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Although this may work in general, it hurts the very purpose of the Pi. I have an open source project I've been working on for some time, it's based around the

Although this may work in general, it hurts the very purpose of the Pi. I have an open source project I've been working on for some time, it's based around the Pi Zero W, however, here in the UK it's practically impossible to get more than one Zero W unless you order individually from each site and pay shipping individually for each. Even then, you'll be paying at least £12+shipping per unit. It's wasteful and needless to do all this individual shipping. Is not just a case of buying individually until I can get all the Pis I need, because once I release, if users have the same issues getting the hardware, the project is pointless. For now the project is sitting on a shelf until I find an alternative platform or Pi stops this 1 unit per customer "shortage".

richardwhiuk 8y ago
The purpose of the Pi is to get kids a computer they can play with. I struggle to see how your inability to buy lots of Pis disagrees with that.
- vageli 8y ago
  > The purpose of the Pi is to get kids a computer they can play with. Where did you get that idea? From the raspberry pi website: > Our mission is to put the power of computing and digital making into the hands of people all over the world.
  - kingosticks 8y ago
    Yes, that is their tagline. Take a look at their strategy document[0] if you want to understand why the parent's interpretation is more accurate. [0]: https://static.raspberrypi.org/files/about/RaspberryPiFoundationStrategy2018%E2%80%932020.pdf https://static.raspberrypi.org/files/about/RaspberryPiFounda...
semi-extrinsic 8y ago
Just curious: what is the use case where the Pi Zero W is better than, say, an ESP8266 as in the Wemos/Lolin D1 mini board? Those you can actually buy in bulk for $4. From my point of view, the fragility of having to deal with a microSD card makes a Pi-like solution a complete non-starter if you want to scale.
- ac29 8y ago
  The Pi Zero W can run a full Linux stack. The ESP8266 is essentially a fancy microcontroller. They aren't really comparable solutions, though they can certainly do some of the same tasks.
  - semi-extrinsic 8y ago
    I know the difference between the stacks, but what I'm asking specifically about the Zero is, when do you (need the additional benefits of a full Linux stack) && (the modest hardware of the Pi Zero W is enough) && (are shipping stuff at scale yet can live with the flakyness of microSD)?
    - seba_dos1 8y ago
      You don't need to ship stuff at scale in order to make sensible use of more than one board.

richardwhiuk 8y ago

The purpose of the Pi is to get kids a computer they can play with. I struggle to see how your inability to buy lots of Pis disagrees with that.

vageli 8y ago
> The purpose of the Pi is to get kids a computer they can play with. Where did you get that idea? From the raspberry pi website: > Our mission is to put the power of computing and digital making into the hands of people all over the world.
- kingosticks 8y ago
  Yes, that is their tagline. Take a look at their strategy document[0] if you want to understand why the parent's interpretation is more accurate. [0]: https://static.raspberrypi.org/files/about/RaspberryPiFoundationStrategy2018%E2%80%932020.pdf https://static.raspberrypi.org/files/about/RaspberryPiFounda...

semi-extrinsic 8y ago

Just curious: what is the use case where the Pi Zero W is better than, say, an ESP8266 as in the Wemos/Lolin D1 mini board? Those you can actually buy in bulk for $4. From my point of view, the fragility of having to deal with a microSD card makes a Pi-like solution a complete non-starter if you want to scale.

ac29 8y ago
The Pi Zero W can run a full Linux stack. The ESP8266 is essentially a fancy microcontroller. They aren't really comparable solutions, though they can certainly do some of the same tasks.
- semi-extrinsic 8y ago
  I know the difference between the stacks, but what I'm asking specifically about the Zero is, when do you (need the additional benefits of a full Linux stack) && (the modest hardware of the Pi Zero W is enough) && (are shipping stuff at scale yet can live with the flakyness of microSD)?
  - seba_dos1 8y ago
    You don't need to ship stuff at scale in order to make sensible use of more than one board.