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Just to reinforce what another commentor said, Pis were still being made available to sectors like business and education, so vendors who built products around

Just to reinforce what another commentor said, Pis were still being made available to sectors like business and education, so vendors who built products around rpi were still able to operate. We worked on a project in 2021 where we needed around 150 and had no problem sourcing them from a single vendor at MSRP alongside their product. Of course, that's not what I expected since I'd been personally affected by the shortage to retail, and because the others weren't aware of that, I probably looked worried over nothing when I suggested we explore other SBCs.

euniceee3 3y ago
What was the path you took to get volume from vendors? Any links would be most appreciated.
- jccooper 3y ago
  What I did was email business@raspberrypi.com, as suggested at https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/production-and-supply-chain-update/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/production-and-supply-chain...
- washadjeffmad 3y ago
  To clarify, it was from a single vendor who sold a product that was designed around use with particular models of raspi, not bulk individual boards (even though that's how they shipped). This was also two years ago, although we've been able to get more from them since, so I'd recommend calling companies that have any kits or products that include pis and asking them for info on ordering. If you have a procurement office or purchaser, they can help. You'll have to forgive me for not wanting to threaten our golden goose just yet :)
sshine 3y ago
> vendors who built products around rpi were still able to operate > We worked on a project in 2021 where we needed around 150 and had no problem sourcing We had minor sourcing difficulties ordering much fewer for production (10-15).
- KennyBlanken 3y ago
  That's because Eben was telling everyone it was about "protecting jobs" when it was really just about selling to the largest companies. All the cottage industry folks who needed Rpis here and there? They could get fucked as far as Eben was concerned. Basically: greed (lower overhead from larger orders) and more greed (chasing large companies, I guess in the hopes of securing fat, profitable long term contracts, or maybe donations, or both) and probably trying to cut out distributors, too (the "email us and we'll work something out" he kept telling everyone), again because of greed. Raspberry Pi foundation burned their brand image and good will to the ground. Everyone has moved on to using clones, other ARM devices, embedded systems that have AI accelerators, old PCs and laptops, ESP32's, and so on. Half the shit people were doing with Rpis were better suited for things like ESP32's anyway.
  - michrassena 3y ago
    I think I've only ever used the row of GPIO pins on the Pi for UART, and for running the dog-slow screens that use up most of them. These days, I'd put Micropython on a Pi Pico or other MCU for GPIO.
  - whiskers 3y ago
    As a counter point to this we, Pimoroni, supported a few smaller businesses that relied on Raspberry Pi during the shortages with modest numbers in direct coordination with Raspberry Pi. These were not "the largest companies" by any metric. They were often orders of just tens or hundreds of units. It was absolutely about trying to keep commercial users who had locked into the Pi ecosystem viable during the supply chain disruption.

euniceee3 3y ago

What was the path you took to get volume from vendors? Any links would be most appreciated.

jccooper 3y ago
What I did was email business@raspberrypi.com, as suggested at https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/production-and-supply-chain-update/ https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/production-and-supply-chain...
washadjeffmad 3y ago
To clarify, it was from a single vendor who sold a product that was designed around use with particular models of raspi, not bulk individual boards (even though that's how they shipped). This was also two years ago, although we've been able to get more from them since, so I'd recommend calling companies that have any kits or products that include pis and asking them for info on ordering. If you have a procurement office or purchaser, they can help. You'll have to forgive me for not wanting to threaten our golden goose just yet :)

sshine 3y ago

> vendors who built products around rpi were still able to operate > We worked on a project in 2021 where we needed around 150 and had no problem sourcing We had minor sourcing difficulties ordering much fewer for production (10-15).

KennyBlanken 3y ago
That's because Eben was telling everyone it was about "protecting jobs" when it was really just about selling to the largest companies. All the cottage industry folks who needed Rpis here and there? They could get fucked as far as Eben was concerned. Basically: greed (lower overhead from larger orders) and more greed (chasing large companies, I guess in the hopes of securing fat, profitable long term contracts, or maybe donations, or both) and probably trying to cut out distributors, too (the "email us and we'll work something out" he kept telling everyone), again because of greed. Raspberry Pi foundation burned their brand image and good will to the ground. Everyone has moved on to using clones, other ARM devices, embedded systems that have AI accelerators, old PCs and laptops, ESP32's, and so on. Half the shit people were doing with Rpis were better suited for things like ESP32's anyway.
- michrassena 3y ago
  I think I've only ever used the row of GPIO pins on the Pi for UART, and for running the dog-slow screens that use up most of them. These days, I'd put Micropython on a Pi Pico or other MCU for GPIO.
- whiskers 3y ago
  As a counter point to this we, Pimoroni, supported a few smaller businesses that relied on Raspberry Pi during the shortages with modest numbers in direct coordination with Raspberry Pi. These were not "the largest companies" by any metric. They were often orders of just tens or hundreds of units. It was absolutely about trying to keep commercial users who had locked into the Pi ecosystem viable during the supply chain disruption.