5 ms·

What are people using all these Raspberry Pis for? Is it really so needed that the price is becoming unaffordable? There are other components in stock, so I’m c

What are people using all these Raspberry Pis for? Is it really so needed that the price is becoming unaffordable? There are other components in stock, so I’m curious what’s demanding an RP4.

doubled112 3y ago
Raspberry Pi decided to focus on their business customers and meet their needs, so trying to find one at retail became difficult.
- anikom15 3y ago
  Yeah but is that really driving the price of them?
  - lvturner 3y ago
    There's a great interview with Eben Upton that explains a lot of this, including what "Business customers" actually are (i.e. mostly mom and pop style enterprises) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_aL9V0JsQQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_aL9V0JsQQ
  - doubled112 3y ago
    More “official” stores never changed their prices. They just never had any. PiShop in Canada, for example, still lists the Pi 4 4GB for $76.95, but rpi locator says last time it was in stock was June 2022. Some item’s have an empty field for last seen and I've been assuming that means the tool has never seen them in stock. So I would have needed to find another way to get it, and scalpers/Amazon never waste a good crisis.
    - anikom15 3y ago
      Just because something goes out of stock doesn’t mean the price will shoot up. There has to be enough demand for it. If there are alternatives (which there are), then the demand won’t increase with shortened supply, it’ll actually decrease at the same rate (or more, if the reputation of ‘hard to acquire’ sticks).
      - doubled112 3y ago
        Always assumed it was just momentum. They are beginner friendly. If you need tutorials, a community, and some sort of support, you have to buy a Pi. Maybe it is different now, but other SBCs just haven’t had those in the past. Raspberry Pis are unique in that sense. You would think this would be the moment to disrupt the market, but I haven't seen much going on. I like my Orange Pi 5 though.
nfriedly 3y ago
I currently have a Pi 2 that I use as a pie hole DNS server, a Pi 4 that I play some retro games on and occasionally use as a desktop PC, and a Pi 0 WH that I'm trying to use to reprogram the flash chip on a different device. I used to have a few more, but I put them on eBay last year. I figured I was doing my part to lessen the shortage, and I'll replace them whenever they come back into regular supply.
- anikom15 3y ago
  It’s weird because all these things can be done with other (better) hardware. The supply chain issues of high-performance semiconductors makes sense to me because there is no alternative. If the price is going up, it really demonstrates the sheer indifference to price people have when it comes to low-cost computing. That is, the value of an RP is in its package and not its price. I really hope it’s not ignorance instead of indifference. Building a computer, even a tiny one, is not hard.
  - stuporglue 3y ago
    Raspberry Pis also get put in to all sorts of places where an embedded board could be used, but the Pi is so much easier. I want to build a digital picture frame with an e-ink frame that pulls photos from a server. The right way would be a low powered processor, but then I have to figure out writing the image, sleep states and wake up, setting up networking etc. in whatever programming language my embedded board supports. Or I can just plug in a pi, and live with the always on power consumption. It's not that I'm ignorant, but I have a limited amount of time and may prioritize project completion over doing it completely right.
    - anikom15 3y ago
      I guess everyone has a different way of building things. I think I would just find an e-reader that has a healthy modding community and rely on that.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
bayindirh 3y ago
They are very powerful and practical for their sizes. This is why some people, incl. me, absolutely love them. I have plethora of this SBCs. A Raspberry Pi 4 is acting as a HiFiBerry system at my parents' home, replacing a component Hi-Fi. With high end 2x35W amplifier and quite a nice software stack, my parents can listen whatever they wish to do with their old high quality speakers in a very practical manner. Sound quality is superb, too. HiFiBerry amplifiers are no slouch. I ran an OrangePi Zero/512MB with BitTorrent, DNS, FTP, Syncthing, WebFS http server. It served as the perfect home server. I'm currently setting up an OrangePi 5B with 8GB RAM to replace my old desktop computer's duties. Cloud backups, video encoding, local DNS, etc. Also, it'll take over the previous Zero's roles too, and with almost no cables, it'll replace and even supersede my old Desktop computer, and make my life much easier. These things are immensely useful.
- zikduruqe 3y ago
  > These things are immensely useful I have a RPi2 that is running a weather website since 2014. Same SD card, insane uptime, and virtually zero maintenance. My other RPi's serve has my Homebridge, Wireguard endpoint, Tailscale exit node, DNS server, Plex, git repos.... Crazy how useful they are.
  - bayindirh 3y ago
    Having a small cluster of these is very fun as a homelab, esp. when combined with 5 port switches from TP-Link and others. I prefer to merge them to a one powerful server, because I already have more than enough servers at the office, and want to keep a minimalist home as much as possible. If the MIMO Wi-Fi chipset works as promised, I'll only attach a single disk and power to this thing, and tuck it away somewhere. What's nice is, Rockchip systems have "heartbeat" LEDs on them, so I'll be able to see whether it's running or not with a single glance.
WillAdams 3y ago
I have two: - one runs a copy of the (now offline) old Shapeoko wiki/forums for reference purposes (much easier than using the Wayback Machine) - the second is in a tablet case and controls a CNC machine I'd like a 3rd to use with a Wacom One tablet screen --- perhaps Einstein will run on that?

What are people using all these Raspberry Pis for? Is it really so needed that the price is becoming unaffordable? There are other components in stock, so I’m curious what’s demanding an RP4.

doubled112 3y ago

Raspberry Pi decided to focus on their business customers and meet their needs, so trying to find one at retail became difficult.

anikom15 3y ago
Yeah but is that really driving the price of them?
- lvturner 3y ago
  There's a great interview with Eben Upton that explains a lot of this, including what "Business customers" actually are (i.e. mostly mom and pop style enterprises) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_aL9V0JsQQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_aL9V0JsQQ
- doubled112 3y ago
  More “official” stores never changed their prices. They just never had any. PiShop in Canada, for example, still lists the Pi 4 4GB for $76.95, but rpi locator says last time it was in stock was June 2022. Some item’s have an empty field for last seen and I've been assuming that means the tool has never seen them in stock. So I would have needed to find another way to get it, and scalpers/Amazon never waste a good crisis.
  - anikom15 3y ago
    Just because something goes out of stock doesn’t mean the price will shoot up. There has to be enough demand for it. If there are alternatives (which there are), then the demand won’t increase with shortened supply, it’ll actually decrease at the same rate (or more, if the reputation of ‘hard to acquire’ sticks).
    - doubled112 3y ago
      Always assumed it was just momentum. They are beginner friendly. If you need tutorials, a community, and some sort of support, you have to buy a Pi. Maybe it is different now, but other SBCs just haven’t had those in the past. Raspberry Pis are unique in that sense. You would think this would be the moment to disrupt the market, but I haven't seen much going on. I like my Orange Pi 5 though.

nfriedly 3y ago

I currently have a Pi 2 that I use as a pie hole DNS server, a Pi 4 that I play some retro games on and occasionally use as a desktop PC, and a Pi 0 WH that I'm trying to use to reprogram the flash chip on a different device. I used to have a few more, but I put them on eBay last year. I figured I was doing my part to lessen the shortage, and I'll replace them whenever they come back into regular supply.

anikom15 3y ago
It’s weird because all these things can be done with other (better) hardware. The supply chain issues of high-performance semiconductors makes sense to me because there is no alternative. If the price is going up, it really demonstrates the sheer indifference to price people have when it comes to low-cost computing. That is, the value of an RP is in its package and not its price. I really hope it’s not ignorance instead of indifference. Building a computer, even a tiny one, is not hard.
- stuporglue 3y ago
  Raspberry Pis also get put in to all sorts of places where an embedded board could be used, but the Pi is so much easier. I want to build a digital picture frame with an e-ink frame that pulls photos from a server. The right way would be a low powered processor, but then I have to figure out writing the image, sleep states and wake up, setting up networking etc. in whatever programming language my embedded board supports. Or I can just plug in a pi, and live with the always on power consumption. It's not that I'm ignorant, but I have a limited amount of time and may prioritize project completion over doing it completely right.
  - anikom15 3y ago
    I guess everyone has a different way of building things. I think I would just find an e-reader that has a healthy modding community and rely on that.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

bayindirh 3y ago

They are very powerful and practical for their sizes. This is why some people, incl. me, absolutely love them. I have plethora of this SBCs. A Raspberry Pi 4 is acting as a HiFiBerry system at my parents' home, replacing a component Hi-Fi. With high end 2x35W amplifier and quite a nice software stack, my parents can listen whatever they wish to do with their old high quality speakers in a very practical manner. Sound quality is superb, too. HiFiBerry amplifiers are no slouch. I ran an OrangePi Zero/512MB with BitTorrent, DNS, FTP, Syncthing, WebFS http server. It served as the perfect home server. I'm currently setting up an OrangePi 5B with 8GB RAM to replace my old desktop computer's duties. Cloud backups, video encoding, local DNS, etc. Also, it'll take over the previous Zero's roles too, and with almost no cables, it'll replace and even supersede my old Desktop computer, and make my life much easier. These things are immensely useful.

zikduruqe 3y ago
> These things are immensely useful I have a RPi2 that is running a weather website since 2014. Same SD card, insane uptime, and virtually zero maintenance. My other RPi's serve has my Homebridge, Wireguard endpoint, Tailscale exit node, DNS server, Plex, git repos.... Crazy how useful they are.
- bayindirh 3y ago
  Having a small cluster of these is very fun as a homelab, esp. when combined with 5 port switches from TP-Link and others. I prefer to merge them to a one powerful server, because I already have more than enough servers at the office, and want to keep a minimalist home as much as possible. If the MIMO Wi-Fi chipset works as promised, I'll only attach a single disk and power to this thing, and tuck it away somewhere. What's nice is, Rockchip systems have "heartbeat" LEDs on them, so I'll be able to see whether it's running or not with a single glance.

WillAdams 3y ago

I have two: - one runs a copy of the (now offline) old Shapeoko wiki/forums for reference purposes (much easier than using the Wayback Machine) - the second is in a tablet case and controls a CNC machine I'd like a 3rd to use with a Wacom One tablet screen --- perhaps Einstein will run on that?