12 ms·

Raspberry Pi: An ARM GNU/Linux box for $25. Take a byte

99 points by ecounysis 15y ago

fennecfoxen 15y ago
The big FAQ, for your convenience: -- When will the device be available to purchase? We anticipate the device will be available to the general public later in 2011 – we were hoping to hit the end of November, but right now December’s looking more likely.
- jberryman 15y ago
  Also, they hope to be selling the model A for $25 and the Model B for $35.
  - sireat 15y ago
    I really, really hope I am wrong, but the first few batches will be woefully short of the actual demand. Why? No pre-orders to indicate real demand (Rasperry forums are more optimistic than an Amway convention). No clue on what financing they have in place to handle the manufacturing. I have a hard time believing they will do a run of 10000(need to find someone to front $200k+) boards, when the real demand is probably 100k+(at those $25/$35 price points). What will happen they will have 1000 boards for sale early January and they will be gone in an instant (remember no pre-orders, means people will overwhelm their servers in a huge rush). Then we will wait another 2-3 months for a slightly bigger batch. Repeat until 2013. Again, I hope I am wrong and hopefully someone at Broadcom who has experience with supply-chain is backing them.
    - asb 15y ago
      While demand might be very high, the particular scenario you describe is not going to happen. Eben addresses the funding issue in this interview: http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=281 http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=281 The trustees will be putting up the money for the initial run themselves. One of the trustees is Pete Lomas, managing director of Norcott Technologies.
- Sukotto 15y ago
  I want to give at least one of these as a Christmas gift. Let's hope they get them selling soon.
qxb 15y ago
Previously on HN: http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=raspberry+pi&sortby=points+desc http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=raspberry+p...
MostAwesomeDude 15y ago
Still waiting for open-source code for the board. (Yes, including the 3D accelerator.)
- MrRadar 15y ago
  If you don't have a compiler or documentation for the proprietary instruction set the GPU uses, what use is the source code to the binary blob that runs on it?
  - srl 15y ago
    The fewer unknowns there are in a system, the more easily the rest can be reverse engineered.
  - MostAwesomeDude 15y ago
    That didn't stop nouveau, or r300 (which I was a part of). Given sufficient interest and time, it'll eventually get reverse-engineered, but I wish we had documentation or code, which speeds up the process greatly.
  - regularfry 15y ago
    It's just possible you're underestimating the capability of a hundred thousand ten-year-olds with curiosity, spare time, and the potential for bragging rights. At least, I hope so :-)
- wmf 15y ago
  And you know you're never going to get it. Broadcom + Imagination is like the axis of open source evil.
1110101001 15y ago
the idea of a credit card sized board, running open sourced code, to connect with peripherals is fantastic. but this project is going to disappoint. the guy works for broadcom which is how he got the smaller than minimum quantity of chips, so don't expect it to be repeated by anyone else. it's aim claims to be education, and people compare this to kit computers many years ago, but this is a far cry from that. this guy wants to steer you to use GNU/Linux and scripting languages like Python. no assembly programming. how can a kid learn about hardware without learning assembly? so much for education.
- marshray 15y ago
  I think winning the "best in show" award at an ARM tech conference will help with sourcing parts. http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=284 http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=284 I find it hard to believe that you won't be able to write assembly on the platform.
- mooism2 15y ago
  Learning about software is more important than learning about hardware. I learned (Z80 then 8086) assembly as a kid, and now my mental model of how a processor works is obsolete.
  - regularfry 15y ago
    You can make that argument both ways - if you'd learned Fortran-77 and nothing newer, your knowledge would be obsolete as well. Either way, you have the foundation, should you wish, to be able to bring it up to date without too much hassle. I think you'd be surprised how simple an ARM actually is under the skin. Admittedly, it's not Z80-simple, but it's far, far removed from the x86/AMD64 monstrosities.
- ralph 15y ago
  It's an ARM11 SoC running Linux, of course you can program in assembler. And ARM assembler is a very nice one to start with, many did due to Acorn's Archimedes home computer.
reustle 15y ago
Shut up and take my money!
- inconditus 15y ago
  Please don't do this, it offers nothing to the conversation.
spatten 15y ago
Just a suggestion for the website: the home page should probably be a nice landing page explaining what the project is about, rather than your blog. Link to your blog for sure, but the home page should explain quickly what the project is and why I should care.
- eric-hu 15y ago
  I wholeheartedly agree. Their page now is at least magnitudes more informative than it was a few months ago--when I first saw a Raspberry Pi reference on HN. I went to their page looking for an about link. I'm not sure if I found it or not, but either way, I left not knowing what it was actually about.
SecurityMatters 15y ago
There are doubts about how open this project will be. I share that concern. But, I also give the guy credit for making the project at all. Maybe it will be more closed than I would like. If the project is a success and produces a lot of boards, then I expect real open source builds of software for it will follow from someone. As a start, I can't think of anything I would prefer to Linux and Python as a place to start. I sure want to buy a few of these boards to experiment with.
malbs 15y ago
I'm hoping I just found the next base of a networked media player for home
- malbs 15y ago
  damn, I keep having to double check because it's almost unbelievable they can pack that much capability into something so cheap?
  - joezydeco 15y ago
    Because so much functionality is being packed on these SoC devices now. You literally hook these chips up to some RAM and Flash and add some I/O connectors of your choice, and you're in business.
    - someperson 15y ago
      This particular SoC already has RAM built in too, if I remember correctly.
      - joezydeco 15y ago
        That's pretty awesome, then. Because your other options are to stack the RAM on top of the chip like older OMAP parts, or put the RAM on the board and hope you get the circuit trace timing and impedences right.
        someperson 15y ago
        Sorry, it seems the RAM is indeed stacked on top of this chip, it's not built in. My knowledge of SoC technology in general is fleeting.
- guynamedloren 15y ago
  My thoughts exactly. Are you planning on blogging about your Raspberry Pi media player adventures when these things are finally released? I'd definitely be interested - huge potential here.
joshu 15y ago
can we stop posting this until it actually ships?
senthilnayagam 15y ago
When i first heard about the Project i was impressed, good to know they won some award, but it is boring after a while as nothing is being shipped even after so many years, just hype, they should remove the 25$ tag till they ship it
- asb 15y ago
  The project only went 'public' a few months ago (I think http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9504208.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9504208.s... was the first coverage). The 2006 prototype is simply evidence of the massive amount of commitment to the project shown by Eben and the trustees. It's far from just being hype. Alpha boards are with developers (I'm lucky enough to have one sitting on my desk) and they're hoping to start manufacture in the next few weeks. I understand your scepticism, but look at the people behind the project. It's going to happen and it's going to be awesome. The launch this December is mainly targeted at the hacker and 'maker' community, with aims to target the educational market next year.
  - senthilnayagam 15y ago
    I am not the lucky one to have the development board on my desk , nor seen any timeline or product roadmap. But would happy to see a commercial launch soon.
rythie 15y ago
Real artists ship
drdaeman 15y ago
What's the point of discussing not-yet-released product (i.e. one can't buy it) without proper schematics (or maybe I just didn't found one?) nearly useless tiny PNG file with a PCB layout and no source code available? Sure, tiny $25 board is cool. If it can be obtained. No point in discussing it further before they either ship it or release DIY manuals.

99 points by ecounysis 15y ago

The big FAQ, for your convenience: -- When will the device be available to purchase? We anticipate the device will be available to the general public later in 2011 – we were hoping to hit the end of November, but right now December’s looking more likely.

jberryman 15y ago
Also, they hope to be selling the model A for $25 and the Model B for $35.
- sireat 15y ago
  I really, really hope I am wrong, but the first few batches will be woefully short of the actual demand. Why? No pre-orders to indicate real demand (Rasperry forums are more optimistic than an Amway convention). No clue on what financing they have in place to handle the manufacturing. I have a hard time believing they will do a run of 10000(need to find someone to front $200k+) boards, when the real demand is probably 100k+(at those $25/$35 price points). What will happen they will have 1000 boards for sale early January and they will be gone in an instant (remember no pre-orders, means people will overwhelm their servers in a huge rush). Then we will wait another 2-3 months for a slightly bigger batch. Repeat until 2013. Again, I hope I am wrong and hopefully someone at Broadcom who has experience with supply-chain is backing them.
  - asb 15y ago
    While demand might be very high, the particular scenario you describe is not going to happen. Eben addresses the funding issue in this interview: http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=281 http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=281 The trustees will be putting up the money for the initial run themselves. One of the trustees is Pete Lomas, managing director of Norcott Technologies.
Sukotto 15y ago
I want to give at least one of these as a Christmas gift. Let's hope they get them selling soon.

qxb 15y ago

Previously on HN: http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=raspberry+pi&sortby=points+desc http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=raspberry+p...

MostAwesomeDude 15y ago

Still waiting for open-source code for the board. (Yes, including the 3D accelerator.)

MrRadar 15y ago
If you don't have a compiler or documentation for the proprietary instruction set the GPU uses, what use is the source code to the binary blob that runs on it?
- srl 15y ago
  The fewer unknowns there are in a system, the more easily the rest can be reverse engineered.
- MostAwesomeDude 15y ago
  That didn't stop nouveau, or r300 (which I was a part of). Given sufficient interest and time, it'll eventually get reverse-engineered, but I wish we had documentation or code, which speeds up the process greatly.
- regularfry 15y ago
  It's just possible you're underestimating the capability of a hundred thousand ten-year-olds with curiosity, spare time, and the potential for bragging rights. At least, I hope so :-)
wmf 15y ago
And you know you're never going to get it. Broadcom + Imagination is like the axis of open source evil.

1110101001 15y ago

the idea of a credit card sized board, running open sourced code, to connect with peripherals is fantastic. but this project is going to disappoint. the guy works for broadcom which is how he got the smaller than minimum quantity of chips, so don't expect it to be repeated by anyone else. it's aim claims to be education, and people compare this to kit computers many years ago, but this is a far cry from that. this guy wants to steer you to use GNU/Linux and scripting languages like Python. no assembly programming. how can a kid learn about hardware without learning assembly? so much for education.

marshray 15y ago
I think winning the "best in show" award at an ARM tech conference will help with sourcing parts. http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=284 http://www.raspberrypi.org/?p=284 I find it hard to believe that you won't be able to write assembly on the platform.
mooism2 15y ago
Learning about software is more important than learning about hardware. I learned (Z80 then 8086) assembly as a kid, and now my mental model of how a processor works is obsolete.
- regularfry 15y ago
  You can make that argument both ways - if you'd learned Fortran-77 and nothing newer, your knowledge would be obsolete as well. Either way, you have the foundation, should you wish, to be able to bring it up to date without too much hassle. I think you'd be surprised how simple an ARM actually is under the skin. Admittedly, it's not Z80-simple, but it's far, far removed from the x86/AMD64 monstrosities.
ralph 15y ago
It's an ARM11 SoC running Linux, of course you can program in assembler. And ARM assembler is a very nice one to start with, many did due to Acorn's Archimedes home computer.

reustle 15y ago

Shut up and take my money!

inconditus 15y ago
Please don't do this, it offers nothing to the conversation.

spatten 15y ago

Just a suggestion for the website: the home page should probably be a nice landing page explaining what the project is about, rather than your blog. Link to your blog for sure, but the home page should explain quickly what the project is and why I should care.

eric-hu 15y ago
I wholeheartedly agree. Their page now is at least magnitudes more informative than it was a few months ago--when I first saw a Raspberry Pi reference on HN. I went to their page looking for an about link. I'm not sure if I found it or not, but either way, I left not knowing what it was actually about.

SecurityMatters 15y ago

There are doubts about how open this project will be. I share that concern. But, I also give the guy credit for making the project at all. Maybe it will be more closed than I would like. If the project is a success and produces a lot of boards, then I expect real open source builds of software for it will follow from someone. As a start, I can't think of anything I would prefer to Linux and Python as a place to start. I sure want to buy a few of these boards to experiment with.

malbs 15y ago

I'm hoping I just found the next base of a networked media player for home

malbs 15y ago
damn, I keep having to double check because it's almost unbelievable they can pack that much capability into something so cheap?
- joezydeco 15y ago
  Because so much functionality is being packed on these SoC devices now. You literally hook these chips up to some RAM and Flash and add some I/O connectors of your choice, and you're in business.
  - someperson 15y ago
    This particular SoC already has RAM built in too, if I remember correctly.
    - joezydeco 15y ago
      That's pretty awesome, then. Because your other options are to stack the RAM on top of the chip like older OMAP parts, or put the RAM on the board and hope you get the circuit trace timing and impedences right.
      - someperson 15y ago
        Sorry, it seems the RAM is indeed stacked on top of this chip, it's not built in. My knowledge of SoC technology in general is fleeting.
guynamedloren 15y ago
My thoughts exactly. Are you planning on blogging about your Raspberry Pi media player adventures when these things are finally released? I'd definitely be interested - huge potential here.

joshu 15y ago

can we stop posting this until it actually ships?

senthilnayagam 15y ago

When i first heard about the Project i was impressed, good to know they won some award, but it is boring after a while as nothing is being shipped even after so many years, just hype, they should remove the 25$ tag till they ship it

asb 15y ago
The project only went 'public' a few months ago (I think http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9504208.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/9504208.s... was the first coverage). The 2006 prototype is simply evidence of the massive amount of commitment to the project shown by Eben and the trustees. It's far from just being hype. Alpha boards are with developers (I'm lucky enough to have one sitting on my desk) and they're hoping to start manufacture in the next few weeks. I understand your scepticism, but look at the people behind the project. It's going to happen and it's going to be awesome. The launch this December is mainly targeted at the hacker and 'maker' community, with aims to target the educational market next year.
- senthilnayagam 15y ago
  I am not the lucky one to have the development board on my desk , nor seen any timeline or product roadmap. But would happy to see a commercial launch soon.

rythie 15y ago

Real artists ship

drdaeman 15y ago

What's the point of discussing not-yet-released product (i.e. one can't buy it) without proper schematics (or maybe I just didn't found one?) nearly useless tiny PNG file with a PCB layout and no source code available? Sure, tiny $25 board is cool. If it can be obtained. No point in discussing it further before they either ship it or release DIY manuals.