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More Than Half a Million Raspberry Pis Sold
- sushantsharma 14y agoSincere Question: Can someone please explain the significance? Edit: Thanks for the responses. May be I should have explored the site more instead of just reading the article. http://www.raspberrypi.org/about http://www.raspberrypi.org/about
- e1ven 14y agoOne of the reasons the Raspberry Pi is really cool is it's helping to make it easier for people to get into hardware hacking. It's fun, and it's cheap enough you don't need to worry about break it. While it's not quite as simple as a arduino, for those of us who like Linux anyway, it makes it almost trivial to wire into all sorts of projects - Wireless Helicopters, Door badges, tiny webservers, etc. It's a great piece of kit, and a nice introduction into the embedded HW world.
- blhack 14y agoNo, it is not helping people get into hardware hacking. There is no more "hardware hacking" going on here than there is on my macbook. Arduino AVR is helping people get into hardware. Raspberry pi is helping people build cheap netflix settop boxes. edit: maybe I'm jaded. We've got about 4 totally idle raspis at our hackerspace that have been donated by people who have no idea what to do with them, but bought them anyway. Yet, our stack of arduinos get use constantly.
- highsecurity 14y agoWell considering the pi can't run Netflix I would have to disagree with you. There are tons of hardware projects using the pi. I know of a few people locally that just got a pi and basic electronics kit to learn with. Arduino arduino arduino
- gokhan 14y agoMK808's might be a better alternative for that, with built-in wifi and male hdmi dongle type design. My son (6) got his pi as his first computer, we built a lego case for it and he gets excited everytime he connects peripherals. It may not be hw hacking for us, but it is for little folks.
- blhack 14y agoSee, that is really cool, and that is what the pi is for. It's not "hardware hacking" though, and there is nothing wrong with that.
- jlgreco 14y agoPeople are absolutely using Raspberry Pis where they would normally use arduinos: For just a taste: http://hackaday.com/category/raspberry-pi-2/ http://hackaday.com/category/raspberry-pi-2/ The HDMI port on mine has never been touched. I'm using it right now to control my roomba though its SCI interface. An uno with a wifi shield costs way more than a Raspberry Pi with a usb wifi dongle. Unless you need more GPIO pins or lower power consumption, Pis just make more sense.
- blhack 14y agoWell then they're idiots. The raspi consumes ~500ma of current even when it's idle.
- marshray 14y agoThe project he linked to doesn't look like 500ma would matter much. Next time you spend $25 for an ATmega32, remember what you called those other people.
- blhack 14y agoTotes $25 for an ATmega32: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/ATMEGA328-PU/ATMEGA328-PU-ND/2271026 http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/ATMEGA328-PU/ATMEGA... Try and pop the ARM chip off of your raspi and see how it works out.
- marshray 14y ago$24 ATmega32 http://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Mega-MEGA-2560-Board/dp/B004A7H3DG/ http://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Mega-MEGA-2560-Board/dp/B004A7... For ARM, I prefer to solder my own LQFP at about $7. http://twitpic.com/btvkmd http://twitpic.com/btvkmd You're right though, someday I'd love to be able to transplant BGA packages.
- CamperBob2 14y agoYou're right though, someday I'd love to be able to transplant BGA packages. It can be done. Surface tension is a wonderful thing.
- CamperBob2 14y agoRaspberry pi is helping people build cheap netflix settop boxes. That's hardware hacking. In reality, those of us who don't bring a pickaxe and a carbide lamp to work are just "systems integrators" anyway. Attitudes and titles don't pay the bills.
- deelowe 14y agoWha? There's a difference between SWE, EE/CE, and IT. The community around the pi is more for the IT crowd. I see very few using the gpio pins for anything, though that does seem to be getting marginally better. Most of the value in the pi is the video decoder. So, that's the types of projects it gets used for.
- flurie 14y agoFWIW, I and many of my friends (who admittedly deal primarily with hardware) find the gpio a big draw. The machine is cheaper and more useful than an arduino after you've thrown in an ethernet shield. I got one to serve as a doorbell router.
- deelowe 14y agoYeah. I'd like to get one for this reason too, but I'm also eyeing the new arm devices that are starting to show up.
- koralatov 14y agoRaspberry pi is helping people build cheap netflix settop boxes. ... edit: maybe I'm jaded. We've got about 4 totally idle raspis at our hackerspace that have been donated by people who have no idea what to do with them, but bought them anyway. I'd agree with that, based on my own personal experience. Of the several people I know who have them, half have no clue what to do with it, and the other half are using them as tiny media centres. There's definitely not much hardware hacking going on. And I can understand it, to be honest. I can't think of a good use for one that isn't already covered ably by some other computer I have. Media centre? Xbox plus external hard-disk does the job. Small *nix box? Better off using my MacBook -- it's got everything built-in. The best idea I came up with was a mini backup server connected to my router that pulls power from its spare USB port, but even then, it's easier just to plug in an external HD once in a while, or dump things onto one of the SD cards I have in rotation.
- vasco 14y agoIt's a milestone. It represents the success of the platform and reaffirms the strong community and large userbase.
- fnordfnordfnord 14y agoIt also re-affirms the business model of creating a super-cheap yet capable development platform, and then not attempting to extract max profit from it.
- koralatov 14y agoI'm not really sure you could call that a `business model': the Raspberry Pi Foundation is a charity, so by definition they aren't out to make a profit. I'm not sure the Raspberry Pi would even exist in the first place if a for-profit company was responsible for making it. It certainly wouldn't be so cheap, and as a result, unlikely to be so successful.
- numbsafari 14y agoIn a world where devices are getting smaller and smaller, and hobbyist PC computers are going the way of hobbyist automobiles, the RPi offers a cool choice of open hardware you can really play with. This is a milestone I wish they had hit sooner by trying to solve their supply chain problems. On a personal note, I don't want a replaceable battery or hackable ROM on my phone. I want that thing locked down tight, and small as possible. I'd rather "hack" a $35 board than a $600 phone.
- sushantsharma 14y agoThanks for the responses.
- russell_h 14y agoWhat is the best place to order one of these? I'd love to have one, but every time I go to order one I'm put off by the suppliers websites.
- vespakoen 14y agoHere you will find all the information you are looking for http://www.elinux.org/RPi_Buying_Guide http://www.elinux.org/RPi_Buying_Guide
- Zuph 14y agoMCM Electronics (http://www.mcmelectronics.com/ http://www.mcmelectronics.com/) has them in stock, and ships very quickly.
- justin66 14y agoThey're a marvel. I don't know what magic they're using to get their stocks replenished so quickly but they'd be my go-to for purchasing a pi in the US. In fact they have them in stock right now.
- fsckin 14y agoI bought two Model B's from Newark[0] on Jan 2nd, shipped on the 4th, and received on the 7th. Wickedly fast. I think they will be out of stock soon. [0] http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?id=43W5302&Ntt=43W5302& http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?id=43W530...;
- GiraffeNecktie 14y agoI also got mine from Newark and it arrived even faster. They even phoned me to follow up which I thought was a bit over the top for a $40 item (although I think they were just checking to see whether I might be a potential volume purchaser)
- guynamedloren 14y agoI also ordered 2 Model B's from Newark. Placed the order 2 days ago (maybe 1.5 days ago?), got them today. They might 'restock' daily? Probably just artificially restricting supply. Edit: nevermind... looks like I just got lucky when I ordered mine. Newark now says "7200 Expected to ship 6 Feb, 2013"
- numbsafari 14y agoIf you are in the US, be sure to check out www.newark.com. I tried ordering through Allied and it was a disaster. After 6 months of delays they eventually screwed up my shipment and said I'd have to resubmit an order and wait in the back of the line. I didn't realize newark.com (a subsidiary/partner of element14) sold them in the US. Avoid shopping at Amazon (it's a ripoff by someone who is hoarding units). It'd be great if RPi could find a way to expand production. At the very least, being more upfront about the delays in production and who will actually get units, would be a big help.
- freehunter 14y agoI waited nine months to get mine, and I ordered two days after they were released. Now that I have the board, my attention has been drawn back to Arduino in the meantime and my Pi is just a general purpose computer I put in the garage to view project plans for woodworking or repairing my truck and occasionally SSHing into to test the occasional code to make sure it's ARM compatible. I still have the plans for all the Pi projects I was planning, but interest has worn off and the parts have been repurposed for things where a couple Arduino boards can do the same work one Pi was going to do.
- davidcollantes 14y agoThey could have sold many millions more, but finding them is difficult (if you do not want to pay premium).
- hosay123 14y agoPricing for similar hardware has literally crashed in the time it's taken Pi production levels to ramp up. There are now multiple ARM vendors with open source BSPs supporting hardware that's much more powerful and with comparable pricing. See for example http://www.cnx-software.com/tag/amlogic/ http://www.cnx-software.com/tag/amlogic/ and http://www.cnx-software.com/tag/freescale/ http://www.cnx-software.com/tag/freescale/ . Unlike the Pi these offerings usually come with Bluetooth, WiFi, larger flash and 1GB RAM in dual or quad core configurations, and pre-packaged in consumer friendly boxes ready for hooking to a display, although access to auxiliary IO buses may be more difficult. SATA (Mele A1000G), GigE (Wandboard) and mini PCI designs (i.mx6 Sabre Lite) are even available.
- dfrey 14y agoWhat is an example of a better board that I can get shipped to my home for under $50 USD?
- hosay123 14y agoIf all you want is USB, there are (seemingly hundreds of) Allwinner sticks available via Aliexpress, e.g. http://goo.gl/th1bO http://goo.gl/th1bO as low as $34, which is supported via the linux-sunxi port. Boards generally cost more, I've less information on that.
- dfrey 14y agoA board like the Pi is defined by these attributes (order irrelevant): Price Performance Exposed I/O Device Size Community Size I don't know of any board that beats the Pi on more than 3 of these attributes. The allwinner sticks you mentioned are comparably priced, but have a smaller development community and very limited I/O. If all you want is a little media player, I think they are a good choice though.
- Fuzzwah 14y agoI have an R-Pi and an mk802. I run linux on both. While the mk802 is faster for most general things (compiling, serving web pages, etc) the R-Pi beats it as a media player due to the fact the mk802 video drivers haven't been released. http://liliputing.com/2012/07/allwinner-pledges-support-for-xbmc-media-center-for-mk802-mele-a1000-other-inexpensive-android-devices.html http://liliputing.com/2012/07/allwinner-pledges-support-for-...
- JabavuAdams 14y agoCan't wait for the camera module...
- IgorPartola 14y agoTriLUG is having a meeting tomorrow night about Raspberry Pi's and you can join via Google Hangout. This should give you a great overview of some of the neat things you could do with one of these. Details here: http://www.trilug.org/2013-01-10/Raspberry_Pi http://www.trilug.org/2013-01-10/Raspberry_Pi
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- jcmoscon 14y agoWhat projects are you implementing with Raspberry Pis?
- drivebyacct2 14y agoMy parents have one sitting in their living room and queue video to it from their iPhone/RAZR from my upnp server and their desktop computer (win7 has a builtin upnp server).
- linker3000 14y agoI'm just laying out the schematic for a GPIO board that includes a 4x20LCD display interface, two mains relays, two opto-isolated mains power sensors, a real time clock chip and interface to some one-wire temp sensors. The Pi is going to be the master controller for my central heating system. There will be a Web interface and I hope to implement something with a service such as Google Latitude so I can have a 'back from holiday' mode where the system knows when I'm, say, back within 25 miles of the house and fires up the heating and water again. That's my fun project for when I have some spare time.
- regomodo 14y agosamba & minidlna server
- moo 14y agoInternet Radio Linking Project (IRLP) node. This type of project described here: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=23602 http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=2... Don't need the portability and I'm cheap and IRLP is proprietary so might go with this instead: http://www.qsl.net/k0kn/cm108_mod.html http://www.qsl.net/k0kn/cm108_mod.html
- wr1472 14y agoVoice controlled smart home - Run siriproxy on it, install lightwave rf lightswitches and sockets, and voice control lights, appliances, XBMC, etc from my phone.
- IheartApplesDix 14y agoFor those looking for complete control of their hardware platform, the following link is a great place to start. Ever wonder how ARM Cortex chips work at a lower level? Afaik, this is the only available open source hypervisor. http://www.openvirtualization.org/open-source-arm-trustzone.html http://www.openvirtualization.org/open-source-arm-trustzone.... More information on the "opensource-ness" of Raspberry Pi: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/all-code-on-raspberry-pis-arm-chip-now-open-source/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/all-co...
- bobbles 14y agoIs it possible to run Plex on a Raspberry Pi to make any normal tv an awesome plex machine? or is the overhead of cables and setup not worth the effort at the moment?
- vanjac 14y agoI don't believe it's possible to run Plex Media Center on it yet, though there are forum discussions on porting it to the Pi. But I do know that it can run XBMC quite well and that is why I ordered mine a couple of days ago. I'm gonna turn it into a sweet little XBMC machine which will be hidden behind the tv. Just Google "Raspberry Pi XBMC", there are a lot of reviews and tutorials showing how it's done.