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The Raspberry Pi is a platform optimized for and bundled with its community. The Raspberry Foundation can produce/license any conceivable number of these device

The Raspberry Pi is a platform optimized for and bundled with its community. The Raspberry Foundation can produce/license any conceivable number of these devices at the same price point. The difference of for example $35 vs $70 doesn't matter very much for individual buyers. It does matter when dealing with educational budgets and a desire for predictable spending. Even when a school/hobbyist course requires students to buy their own devices, even $5 differences can be a big deal. The fixed price, high bulk, cooperation with education initiatives and governments, all translates to a relatively homogeneous, unfragmented "fleet" of devices, which just isn't the norm in small computers. Beagle Bone, the Odroid series, and several other products are technically superior in most ways. But they don't have a comparable community size, and aren't focused on the educational sector as much. In some ways, these models attach to the Raspberry Pi community.

pjc50 12y ago
You've got it exactly. The whole thing is modeled on the original BBC computer learning project of 30 years ago. The physical Pi device is just a platform for the delivery of educational material. People miss this because most of the commentators here don't need the educational material as they're not schoolkids or educators. The Foundation is doing this in a highly vertically integrated way because it gives them predictability and a guarantee that the hardware meets the educational needs and also the "marketing" needs of turning kids into enthusiasts. That's why Minecraft for the Pi is important, for example.
- DanBC 12y ago
  One important difference is cost - the BBC micros were expensive compared to their competition.
derekp7 12y ago
You know, one variation of the Raspberry Pi I'd like to see for the educational market, is a standard graphing calculator based on the Pi's internals. The reason: Even though I'm not convinced that graphical calculators really help students that much, many schools require them anyway. So why not take a (somewhat expensive) necessary device, and make it more functional when you plug in a keyboard/monitor? I wonder what the price point could be of a device with a decent screen (somewhat better than the TI's), battery/charging, physical buttons, case, plus the Raspberry Pi?

pjc50 12y ago

You've got it exactly. The whole thing is modeled on the original BBC computer learning project of 30 years ago. The physical Pi device is just a platform for the delivery of educational material. People miss this because most of the commentators here don't need the educational material as they're not schoolkids or educators. The Foundation is doing this in a highly vertically integrated way because it gives them predictability and a guarantee that the hardware meets the educational needs and also the "marketing" needs of turning kids into enthusiasts. That's why Minecraft for the Pi is important, for example.

DanBC 12y ago
One important difference is cost - the BBC micros were expensive compared to their competition.

derekp7 12y ago

You know, one variation of the Raspberry Pi I'd like to see for the educational market, is a standard graphing calculator based on the Pi's internals. The reason: Even though I'm not convinced that graphical calculators really help students that much, many schools require them anyway. So why not take a (somewhat expensive) necessary device, and make it more functional when you plug in a keyboard/monitor? I wonder what the price point could be of a device with a decent screen (somewhat better than the TI's), battery/charging, physical buttons, case, plus the Raspberry Pi?