17 ms·

You can't buy a Raspberry Pi right now

287 points by unnouinceput 4y ago

stuckinhell 4y ago
Hmm I was wondering what happened to them. I'm debating getting a rockpi or orangepi, but just like the article suggests I like raspberry pi for their support.
pkwillard 4y ago
RPI Foundation raising the price does not mean that they can then just "make more". If they can't get the chips they need, they can't make more and the supply/demand price relationship concept falls apart. This does not justify the scalpers prices either. Former companies like Data General and Digital Equipment loved getting a lot of money for their computers but where are they now?
politelemon 4y ago
My lack of imagination lacks the imagination to address this: > They are still prioritizing OEM customers (who have built their products around the Pi) OEMs use RPis? What are they using it for, does anyone know, got any examples? I've always assumed RPis to be a hobbyist tool. All the blog posts, documentation, examples I encounter are around the hobbyist's mindset. I've not encountered any "business" oriented documentation or examples or blogs. Edit: Everyone, thanks for the examples. I'm going through each one. It's like a whole new world opened to me.
- wl 4y ago
  Soma Shades used to have a "Soma Connect" device whose sole purpose in the world was to communicate with their shade controllers via Bluetooth and make them controllable over WiFi or ethernet. Just checking their website just now, it is now a strictly bring-your-own Pi arrangement, presumably because they can't get them, either.
- MisterTea 4y ago
  Industrial automation is one use case: https://revolutionpi.com/ https://revolutionpi.com/
- matt3D 4y ago
  I believe companies use them in tools like air quality monitors, time lapse cameras in construction and other small batch boutique hardware. I believe most of them don't advertise the fact they use Raspberry Pis as it might cheapen their offering in the eyes of customers
- ashton314 4y ago
  Not sure if this counts, but Gardyn[1] uses a Raspberry Pi Zero W in their second-gen system. (Can't speak to the first-gen.) They leave an SSH port open (found with nmap) and I've asked support if I can have the password, but they won't give it to me. >:( My system is now currently powered down. I think it'd be cool if someone were to reverse engineer it and write their own FOSS firmware for the system. Shouldn't be too hard, right? [1]: https://mygardyn.com/ https://mygardyn.com/
  - flutas 4y ago
    > uses a Raspberry Pi Zero W in their second-gen system (assuming it's a standard version and you haven't already) Couldn't you just grab the SD card out of it and inspect the file system, then try to get the password through that? You'd have to spend some time bruteforcing it most likely, but it should eventually (tbh, seeing solutions like this I'd expect quickly) give you the password.
    - ashton314 4y ago
      Wow! What a great idea! I definitely would never do that because it'd violate their TOS. Don't ask me how I know that it's a Zero W in the first place because opening the thing up is a big no-no. Yup. Would never do such a thing… Never ever… No way… Nu-uh… Nope nope nope the land of ten thousand nopes…
      - someweirdperson 4y ago
        When first reading this it sounded really strange. Buying a device and TOS don't really fit. Checking the website it seems to be a kind of PaaS, plant as a service. Am I reading that website correctly? They are offering remotely-managed plants for rent?
  - abdullahkhalids 4y ago
    Can you provide a review of their product? Is it any good? What do you actually get out of it?
- uoaei 4y ago
  I could see it being folded into custom IoT / home automation setups where a relatively low-power controller is used just to coordinate signals across a network. Or how they are often used as dashboard-machines for home infra like solar panel setups.
  - eisa01 4y ago
    Futurehome did use Pi's inside their hub, but may have moved to a custom board with the latest version https://futurehome.io https://futurehome.io
  - geerlingguy 4y ago
    Many go into service as Home Assistant servers (and Nabu Casa is even making their own product for this purpose, the Home Assistant Yellow: https://www.crowdsupply.com/nabu-casa/home-assistant-yellow https://www.crowdsupply.com/nabu-casa/home-assistant-yellow). There are also hundreds of boards that work with the CM4 to build different types of systems or integrate into automation, industrial gear, and commercial products—this is a tiny listing that doesn't even cover stuff that uses the Pi 4 or older Pi models: https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com/boards_cm https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com/boards_cm
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- blamazon 4y ago
  For the market that I've seen, don't think "OEMs making products for the consumer market", rather "OEMs making solutions for the business market." RasPIs are huge in industrial automation for example. Sure, you likely won't find them at the Ford Motor Companies of the world, but at Tony's Midwest Hotel Supplying Baking Company? Absolutely, all over the place. Put together by crafty integrators at the lowest possible cost.
  - _joel 4y ago
    It's not always lowest possible cost for hardware, there are cheaper SBCs ;) (edit for clarity)
    - redblacktree 4y ago
      Perhaps when you factor in development/engineering time. The machine is only a part of the cost of an automation project.
      - dghlsakjg 4y ago
        This is exactly it. I work at a company that has used raspi's in hardware. There are cheaper alternatives, but there are not better supported alternatives. The most expensive rPi is a rounding error in terms of engineering time. Why bother saving ~$30 if you have to spend $1k worth of engineering time to diagnose a compatibility issue on some less well documented board.
        megous 4y ago
        "Support." Wake me up when one of the Rpi boards starts supporting basics like suspend to RAM.
        _joel 4y ago
        Is that needed a lot in industrial apps?
- munificent 4y ago
  > OEMs use RPis? What are they using it for, does anyone know, got any examples? Korg released a few new digital synthesizers in the past couple of years: Opsix, Wavestate, and Modwave. They are all running Raspberry Pis inside.
  - copperx 4y ago
    I understand, but why? Texas Instruments has a big catalog of cheap and DSP-capable chips.
- AlanYx 4y ago
  I think this is referring to OEMs like ClockworkPi, Pi-Top, and Kano.
- senko 4y ago
  > OEMs use RPis? Yes. As an example, we use RPi in MusicBox[0], together with HifiBerry[1] sound card, as a music player appliance. In fact, you can still buy (well, you could, if you could buy any) RPi 1's, since OEMs tend to standardize and stick to a platform. Our base platform is 1B+, for example. [0] https://musicbox.com.hr/ https://musicbox.com.hr/ (Croatian only, sorry, it's for the local market) [1] https://www.hifiberry.com/ https://www.hifiberry.com/
- _joel 4y ago
  Massive user base, great documentation, they're supported for 10 years, Have industrial cases and a plethora of accessories (not cheap, some of them), easy to swap compute units.
- emilecantin 4y ago
  I have a MarineTraffic antenna at home, and it uses a Comar AIS receiver. The first one I got was a purpose-built device, but they later sent me an "upgraded" version from this series: https://comarsystems.com/product-tag/intelligent/ https://comarsystems.com/product-tag/intelligent/ I opened it up and I can confirm it has a Rpi inside.
- xani_ 4y ago
  Here are two https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/wavestate/ https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/wavestate/ https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/opsix/ https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/opsix/ Although that's with the CM3
  - throw_m239339 4y ago
    the modwave too.
- thephyber 4y ago
  Some TVs user RPis: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/tv-thats-not-necs-pi-powered-55-display https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/tv-thats-not-necs-pi-...
  - adolph 4y ago
    Probably should look into what TVs were using Pis a couple years ago, buy them refurb/2nd-hand and resell the Pis at profit.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
    Huh. Wished I had known about that. I built a system for a customer that used RPi 4 to drive a few large TV's in this size class.
- cylinder714 4y ago
  ISTR that Wyse Technology (fond memories of their WY-60 terminals) made thin clients out of Raspberry Pis. Stratodesk makes them now: https://www.stratodesk.com/solutions/raspberry-pi-thin-client/ https://www.stratodesk.com/solutions/raspberry-pi-thin-clien... How Good is the new Raspberry Pi 4 as a Thin Client? (2019) https://www.stratodesk.com/how-good-is-the-new-raspberry-pi-4-as-a-thin-client/ https://www.stratodesk.com/how-good-is-the-new-raspberry-pi-...
- wvenable 4y ago
  Look like you can get one inside of a DevTerm: https://www.clockworkpi.com/product-page/devterm-kit-cm4-series https://www.clockworkpi.com/product-page/devterm-kit-cm4-ser...
- jamesfmilne 4y ago
  We use a CM3 in our Blackboard Classic control surface: https://www.filmlight.ltd.uk/products/control/range_cn/index_cn.php#BBC https://www.filmlight.ltd.uk/products/control/range_cn/index...
- joemi 4y ago
  It's not the biggest OEM marketplace by a longshot (more of a boutique marketplace), but there are a few modules for modular synthesizers that use RPi's inside. The two I can think off off the top of my head: Sleepy Circuits Hypno and Erogenous Tones Structure, both video synthesis modules.
- petre 4y ago
  Analog Devices uses it to build osciloscopes or clock generators.
- malfist 4y ago
  For astrophotography ZWO has a custom distro for pi and extra hardware for custom, wireless control of an astrophotography setup, telescope, tripod, camera and all. https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/asiair-plus https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/asiair-plus
- xondono 4y ago
  > OEMs use RPis? It is used in a lot of products, specially legacy products that have been given a “facelift” to switch from buttons + screen to touchscreen. I’ve been always against it when it comes to the non-CM versions. The foundation receives donations, both private and public, and works as a non-profit with the original goal of giving every kid a computer, and now more broadly to teach through their platform. Having private companies leeching off it for me is very much scummy behavior. A company I worked for used the 2B, 3B and 3B+ in a bunch of products. My complaints were dutifully archived in the trash.
  - nemothekid 4y ago
    >Having private companies leeching off it for me is very much scummy behavior. The private companies are funding the foundation. It’s hard to call it leeching when the pi is a comparatively expensive board compared to alternatives
    - xondono 4y ago
      > The private companies are funding the foundation. Except that if you look at their financials, it’s clear that they make very little on them. The sales of Rpis are not how they keep going, it’s all the other activities around it. > It’s hard to call it leeching when the pi is a comparatively expensive board compared to alternatives It’s not only about COGs, support is a big ticket in this area, and one that most manufacturers are way behind. Also, yes, there are some cheaper SBCs, but most of them are sold at “ask us for price”, and they aren’t any cheaper, especially at low volumes.
      - sangnoir 4y ago
        > Except that if you look at their financials, it’s clear that they make very little on them. As opposed to losing money, which is what happens with consumer sales with at least one model, hence limiting to one per customer
        xondono 4y ago
- qbasic_forever 4y ago
  The compute module is specially made for companies to integrate into products. Around the time they introduced the first compute module years ago they split Raspberry Pi into a formal company (with CEO etc) and a non profit charity/foundation. You've seen a lot of what the foundation has done but there's also a profit seeking company behind Raspberry Pi too.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- jorl17 4y ago
  Smart lockers, for one. Though we’re getting rid of the Pi ASAP in part due to these supply issues.
- HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
  A project I led shipped a system based on multiple RPi's used basically as web kiosks to drive large TV's monitors. We also built another Pi-based system used for monitoring equipment remotely, but I wasn't part of that effort. I've come across a commercial HVAC system (like the big units on top of office buildings) based on the RPi Compute Module. Actually seen that from two different companies. There was a subreddit that's now subsumed into /r/Raspberry_pi that was all about sightings of Pi's used in commercial products like airport displays, billboards, kiosks, etc.
- coolspot 4y ago
  I know for sure that anti-icing system of thr Crimean Bridge is running on raspberry pi, for example.
MisterTea 4y ago
I must have been very lucky when 2GB pi4's showed up at the local Microcenter in August as I have been unable to find another since.
- jamesgeck0 4y ago
  My Microcenter hasn't even had a Pico in stock for months.
- geerlingguy 4y ago
  Micro Center is hit or miss—each location gets little batches here or there. But every time I've heard there's stock at my local store, they're gone by the time I can go check on it. The longest stock lasted was about 24 hours a couple months ago. I think people have scrapers even for their local Micro Center website so they can find when they're in stock and go snag one immediately. The Micro Center near me usually has a large bag full of Pico and Pico W, though, as well as practically every HAT and official Pi accessory.
  - MisterTea 4y ago
    This was NYC Flushing and they limit to one per in-store customer. Believe it or not there were a little over 50 of them and the stock lasted about 5 or 6 days. I waited two days before going and there were still like 30 of them. Picos are all over.
rjsw 4y ago
I mentored a Google Summer of Code project that used a RPi3, I think it would have gone better if I had been able to get one myself.
_joel 4y ago
Really needs to be a resale market imho. Loads in my drawer that are doing nothing and I'm not too fussed about putting them on eBay for what it's worth, but maybe if there looked like proper forum (however how long until those got bought for resale for a markup, I dunno)
- archontes 4y ago
  reddit.com/r/hardwareswap will buy 'em
  - _joel 4y ago
    Cool, will take a look (if I remember!)
- rjsw 4y ago
  From trying to get one on eBay, I'm sure you could sell them for more than you paid.
- senko 4y ago
  If they're B's and you can ship em to Europe, ping me (email in profile), I'd probably buy the whole lot.
Isamu 4y ago
If you are looking to buy, here’s tips and tricks from rpilocator: https://rpilocator.com/tips-and-tricks.cfm https://rpilocator.com/tips-and-tricks.cfm
djhworld 4y ago
In the UK, I've seen a lot of vendors (when they do get stock in) only sell them as part of a bundle, with power adapter, case, SD card, usb and hdmi cables etc, which adds £20-£30 onto the price of the Pi. Probably partly as it's extra profit, but also to discourage multi-buys I guess. I dunno if it discourages the scalpers. These bundles never appear on rpilocater.
- sidewndr46 4y ago
  At that kind of price you can just buy an all-in-one Intel box off Ali Express
  - tvb12 4y ago
    I was looking at those recently. They're all small, sub $200, and usually have a Celeron N5105. Do you have to worry about Linux support when you're looking at something like that, or will it work pretty much out of the box?
    - sidewndr46 4y ago
      I have one running Alpine Linux on it presently. Seems to just work for the most part. Nothing weird about it I have found yet.
- gambiting 4y ago
  I was about to comment - there's absolutely no issue buying an RPi4 in the UK currently, if you don't mind buying a bundle. Pimoroni has few different ones in stock currently. And yes it discourages the scalpers - while the stuff you get in the bundle is usually worth the price being asked for it, to a scalper it's worth 0 and it makes it difficult to make profit flipping the boards themselves. Same principle is successfully used to fight PS5 scalpers.
  - enlyth 4y ago
    I wouldn't say there's 'absolutely no issue' buying one in the UK, I just checked on Pimoroni and they're all out of stock, every single one: https://shop.pimoroni.com/collections/raspberry-pi?product_type=Raspberry%20Pi https://shop.pimoroni.com/collections/raspberry-pi?product_t... I wasn't able to actually find any website other than eBay at 100+ quid that have them in stock, even as kits.
donatj 4y ago
I started a little hardware project about a month ago. Was going to use one of my pre-existing Raspberry Pi's but the shield didn't get along with my existing cases and I didn't want to bother disassembling them. Rather than remove one from their case, I decided to run to Microcenter to just grab a new one. Nope. Not a single Raspberry Pi in stock. I was honestly shocked. I was completely unaware of the shortage.
- Karrot_Kream 4y ago
  The convenience of having RPis in brick-and-mortar locations near me has been one of my favorite things about the Pi. It was like being able to stop at a local Radio Shack or Frys and pick up ICs back in the day.
thom_ 4y ago
The orange pi’s are so nice now. They come w a metal box just like a Mac mini
- drewzero1 4y ago
  Haven't seen that, I'll have to check it out! I've got an orange pi zero and zero2. The zero fits great in an Altoids tin, with a bit of extra space for the power cord.
causi 4y ago
One of the unfortunate side effects of the ongoing RPi shortage is the shrinkage of the accessories market. A lot of the coolest stuff still isn't available for the Model 4, like the SNES enclosure with working buttons and USB ports in the controller ports.
_abox 4y ago
Jeff is always a raspberry foundation supporter. I do feel a bit more pushback is needed. The other companies he mentions like Apple and Nvidia have shown considerable improvement in recent months. The raspberry is only ever harder to get. I have a feeling Broadcom is the main problem here, they probably prioritize other customers. Which is surprising in some ways because a lot of raspberry pi foundation members are ex-broadcom or still even work there. However I guess the other companies are willing to offer more whereas if the pi became more expensive there would be a lot of uproar (and rightly so because it defeats the purpose)
- wmf 4y ago
  I wonder what Broadcom's endgame is. They appear to be selling the SoC very cheap to the foundation. I thought maybe this is to encourage other customers to buy that same SoC at a higher price but it appears they don't sell it. If there's no path for Broadcom to make reasonable margins then of course they have no incentive to increase production.
  - pclmulqdq 4y ago
    The pi foundation was started by a group of Broadcom engineers. If not for that connection, Broadcom would likely have never given them the time of day - they are notoriously bad to deal with if you are a small company. It's possible they see this as some sort of marketing, but I don't think they are using it to drive a sales funnel of low-volume customers.
    - nerfhammer 4y ago
      if broadcom were supplying at below cost as a marketing expenditure it would explain a bunch of things such as why raspberry pi doesn't allow bulk sales but would give them away with magazines
      - GekkePrutser 4y ago
        It doesn't, but the foundation does make a loss on the zero as far as I remember (remember reading somewhere..) which is why they never lifted the "one per order" restriction. It's very annoying because I give trainings sometimes and it would be nice to give each participant one.
odysseus 4y ago
When I ordered a Pi 4 from CanaKit back in January, it took 54 days to get to my house. It felt like a long wait at the time, but looking back, it wasn't that bad, given the chip shortage. Took me another month to get around to setting it up anyway.
ewzimm 4y ago
Supporting OEMs is definitely the right choice. I even shifted a project away from the pi for now because of the shortage, and there are alternatives, but if I had already invested in product that depended on them and couldn’t order them, it would be a much bigger loss. Even from a hobbyist point of view, I’d feel more confident using them knowing that OEMs get priority shipments.
- ozim 4y ago
  Second that opinion I think OEMs provide so much value to the Foundation that goes to the hobbyists in the end that I cannot be angry that I cannot buy a Pi just because I want.
  - thewataccount 4y ago
    I'd rather have a hard time finding a pi then have them go out of business. Basically if this is survival mode during the chip shortage, I hope they can do everything possible to make it through this in good shape. Also I have enough pi's for my needs already, I'd love to build a cluster but IMO cluster projects should be of the lowest priority customers.
    - momentary 4y ago
      For learning purposes, you don't really need that many Raspberry Pis to get started. I recently slapped together a cluster with 3 pi and figure I'll add more overtime as I need/desire them. I do agree, though, that cluster projects should have a low priority!
- justizin 4y ago
  i disagree, the rpi is not just a hobbyist tool, it's a learning tool and something for folks creating on the low-end or implementing custom solutions to use. For a major vendor (someone linked some korg devices below) to loot this market is no better than the auto vendors who are buying washing machines simply to pull out microcontrollers, or cryptominers destroying the GPU market. Major vendors can hire fabs to push out their own designs. The RPi is a licensed implementation of ARM, it isn't an industrial platform, from a supply chain point of view, clearly. Everyone who is shipping a product based on RPi is doing so because they were able to get cheap individual samples to build on. Now that's not possible for new folks. RPi was designed as an affordable learning computer, now there is not an affordable learning computer available to anyone who can't buy 10,000 parts or whatever.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
sidewndr46 4y ago
I ordered from CanaKit back in July of 2021. Still no update on my order. Claims it doesn't exist when I contacted them about it.
armatav 4y ago
They’ve been supply constrained for years; regardless of current events.
- tpmx 4y ago
  They were annoyingly supply constrained the first 2 years iirc. And the last 1.5 years or so. But for a long stretch in the middle there (like 2014-2021), not so much.
  - geerlingguy 4y ago
    Yeah, until mid-2021, I could reliably find the majority of Pi models in stock (usually with 10+ units) at my local Micro Center—and that was including CM4s, which quickly disappeared off the shelves and by September 2021 were unobtanium.
    - NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
      Yep, just look at ccc: https://i.imgur.com/2jzmhhA.png https://i.imgur.com/2jzmhhA.png I got mine last July before the spike: https://i.imgur.com/2jzmhhA.png https://i.imgur.com/2jzmhhA.png
  - djhworld 4y ago
    From what I remember with the launch of the Pi, I think the demand far exceeded their expectations. Remember that the thing was launched as an educational computer for schools, with a model A and B variant. At least from this article [1] it sounds like they contracted the work to build the boards out to Premier Farnell/Element 14. They originally had to do a lot of the manufacturing in China to keep the board cost low. Eventually Sony stepped in and offered production capacity at a place in Wales UK which I think improved availability a lot. [1] https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/made-in-the-uk/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/made-in-the-uk/
mkl95 4y ago
Coincidentally I was browsing for Raspberry Pi 4 Model B yesterday. They are ranging anywhere from $100 to $350 in my country. That's a big nope.
dugmartin 4y ago
Any suggestions for a generic cheap but good ITX running Linux from a vendor I could use for a small home server? I have two System76 Meerkats which I love (one for personal, one for work) but I don't want to fork out that much money for a home server to host things like PiHole and VaultWarden. I looked around last month for a RPi but as this article says they aren't to be found.
- prometheus76 4y ago
  I recently bought a used thinkpad from my local university surplus store for $25. Installed Linux Mint on it, then pihole and it's now my home lan ad blocker. Love it.
- TranquilMarmot 4y ago
  I was going to ask this as well; I'm thinking about setting up a pihole but not sure what to buy for it.
  - pyprism 4y ago
    1.5 years ago I bought a Orange Pi Zero for less than 20 USD. I am using this device for pihole. Without any issue, it is running smoothly.
  - synergy20 4y ago
    search for 'orange pi zero LTS', shipping included is less than $30 now, I got it for $18 all included before the pandemic(a case, power adaptor). it's solid to run pihole for me.
  - squarefoot 4y ago
    Pretty much anything that can run Linux and has a network port would work. Most languages, libraries and well known software has been ported to work the same way on a lot of hardware. Save for low level hardware specific code, the rest is more or less standard. The Orange Pi other users suggested is a good choice, as would be the very similar NanoPi, and many others. However, although the scarcity hits more the popular boards such as the Raspberries, others also became somewhat harder to find, so I would suggest for example to take note of which board is supported by a well known distribution, then look for vendors offering it. A good start would be the Armbian and DietPI download sections in which you can easily find dozens of boards and devices with their support status. https://www.armbian.com/download/?device_support=Supported https://www.armbian.com/download/?device_support=Supported https://dietpi.com/#download https://dietpi.com/#download
outworlder 4y ago
It seems that Pine64 has good boards that would be useful for many tasks performed by PIs, at a pretty good price. They say they have them all in stock, I'm probably going to pull the trigger as I don't need any raspberry-specific shields. https://pine64.com/product-category/single-board-computers/ https://pine64.com/product-category/single-board-computers/
- BanazirGalbasi 4y ago
  I recently purchased a Quartz64B, which turns out to be a very new model. If you're looking at a board from Pine64, I'd say go for the Rock64 if you want something more likely to work with your preferred OS.
FeistySkink 4y ago
Jeff, if you're reading this, your website is pretty much unreadable without the reader view in Firefox. It's not just the tiny font which is solved by zooming, it's the combination of font choice and white text on black background.
- spullara 4y ago
  I think you might be in dark mode and Jeff doesn't use it. It is perfectly readable to me but it is black text on a white background.
  - mtmail 4y ago
    Yes, that's it @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) body { color: #eee; background-color: #000; }
- jcynix 4y ago
  I see black text on white background in Firefox (and Chrome) here. So this might be a problem on your side? But otherwise, yes the font is way to small.
  - meragrin_ 4y ago
    Nope, it is the site. The CSS contains white text on black background for "dark" color scheme.
- mike256 4y ago
  Some kind of weird browser configuration? I see black font on white background...
  - vultour 4y ago
    Your system isn't set to prefer dark mode.
  - LeifCarrotson 4y ago
    If "Settings->Theme->Dark" is a weird browser configuration, then yes. I see white font on a black background, which looks great on many other pages and doesn't hurt my eyes looking at sunspots while most of the page is basically staring at the sun. There are dozens of us - dozens! - and Jeff's page looks uniquely bad. Something about the font weight, perhaps? The strokes are so thin as to disappear. Zooming to 150% makes it much more readable.
taf2 4y ago
I find this very frustrating as well... I got a nice fridge/freezer alarm project working with the pi pico w - and while it also works with esp32 boards the pi pico is supposed to be like $5... but last I checked on amazon... it was $100... gonna stick with esp32 until it is actually $5...
- skybrian 4y ago
  Haven't tried to buy it yet, but it looks like the Pico W is available now on Digikey and PiShop.us without a markup.
- gambiting 4y ago
  They have been consistently in stock at RRP here in UK for a long time, I bought half a dozen of them for various IoT projects around the house in the last 6 months, never had any trouble finding them https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico-w?variant=40059369619539 https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico-w?varia...
- bmicraft 4y ago
  The pico (w) had pretty good availability from most official resellers everytime I checked. Sellers on amazon often jack up the price which is why you shouldn't buy a pi on there. See "Buy now" on https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico/ for your country
grepLeigh 4y ago
Raspberry Pi availability has been such a bottleneck for PrintNanny.ai (deployed to a Raspberry Pi 4). Rather than wait around for stock to become available, I've decided to expand to Rock Pi and Orange Pi. I had to roll my own Linux distro and build tools to match the experience provided by the Raspberry Pi Foundation (e.g. SD card imaging tool). ... but where there's a will, there's a way. https://twitter.com/grepLeigh/status/1572683931769778176 https://twitter.com/grepLeigh/status/1572683931769778176
kubota 4y ago
Sometimes people write iot projects and target the pi because they are familiar with it (it's like a computer with gpio) when their use case could be better served by a less powerful microcontroller such as the esp32. Perhaps people in this group can use this as an opportunity to learn esp32 development. It's arduino ide compatible and has good support on platformio.
- gambiting 4y ago
  That's what the Pico is meant to be for. In my experience RP2040 equipped boards are cheaper than similar ESP32 boards, and they both run MicroPython.
  - nottorp 4y ago
    I don't know, I tried to use micropython on some esp32 board and ran out of ram after the first few tests. Maybe my board was just ram starved, but my impression is you want to go bare metal with the ESP.
    - gambiting 4y ago
      Depends what you're doing I guess. My most complex project is a network enabled display that shows all the stats from my PC, it queries my machine every second and displays graphs for temperature and GPU/CPU usage. No issues with micropython and an ESP32 board doing that.
  - chasd00 4y ago
    The rp2040 as an Adafruit Feather works great for me. No floating point unit though. I have an old Pi Zero W and I love it. I watch Adafruit for the new version constantly but no luck.
- mastax 4y ago
  Even the ESP32 is a bit "like a computer" compared to most microcontrollers. It's usually used with its stock RTOS which has its own tasks for WiFi, HTTPS, etc. and has a filesystem. Your apps are separate modules inside the RTOS system which sticks around. That's not a super unusual setup for a microcontroller system, though those types of systems were often larger industrial systems running WindRiver VxWorks, etc. not cheap chips for your IoT lightbulbs. Even when using an RTOS my perception is the most common setup is that the RTOS is just compiled and linked into your firmware image like any other library. It was a bit of a culture shock when I started using ESP32s because I can't buy STM32s anymore. I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to embedded systems and I didn't like the idea of having someone else's code control so much of the chip, but it's the pragmatic choice.
cjcampbell 4y ago
A lot of folks have pointed to rpilocator, but my experience is that they made the situation far worse. Prior to the launch, I was able to buy a couple of pi’s per month without too much effort (registering for stock notifications). Since rpilocator, I’ve only managed to buy about 3 pi’s in total. Unless I’m able to drop everything on a notification, there’s no chance. And even if I can do this, I get the feeling that I’m competing against a crowd that’s automated the purchasing process.
- samstave 4y ago
  What is the top app that ppl are using Rpis for these days, in qty?
  - cjcampbell 4y ago
    I can’t speak for others, but I use the Pi for student projects in an undergrad networking course. I previously required students to supply their own, but I now have the option to rent from me at cost. With the current situation, I am not certain that I will have enough supply for my next class.
    - samstave 4y ago
      It wasnt until a few reads to the end of your comment that YOU are renting them to students... Get a thread going on HN requesting old PIs... shoot ive given so many away... but in return, share your coursework/connect your students with other students...
sylware 4y ago
Don't think I'll get anymore raspberry PIs, until they move to 64bits risc-v.
nottorp 4y ago
I was subscribed to stock alerts for a Pi 4 on a local store. I was online when I received the mail that they now have stock. By the time I logged in to order it was all gone :) I did find another at a slightly inflated price and ordered that one. It was a kit with a decent power brick and a useless case. Guess 2 out of 3 ain't bad. 4 Gb model was $60 ish, kit was $110. Romania prices so 19% VAT, possible import taxes yadda yadda.
codetrotter 4y ago
Speaking of clones. I’d be interested to hear how using BananaPi boards have worked out for people, from anyone who has used any of their boards.
giobox 4y ago
One thing which hasn't been great in all this is the communication from the Pi Foundation itself. I've been struggling to buy them for months, the only real public communication on the matter from them has been that blog post in April and this post by Jeff. This is not a great way to communicate with the user base on a tough issue etc. The official blog is just marketing fluff for the most part, almost never mentioning the fact you haven't been able to easily obtain one for over six months. If what Eben told Jeff is the case, why not tell everyone on the blog, or some other public channel? "Ringing up Eben" is not an option for most of us. I also think with prioritizing commercial customers, we should drop the ruse that this thing is an educational board. I honestly don't think education has been a majority of users for a long time, but perhaps i'm grossly mistaken here. > https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/
- esskay 4y ago
  I think what makes it worse is the "No, piss off" attitude of their forum team when anyone asks for an update, followed by locking the thread.
  - sounds 4y ago
    In all fairness, a forum thread would collect a bunch of anecdata but is not an official way to request a sale. If the Raspberri Pi foundation doesn't want to sell you their product, there's no way you can force them to sell you one. That there are no blog posts probably just means that some exec from Broadcom told Eben not to post anything.
  - shuuv4678igt 4y ago
    what do you all expect from a company that markets as the most open platform that is full of closed firmware and NDAs?
    - stjohnswarts 4y ago
      Everything is a tradeoff. They get parts for cheap from certain manufacturers. Those have proprietary firmware that you and I can't have the source code to. Everything else is open source. For me, that's fine. It lets me buy them for much cheaper. You could probably design your own board and find completely open source hardware and software yourself, but I doubt if there's much profit in it. If you have a better path and can keep the board as cheap as it is then you should probably get in touch with their engineers.
NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
>They are currently producing 400,000 Raspberry Pis per month. That is 4.8 million a year. So it's not like they're not trying. Where are they all going? OEMS, sure. But what do they end up being used as? What consumer tech? What tech? What field(s)? Pre-post edit: This thread has a ton of answers: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33072316 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33072316
xer0x 4y ago
I've been waiting 6 months!!
brk 4y ago
I mentioned this in another RPi thread, I've had good luck with the LePotato as an alternative to the Pi (https://libre.computer/products/s905x/ https://libre.computer/products/s905x/). The hardware footprint is 99% similar to the Pi, it works with the standard cases. Has the same 40 pin header, etc. The default RPi images usually won't run on it, you are better off with an ARMbian build, or tweaking your own. So, it's good for linux hobbyists, or anyone that can handle the minor differences between it and an actual RPi. They are ~$55, and usually in stock on Amazon.
nfriedly 4y ago
> They are currently producing 400,000 Raspberry Pis per month. Wow, I had no idea. I wonder what all those OEMs are doing with all those Pis?
deleted 4y ago
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pGuitar 4y ago
Get in-stock alerts from here: https://rpilocator.com/?instock https://rpilocator.com/?instock There's some stock in the US usually on Wednesday mornings if you are quick... I just sold a used Pi for 3 times what I paid for it
paxys 4y ago
You can buy a Raspberry Pi – if you are an OEM and are using the board in a commercial product. It is simply not for hobbyists anymore.
Havoc 4y ago
Bought a 8gb one two weeks ago. Had to accept a HAT combo but overall not a terrible deal on pricing. Out of stock now, but I see they have refurb 4gb in stock. https://www.okdo.com/p/refurbished-raspberry-pi-4-model-b-4gb-pristine/ https://www.okdo.com/p/refurbished-raspberry-pi-4-model-b-4g...
jupp0r 4y ago
Banana Pi variants from Aliexpress are still shipping for affordable prices if you are willing to wait a few weeks for shipping from China.
ben174 4y ago
I've been struggling with this so long. I've been following https://rpilocator.com https://rpilocator.com -- but nothing is available. I've been spending so much on ebay trying to buy pi's for my personal projects in my home. It sucks :(
conductr 4y ago
Several years ago, I got some raspberry pi’s and some arduinos. I taught myself how to make hardware stuff, so much so that I built a salad making robot during Covid lockdown. Anyways I pretty quickly went the arduino route back then and haven’t touched raspberry pi in years. What is the use case where people need raspberry pi? I can see if you were trying to run a cheap full OS computer for some reason. But many people are talking about wishing they had them for hardware projects and I remember the raspberry pi being overkill for my uses. The arduino was simpler for me to use so I never quite get why I’d use the raspberry pi for a hardware project.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
boboche 4y ago
2 years to get a PiStorm amiga accelerator at a decent price (https://github.com/captain-amygdala/pistorm https://github.com/captain-amygdala/pistorm) due to chip shortage. Finally managed to get 3 PiStorm boards (for a more decent price than the scams off ebay), but I have only one Pi 3B, and the 3A+ or Zero 2 are nowhere to be found Only option is to buy 3B/B+ which are a little more common, at 3x+ the price, and unsolder the usb connector. Sure feels like back in the amiga days when I was waiting for the Emplant to emulate a PC and whatnot... or waiting for Gateway, Escom, etc... to do something useful... Come to think of it, it's a perfect retro experience WITH post-1994 frustrations of waiting with constant hopes and failures as a bonus :)
philcrocket 4y ago
For those who only need a few boards, rpilocator has been a great resource. Adafruit typically releases a handful every week on Wednesday I believe. (Check out rpilocator's Twitter feed as they typically give folks a heads up before the Adafruit drop: @rpilocator) They do limit 1 per customer per month though.. Also backordered a 4GB version on Digikey and it came through only a week later. (Good timing on my part I guess!) It took a few months to get to this point so patience is the name of the game for sure until the market cools off a bit.
mdmglr 4y ago
Been unable to secure a pi for the last few years. Of the Pi’s I do have performance has been bad. With the outrageous prices for used Pi’s I have decided to leave the ecosystem. I’ve also improved my understanding of circuits. So I now use esp32. If I need more power I’ve found x86 systems cheap on eBay and I’ve made my own gpio over usb. So no need for a Pi ever again.
Helmut10001 4y ago
I got my 2x RPi Zero WH and 1x RPi 4 just before the crisis. Especially the Pi Zero WH is awesome in the current energy crisis in Europe, by only consuming 0.7 Watt on average (I tested this myself). Using it for a) Reading my Digital Elecricity Meter to InfluxDB 2.0 (I have Photovoltaik, so there's need for monitoring), and b) Snapcast Clients for my Stereo and other Room Soundboxes (connected to Iris/Mopidy for multiroom audio). Sad that there are such delivery problems. One alternative (that isn't mentioned) could be Hardkernel/Odroid. I have a Odroid XU4/CS2 that works nicely as a NAS for remote backup.
animitronix 4y ago
The shortage seems to be over in the auto industry, GPU prices are back to normal... I still don't understand why there's a shortage on Pis after reading the article with that broader context in mind.
copperx 4y ago
But has it ever been possible to buy a Raspberry Pi at retail price? Ever since they were introduced, I have not been able to buy them at MSRP.
- HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
  Yes. Until the last year or so, I've never seen them selling above MSRP (in the US).
xupybd 4y ago
https://www.pbtech.co.nz/brand/Raspberry%20Pi?sfr=raspberry+pi https://www.pbtech.co.nz/brand/Raspberry%20Pi?sfr=raspberry+...
sandos 4y ago
I very recently did buy a pi 4 in Sweden without problem, but it was only in stock at a few retailers, but at the moment they are impossible to buy more or less, unless you are willing to pay THREE times over MSRP. I actually bought it for saving money on retiring servers using expensive electricity, but it was already a sketchy proposition and would take months to earn back. At even more expensive it would not have been worth it.
UltraViolence 4y ago
I wonder if Raspberry Pi isn't walking a thin line between a hobbyist tool and a commercial product. I mean, their support is so good that many commercial companies are using Pi's as the basis for their products, leading to shortages. This leaves many hobbyists, students and tinkers, the original group the Pi was created for, wanting. I have very mixed feelings about this.
rldjbpin 4y ago
i wonder how many of the commenters own several iterations or current models of the RPi. i am still happily chugging along on the OG model B; only if it could route traffic a bit faster. while the foundation became too successful to the point they are dependent upon by other companies, the enthusiast part of the consumer market is not helping either.

287 points by unnouinceput 4y ago

Hmm I was wondering what happened to them. I'm debating getting a rockpi or orangepi, but just like the article suggests I like raspberry pi for their support.

pkwillard 4y ago

RPI Foundation raising the price does not mean that they can then just "make more". If they can't get the chips they need, they can't make more and the supply/demand price relationship concept falls apart. This does not justify the scalpers prices either. Former companies like Data General and Digital Equipment loved getting a lot of money for their computers but where are they now?

politelemon 4y ago

My lack of imagination lacks the imagination to address this: > They are still prioritizing OEM customers (who have built their products around the Pi) OEMs use RPis? What are they using it for, does anyone know, got any examples? I've always assumed RPis to be a hobbyist tool. All the blog posts, documentation, examples I encounter are around the hobbyist's mindset. I've not encountered any "business" oriented documentation or examples or blogs. Edit: Everyone, thanks for the examples. I'm going through each one. It's like a whole new world opened to me.

wl 4y ago
Soma Shades used to have a "Soma Connect" device whose sole purpose in the world was to communicate with their shade controllers via Bluetooth and make them controllable over WiFi or ethernet. Just checking their website just now, it is now a strictly bring-your-own Pi arrangement, presumably because they can't get them, either.
MisterTea 4y ago
Industrial automation is one use case: https://revolutionpi.com/ https://revolutionpi.com/
matt3D 4y ago
I believe companies use them in tools like air quality monitors, time lapse cameras in construction and other small batch boutique hardware. I believe most of them don't advertise the fact they use Raspberry Pis as it might cheapen their offering in the eyes of customers
ashton314 4y ago
Not sure if this counts, but Gardyn[1] uses a Raspberry Pi Zero W in their second-gen system. (Can't speak to the first-gen.) They leave an SSH port open (found with nmap) and I've asked support if I can have the password, but they won't give it to me. >:( My system is now currently powered down. I think it'd be cool if someone were to reverse engineer it and write their own FOSS firmware for the system. Shouldn't be too hard, right? [1]: https://mygardyn.com/ https://mygardyn.com/
- flutas 4y ago
  > uses a Raspberry Pi Zero W in their second-gen system (assuming it's a standard version and you haven't already) Couldn't you just grab the SD card out of it and inspect the file system, then try to get the password through that? You'd have to spend some time bruteforcing it most likely, but it should eventually (tbh, seeing solutions like this I'd expect quickly) give you the password.
  - ashton314 4y ago
    Wow! What a great idea! I definitely would never do that because it'd violate their TOS. Don't ask me how I know that it's a Zero W in the first place because opening the thing up is a big no-no. Yup. Would never do such a thing… Never ever… No way… Nu-uh… Nope nope nope the land of ten thousand nopes…
    - someweirdperson 4y ago
      When first reading this it sounded really strange. Buying a device and TOS don't really fit. Checking the website it seems to be a kind of PaaS, plant as a service. Am I reading that website correctly? They are offering remotely-managed plants for rent?
- abdullahkhalids 4y ago
  Can you provide a review of their product? Is it any good? What do you actually get out of it?
uoaei 4y ago
I could see it being folded into custom IoT / home automation setups where a relatively low-power controller is used just to coordinate signals across a network. Or how they are often used as dashboard-machines for home infra like solar panel setups.
- eisa01 4y ago
  Futurehome did use Pi's inside their hub, but may have moved to a custom board with the latest version https://futurehome.io https://futurehome.io
- geerlingguy 4y ago
  Many go into service as Home Assistant servers (and Nabu Casa is even making their own product for this purpose, the Home Assistant Yellow: https://www.crowdsupply.com/nabu-casa/home-assistant-yellow https://www.crowdsupply.com/nabu-casa/home-assistant-yellow). There are also hundreds of boards that work with the CM4 to build different types of systems or integrate into automation, industrial gear, and commercial products—this is a tiny listing that doesn't even cover stuff that uses the Pi 4 or older Pi models: https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com/boards_cm https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com/boards_cm
- deleted 4y ago
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blamazon 4y ago
For the market that I've seen, don't think "OEMs making products for the consumer market", rather "OEMs making solutions for the business market." RasPIs are huge in industrial automation for example. Sure, you likely won't find them at the Ford Motor Companies of the world, but at Tony's Midwest Hotel Supplying Baking Company? Absolutely, all over the place. Put together by crafty integrators at the lowest possible cost.
- _joel 4y ago
  It's not always lowest possible cost for hardware, there are cheaper SBCs ;) (edit for clarity)
  - redblacktree 4y ago
    Perhaps when you factor in development/engineering time. The machine is only a part of the cost of an automation project.
    - dghlsakjg 4y ago
      This is exactly it. I work at a company that has used raspi's in hardware. There are cheaper alternatives, but there are not better supported alternatives. The most expensive rPi is a rounding error in terms of engineering time. Why bother saving ~$30 if you have to spend $1k worth of engineering time to diagnose a compatibility issue on some less well documented board.
      - megous 4y ago
        "Support." Wake me up when one of the Rpi boards starts supporting basics like suspend to RAM.
        _joel 4y ago
        Is that needed a lot in industrial apps?
munificent 4y ago
> OEMs use RPis? What are they using it for, does anyone know, got any examples? Korg released a few new digital synthesizers in the past couple of years: Opsix, Wavestate, and Modwave. They are all running Raspberry Pis inside.
- copperx 4y ago
  I understand, but why? Texas Instruments has a big catalog of cheap and DSP-capable chips.
AlanYx 4y ago
I think this is referring to OEMs like ClockworkPi, Pi-Top, and Kano.
senko 4y ago
> OEMs use RPis? Yes. As an example, we use RPi in MusicBox[0], together with HifiBerry[1] sound card, as a music player appliance. In fact, you can still buy (well, you could, if you could buy any) RPi 1's, since OEMs tend to standardize and stick to a platform. Our base platform is 1B+, for example. [0] https://musicbox.com.hr/ https://musicbox.com.hr/ (Croatian only, sorry, it's for the local market) [1] https://www.hifiberry.com/ https://www.hifiberry.com/
_joel 4y ago
Massive user base, great documentation, they're supported for 10 years, Have industrial cases and a plethora of accessories (not cheap, some of them), easy to swap compute units.
emilecantin 4y ago
I have a MarineTraffic antenna at home, and it uses a Comar AIS receiver. The first one I got was a purpose-built device, but they later sent me an "upgraded" version from this series: https://comarsystems.com/product-tag/intelligent/ https://comarsystems.com/product-tag/intelligent/ I opened it up and I can confirm it has a Rpi inside.
xani_ 4y ago
Here are two https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/wavestate/ https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/wavestate/ https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/opsix/ https://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/opsix/ Although that's with the CM3
- throw_m239339 4y ago
  the modwave too.
thephyber 4y ago
Some TVs user RPis: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/tv-thats-not-necs-pi-powered-55-display https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2022/tv-thats-not-necs-pi-...
- adolph 4y ago
  Probably should look into what TVs were using Pis a couple years ago, buy them refurb/2nd-hand and resell the Pis at profit.
- HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
  Huh. Wished I had known about that. I built a system for a customer that used RPi 4 to drive a few large TV's in this size class.
cylinder714 4y ago
ISTR that Wyse Technology (fond memories of their WY-60 terminals) made thin clients out of Raspberry Pis. Stratodesk makes them now: https://www.stratodesk.com/solutions/raspberry-pi-thin-client/ https://www.stratodesk.com/solutions/raspberry-pi-thin-clien... How Good is the new Raspberry Pi 4 as a Thin Client? (2019) https://www.stratodesk.com/how-good-is-the-new-raspberry-pi-4-as-a-thin-client/ https://www.stratodesk.com/how-good-is-the-new-raspberry-pi-...
wvenable 4y ago
Look like you can get one inside of a DevTerm: https://www.clockworkpi.com/product-page/devterm-kit-cm4-series https://www.clockworkpi.com/product-page/devterm-kit-cm4-ser...
jamesfmilne 4y ago
We use a CM3 in our Blackboard Classic control surface: https://www.filmlight.ltd.uk/products/control/range_cn/index_cn.php#BBC https://www.filmlight.ltd.uk/products/control/range_cn/index...
joemi 4y ago
It's not the biggest OEM marketplace by a longshot (more of a boutique marketplace), but there are a few modules for modular synthesizers that use RPi's inside. The two I can think off off the top of my head: Sleepy Circuits Hypno and Erogenous Tones Structure, both video synthesis modules.
petre 4y ago
Analog Devices uses it to build osciloscopes or clock generators.
malfist 4y ago
For astrophotography ZWO has a custom distro for pi and extra hardware for custom, wireless control of an astrophotography setup, telescope, tripod, camera and all. https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/asiair-plus https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/asiair-plus
xondono 4y ago
> OEMs use RPis? It is used in a lot of products, specially legacy products that have been given a “facelift” to switch from buttons + screen to touchscreen. I’ve been always against it when it comes to the non-CM versions. The foundation receives donations, both private and public, and works as a non-profit with the original goal of giving every kid a computer, and now more broadly to teach through their platform. Having private companies leeching off it for me is very much scummy behavior. A company I worked for used the 2B, 3B and 3B+ in a bunch of products. My complaints were dutifully archived in the trash.
- nemothekid 4y ago
  >Having private companies leeching off it for me is very much scummy behavior. The private companies are funding the foundation. It’s hard to call it leeching when the pi is a comparatively expensive board compared to alternatives
  - xondono 4y ago
    > The private companies are funding the foundation. Except that if you look at their financials, it’s clear that they make very little on them. The sales of Rpis are not how they keep going, it’s all the other activities around it. > It’s hard to call it leeching when the pi is a comparatively expensive board compared to alternatives It’s not only about COGs, support is a big ticket in this area, and one that most manufacturers are way behind. Also, yes, there are some cheaper SBCs, but most of them are sold at “ask us for price”, and they aren’t any cheaper, especially at low volumes.
    - sangnoir 4y ago
      > Except that if you look at their financials, it’s clear that they make very little on them. As opposed to losing money, which is what happens with consumer sales with at least one model, hence limiting to one per customer
      - xondono 4y ago
qbasic_forever 4y ago
The compute module is specially made for companies to integrate into products. Around the time they introduced the first compute module years ago they split Raspberry Pi into a formal company (with CEO etc) and a non profit charity/foundation. You've seen a lot of what the foundation has done but there's also a profit seeking company behind Raspberry Pi too.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
jorl17 4y ago
Smart lockers, for one. Though we’re getting rid of the Pi ASAP in part due to these supply issues.
HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
A project I led shipped a system based on multiple RPi's used basically as web kiosks to drive large TV's monitors. We also built another Pi-based system used for monitoring equipment remotely, but I wasn't part of that effort. I've come across a commercial HVAC system (like the big units on top of office buildings) based on the RPi Compute Module. Actually seen that from two different companies. There was a subreddit that's now subsumed into /r/Raspberry_pi that was all about sightings of Pi's used in commercial products like airport displays, billboards, kiosks, etc.
coolspot 4y ago
I know for sure that anti-icing system of thr Crimean Bridge is running on raspberry pi, for example.

MisterTea 4y ago

I must have been very lucky when 2GB pi4's showed up at the local Microcenter in August as I have been unable to find another since.

jamesgeck0 4y ago
My Microcenter hasn't even had a Pico in stock for months.
geerlingguy 4y ago
Micro Center is hit or miss—each location gets little batches here or there. But every time I've heard there's stock at my local store, they're gone by the time I can go check on it. The longest stock lasted was about 24 hours a couple months ago. I think people have scrapers even for their local Micro Center website so they can find when they're in stock and go snag one immediately. The Micro Center near me usually has a large bag full of Pico and Pico W, though, as well as practically every HAT and official Pi accessory.
- MisterTea 4y ago
  This was NYC Flushing and they limit to one per in-store customer. Believe it or not there were a little over 50 of them and the stock lasted about 5 or 6 days. I waited two days before going and there were still like 30 of them. Picos are all over.

rjsw 4y ago

I mentored a Google Summer of Code project that used a RPi3, I think it would have gone better if I had been able to get one myself.

_joel 4y ago

Really needs to be a resale market imho. Loads in my drawer that are doing nothing and I'm not too fussed about putting them on eBay for what it's worth, but maybe if there looked like proper forum (however how long until those got bought for resale for a markup, I dunno)

archontes 4y ago
reddit.com/r/hardwareswap will buy 'em
- _joel 4y ago
  Cool, will take a look (if I remember!)
rjsw 4y ago
From trying to get one on eBay, I'm sure you could sell them for more than you paid.
senko 4y ago
If they're B's and you can ship em to Europe, ping me (email in profile), I'd probably buy the whole lot.

Isamu 4y ago

If you are looking to buy, here’s tips and tricks from rpilocator: https://rpilocator.com/tips-and-tricks.cfm https://rpilocator.com/tips-and-tricks.cfm

djhworld 4y ago

In the UK, I've seen a lot of vendors (when they do get stock in) only sell them as part of a bundle, with power adapter, case, SD card, usb and hdmi cables etc, which adds £20-£30 onto the price of the Pi. Probably partly as it's extra profit, but also to discourage multi-buys I guess. I dunno if it discourages the scalpers. These bundles never appear on rpilocater.

sidewndr46 4y ago
At that kind of price you can just buy an all-in-one Intel box off Ali Express
- tvb12 4y ago
  I was looking at those recently. They're all small, sub $200, and usually have a Celeron N5105. Do you have to worry about Linux support when you're looking at something like that, or will it work pretty much out of the box?
  - sidewndr46 4y ago
    I have one running Alpine Linux on it presently. Seems to just work for the most part. Nothing weird about it I have found yet.
gambiting 4y ago
I was about to comment - there's absolutely no issue buying an RPi4 in the UK currently, if you don't mind buying a bundle. Pimoroni has few different ones in stock currently. And yes it discourages the scalpers - while the stuff you get in the bundle is usually worth the price being asked for it, to a scalper it's worth 0 and it makes it difficult to make profit flipping the boards themselves. Same principle is successfully used to fight PS5 scalpers.
- enlyth 4y ago
  I wouldn't say there's 'absolutely no issue' buying one in the UK, I just checked on Pimoroni and they're all out of stock, every single one: https://shop.pimoroni.com/collections/raspberry-pi?product_type=Raspberry%20Pi https://shop.pimoroni.com/collections/raspberry-pi?product_t... I wasn't able to actually find any website other than eBay at 100+ quid that have them in stock, even as kits.

donatj 4y ago

I started a little hardware project about a month ago. Was going to use one of my pre-existing Raspberry Pi's but the shield didn't get along with my existing cases and I didn't want to bother disassembling them. Rather than remove one from their case, I decided to run to Microcenter to just grab a new one. Nope. Not a single Raspberry Pi in stock. I was honestly shocked. I was completely unaware of the shortage.

Karrot_Kream 4y ago
The convenience of having RPis in brick-and-mortar locations near me has been one of my favorite things about the Pi. It was like being able to stop at a local Radio Shack or Frys and pick up ICs back in the day.

thom_ 4y ago

The orange pi’s are so nice now. They come w a metal box just like a Mac mini

drewzero1 4y ago
Haven't seen that, I'll have to check it out! I've got an orange pi zero and zero2. The zero fits great in an Altoids tin, with a bit of extra space for the power cord.

causi 4y ago

One of the unfortunate side effects of the ongoing RPi shortage is the shrinkage of the accessories market. A lot of the coolest stuff still isn't available for the Model 4, like the SNES enclosure with working buttons and USB ports in the controller ports.

_abox 4y ago

Jeff is always a raspberry foundation supporter. I do feel a bit more pushback is needed. The other companies he mentions like Apple and Nvidia have shown considerable improvement in recent months. The raspberry is only ever harder to get. I have a feeling Broadcom is the main problem here, they probably prioritize other customers. Which is surprising in some ways because a lot of raspberry pi foundation members are ex-broadcom or still even work there. However I guess the other companies are willing to offer more whereas if the pi became more expensive there would be a lot of uproar (and rightly so because it defeats the purpose)

wmf 4y ago
I wonder what Broadcom's endgame is. They appear to be selling the SoC very cheap to the foundation. I thought maybe this is to encourage other customers to buy that same SoC at a higher price but it appears they don't sell it. If there's no path for Broadcom to make reasonable margins then of course they have no incentive to increase production.
- pclmulqdq 4y ago
  The pi foundation was started by a group of Broadcom engineers. If not for that connection, Broadcom would likely have never given them the time of day - they are notoriously bad to deal with if you are a small company. It's possible they see this as some sort of marketing, but I don't think they are using it to drive a sales funnel of low-volume customers.
  - nerfhammer 4y ago
    if broadcom were supplying at below cost as a marketing expenditure it would explain a bunch of things such as why raspberry pi doesn't allow bulk sales but would give them away with magazines
    - GekkePrutser 4y ago
      It doesn't, but the foundation does make a loss on the zero as far as I remember (remember reading somewhere..) which is why they never lifted the "one per order" restriction. It's very annoying because I give trainings sometimes and it would be nice to give each participant one.

odysseus 4y ago

When I ordered a Pi 4 from CanaKit back in January, it took 54 days to get to my house. It felt like a long wait at the time, but looking back, it wasn't that bad, given the chip shortage. Took me another month to get around to setting it up anyway.

ewzimm 4y ago

Supporting OEMs is definitely the right choice. I even shifted a project away from the pi for now because of the shortage, and there are alternatives, but if I had already invested in product that depended on them and couldn’t order them, it would be a much bigger loss. Even from a hobbyist point of view, I’d feel more confident using them knowing that OEMs get priority shipments.

ozim 4y ago
Second that opinion I think OEMs provide so much value to the Foundation that goes to the hobbyists in the end that I cannot be angry that I cannot buy a Pi just because I want.
- thewataccount 4y ago
  I'd rather have a hard time finding a pi then have them go out of business. Basically if this is survival mode during the chip shortage, I hope they can do everything possible to make it through this in good shape. Also I have enough pi's for my needs already, I'd love to build a cluster but IMO cluster projects should be of the lowest priority customers.
  - momentary 4y ago
    For learning purposes, you don't really need that many Raspberry Pis to get started. I recently slapped together a cluster with 3 pi and figure I'll add more overtime as I need/desire them. I do agree, though, that cluster projects should have a low priority!
justizin 4y ago
i disagree, the rpi is not just a hobbyist tool, it's a learning tool and something for folks creating on the low-end or implementing custom solutions to use. For a major vendor (someone linked some korg devices below) to loot this market is no better than the auto vendors who are buying washing machines simply to pull out microcontrollers, or cryptominers destroying the GPU market. Major vendors can hire fabs to push out their own designs. The RPi is a licensed implementation of ARM, it isn't an industrial platform, from a supply chain point of view, clearly. Everyone who is shipping a product based on RPi is doing so because they were able to get cheap individual samples to build on. Now that's not possible for new folks. RPi was designed as an affordable learning computer, now there is not an affordable learning computer available to anyone who can't buy 10,000 parts or whatever.

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sidewndr46 4y ago

I ordered from CanaKit back in July of 2021. Still no update on my order. Claims it doesn't exist when I contacted them about it.

armatav 4y ago

They’ve been supply constrained for years; regardless of current events.

tpmx 4y ago
They were annoyingly supply constrained the first 2 years iirc. And the last 1.5 years or so. But for a long stretch in the middle there (like 2014-2021), not so much.
- geerlingguy 4y ago
  Yeah, until mid-2021, I could reliably find the majority of Pi models in stock (usually with 10+ units) at my local Micro Center—and that was including CM4s, which quickly disappeared off the shelves and by September 2021 were unobtanium.
  - NaturalPhallacy 4y ago
    Yep, just look at ccc: https://i.imgur.com/2jzmhhA.png https://i.imgur.com/2jzmhhA.png I got mine last July before the spike: https://i.imgur.com/2jzmhhA.png https://i.imgur.com/2jzmhhA.png
- djhworld 4y ago
  From what I remember with the launch of the Pi, I think the demand far exceeded their expectations. Remember that the thing was launched as an educational computer for schools, with a model A and B variant. At least from this article [1] it sounds like they contracted the work to build the boards out to Premier Farnell/Element 14. They originally had to do a lot of the manufacturing in China to keep the board cost low. Eventually Sony stepped in and offered production capacity at a place in Wales UK which I think improved availability a lot. [1] https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/made-in-the-uk/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/made-in-the-uk/

mkl95 4y ago

Coincidentally I was browsing for Raspberry Pi 4 Model B yesterday. They are ranging anywhere from $100 to $350 in my country. That's a big nope.

dugmartin 4y ago

Any suggestions for a generic cheap but good ITX running Linux from a vendor I could use for a small home server? I have two System76 Meerkats which I love (one for personal, one for work) but I don't want to fork out that much money for a home server to host things like PiHole and VaultWarden. I looked around last month for a RPi but as this article says they aren't to be found.

prometheus76 4y ago
I recently bought a used thinkpad from my local university surplus store for $25. Installed Linux Mint on it, then pihole and it's now my home lan ad blocker. Love it.
TranquilMarmot 4y ago
I was going to ask this as well; I'm thinking about setting up a pihole but not sure what to buy for it.
- pyprism 4y ago
  1.5 years ago I bought a Orange Pi Zero for less than 20 USD. I am using this device for pihole. Without any issue, it is running smoothly.
- synergy20 4y ago
  search for 'orange pi zero LTS', shipping included is less than $30 now, I got it for $18 all included before the pandemic(a case, power adaptor). it's solid to run pihole for me.
- squarefoot 4y ago
  Pretty much anything that can run Linux and has a network port would work. Most languages, libraries and well known software has been ported to work the same way on a lot of hardware. Save for low level hardware specific code, the rest is more or less standard. The Orange Pi other users suggested is a good choice, as would be the very similar NanoPi, and many others. However, although the scarcity hits more the popular boards such as the Raspberries, others also became somewhat harder to find, so I would suggest for example to take note of which board is supported by a well known distribution, then look for vendors offering it. A good start would be the Armbian and DietPI download sections in which you can easily find dozens of boards and devices with their support status. https://www.armbian.com/download/?device_support=Supported https://www.armbian.com/download/?device_support=Supported https://dietpi.com/#download https://dietpi.com/#download

outworlder 4y ago

It seems that Pine64 has good boards that would be useful for many tasks performed by PIs, at a pretty good price. They say they have them all in stock, I'm probably going to pull the trigger as I don't need any raspberry-specific shields. https://pine64.com/product-category/single-board-computers/ https://pine64.com/product-category/single-board-computers/

BanazirGalbasi 4y ago
I recently purchased a Quartz64B, which turns out to be a very new model. If you're looking at a board from Pine64, I'd say go for the Rock64 if you want something more likely to work with your preferred OS.

FeistySkink 4y ago

Jeff, if you're reading this, your website is pretty much unreadable without the reader view in Firefox. It's not just the tiny font which is solved by zooming, it's the combination of font choice and white text on black background.

spullara 4y ago
I think you might be in dark mode and Jeff doesn't use it. It is perfectly readable to me but it is black text on a white background.
- mtmail 4y ago
  Yes, that's it @media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) body { color: #eee; background-color: #000; }
jcynix 4y ago
I see black text on white background in Firefox (and Chrome) here. So this might be a problem on your side? But otherwise, yes the font is way to small.
- meragrin_ 4y ago
  Nope, it is the site. The CSS contains white text on black background for "dark" color scheme.
mike256 4y ago
Some kind of weird browser configuration? I see black font on white background...
- vultour 4y ago
  Your system isn't set to prefer dark mode.
- LeifCarrotson 4y ago
  If "Settings->Theme->Dark" is a weird browser configuration, then yes. I see white font on a black background, which looks great on many other pages and doesn't hurt my eyes looking at sunspots while most of the page is basically staring at the sun. There are dozens of us - dozens! - and Jeff's page looks uniquely bad. Something about the font weight, perhaps? The strokes are so thin as to disappear. Zooming to 150% makes it much more readable.

taf2 4y ago

I find this very frustrating as well... I got a nice fridge/freezer alarm project working with the pi pico w - and while it also works with esp32 boards the pi pico is supposed to be like $5... but last I checked on amazon... it was $100... gonna stick with esp32 until it is actually $5...

skybrian 4y ago
Haven't tried to buy it yet, but it looks like the Pico W is available now on Digikey and PiShop.us without a markup.
gambiting 4y ago
They have been consistently in stock at RRP here in UK for a long time, I bought half a dozen of them for various IoT projects around the house in the last 6 months, never had any trouble finding them https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico-w?variant=40059369619539 https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico-w?varia...
bmicraft 4y ago
The pico (w) had pretty good availability from most official resellers everytime I checked. Sellers on amazon often jack up the price which is why you shouldn't buy a pi on there. See "Buy now" on https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-pico/ for your country

grepLeigh 4y ago

Raspberry Pi availability has been such a bottleneck for PrintNanny.ai (deployed to a Raspberry Pi 4). Rather than wait around for stock to become available, I've decided to expand to Rock Pi and Orange Pi. I had to roll my own Linux distro and build tools to match the experience provided by the Raspberry Pi Foundation (e.g. SD card imaging tool). ... but where there's a will, there's a way. https://twitter.com/grepLeigh/status/1572683931769778176 https://twitter.com/grepLeigh/status/1572683931769778176

kubota 4y ago

Sometimes people write iot projects and target the pi because they are familiar with it (it's like a computer with gpio) when their use case could be better served by a less powerful microcontroller such as the esp32. Perhaps people in this group can use this as an opportunity to learn esp32 development. It's arduino ide compatible and has good support on platformio.

gambiting 4y ago
That's what the Pico is meant to be for. In my experience RP2040 equipped boards are cheaper than similar ESP32 boards, and they both run MicroPython.
- nottorp 4y ago
  I don't know, I tried to use micropython on some esp32 board and ran out of ram after the first few tests. Maybe my board was just ram starved, but my impression is you want to go bare metal with the ESP.
  - gambiting 4y ago
    Depends what you're doing I guess. My most complex project is a network enabled display that shows all the stats from my PC, it queries my machine every second and displays graphs for temperature and GPU/CPU usage. No issues with micropython and an ESP32 board doing that.
- chasd00 4y ago
  The rp2040 as an Adafruit Feather works great for me. No floating point unit though. I have an old Pi Zero W and I love it. I watch Adafruit for the new version constantly but no luck.
mastax 4y ago
Even the ESP32 is a bit "like a computer" compared to most microcontrollers. It's usually used with its stock RTOS which has its own tasks for WiFi, HTTPS, etc. and has a filesystem. Your apps are separate modules inside the RTOS system which sticks around. That's not a super unusual setup for a microcontroller system, though those types of systems were often larger industrial systems running WindRiver VxWorks, etc. not cheap chips for your IoT lightbulbs. Even when using an RTOS my perception is the most common setup is that the RTOS is just compiled and linked into your firmware image like any other library. It was a bit of a culture shock when I started using ESP32s because I can't buy STM32s anymore. I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to embedded systems and I didn't like the idea of having someone else's code control so much of the chip, but it's the pragmatic choice.

cjcampbell 4y ago

A lot of folks have pointed to rpilocator, but my experience is that they made the situation far worse. Prior to the launch, I was able to buy a couple of pi’s per month without too much effort (registering for stock notifications). Since rpilocator, I’ve only managed to buy about 3 pi’s in total. Unless I’m able to drop everything on a notification, there’s no chance. And even if I can do this, I get the feeling that I’m competing against a crowd that’s automated the purchasing process.

samstave 4y ago
What is the top app that ppl are using Rpis for these days, in qty?
- cjcampbell 4y ago
  I can’t speak for others, but I use the Pi for student projects in an undergrad networking course. I previously required students to supply their own, but I now have the option to rent from me at cost. With the current situation, I am not certain that I will have enough supply for my next class.
  - samstave 4y ago
    It wasnt until a few reads to the end of your comment that YOU are renting them to students... Get a thread going on HN requesting old PIs... shoot ive given so many away... but in return, share your coursework/connect your students with other students...

sylware 4y ago

Don't think I'll get anymore raspberry PIs, until they move to 64bits risc-v.

nottorp 4y ago

I was subscribed to stock alerts for a Pi 4 on a local store. I was online when I received the mail that they now have stock. By the time I logged in to order it was all gone :) I did find another at a slightly inflated price and ordered that one. It was a kit with a decent power brick and a useless case. Guess 2 out of 3 ain't bad. 4 Gb model was $60 ish, kit was $110. Romania prices so 19% VAT, possible import taxes yadda yadda.

codetrotter 4y ago

Speaking of clones. I’d be interested to hear how using BananaPi boards have worked out for people, from anyone who has used any of their boards.

giobox 4y ago

One thing which hasn't been great in all this is the communication from the Pi Foundation itself. I've been struggling to buy them for months, the only real public communication on the matter from them has been that blog post in April and this post by Jeff. This is not a great way to communicate with the user base on a tough issue etc. The official blog is just marketing fluff for the most part, almost never mentioning the fact you haven't been able to easily obtain one for over six months. If what Eben told Jeff is the case, why not tell everyone on the blog, or some other public channel? "Ringing up Eben" is not an option for most of us. I also think with prioritizing commercial customers, we should drop the ruse that this thing is an educational board. I honestly don't think education has been a majority of users for a long time, but perhaps i'm grossly mistaken here. > https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/

esskay 4y ago
I think what makes it worse is the "No, piss off" attitude of their forum team when anyone asks for an update, followed by locking the thread.
- sounds 4y ago
  In all fairness, a forum thread would collect a bunch of anecdata but is not an official way to request a sale. If the Raspberri Pi foundation doesn't want to sell you their product, there's no way you can force them to sell you one. That there are no blog posts probably just means that some exec from Broadcom told Eben not to post anything.
- shuuv4678igt 4y ago
  what do you all expect from a company that markets as the most open platform that is full of closed firmware and NDAs?
  - stjohnswarts 4y ago
    Everything is a tradeoff. They get parts for cheap from certain manufacturers. Those have proprietary firmware that you and I can't have the source code to. Everything else is open source. For me, that's fine. It lets me buy them for much cheaper. You could probably design your own board and find completely open source hardware and software yourself, but I doubt if there's much profit in it. If you have a better path and can keep the board as cheap as it is then you should probably get in touch with their engineers.

NaturalPhallacy 4y ago

>They are currently producing 400,000 Raspberry Pis per month. That is 4.8 million a year. So it's not like they're not trying. Where are they all going? OEMS, sure. But what do they end up being used as? What consumer tech? What tech? What field(s)? Pre-post edit: This thread has a ton of answers: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33072316 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33072316

xer0x 4y ago

I've been waiting 6 months!!

brk 4y ago

I mentioned this in another RPi thread, I've had good luck with the LePotato as an alternative to the Pi (https://libre.computer/products/s905x/ https://libre.computer/products/s905x/). The hardware footprint is 99% similar to the Pi, it works with the standard cases. Has the same 40 pin header, etc. The default RPi images usually won't run on it, you are better off with an ARMbian build, or tweaking your own. So, it's good for linux hobbyists, or anyone that can handle the minor differences between it and an actual RPi. They are ~$55, and usually in stock on Amazon.

nfriedly 4y ago

> They are currently producing 400,000 Raspberry Pis per month. Wow, I had no idea. I wonder what all those OEMs are doing with all those Pis?

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pGuitar 4y ago

Get in-stock alerts from here: https://rpilocator.com/?instock https://rpilocator.com/?instock There's some stock in the US usually on Wednesday mornings if you are quick... I just sold a used Pi for 3 times what I paid for it

paxys 4y ago

You can buy a Raspberry Pi – if you are an OEM and are using the board in a commercial product. It is simply not for hobbyists anymore.

Havoc 4y ago

Bought a 8gb one two weeks ago. Had to accept a HAT combo but overall not a terrible deal on pricing. Out of stock now, but I see they have refurb 4gb in stock. https://www.okdo.com/p/refurbished-raspberry-pi-4-model-b-4gb-pristine/ https://www.okdo.com/p/refurbished-raspberry-pi-4-model-b-4g...

jupp0r 4y ago

Banana Pi variants from Aliexpress are still shipping for affordable prices if you are willing to wait a few weeks for shipping from China.

ben174 4y ago

I've been struggling with this so long. I've been following https://rpilocator.com https://rpilocator.com -- but nothing is available. I've been spending so much on ebay trying to buy pi's for my personal projects in my home. It sucks :(

conductr 4y ago

Several years ago, I got some raspberry pi’s and some arduinos. I taught myself how to make hardware stuff, so much so that I built a salad making robot during Covid lockdown. Anyways I pretty quickly went the arduino route back then and haven’t touched raspberry pi in years. What is the use case where people need raspberry pi? I can see if you were trying to run a cheap full OS computer for some reason. But many people are talking about wishing they had them for hardware projects and I remember the raspberry pi being overkill for my uses. The arduino was simpler for me to use so I never quite get why I’d use the raspberry pi for a hardware project.

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boboche 4y ago

2 years to get a PiStorm amiga accelerator at a decent price (https://github.com/captain-amygdala/pistorm https://github.com/captain-amygdala/pistorm) due to chip shortage. Finally managed to get 3 PiStorm boards (for a more decent price than the scams off ebay), but I have only one Pi 3B, and the 3A+ or Zero 2 are nowhere to be found Only option is to buy 3B/B+ which are a little more common, at 3x+ the price, and unsolder the usb connector. Sure feels like back in the amiga days when I was waiting for the Emplant to emulate a PC and whatnot... or waiting for Gateway, Escom, etc... to do something useful... Come to think of it, it's a perfect retro experience WITH post-1994 frustrations of waiting with constant hopes and failures as a bonus :)

philcrocket 4y ago

For those who only need a few boards, rpilocator has been a great resource. Adafruit typically releases a handful every week on Wednesday I believe. (Check out rpilocator's Twitter feed as they typically give folks a heads up before the Adafruit drop: @rpilocator) They do limit 1 per customer per month though.. Also backordered a 4GB version on Digikey and it came through only a week later. (Good timing on my part I guess!) It took a few months to get to this point so patience is the name of the game for sure until the market cools off a bit.

mdmglr 4y ago

Been unable to secure a pi for the last few years. Of the Pi’s I do have performance has been bad. With the outrageous prices for used Pi’s I have decided to leave the ecosystem. I’ve also improved my understanding of circuits. So I now use esp32. If I need more power I’ve found x86 systems cheap on eBay and I’ve made my own gpio over usb. So no need for a Pi ever again.

Helmut10001 4y ago

I got my 2x RPi Zero WH and 1x RPi 4 just before the crisis. Especially the Pi Zero WH is awesome in the current energy crisis in Europe, by only consuming 0.7 Watt on average (I tested this myself). Using it for a) Reading my Digital Elecricity Meter to InfluxDB 2.0 (I have Photovoltaik, so there's need for monitoring), and b) Snapcast Clients for my Stereo and other Room Soundboxes (connected to Iris/Mopidy for multiroom audio). Sad that there are such delivery problems. One alternative (that isn't mentioned) could be Hardkernel/Odroid. I have a Odroid XU4/CS2 that works nicely as a NAS for remote backup.

animitronix 4y ago

The shortage seems to be over in the auto industry, GPU prices are back to normal... I still don't understand why there's a shortage on Pis after reading the article with that broader context in mind.

copperx 4y ago

But has it ever been possible to buy a Raspberry Pi at retail price? Ever since they were introduced, I have not been able to buy them at MSRP.

HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
Yes. Until the last year or so, I've never seen them selling above MSRP (in the US).

xupybd 4y ago

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/brand/Raspberry%20Pi?sfr=raspberry+pi https://www.pbtech.co.nz/brand/Raspberry%20Pi?sfr=raspberry+...

sandos 4y ago

I very recently did buy a pi 4 in Sweden without problem, but it was only in stock at a few retailers, but at the moment they are impossible to buy more or less, unless you are willing to pay THREE times over MSRP. I actually bought it for saving money on retiring servers using expensive electricity, but it was already a sketchy proposition and would take months to earn back. At even more expensive it would not have been worth it.

UltraViolence 4y ago

I wonder if Raspberry Pi isn't walking a thin line between a hobbyist tool and a commercial product. I mean, their support is so good that many commercial companies are using Pi's as the basis for their products, leading to shortages. This leaves many hobbyists, students and tinkers, the original group the Pi was created for, wanting. I have very mixed feelings about this.

rldjbpin 4y ago

i wonder how many of the commenters own several iterations or current models of the RPi. i am still happily chugging along on the OG model B; only if it could route traffic a bit faster. while the foundation became too successful to the point they are dependent upon by other companies, the enthusiast part of the consumer market is not helping either.