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I would gladly purchase many smaller Pi boards if I could get them at anywhere near RRP. I'm not sure why they're so hard get - there seems to still be hobbyist

I would gladly purchase many smaller Pi boards if I could get them at anywhere near RRP. I'm not sure why they're so hard get - there seems to still be hobbyist demand, and there's strong industry demand as well. What's stopping the Pi foundation just upping production?

akiselev 3y ago
> What's stopping the Pi foundation just upping production? My understanding of the rumor mill is that a few years ago the foundation started prioritizing commercial customers over hobbyists. This pissed off Broadcom which makes the processor so now they’re not getting preferential treatment at a time when there’s a lot of demand.
- bitwize 3y ago
  You had one job, Raspberry Pi. Bypassing individual purchasers and attempting to sell to governments and foundations is what tanked OLPC. Raspberry Pi dominated the "cheap educational computer" marketplace simply because you could go out and buy one if you had $35 in your pocket. Targeting businesses is either a dumb move, or the Pi Foundations version of Doctorow's enshittification.
eyegor 3y ago
Depending on your needs, there are a lot of alternatives now. Orange pi or rock boards are fairly similar but much more powerful than the rpi. However they don't compete in the pi zero class, they compete with the higher spec pi boards (4b). If you want a pi zero competitor, I'd suggest the esp32-s3 based boards such as the lilygo t display s3. There are a lot of other options, these are just some that I've used.
ZunarJ5 3y ago
https://rpilocator.com/ https://rpilocator.com/
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- musicale 3y ago
  Remember how easy and fun it was trying to find a PS5 or high-spec GPU card at MSRP in 2020 and 2021? Well you can have the same experience trying to buy a Raspberry Pi in 2023!
RobotToaster 3y ago
>What's stopping the Pi foundation just upping production? Broadcom Specifically they for whatever reason refuse to increase production of the chips the Pis use. But any time you ask why something is wrong in embedded, 50% of the time "broadcom" will be the answer.
- DanAtC 3y ago
  The other 50% is "Qualcomm"
- musicale 3y ago
  > for whatever reason Probably they aren't making much money on them.
petre 3y ago
> I'm not sure why they're so hard get Demand from Ukraine? This is just an example. There are others: drones, SDR scanners using the Pi, etc. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a23774/raspberry-pi-ukrainian-weapon-system/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a23774/ras...

akiselev 3y ago

> What's stopping the Pi foundation just upping production? My understanding of the rumor mill is that a few years ago the foundation started prioritizing commercial customers over hobbyists. This pissed off Broadcom which makes the processor so now they’re not getting preferential treatment at a time when there’s a lot of demand.

bitwize 3y ago
You had one job, Raspberry Pi. Bypassing individual purchasers and attempting to sell to governments and foundations is what tanked OLPC. Raspberry Pi dominated the "cheap educational computer" marketplace simply because you could go out and buy one if you had $35 in your pocket. Targeting businesses is either a dumb move, or the Pi Foundations version of Doctorow's enshittification.

eyegor 3y ago

Depending on your needs, there are a lot of alternatives now. Orange pi or rock boards are fairly similar but much more powerful than the rpi. However they don't compete in the pi zero class, they compete with the higher spec pi boards (4b). If you want a pi zero competitor, I'd suggest the esp32-s3 based boards such as the lilygo t display s3. There are a lot of other options, these are just some that I've used.

ZunarJ5 3y ago

https://rpilocator.com/ https://rpilocator.com/

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
musicale 3y ago
Remember how easy and fun it was trying to find a PS5 or high-spec GPU card at MSRP in 2020 and 2021? Well you can have the same experience trying to buy a Raspberry Pi in 2023!

RobotToaster 3y ago

>What's stopping the Pi foundation just upping production? Broadcom Specifically they for whatever reason refuse to increase production of the chips the Pis use. But any time you ask why something is wrong in embedded, 50% of the time "broadcom" will be the answer.

DanAtC 3y ago
The other 50% is "Qualcomm"
musicale 3y ago
> for whatever reason Probably they aren't making much money on them.

petre 3y ago

> I'm not sure why they're so hard get Demand from Ukraine? This is just an example. There are others: drones, SDR scanners using the Pi, etc. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a23774/raspberry-pi-ukrainian-weapon-system/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a23774/ras...