4 ms·

In the olden times, when computers were slow and dumb, GPIO or “Parallel Printer Port” as it was sometimes called, was no novelty. Some of us in this dark but i

In the olden times, when computers were slow and dumb, GPIO or “Parallel Printer Port” as it was sometimes called, was no novelty. Some of us in this dark but innocent age, would use our computers for all manner of strange experiments. Driving foolish robots with long tethers, or experimenting with incoherent audio effects. But that was the before time, and todays computers make such play impossible. A PI is an old style computer, just smaller and faster. I can use it as a desktop, then put wires out the back of it to play with an inverse pendulum. Can you do that with a real pc and an Arduino? Sure, but it’s how a little hobby computer ought to be.

kkielhofner 4y ago
I was there for when ECP and EPP were a new thing. Same for 50 ohm resistors on thicknet and plenty of other random things I could rattle off to establish bonafides. I understand what you're saying but the world has evolved - there are plenty of tools for a variety of problems. I have Pis going back to 1B, and they have their place. However, the supply shortage of Pis doesn't come from the use case you're describing. It comes from an entire world of people defaulting to them for anything and everything. There are plenty of kids who want to play with GPIO where a Pi is the best approach who can't get one because there are people trying to build a NAS, a commercial product, drive multiple 4k displays, etc - even though there are plenty of better ways to go about that. At this point Raspberry Pi sucks the oxygen out of the room for so many more appropriate solutions. In many ways the Raspberry Pi is a victim of it's own broad capabilities and success.
- lll-o-lll 4y ago
  I agree with you. I had been assuming the difficulty in buying them was just another “global chip shortage” casualty. There is no denying the impact of a strong community + cheap + multi-capable. Hopefully the shortage will end before long and the PI can once again be a cool little computer for hobbyists.
dTal 4y ago
A USB parallel port adapter is a couple bucks.
- lll-o-lll 4y ago
  Latency is a killer for real-time purposes. Maybe things have improved, but years ago these were all more trouble than they were worth. May as well just use the usb direct.

kkielhofner 4y ago

I was there for when ECP and EPP were a new thing. Same for 50 ohm resistors on thicknet and plenty of other random things I could rattle off to establish bonafides. I understand what you're saying but the world has evolved - there are plenty of tools for a variety of problems. I have Pis going back to 1B, and they have their place. However, the supply shortage of Pis doesn't come from the use case you're describing. It comes from an entire world of people defaulting to them for anything and everything. There are plenty of kids who want to play with GPIO where a Pi is the best approach who can't get one because there are people trying to build a NAS, a commercial product, drive multiple 4k displays, etc - even though there are plenty of better ways to go about that. At this point Raspberry Pi sucks the oxygen out of the room for so many more appropriate solutions. In many ways the Raspberry Pi is a victim of it's own broad capabilities and success.

lll-o-lll 4y ago
I agree with you. I had been assuming the difficulty in buying them was just another “global chip shortage” casualty. There is no denying the impact of a strong community + cheap + multi-capable. Hopefully the shortage will end before long and the PI can once again be a cool little computer for hobbyists.

dTal 4y ago

A USB parallel port adapter is a couple bucks.

lll-o-lll 4y ago
Latency is a killer for real-time purposes. Maybe things have improved, but years ago these were all more trouble than they were worth. May as well just use the usb direct.