3 ms·

Your critique is unfair and one-sided. As an example, I use the PI as an ethernet/web bridge for my microcontroller projects. Your "openwrt friendly router" won

by jwr 14y ago

Your critique is unfair and one-sided. As an example, I use the PI as an ethernet/web bridge for my microcontroller projects. Your "openwrt friendly router" won't necessarily have (documented!) GPIO pins I can access, a 3.3V-level UART, SPI or I2C. With the Pi, it took me all of 5 minutes to hook up an MSP430-based device via UART, and another 10 minutes to get a perl script that talks to it via the (included) driver for the UART. Anyone that tries to compare the Pi to the "android sticks out there" forgets that there are people for whom time is important. I'd much rather start with a popular, documented and well-supported (as in: downloadable distro image that supports all of the hardware) device than hack my way through an undocumented jungle of hardware/software. And I do know what I'm doing, I've written Linux drivers before. I t's just not something I want to do every time I start a new project. I also think that in spite of the critique of the lack of openness, this is a breakthrough project. Broadcom has been famously secretive and closed. Getting anything from them without being a multi-million device maker and having an NDA has been a nightmare. Now I hope Broadcom will notice that lifting the veil a little brought in some money. I found the Pi to be an excellent tool, I am thankful to its creators and I wish them all the best.

jlgreco 14y ago
Not to mention the "openwrt friendly router" replaces a "substandard" desktop experience with a non-existent desktop experience... That's like saying "the back of a Prius is a bit cramped for my kids as they are growing up, so I replaced it with a motorcycle".
- jwr 14y ago
  Well, perhaps, but I really don't understand why people buy Raspberry Pis and try to use them as desktop machine. I mean, this thing doesn't even come with a case, it is clearly not a desktop. It's a hacker's tool. There is the second crowd that wants to use them as poor-man's video devices, hooked up to TVs. That's fine, and I actually tried running Raspbmc on it. It works. Kind of. Until it breaks. But it isn't your optimal, finely polished and tuned media machine. And I really don't think there is much point in doing it. The Pi is a hacker's tool. It's great for learning, hobby electronics, various interfacing needs, and lots of other things. But it isn't a notebook, it isn't a desktop, and it isn't a media device.
  - jlgreco 14y ago
    As I see it, the value in a pi is that it is balanced. You can get cheaper devices, you can get devices with more GPIO, you can get devices with lower power consumption, and more powerful devices. The Pi sits in a sweet spot with all of those factors though, things like usb-dongle computers and openwrt friendly routers push all of those nobs one way or the other. Also, maybe I'm weird but I have never liked xbmc regardless of the device; it is just plain shitty. The pi that I'm using as my home server/media player right now I just use with omxplayer. After years of just using mplayer that is much more comfortable to me. Of course I also use my Roku primarily with curl...

by jwr 14y ago

jlgreco 14y ago

Not to mention the "openwrt friendly router" replaces a "substandard" desktop experience with a non-existent desktop experience... That's like saying "the back of a Prius is a bit cramped for my kids as they are growing up, so I replaced it with a motorcycle".

jwr 14y ago
Well, perhaps, but I really don't understand why people buy Raspberry Pis and try to use them as desktop machine. I mean, this thing doesn't even come with a case, it is clearly not a desktop. It's a hacker's tool. There is the second crowd that wants to use them as poor-man's video devices, hooked up to TVs. That's fine, and I actually tried running Raspbmc on it. It works. Kind of. Until it breaks. But it isn't your optimal, finely polished and tuned media machine. And I really don't think there is much point in doing it. The Pi is a hacker's tool. It's great for learning, hobby electronics, various interfacing needs, and lots of other things. But it isn't a notebook, it isn't a desktop, and it isn't a media device.
- jlgreco 14y ago
  As I see it, the value in a pi is that it is balanced. You can get cheaper devices, you can get devices with more GPIO, you can get devices with lower power consumption, and more powerful devices. The Pi sits in a sweet spot with all of those factors though, things like usb-dongle computers and openwrt friendly routers push all of those nobs one way or the other. Also, maybe I'm weird but I have never liked xbmc regardless of the device; it is just plain shitty. The pi that I'm using as my home server/media player right now I just use with omxplayer. After years of just using mplayer that is much more comfortable to me. Of course I also use my Roku primarily with curl...