Comment hardware vs software (Score 5, Insightful) 233
you are missing a critical point. break out the IO on the USB dongle. Make it turn lights on
and off. sure, you can slave it to other USB devices, but there is a nice IO header on the
PI for those who wish to play with it. it's comparing apples to oranges.
The PI was made with hardware tinkering in mind, the USB dongles - not so much.