4 ms·

Would you believe me if I told you we're just nice guys, who used to be kids who couldn't afford computers?

gravitronic 15y ago
Hi Eben. Sorry, I don't mean to detract from what you're doing. I think it's great. I'm very very excited for the Raspberry Pi, both personally and to see what it does globally. I'm mostly just curious why the chip isn't publicly available. That's all. I personally hope to be able to use this chip in other designs.
- ebenupton 15y ago
  Comparatively few Broadcom chips are available via channel partners. Unfortunately that's just the way our business model works.
  - sneak 15y ago
    Well, if the RP organization is getting them for their boards, why not resell them to hobbyists for cost or a very small margin to fund further research? "Your business" here refers to Broadcom, when the internet generally thinks you're Raspberry Pi. That's the rub.
tobiasu 15y ago
No.
- ebenupton 15y ago
  Commendable skepticism :) It's true though.
handelaar 15y ago
Maybe you have to be an old fart... I was here for this last time, but then I remembered that 'last time' was 1981. This still looks like the most important thing of any kind for three decades to those of us who came out of the cheap home computer wave of the early 80s. (Me, I'm even closer to the Raspberry Pi heritage since I got my CS O-Level in 1987 with an IRC-alike network chat app for BBC LANs.) So try not to cock it up, eh? :D
- joezydeco 15y ago
  I should throttle back my skepticism as well. I understand the intent of the project and I think it's a noble one. We've already lost an entire generation of potential programmers by not having something like this in the post Apple ][ / BBC Acorn / C64 era. Maybe I'm an old fart by thinking that we don't need a full desktop running at 1080p to make the kids happy, but what do I know anymore. It's an exciting and ambitious project that only the scale of current SoC systems can achieve. Unfortunately the environment also means licensing of cores and building of these highly complex chips by massive companies like TI and Broadcom. We're all afraid of obsolescence as things accelerate even more, of course, which is probably why we're so hard on Broadcom here.
  - obarthelemy 15y ago
    Actually I could never afford a C64 nor Apple II. ZX81 and Spectrum where the thing for me.

Hi Eben. Sorry, I don't mean to detract from what you're doing. I think it's great. I'm very very excited for the Raspberry Pi, both personally and to see what it does globally. I'm mostly just curious why the chip isn't publicly available. That's all. I personally hope to be able to use this chip in other designs.

ebenupton 15y ago
Comparatively few Broadcom chips are available via channel partners. Unfortunately that's just the way our business model works.
- sneak 15y ago
  Well, if the RP organization is getting them for their boards, why not resell them to hobbyists for cost or a very small margin to fund further research? "Your business" here refers to Broadcom, when the internet generally thinks you're Raspberry Pi. That's the rub.

tobiasu 15y ago

No.

ebenupton 15y ago
Commendable skepticism :) It's true though.

handelaar 15y ago

Maybe you have to be an old fart... I was here for this last time, but then I remembered that 'last time' was 1981. This still looks like the most important thing of any kind for three decades to those of us who came out of the cheap home computer wave of the early 80s. (Me, I'm even closer to the Raspberry Pi heritage since I got my CS O-Level in 1987 with an IRC-alike network chat app for BBC LANs.) So try not to cock it up, eh? :D

joezydeco 15y ago
I should throttle back my skepticism as well. I understand the intent of the project and I think it's a noble one. We've already lost an entire generation of potential programmers by not having something like this in the post Apple ][ / BBC Acorn / C64 era. Maybe I'm an old fart by thinking that we don't need a full desktop running at 1080p to make the kids happy, but what do I know anymore. It's an exciting and ambitious project that only the scale of current SoC systems can achieve. Unfortunately the environment also means licensing of cores and building of these highly complex chips by massive companies like TI and Broadcom. We're all afraid of obsolescence as things accelerate even more, of course, which is probably why we're so hard on Broadcom here.
- obarthelemy 15y ago
  Actually I could never afford a C64 nor Apple II. ZX81 and Spectrum where the thing for me.