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I really hope we get a Pi 6 with on-board M.2. The PCIe 2.0 x1 over FPC is a bit of a weak spot in the 5 in my opinion. (I know it allows for interchangeable

I really hope we get a Pi 6 with on-board M.2. The PCIe 2.0 x1 over FPC is a bit of a weak spot in the 5 in my opinion. (I know it allows for interchangeable "hats," but you can get PCIe out of an M.2 slot too. Or if there are enough lanes, having both might be nice.)

deleted 1y ago
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Lerc 1y ago
I suspect selling the M.2 SSD now is establishing the product now in preparation for something with onboard support. If so maybe it means the Pi 6 is closer than I thought. I was guessing mid next year. Really the weak spot of the PI has always been the GPU though. It's always been a generation behind even cheap phone GPUs. I live in hope one day it'll get the upgrade it needs. I definitely think that the way they have been building infrastructure they might be developing the capability to provide something awesome, one day.
- gsliepen 1y ago
  IMO, the GPU is actually a strength. It might not be the most powerful, but it is supported by the mainline kernel and libraries. Many other phone SoCs throw some binary drivers over the wall if you are lucky, and good luck if you ever want to upgrade the OS it came with.
  - Lerc 1y ago
    That was the choice they made, support over performance. It was the right choice, but it doesn't change the fact that it is subpar performance. I am hoping in the future there will be options that allow them to offer both without sacrificing the other.
    - gsliepen 1y ago
      Well, they probably didn't have a choice in which GPU to use. You choose a SoC and then you are stuck with everything it comes with. What is most amazing is that they put in the effort to make a completely open source, upstreamed driver for its GPU. I see only two possible paths for another GPU on RPis in the future: either Broadcom drops the VideoCore GPU and switches to Mali or Adreno (which I think is unlikely), or RPi stops using Broadcom SoCs and switches to something completely different. Still unlikely, but now that they have the RP1 chip taking over most of the I/O functions, it would not be too hard for them to change and still make boards that retain compatibility with existing hats. Still, the RPi is made at a certain pricepoint, which very likely precludes putting in a flagship SoC, so even if they change, I'm not sure it will do wonders for GPU performance.
kotaKat 1y ago
Deal. Video out is now a 3G-SDI connector on a u.fl microcoax. Have fun!

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

Lerc 1y ago

I suspect selling the M.2 SSD now is establishing the product now in preparation for something with onboard support. If so maybe it means the Pi 6 is closer than I thought. I was guessing mid next year. Really the weak spot of the PI has always been the GPU though. It's always been a generation behind even cheap phone GPUs. I live in hope one day it'll get the upgrade it needs. I definitely think that the way they have been building infrastructure they might be developing the capability to provide something awesome, one day.

gsliepen 1y ago
IMO, the GPU is actually a strength. It might not be the most powerful, but it is supported by the mainline kernel and libraries. Many other phone SoCs throw some binary drivers over the wall if you are lucky, and good luck if you ever want to upgrade the OS it came with.
- Lerc 1y ago
  That was the choice they made, support over performance. It was the right choice, but it doesn't change the fact that it is subpar performance. I am hoping in the future there will be options that allow them to offer both without sacrificing the other.
  - gsliepen 1y ago
    Well, they probably didn't have a choice in which GPU to use. You choose a SoC and then you are stuck with everything it comes with. What is most amazing is that they put in the effort to make a completely open source, upstreamed driver for its GPU. I see only two possible paths for another GPU on RPis in the future: either Broadcom drops the VideoCore GPU and switches to Mali or Adreno (which I think is unlikely), or RPi stops using Broadcom SoCs and switches to something completely different. Still unlikely, but now that they have the RP1 chip taking over most of the I/O functions, it would not be too hard for them to change and still make boards that retain compatibility with existing hats. Still, the RPi is made at a certain pricepoint, which very likely precludes putting in a flagship SoC, so even if they change, I'm not sure it will do wonders for GPU performance.

kotaKat 1y ago

Deal. Video out is now a 3G-SDI connector on a u.fl microcoax. Have fun!