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I would buy cheaper RPi clones the same way I do with Arduino clones from China.
by Jnr 7y ago
I would buy cheaper RPi clones the same way I do with Arduino clones from China.
- lostmyoldone 7y agoIt's very unlikely releasing schematics would change anything. RPi as a board is clearly simple enough that there would be clones if you could get components at competitive prices. The only conclusion is than that you either can't get the CPU, or you can't get it at a competitive price. RPi use Broadcom chips, which you rarely find these on other hobbyist boards. The most likely cause, after what I heard from people in the industry, is that you usually either can't can't get Broadcom chips at all, at acceptable prices, or even documentation for them when you are only interested in the small quantities you'd need for introducing a new/clone hobbyist board. Not unless you've got some serious connections.
- heavenlyblue 7y agoGiven the fact that a single Arduino costs about half the price of an RPi... The only reason I would consider buying an Arduino (or similar) is for super-low-power applications.
- hannasanarion 7y agoYeah, that's what it's meant for. RasPi is a computer, Arduino is a microcontroller. Different tools for different jobs.
- heavenlyblue 7y agoYeah, but my point is that Arduino has a much higher premium than a Raspberry pi. Otherwise RPi would have been copied a long time ago at a lower price.