7 ms·

I’m not very familiar with the hardware here but could someone elaborate on why this seems to be such a big deal that there are four versions of the announcemen

by viksit 7y ago

I’m not very familiar with the hardware here but could someone elaborate on why this seems to be such a big deal that there are four versions of the announcement trending on the first page?

pmarin 7y ago
They remove all the bottleneck from the previous generations making it more interesting for networking and desktop use.
- gocartStatue 7y ago
  All? What about that nasty SD card?
  - benj111 7y ago
    You don't have to boot from the sd card, so I think that's a legitimate statement. I've got an sd card reader on my laptop, it isn't a bottleneck though.
  - MikusR 7y ago
    You can boot from USB/Lan
    - gocartStatue 7y ago
      true, with USB3 and separate "pipe" for Ethernet this makes much sense.
cstuder 7y ago
It's a combination of an exciting and hugely popular device gettting a huge upgrade (RAM and networking speed has previously been really limited) and the completely suprise of the announcement: The version 4 was supposed to arrive in 2020, but apparently hardware development went quicker than expected. (How often does this happen?)
ageitgey 7y ago
You can buy a pretty powerful full computer (networking, video, RAM, etc) that fits on a tiny card for $35. That makes it possible to build all sorts of fun things on next to zero budget - everything from robots to video game emulation systems and tv streaming boxes. The previous 3 versions were already wildly popular, but there were starting to show their age and to be significantly outperformed by Nvidia's Jetson Nano. But the Jetson Nano is significantly more expensive (starting at $99). This fixes several of the performance issues people had and keeps the price at the original $35.
- kharak 7y ago
  I always feel like I'm missing something. I don't have a single idea where something like this could be useful. Maybe because I don't care about "fun" projects and live a quit minimalistic live style? I must don't have (small) problems with no solutions. Then again, I've also never had an idea for an interesting software side project.
  - dougmwne 7y ago
    Another way to think about this is that it's the antidote to seamless portless iGlass slabs for $1000. You've got compute, a pile of mainstream ports and wireless interfaces, GPIO pins and an established ecosystem, all for basically no money. It's an open enough platform that kids, adults, startups, schools, and companies have found endless uses for them, ranging from toy projects for learning purposes to production use in for-profit settings. It's a radically different vision of computing vs. the iStore, and one that deeply appeals to all the hackers and makers out there. It's not a product as much as it's a raw material.
    - kharak 7y ago
      My comment wasn't meant to criticise, just open self reflection. Even reading about some of those projects, I still don't get it and wonder why. What makes some people see this tool and get all excited about the possibilities, while others like me can only shrug their shoulders? As said before, I think I'm missing something, something great I like to have but just don't.
colechristensen 7y ago
Cost & usability. Raspberry pi significantly lowered the barriers to entry for cost and complexity to own a useful Linux computer. The performance for price is really impressive to the point where it seems like the rpi 4 could be a decent daily driver for most people.

by viksit 7y ago

I’m not very familiar with the hardware here but could someone elaborate on why this seems to be such a big deal that there are four versions of the announcement trending on the first page?

pmarin 7y ago

They remove all the bottleneck from the previous generations making it more interesting for networking and desktop use.

gocartStatue 7y ago
All? What about that nasty SD card?
- benj111 7y ago
  You don't have to boot from the sd card, so I think that's a legitimate statement. I've got an sd card reader on my laptop, it isn't a bottleneck though.
- MikusR 7y ago
  You can boot from USB/Lan
  - gocartStatue 7y ago
    true, with USB3 and separate "pipe" for Ethernet this makes much sense.

cstuder 7y ago

It's a combination of an exciting and hugely popular device gettting a huge upgrade (RAM and networking speed has previously been really limited) and the completely suprise of the announcement: The version 4 was supposed to arrive in 2020, but apparently hardware development went quicker than expected. (How often does this happen?)

ageitgey 7y ago

You can buy a pretty powerful full computer (networking, video, RAM, etc) that fits on a tiny card for $35. That makes it possible to build all sorts of fun things on next to zero budget - everything from robots to video game emulation systems and tv streaming boxes. The previous 3 versions were already wildly popular, but there were starting to show their age and to be significantly outperformed by Nvidia's Jetson Nano. But the Jetson Nano is significantly more expensive (starting at $99). This fixes several of the performance issues people had and keeps the price at the original $35.

kharak 7y ago
I always feel like I'm missing something. I don't have a single idea where something like this could be useful. Maybe because I don't care about "fun" projects and live a quit minimalistic live style? I must don't have (small) problems with no solutions. Then again, I've also never had an idea for an interesting software side project.
- dougmwne 7y ago
  Another way to think about this is that it's the antidote to seamless portless iGlass slabs for $1000. You've got compute, a pile of mainstream ports and wireless interfaces, GPIO pins and an established ecosystem, all for basically no money. It's an open enough platform that kids, adults, startups, schools, and companies have found endless uses for them, ranging from toy projects for learning purposes to production use in for-profit settings. It's a radically different vision of computing vs. the iStore, and one that deeply appeals to all the hackers and makers out there. It's not a product as much as it's a raw material.
  - kharak 7y ago
    My comment wasn't meant to criticise, just open self reflection. Even reading about some of those projects, I still don't get it and wonder why. What makes some people see this tool and get all excited about the possibilities, while others like me can only shrug their shoulders? As said before, I think I'm missing something, something great I like to have but just don't.

colechristensen 7y ago

Cost & usability. Raspberry pi significantly lowered the barriers to entry for cost and complexity to own a useful Linux computer. The performance for price is really impressive to the point where it seems like the rpi 4 could be a decent daily driver for most people.