Raspberry Pi update from RS Components!

Welcome to the latest Raspberry Pi update from RS Components!

Much has been happening behind the scenes since you received our last update, not least the start of compliance testing on the Raspberry Pi.

Why are we doing this? Compliance testing is an essential part of bringing any electronic product to market. The Raspberry Pi is being tested to make sure it conforms to all the regulations that apply to electronic devices around the world. This means that we can be sure the Raspberry Pi we deliver to you meets the correct standards and is as safe as you would expect any electronic device you purchase to be.

We?re working with the Raspberry Pi Foundation to manage the testing process as quickly as possible, while ensuring all tests are carried out to guarantee safety. More information is being posted on the Raspberry Pi website , as well as on our own FAQ pages rswww.com or DesignSpark. We?re also regularly tweeting updates on progress. Follow @RSElectronics on twitter to catch the latest news.

Alongside this, we?ve also been contacting the first group of people who registered for a Raspberry Pi from RS, to help us plan delivery of the initial batch of boards. In next week?s update, we?ll provide more information on how we?re managing the queue and the order process.

RS Components

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Don McKenzie

Dontronics: http://www.dontronics-shop.com/
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Don McKenzie
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Just curious: Does this mean the first round was shipped without being EMC tested?

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

This obviously means the first batch has not been produced at all. At least I'd expect people to report experiences with the RP if they shipped a batch.

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Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
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Reply to
Nico Coesel

So it was being sold without inventory on the shelves? Hmm ...

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

I think the first batch was produced, because I don't think they faked their blog update about the wrong ethernet connector. But I wonder if they have to dump the first batch, if the test fails. Maybe they can sell it with a sticker "for use in EMC shielded cages, only" :-)

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Frank Buss, http://www.frank-buss.de
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Reply to
Frank Buss

They'll probably turn up on Ebay :)

Reply to
TTman

From :

"I'm going to have to put a statement out about this later: in short, once a certain number of orders were in, RS decided they didn't want to sell the boards as dev boards (which was what we'd planned for the first, uncased units

- dev boards don't require CE marking - see Arduino, Beagleboard etc.) because the sales volumes were so big they were worried someone with a similar or competing product might try to cause some legal trouble over the definition of development board. We're still trying to work out if we can get some out earlier without CE marks to developers. We're rushing through compliance as fast as is humanly possible at the moment."

-a

Reply to
Anders.Montonen

More reading:

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Cheers Don...

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Don McKenzie

Dontronics: http://www.dontronics-shop.com/
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Reply to
Don McKenzie

And this is the discussion in the forum:

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Looks like the customers are not amused. The foundation should have tested it before. Is it allowed to sell it as a dev board? I don't think the comments in the article are right, that it is not allowed to sell it as a dev board, if they sell too many of it. There must be other reasons, maybe the intended use of it.

This will cause a major delay, if they have to do all the things like EMC, WEEE, CE etc. and then for all countries where they plan to ship it. Maybe we'll get the first devices sometime in summer.

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Frank Buss, http://www.frank-buss.de
electronics and more: http://www.youtube.com/user/frankbuss
Reply to
Frank Buss

I got my order in on day one and Farnell are quoting delivery in "early May". This is presumably one from the first batch.

I too am very surprised that they haven't sorted out regulatory testing. Even if the first batch of boards really is intended only for "developers", it would be unfortunate if interface specifications such as placement of ground pins needed to change to sort out radiated emissions or ESD problems.

Lets hope it works out OK.

John

Reply to
John Walliker

I thought development boards are exempt anyway? I find it hard to believe that all the hundreds of well regarded dev boards from Olimex et al have been formally EMC tested. How could they be, most have headers for direct access to the microcontroller pins.

The Pi will very likely fail any such test IMO.

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John Devereux
Reply to
John Devereux

Gee, gee, gee... Is Dontronics is spreading FUD about the Raspberry Pi again?

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C,,

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt]
Reply to
Chris Baird

It does seem strange that there could be some magical, but unknown, number above which it suddenly changed from a development board.!!!

More likely, is work on a case is driving this.

Once a case is offered/included, it gets harder to claim 'it is a development board'.

Reply to
j.m.granville

Well, those lawyers' world _is_ strange, from a technical point-of-view.

That said, there most likely is no particular, magical number. There's a gray zone between two ends of a spectrum of legal positions. One end of that spectrum consists of objects meant to be used by engineers who are supposed to know what they're doing. The other end of the spectrum is made up of bona-fide commodity items like, say, cellphones.

As long as you're clearly on either end of that spectrum, you know without significant doubt which kinds of rules you're going to have to live by --- basically none for experimental, pro-only hardware, or the whole CE certification shebang for commodity items. There are some intermediate points with well-defined rules, too, e.g. stuff only licensed radio amateurs are allowed to use, or all higher classes of laser equipment.

But all that knowledge doesn't help you if you find yourself in that gray zone, away from all fixed points. The type of distribution channel the Pi is aiming at, particularly that whole "one Pi per child in school" idea, makes it hard to defend the position that this is not a commodity item. It's hard to claim development board status if you require no proof of qualification whatsoever from people you sell that thing to.

The sheer number of sales has some bearings on that distinction, too. If you're selling it by the million, it's not a development board.

Reply to
Hans-Bernhard Bröker

Not really. To be fair, Don reposted the same email from RS that I and many others got, and without additional comment. The Raspberry Pi org is generating FUD all by itself! Fitting wrong components, now suddenly realising they need to do compliance testing... as one of the posters on their forums said "it's a shambles".

Of course, we forgive their amateur mistakes, because they are a well meaning charity. However, it does not bode well for their real and more challenging task, of providing support and training to teachers and students.

R.Pi themselves do not place great importance on producing their own hardware, it's a means to and end (they are quite happy for it to be cloned). I guess they thought it would be an easy place to start.

Given their limited resources, it would have made a lot more sense to create a spec for a platform then invite manufacturers to build devices to the spec.

Reply to
Bob

Then why would a guy whose business sells 'competitors' need to crosspost it everywhere?

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C,,
Reply to
Chris Baird

Chris, if you look at the message I wrote, you will find I only quoted an email sent to me from RS, and did not comment at all. The subject line explains this, that is if you take the time to read it.

In fact I made sure I didn't comment, so people like you couldn't twist what I said, but you managed, didn't you.

You again have again concocted the message to suit your own agenda.

What is your agenda, and what is your beef?

If you don't like my messages, why do you join in the threads?

This was simply a copy of an email that RS sent to me because I expressed an interest in the Raspberry Pi.

What crime have I committed?

Cheers Don...

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Don McKenzie

Dontronics: http://www.dontronics-shop.com/
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Reply to
Don McKenzie

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Yes, dev boards are exempt, the issue is whether rPi foundation can support the claim that this *is* a dev board given the number of boards sold and the type of users who are buying them. From the quote above it sounds like someone's lawyers got into the loop and added the FUD. So of course the bean counters then said, "Let's get the testing done" since it can be pretty expensive if it turns out they get whacked with fines, etc.

It's the right decision.

Rick

Reply to
rickman

Who cares. The news speaks for itself and I don't really care if Don has an ax to grind or not.

I don't mean to be rude, but get over it. There are lots more fun and interesting things to discuss here than whether Don is spreading FUD.

Tell me something cool about the rPi. I'm not a fan, but I see some potential and I'd like to hear more about that.

Rick

Reply to
rickman

It is most definitely not a development board and they explicitly say so in the FAQ:

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Quote "What?s a Raspberry Pi? ... The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It?s a capable ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video".

Then, quote "We want to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming".

By kids all over the world, to learn programming. That makes it rather clear that is is marketed as a computer and not a dev kit.

It's not FUD, the lawyer was IMHO right.

Absolutamente. Someone has screwed up when they prematurely announced this device. They should not have started sales before having all ducks in the row and they clearly didn't have them in a row. At least they fessed up and are doing the right thing now.

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

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