A Linux board
Almost certainly the one already in your drawer. A Pi 4 is fine, and it does not have to be a Pi at all.
The kit brings the cooler and a case, but no power supply and no SD card. Read the box before you buy it.
what to look for ↓the shopping list
Best case, you buy nothing.
Perch was built to give a board you already own a second life, so check the drawer before you check out. Three things make it work and two of those are probably on a shelf behind you. If you are starting from nothing, the whole build runs about $160 CAD, and the parts below are the ones the original is running on right now.
check the drawer first
An old Pi 3 or 4 gathering dust is a Perch. So is a spare monitor, an HDMI panel from an abandoned project, or the screen off a retired tablet rig. The grid is proportional and the console previews whatever size the panel reports, so it does not have to be 800×480. The mic and the speaker are only for the talk button, and everything else works without either.
it does not have to be a Pi
Any Linux board that drives a screen runs this: an Orange Pi, a Radxa, a Le Potato, a thin client, an old laptop with a broken keyboard. The installer automates Raspberry Pi OS; every other board is the same app plus one manual kiosk step, written down in docs/OTHER_BOARDS.md.
Some links below are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. They cost you nothing extra, and the few percent that comes back pays for the parts, the hosting and the time that keeps Perch maintained. The list itself never changes for money: it is exactly what the original runs on, and skipping any of it is fine.
what it needs
A board and something to show it on. Both can come out of a drawer.
7-inch DSI touchscreen
The one part worth buying new. Any spare monitor works too, and the grid resizes to whatever it finds.
The same listing sells a cheaper TN panel. Take the IPS one: you look at a desk display from the side, and TN washes out the moment you do.
what to look for ↓$56.95approx · 25 aug 2026
Buy on Amazon →amazon.ca · affiliate link
what it likes
Only the talk button needs these. Skip both and everything else still works.
USB speaker
optionalAny powered USB speaker. This is the one on the desk in the video, and it cost twenty dollars.
what to look for ↓$23.72approx · 25 aug 2026
Buy on Amazon →amazon.ca · affiliate link
illustration
USB mic
optionalAny USB mini mic. The one in a webcam you already own counts.
what to look for ↓$15–$25approx · 25 aug 2026
no link yet · any brand works
probably in your drawer
Listed for completeness. Buying these new is usually a waste.
Power supply
check the drawerWhatever powers the board you already have. A Pi 5 wants the 27 W one.
what to look for ↓$20–$30approx · 25 aug 2026
no link yet · any brand works
SD card
check the drawerYou have one. 16 GB and up, and any brand you already trust.
what to look for ↓$15–$30approx · 25 aug 2026
no link yet · any brand works
what it costs
$0, if the drawer comes through.
A board you already own and any screen you can plug into it is the entire requirement. Everything below is what it costs starting from nothing.
- Starting from nothing, cheaplyA Pi 4 and the 7-inch panel
- $160
- Starting from nothing, comfortablyThe Pi 5 8 GB kit and the same panel
- $385
- Plus the talk buttonA USB mic and a USB speaker, both skippable
- $40–50
- Plus a supply and a cardOnly if you do not already have them
- $35–60
Canadian dollars, checked 25 aug 2026. These are figures I last saw, not figures I track — Amazon's number on the day is the real one, and it will differ.
full spec
- A Linux board
- A 4 works; a 3 will be slow. 4 GB is plenty, 8 GB if you want the fully local model to breathe. Add a heatsink or the official cooler, because sustained local inference will find 84 °C without one. Not married to a Pi either: any Linux board that drives a screen runs Perch, and the docs carry the short manual path.
- 7-inch DSI touchscreen
- 800×480, MIPI DSI, capacitive touch. The common Freenove and Waveshare panels both work. DSI leaves the HDMI ports free and the ribbon keeps the desk tidy.
- USB speaker
- Only for the talk button; skip it and everything else still works. Perch finds audio devices by name, so cheap is genuinely fine — this one is a 2×3 W plastic thing with a built-in USB sound card.
- USB mic
- Only for the talk button; skip it and everything else still works. Any USB mini mic will do, and Perch finds it by name. A headset or a webcam mic is one less thing to buy.
- Power supply
- The official 27 W USB-C supply for a Pi 5, or the 15 W one for a Pi 4. An underpowered supply is the most common cause of a panel that flickers or a board that reboots under load, so this is the one place not to improvise.
- SD card
- You likely have this already. 16 GB and up. Perch and its dependencies are small; the card size stops mattering the moment the OS fits.
Prices are in Canadian dollars and were checked by hand on 25 aug 2026; they are not live, and the links go to Amazon.ca. Whatever Amazon shows you on the day is the real number.