Is the Raspberry Pi real at that price?

price, not the retail price?

It's a little loose, but hey, this project is in a state of flux. The price is still what I'd call good. (but no, it is not $35)

I see this info now on their website :

["They=92ll be manufacturing and distributing the devices on our behalf, an= d handling the distribution of our first batches as they arrive in the coun= try. We continue to make a small profit from each Raspberry Pi sold, which = we=92ll be putting straight back into the charity."]

I wonder what that means, to their earlier claims/plans to publish the CAD= files for Schematic & PCB ?

Reply to
j.m.granville
Loading thread data ...

he GPU?

.

thin on any display interface options.

Why not? That's your argument for why the rPi won't be a good teaching tool?

I think you grossly overstate the significance of this aspect of the board.

Rick

Reply to
rickman

probably even an errata sheet to two... ?

hello Rick,

I took a quick look at the "documentation" from Broadcom and it was a joke. 120 pages for a device of that complexity ! It's not just the GPU that is not described there was nothing about Ethernet. Things may change but I doubt it - Broadcom have a weird attitude to small customers.

This thing is a very poor choice for a learning platform in the sense it has been touted (ie as a modern take on the ZX Spectrum etc.). All the talk I hear about it is as a Linux platform or a media centre etc.

I can't see Farnell and RS saving its bacon either - if (as it seems) the RP people can't manage production then they needed a manufacturing partner but Farnell and RS are distributors with no mass production experience.

Any one remember the Nascom 2 computer .........

Michael Kellett

Reply to
MK

I've got to say that ISTM any bright kid is going to head straight for the GPU as his/her first destination.

Boo

Reply to
Boo

As I understand it, they are getting a good deal on Broadcom chips because one of the main masterminds behind the Pi works high up in Broadcom. It's not that they are getting the chips sub-cost - apparently Broadcom is happy to supply them indefinitely at the price they pay. It's just that normally Broadcom wouldn't even bother replying to an inquiry about only 10K pieces.

I believe Broadcom see the whole thing as a bit of advertisement - and I hope this means that they will use it towards making parts available in smaller quantities to smaller developers.

There is a big difference - /you/ may not bother with re-compiling Linux, but other people do. Being open means that there is already a wide range of software, and multiple Linux distributions, available for the Pi. It means that some student somewhere can hack xmbc so that you get an advanced media player on your Pi for free - rather than having to wait for some commercial company to develop one and sell you it at a high price. You are right that most people use their software pre-compiled, and don't immediately benefit from having access to the source code. But they /do/ benefit greatly from others having access to the source code.

Reply to
David Brown

Farnell and RS are not manufacturing partners - they are a way to handle sales and distribution. As Raspberry began to realise the level of demand for these boards, they realised they could not distribute them themselves - at least not at this stage. So they got Farnell and RS to help them. And the demand was so high it brought Farnell and RS's websites to a standstill.

They don't need someone like Farnell and RS to help with manufacturing. I don't know who is doing it at the moment - some company in the far east, as they failed to find a more local company that could manage the numbers within a short time.

Reply to
David Brown

If you don't know how to program, the documentation for a modern GPU isn't going to do you any good anyway, and it's quite enough to learn how to get stuff on screen using SDL or something similar. There's some way from that to writing a shader compiler.

If a kid starts taking an interest in banging on hardware there's no shortage of dirt-cheap microcontroller boards to get them going in that direction.

-a

Reply to
Anders.Montonen

From : "For those of you just joining us, we have entered into licensed manufacture partnerships with two British companies, Premier Farnell and RS Components. They???ll be manufacturing and distributing the devices on our behalf, and handling the distribution of our first batches as they arrive in the country."

-a

Reply to
Anders.Montonen

Depends. If you talk to people like me, you hear about Linux platforms or media centers. If you talk to people like this

I don't know what you'll hear.

Mel.

Reply to
Mel Wilson

Which is true but does somewhat ignore the fact that the entire premise of the RP is to support such interest.

Boo2

Reply to
Boo

Via expansion boards, not of the RP itself.

-a

Reply to
Anders.Montonen

Don> Thanks Jim, so the $35 price it is openly advertised at, is the Don> wholesale price, not the retail price? Who else advertises like Don> that to the public?

How about actually bothering to read the RPi website and finding out what it's about? It's not Yet Another Garage Businessman effort.

--
Chris
Reply to
Chris Baird

I reject the argument that you will not be able to provide any functionality because parts of the SOC hardware are not open. They provide drivers for them, they just don't release the source for the drivers. I don't get source for Windows either and yet I can write all the code I want for my app.

This has been bashed about in the rPi and other forums quite a bit and no one has been able to show significant limitations that using a closed source GPU driver provides.

I doubt I will bother with the rPi. I'm more of a hardware guy and the rPi doesn't provide much opportunity for that compared to the BeagleBone. They don't recommend that the BB be used for "commercial" designs, but it is much better suited than the rPi, mostly for mechanical reasons. How the deuce do you mount the rPi in a box? No mounting holes, all edges have components overhanging... I guess you could use hot glue!

Rick

Reply to
rickman

3-D printer fans -- this is their bread and butter. At least one is going to wind up clamping the board between two halves of a clamshell case, with a post or two to keep it from sliding around.

As a single system, BeagleBone is a more convenient package. I see the rPi price point enabling scaling like nothing else. A couple of kids with part- time jobs or (more likely) doting grandparents could put together a 20-host Bluetooth mesh with money they already have.

Mel.

Reply to
Mel Wilson

The first batch of 10,000 units sold out in about 10 minutes according to (sort of) reputable gossip. One of our people set up two PCs and started pounding the refresh keys at the advertised time of 6a.m. He still failed to get his order in.

I just got an email from one of the suppliers to place my pre-order for a board from the second batch. Both suppliers are very reputable and have both been in business for a very long time. Yes, I did place my order for a Model B at a bit under £25, say less than USD 40.

I detect a note of "Not Invented Here" in some of the comments. IMHO Raspberry Pi is a cause for celebration, not for whining.

Stephen

--
Stephen Pelc, stephenXXX@mpeforth.com
MicroProcessor Engineering Ltd - More Real, Less Time
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Stephen Pelc

This is Usenet -- where _everything_ is a cause for whining. :)

--
Grant
Reply to
Grant Edwards

All I found there was a message that the site was down, and to follow them on Twitter. No thanks. I have an Arduino Mega 2560 and the TI Launchpad to keep me busy for now. Both were under $35. The Launchpad was $8 and change, delivered.

--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Your 'people' sound like Apple sheep. Or the idiots who stood outside computer stores for two days, waiting for the release of Win

  1. If it's worthwhile, you'll get them after the madness. BTW, there is already an Ebay listing for a project box to house the pi.
--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense.
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

I did that Chris, and this is what it says about price:

How much will it cost? The Model A will cost $25 and the Model B $35, plus local taxes.

==========================================

The text that you quoted of mine above, was brought about by another poster in a previous message, that suggested this was the wholesale price, and the dealers would put their margin on top.

I suggested back to the poster that no one advertises at a wholesale price to the public. I also suggest you read the message and quote me correctly including the text of the original poster, and please don't make up a version to suit yourself.

I am not whining about the device, it looks good, but I am allowed to ask questions, or are questions banned these days.

Here is the feed back from potential Element14 customers:

formatting link

and from Raspberry Pi:

formatting link

You will see that the comments on each group are almost the opposite.

Cheers Don...

========================

--
Don McKenzie

Dontronics: http://www.dontronics-shop.com/
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Don McKenzie

Whatever. Goodbye.

Boo2

Reply to
Boo

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.