MB, Processor and RAM with the latest, and that meant a 12-core Ryzen processor running at up to ~3.7GHz. That ended up needing a new water cooling and I took the opportunity to move to a M.2 boot drive, and buy a new, and quieter, case. To be honest, I thought it was just a bit slower! Recently the OS updates mean the new machine is running faster, and so is now properly justifying the expense. Apart from that, it is a little surprising to me that the latest builds of RaspberryPiOS make my Pi5 + NVMe Base with a 1TB M.2 _almost_ fast enough to use as my daily use computer... at least so long as I only use 1 monitor. Despite the performance gulf between those two computers, the Pi5 is right on the edge of providing "sufficient hardware" for everyday use. The next bump up in ARM computers (a few more for RISC-V) might possibly be good enough. Not that I will be decommissioning my Ryzen any time soon. 😁 Being computer obsessed, and also enjoying movies, I find your comments about "Cognitive Computing" are on track, and yet well behind where the science-fiction authors *thought* Operating Systems were heading, and would be quite a few years ago. Movies like _"Colossus: The Forbin Project"_ or the _Star Trek_ movie series, suggested that we would be interacting with computers via verbal commands - and having the computer seemingly interacting with us humans as another, English language, cognitive species might do. By that standard, the efforts of voice interaction that are available are exceedingly limited, and seemingly reliant on (insecure) external providers. For all the advances that have been made in hardware, it seems to me that the Operating Systems and application software control have barely advanced. Linux seems to me to be the most adventurous area for trialing user interaction. Yet for using the operating system we have only taken a few faltering steps from the first days of Unix! If anything, Windows seems to be harder to use, or at least no better to use now, than when Win95 was released. Being an old fart, I am sure I will have difficulty trying to interact with my computer verbally, and doing so does imply a quiet environment, but I will still be interested to try it. However - only when that interaction is managed entirely locally. I do not want some company listening in.

@sethbrown1763

Ай бұрын

I second your opinion, as an old fart myself! :) As a long time UNIX/Linux user, I am very comfortable with that environment but, like you, I feel that by now, AI should have been integrated into those operating systems, at least to the extent of monitoring how the system was used and suggesting improvements to help automate its use even further. I used to dream of an OS that would see what I was doing and write shell scripts for me to use. Sadly, I had to learn to write shell scripts myself :) Operating systems are a closed domain, so it should have been possible to write an expert system to do this, yet it was never done. No, new users are forced to learn what is admittedly an arcane and obscure language to extract all the power from these systems. Yes, I know, vendor lock-in and all that. The best Microsoft could do, was to annoy people with Clippy. Total lack of imagination! And their latest fiasco, Recall, shows exactly how they regard their userbase as a resource to be exploited. Not content with recording all our keystrokes, now they want to record our screens. And they try to sell _that_ to us as a benefit! Good grief! Currently, I am trying to expose my brain to Emacs and Lisp, which _I_ think, are the best examples of forward thinking software I've encountered. A 65 year old programming language and a 48 year old editor which includes a Lisp interpreter ... there's something to be said about software that lasts that long. And interestingly, Lisp was created to enable AI development. Perhaps the old is new again ... ?

@alanthornton3530

Ай бұрын

I totally agree with you!!

@John.0z

29 күн бұрын

@@sethbrown1763 Hi Seth. I always thought "clippy" showed us _exactly_ what Microsoft thought of it's users. They see us as dumb as dirt. Yet if they see us that way, then why do they constantly make their OS, and application software, harder to use? Or at least ever more arcane. I know that a fair bit of that OS level increasing difficulty is them trying to force us to only use Microsoft software... and that is a serious problem for anyone who likes to choose their applications from a wider base.

@savagej4y241

28 күн бұрын

I mostly agree, except that IMO debloated Win10 is easier to use than Win7 and previous. I tried going back to Win7 and it was immediately apparent that a lot of QOL things were missing. At the same time, I will never "upgrade" to Win11. Like ME, Vista, and Win8, Win11 is clearly a step downward in usability from its direct predecessor. Enterprise IOT version of Win10 has support thru 2032, so that's my pick.

@laurencefraser

27 күн бұрын

looking at Star Trek and then claiming we're 'behind' is a bit of an odd take. It's set centuries into the future, after all. My recollection of it's timeline (well, in so far as there's a single coherent one (there's not)) is that if we were using That as a metric we'd be about due for a third world war involving widespread use of atomic weaponry.

Thanks to keeping us up to date with the Raspberry Pi world. I also enjoy the review of Linus distro. For me, that's why I've been following you for quite a while now (few years!) because you're the best in that field with clear, educative and concise content. Thank you very much

You've been so kind with your time so far. Showing me new boards, explaining their function, focusing on the items I'd care about(video hardware support), or making fun little projects. I'd love to see some complete weather station builds, but it feels rather niche to what I want. Thank you so much for your hard work, you make it look simple and fun, which excites me into trying these items myself. Oh, and as someone still running an i7-3770S, I'm a lot more interested in what older hardware can still do, than what new hardware does, especially if it's very efficient(low power), or low heat.

The content is enjoyable and very informative. You are doing a fine job.

Cheers from Brazil! 🇧🇷 Thank you Chris

I love your channel! I look forward to your weekly and members only content. I'd like to see more raspberry pi 5 projects.

I have a Pi5 so it was nice to see that content, but I am excited by the new open RISC-V hardware and found your pieces on that very interesting.

Hi Chris, I love your videos. I'm L1 tech support and I learn so much from you. Your so calming and genuine. Thanks for the channel:)

@ExplainingComputers

29 күн бұрын

Thanks for watching. :)

I have started calling A.I. assisted information. Specially at my work, network support engineer, where it is so hit or miss with its ability to help (so many wrong answers, so often still) I see very little need for it and so much damage it can do. Then again I constantly tell customers just because it can, ie routers switches, firewalls, doesn't mean you should use it, and especially all of it LOL I slowly have personally swapped to less, using mini pcs, simpler tools, appliances, and far less cloud for my own with far better success. The future? Why do we need what is being offered? When the PC came out wow... and even smart phones, but I have no excitement, and maybe even no need, for what they keep telling us they are developing (pushing).

Being fairly new to Linux, I always enjoy your comparisons of Linux distros Chris. You dive deep into each distros pros and cons without the fluff and its most appreciated.

Always look forward to and learn new things from the videos, Christopher. Thank you.

I think for future videos on A.I. -- it will be important to focus on generative A.I. on a local level. The interplay of what it can do for us vs. the power efficiency outcomes. I don't want to know what's happening on a big data corporate macro level. I want to see how it will impact me and why I'd want to use it on a micro level!

@Lightbeerer

Ай бұрын

100% agreed.

@Hagar921

Ай бұрын

Excellent comment. All I want to hear about as far as "Big AI" is concerned is how to stay as far from it as possible.

Greetings from Thailand, Sir Chris!

Love your videos! I’m going to have a go at ARM with some distros because of you. Awesome stuff

Very thankful for this update, I'll have to look into buying your books - seeing how accurate, despite being broad, your five ages of computing seems to be so far! Either way, another masterfully made video :D

Because of the Thumbnail I read "Tree Big Computing Trends" 😆

It looks like nice weather for ducks 🐈🦆

The direction the channel is going is exciting. Keep up the wonderful work. Greetings from the U.S.

Thanks for sharing.

another out in the wild video, someone let you out again 🤣

Nice change of scenery in this video compared with the usual studio backdrop. You should do more outside videos. Wish our Summers were mild like UK. I can’t even step outside without breaking into sweat in US.

As far as AI maybe you could do home private AI videos like Ollama? Or maybe what can an average person use AI for? Also maybe Google Docs alternatives? Love your videos. Been watching for years. Keep up the awesome work!!!

I totally agree on the lack of need to upgrade. I couldn't imagine myself using a 15 year old computer back in 2009, but right now my parents still use their 2009 iMac daily. I'm amazed at how fast it still is for office work and it handles web browsing really well. I doubt I could've lived with a 1994 comuter in 2009!

@laurencefraser

27 күн бұрын

Well, there's energy efficiency, noise reduction, and a few other reasons to upgrade, but straight up "More Power!"... not really. Well, aside from dealing with the ever more poorly made websites and other such resource hogs.

So, let me say my opinion. Disclaimer: I don't think the actual AI hype is about a real AI thing, we are far from that, but actually is a kind of rise of something what could leading to AI.-- I think is an interesting question how it should this be. Integrated in OS as a system level service or something in userspace just for certain task or software. Like Speech to Text does for example (this is a Linux based software which uses AI techniques for speech recognition). As now also we have the Google Coral project, some Coral modules are available to buy,. These are AI modules by Google, by me these are the co-processors of this modern days. There are a few software supporting this, for example the Frigate (surveillance camera software for Linux with recognition capabilities -it starts the recording if the camera sees something (man, car, dog, cell phone, laptop, or else) configured, and stops recording when the thing is out of the picture. I wish the video editing programs will also use it for compression...

Great to join you in an another update video, always like these kinds of vids where you take time to talk about the meta stuff and about the channel. Regarding what else we'd be interested in your opinions / insight on stuff you haven't covered yet like drawing tablets, photography / videography, android gaming, etc. Or more in-depth vids on stuff you already made an explianer video on like blender, html, image formats, etc.

i was a long time since he stood outside

@nrellis666

Ай бұрын

I went outside once, it seemed ok but the wifi dropped out quite rapidly

@bgg-jp5ei

Ай бұрын

If Chris was out standing in his field would he get a Nobel prize?

@clangerbasher

Ай бұрын

It's green screen. Literally.

@betag24cn

Ай бұрын

on video, i hope

@sqlexp

Ай бұрын

Yes, from how wide he opens his eyes, you can tell that outdoor isn't his element. He surely has a secret way to get vitamin D, though.

Regarding AI that is indeed a very important trend that will replace a part of programming, my advice is to explain how to do something with **AI frameworks running locally on a machine** (ie. simple Python programming + local LLMs using LLM management frameworks). For instance: chatting locally with PDF files, integrating user data into LLMs using RAGs, etc..

My takeaway is that this channel is educational and informative. I always come away with learning something no matter what the subject is. Technology is advancing quickly and having a place where I can understand all that is going on is right here. So, Chris just keep doing what you are doing and I'll be here enjoying the content.

Congratulations on your 1 Meg subs! Would love to see a Rasp 5 running LinuxCNC

When personal computers came out we lived in a physical world. They brought out apps or programmes to use the physical world, we had telephone dialling apps with answering machine, we had greeting card printing, letter printing, business card printing, contacts printing , diaries, cd burning etc. Now we live in a virtual world where everything does not exist, emails, texting, e cards, entertainment streaming, reading the news etc. What will AI do for us? If robots, autonomous cars, and automation frees man from working or servitude what will he do? As idle hands are the devils mischief. What trends will there be to keep mankind busy in a rewarding way with all this computerised world.

@michaelwright2986

29 күн бұрын

That's very interesting. I don't want to get too political, but I do fear that if cognitive computing does become able to do most jobs, a lot of ordinary people are going to be left scavenging and begging. The notion of the burden of increased leisure, which was very big in the 1960s and '70s, looks more and more like an opium dream from the past.

@deanstyles2567

29 күн бұрын

​@@michaelwright2986 I'm less concerned about the "AI taking everybody's job" angle than others. Even if an AI can complete a task, how do you hold an AI tool accountable? There'll still need to be humans to sign off on many things. Maybe an AI can design a bridge but we'll still need a human engineer to review and sign it off, and humans to build it.

@michaelwright2986

29 күн бұрын

@@deanstyles2567 Well, I hope you're right. But it all depends on who controls the means of production (if you'll pardon the old-fashioned language). Who says whether or not we'll need a human engineer? You and I might say it, but we don't run things. And if the solution is computer designed, it might become too complex for a human to understand. I think if we look at the sad story of what has happened to Boeing it is easy to see how things could go. Would present Boeing management go for computer designed, robot constructed, computer tested production? At least the robots might be more consistently accurate than we fallible human beings can manage, and the flaws deeply embedded, and so hidden. I really don't know how I feel about that.

@tonysheerness2427

29 күн бұрын

@@michaelwright2986 Yes I can remember my IT company saying in the 80's saying that we will have more leisure time and retire much earlier. How did that pan out?

@laurencefraser

27 күн бұрын

@@tonysheerness2427 The same claim was made regarding automation in factories. The idea was that each worker could work less hours, get paid the same, and output more product, so the bosses would make more money because they sold more stuff and the workers would have more time with their families and the like. This is how it was sold to the public. Actual result? half the workers get fired (and thus have either no income or live off state pensions or find other, less well paying work, and thus have less disposable income, and thus buy less stuff! ... well, a reasonable minority probably moved on to better things, but generally not), the other half are working longer hours than before (when government regulations do not prevent this), for the same pay (sometimes inflation adjusted, sometimes Not and thus effectively Worse pay) to make roughly the predicted amount more stuff, and the bosses make Way more money... which they then proceed to largely... not spend. Or spend on things that have little or no impact on the over all economy. Certainly not enough to feed back into the whole system and increase Everyone's effective wealth the way paying the workers more or having them work less hours would have. Well, I say 'half'. Acutal numbers varied of course.

It doesn't matter what topics you make videos, I watch; I "like"

I love your SBC videos Chris, especially when you compare different boards. As a Raspberry Pi fan, I would love always welcome more RPi5 videos as well as other SBCs and RISC-V also.

I would really enjoy episodes that explore non-raspberry pi hardware actually being used in projects. For example, a lot of people cover benchmarks, but it's very rare seeing them used in a concrete implementation of something. A mango pi pro being used in a line following bot; a radxa zero 3 being used to make an automated gumball dispenser; etc.

I'm 82. Maintaining my old hardware is my best choice. That is the practical choice for an aging populace. The reasoning is obvious. Please address that, Chris. Thanks.

In terms of ISA, how about an interview with a C compiler developer? The people involved with gcc and its ilk will have a lot to say about instruction sets. I think it's one of the problems with early adoption of quad-fetch and branch prediction; you need a lot of software support for that (have you tried writing assembly code for quad-fetch? --- it more like integrated circuits are impossible to design by hand any more.)

I was already subscribed to this channel but I remember watching any of your videos😂

Thanks Chris, As others, I'm always looking forward to learning what's important to you and what's on your mind. I'm, particularly, grateful you reminded us of your website. Indeed, I found what I was looking for, in multiple places, easily. As for me, you're an authority on computing. Being so I not only trust the information you share; I also find that, with some stretching, implementation is possible. Thanks again Chris for creating this wonder filled space. You're Top Shelf! 💯

Always thought of this channel as being about computer science. Like the black shirt mate. 😉

Congratulations mate. Regards from South Australia

@Hk7762Tube

Ай бұрын

Is the South part really that important to you? Hello from North Korea.

@thebusinessfirm9862

21 күн бұрын

@@Hk7762Tube Is the North part really important to you?

before this channel, i found one called bits and bytes. It had a series of old videos about computers. They are informative , fun and carry a lot of enthusiasm while keeping things simple. I just wish for more content explaining what one can do with their hardware rather than telling people how lacking their hardware is and how they need upgrades. I shared some of your videos on storage and motherboards with my brother who is in the Law field. He found them helpful and amazing. Your videos have value to them. Since computing has become so ingrained in everyday life, everyone needs to know some basics. Even accountants in India have to learn about topics in IT. Your videos could prove helpful to that kind of audience. Keep up the good work. I would love to see more content on some good software, especially ones on the Linux platform. I am enjoying Libre Office currently. I would also love to see videos on the intricacies of operating systems.

You provide useful information that is presented in an entertaining fashion. Thanks for that.

Big developments Chris has created his new Arm!

@musicalneptunian

29 күн бұрын

Bionic Chris! 🦾

AI was my teacher and mentor. I spent all my childhood in front of my computer. Okay, Space Quest I-IV isn't AI, but I spent more time with Roger Wilco than my family. AI doesn't play to a large audience because it is scary. Maybe if you geared it toward the conspiracy crowd - they like being scared.