Element14 recently released their Pi desktop case of the Raspberry Pi
But it's got a lot of people asking why would you want it and what could be useful
Stick around to find out. It's TechWizeTime
Hey guys, Johnathan here with TechWizTime
I pre-ordered the Element14 PI desktop case when it was first announced being Australia often means we get things that well after the US
The PI desktop was no different
Eventually it did arrive though and since then I've had a chance to play around with it and figure out exactly who this is for
And what you can do with it
So you're going to need a few things if you get this Pi desktop case
You are going to need to supply your own Raspberry Pi and the two-and-a-half amp power supply and in order to get the most out
Of your pI desktop, you will need an M sata drive
I've included a link in the description to arranger drives from 32 gigabytes all the way up to one terabyte
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With that said let's get into it
The Pi desktop is a case and an addon board for the Raspberry Pi, the case itself is glossy black plastic that feels strong and sturdy
Fingerprints are going to be the one downfall here
The lid of the case is where things get exciting though
Apart from the Element14 branding the case lid has an inbuilt power button that interacts with the add-on board or hat
Held in for two seconds the button sends a signal through to Raspbian to safely shut down the Raspberry Pi
Held in for a period of five seconds or more will force the raspberry Pi to shut down
This can cause corruption on the micro Sd card, so only use it in times of extreme desperation
During my tests I found that this work in Raspbian and Pixel but failed to safely shut down in other operating systems, so your results may vary
Construction is quick and simple, before you start though make sure you have either inserted the micro Sd card with your system of choice or
Set the Raspberry Pi 3 check bit to boot by USB, you can find out how to do that in the video description above
Or down below in the description setting the check bit only works with the raspberry Pi 3, this allows you to boot by USB
Which means that you won't need the Micro Sd card inserted into the Raspberry Pi
First you will want to attach the included Heatsink to the Raspberry Pi itself
This will help dissipate the heat from the CPU
Once that's done we can install the Pi inside the case
Using the long standoffs screw the raspberry Pi to the bottom of the PI desktop
If you intend on using the Pi Camera now is the time to install that on the board and mount it to the inside of the Pi desktop case
Next up is the add-on board, flipping it over we need to install the included CR2032 battery
This is the power source for the RTC or the real-time clock
Which keeps the time and date even when it's turned off
Now is the time to attach the add-on board to the Raspberry Pi by the GPIO pins
Line up the pins and press firmly that wasn't so hard, was it?
With the add-on board now inside the case we can insert the insider drive into the key slot
If you're using a mini heart size MSATA SSD
You will need to move the standoffs using the supplied screws attach the inserted to the add-on board
Screw the four short standoff to the Raspberry Pi
The lid needs some attention so you get the orientation right
So make sure you line up the leads power button to the camera side of the raspberry Pi case and
Then you're right to clip it in
Lastly around the back of the case we need to plug in the USB adapter for the pass-through required for MSATA
Now the case is ready to be powered on and connected to a display
Who wants the Pi desktop case, then?
I see this case being the perfect addition to someone wanting to use the Raspberry Pi as a desktop system
Another use case would be a retro gaming system with locally stored ROMs
Otherwise the Media Center Like Plex or Kodi would be perfect for this case
Especially when storing Metadata for lots of different media files
If you're looking to buy one yourself, Element14 is the supplier of the Pi desktop case
Consider using the link in the description below to grab yours
Are you thinking about purchasing the PI desktop?
But you have some questions, then leave me a comment down below
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