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The Beaglebone Black would be a better platform than the Pi. A Beaglebone can be booted using open-source Secure Boot, as discussed in this thread.

It's not always about raw performance vs price. Apple wouldn't be kicking the crap out of all the other mobile players if that were true. Years ago, I remember hearing lots of disparaging remarks (here on /. mostly) about iPods, and how xyz brand was so much better because it could play Ogg Vorbis, and was hackable, had more storage for less cost, etc, etc. Where are all those players today?

Performance/price is important (although at that price point, do you really think people care all that much?), but don't forget about other factors: compatibility, community, mindshare, design, ease-of-use, reliability, and so on...

I'm working on an enclosed device and I quite frankly neither need nor want top performance, partly because of the excess heat I then have to deal with. In fact one of the things that irritates me most about the PI2 is that there is no analogue to the PI model A which is easier to cram into device enclosures. I'd also prefer to get my boards with plastic snap-in USB/Ethernet/etc... connectors that lend them selves to easily creating devices. Computers like the Raspberry PI are great for start-up companies who can't afford to go to a manufacturer and have their own custom electronics made but until Element 14 started offering their customization service (which I admittedly haven't tried out yet) cramming the Raspberry PI or any of these board computers into any kind of compact and handy enclosure was a nightmare. The Raspberry foundation has been ignoring this market segment.

Yes. We must INTERNET ALL THE THINGS!

Sigh. Once upon a time, a network-attached tea pot was an April Fool's joke. Now it's a market category.

I blame AOL. And the September That Never Ended. Because all the luser mundanes didn't understand that IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE A JOKE. *facepalm*

Next step is transparent electronics and batteries

While it may in fact be true that RPi has more sales and more units sitting in drawers, I'd be really surprised if more people were using RPi than BBB for real projects they themselves were putting together based on their own ideas. I'm not against people doing "electronics by numbers" kits but that is most of RPi "users."

Some hand-waving about maybe the USB would drop audio data, maybe it wouldn't, well that is not really showing that you know one is better. That is showing you don't know but are heavily biased. You don't think a BBB can run audio, because you couldn't compile a new kernel? Are you sure you needed to? Really sure? Really double sure? If you couldn't get any help from people who know how to compile a kernel (that was nerd-101 when I started on linux, geeze) then how can you believe the people who told you that you needed to? Those people clearly don't even know.

It is funny because I use BBB to develope real-life audio prototypes. You're connecting spdif which is digital, did you know that HDMI includes a 48k digital output? That's why it doesn't have an analog audio output, because it has a high quality digitial output instead. There is also a new analog cape that gives good analog IO with a quality hardware CODEC and includes bluetooth.

Here is a site that explains how to interface with a DAC using I2S on the BBB. Oh, you thought that was an advantage that RPi had? No, I2S is something everybody has. ;)
http://www.element14.com/commu...

Looking at the 360 view at

http://www.element14.com/community/community/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-bplus?ICID=rpimain-topban-BPlus

It looks like the microsd slot is on a different side than the power adapter so it should be removable.. Unless you just meant it's not removable when one since it hosts the OS =P

There's actually a new Freescale-based SBC board that looks interesting that just launched. Saw it at EW last week, called the Riotboard

There are a few reasons for adding a small "IO processor" to a system. Firstly more IO. The BBB looks like it has lots of IO on first glance but on closer inspection you realise that much of that many of the IO pins conflict with either the HDMI output or the EMMC. Secondly the small processor can do the ugly bit-banging stuff (for example driving a multiplexed LED display) without bothering the main CPU too much. Thirdly the characteristics of the IO pins on microcontrollers are often more friendly to hobbyist experimentation (more current drive, less sensitive to abuse). Fourthly if something goes wrong you have only fried the cheap IO processor, not the relatively expensive and very difficult to replace application's processor (though from the pictures i've seen replacing the AVR on the TRE doesn't exactly look easy :( ).

Interestingly the chip on the TRE and BBB has an onchip IO processor known as the "PRU" but it seems at the moment at least it's a bit of a pain to develop for http://www.element14.com/community/community/knode/single-board_computers/next-gen_beaglebone/blog/2013/05/22/bbb--working-with-the-pru-icssprussv2

So by putting the AVR on the TRE they can provide all the IO needed for arduino shields (allowing the "maker" noobs to build stuff just by plugging boards together) without having any of it conflict with the onboard hardware and they can easilly support it with their existing software stack (unlike the PRUs).

The missing information at the moment is price. If it's basically the same price as a BBB with a AVR thrown in virtually "for free" then it might be quite attractive. If it's much more epensive than a BBB it will be a lot less attractive.

TI refers to those as 'PRU-ICSS'. They aren't exactly baby's first arduino sketch to get working; but they are present, and are more or less explicitly designed to support various too-weird-for-fixed-silicon; but too fast for just bitbanging with any GPIO, interfaces that the designer might wish to deal with.

Heck this isn't even new:

http://www.yageo.com/exep/pages/download/literatures/an08436.pdf

and to give a slightly different view:

http://www.digikey.com/Web%20Export/Supplier%20Content/TDK_445/PDF/tdk_high_cap_replacement.pdf?redirected=1

that is just as old.

Ridiculously there is something new as well:

http://www.element14.com/community/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadBody/55139-102-1-275420/Panasonic%20Polymer%20Capacitor%20Technologies%20-%20Replacement%20of%20Tantalum%20and%20MLCC.pdf

The 12 volt to USB was just one I had laying around the parts box. The camera was from http://www.element14.com/community/groups/raspberry-pi-accessories The 64 GB card was bought at Costco. The instructions that I leveraged were from the installation instructions for the pi camera at http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-54359?ICID=rasp-accessory-group I added a few scripts to manage the startup and storage of the video. When the unit powers up (when I start the car) it starts. When I shut the car down I press a button before shutting the car down that stops the recording and stores the video file and shutdowns the pi. Each time I run this in the car I have to park the car in the garage and transfer via wifi and ssh the video files. Its a hack at this point, but some of the video management stuff can be made better. The pi camera doesn't like the dark, but there are ways to make the pi camera IR sensitive by doing a little bit of surgery to remove the IR filter. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure that several others may be offering this version of the camera soon. Hope this helps,

The 12 volt to USB was just one I had laying around the parts box. The camera was from http://www.element14.com/community/groups/raspberry-pi-accessories The 64 GB card was bought at Costco. The instructions that I leveraged were from the installation instructions for the pi camera at http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-54359?ICID=rasp-accessory-group I added a few scripts to manage the startup and storage of the video. When the unit powers up (when I start the car) it starts. When I shut the car down I press a button before shutting the car down that stops the recording and stores the video file and shutdowns the pi. Each time I run this in the car I have to park the car in the garage and transfer via wifi and ssh the video files. Its a hack at this point, but some of the video management stuff can be made better. The pi camera doesn't like the dark, but there are ways to make the pi camera IR sensitive by doing a little bit of surgery to remove the IR filter. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure that several others may be offering this version of the camera soon. Hope this helps,

Hell I'm all for cool hackable stuffbut there are tons of cool gadgets out their that doesn't get the same attention. Stuff that is more open in every meaning of the world. Is this news ? I can pick up a HD camera (1080p30fps) for the same amount on aliexpress. Seeing that it is developed by RS, delivery from China will be quicker. I can even send it back and let it reship and it still will be faster then RS shipment of RPI stuff.

What is even ironically that the Liz Upton doesn't like Slashdot (look it up) or its community or anybody that has some valid criticism. Seeing how many advertisement Slashdot post it seems just a ridiculous thing to create buzz and post advertisement for people who in all honesty doesn't like your community. But then again sometimes I have the feeling seeing how things are getting edited, even the editors don't like this community... . So let me ask you this honest question timothy, why do you hate us so much ?

Why no attention for other open source products that may even have a more open attitude because openness doesn't only stop with hardware or software... . They ban people on ridiculous grounds (read the examples and make your own mind up if those bans are valid) I even saw people from the RPI foundation attacking luc verhoeven (of the lima driver) because he pointing (rightfully) that their whole Open Source GPU drivers are just PR BS. I have seen companies or groups abusing or misrepresenting open source slaughtered for less.

Sorry to come over as pissed, but it aggravates the hell out of me that projects like these gets ignored when they raise money to create a really fully open system and there is so much non news posted about the RPI. I find these kind of projects a lot more interesting for another RPI add on.

Yup, watch that episode of TBHS and post in his corner of the element14 forums for more advice. He and other gaming accessibility minds frequent it.

http://www.element14.com/community/community/experts/benheck

You should also make your way over to AbleGamers.

http://www.ablegamers.com/

That'd probably make sense if the only USB devices you're planning on using are the keyboard and mouse. There are more problems with USB than just devices that use too much power, see this forum thread: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=12097&start=250

Supposedly the RasPi Foundation has been banning people from their forums for suggesting that new purchasers should be told about this issue, so it's probably not suprising if you haven't head about it.

source: http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-43262?ICID=rasp_group

Q. Are you on track with your promise to fill all back orders? A. Yes. We made a promise to customers who ordered before 18th April, that they would ship their Pi’s before the end of June. We are on track to keep that commitment. We will have shipped out 41,000 Raspberry Pis by the end of May and our customers will have received, or will be receiving their Pis over the next few days. We are on track to have shipped 100,000 Raspberry Pis by the end of June and have further production planned for delivery to customers in July. (Modified on 20-June : We're sorry to have to say that due to an unforeseen production delay with our manufacturer, there will be a short delay of up to 1 week. Orders that were received before 18th April will now be shipped at the end of June / early July. For orders received after the 18th April, we will be shipping those deliveries throughout July into August. We will send you an email confirming your delivery prior to despatch.)

Except Broadcom has released a datasheet for the GPIOs, registers, interrupts, other SoC auxilaries, and the CPU. You can totally write your own OS or program in assembly to your heart's content.

Oh, I'm sorry, did you mean the datasheet for the video core? You can get that one from the same place you get ATI's datasheets.

http://downloads.element14.com/raspberryPi2.html

i haven't fanatically followed their forums, but they are shipping *some* units, and they did get their CE and FCC certifications: http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-43262/l/updated-29-march-frequently-asked-questions-about-raspberry-pi. There are people who've received their orders, how many, I don't know.

I may have misstated when I said they actually sold 100k units as opposed to those who expressed interest in purchasing them - 100k was the number being thrown around for "expressed interest" or "orders".

As far as shipping? I know there's a huge backlog and I've no idea how long it'll take to fulfill it regardless if the person actually placed an order or merely expressed interest in it, but there are *some* people getting their orders, and the regulatory stuff is no longer in the way. Now it's just getting the things actually manufactured and shipped, far as I know.

Indeed, it seems there was some serious wishful thinking going on. The Foundation's people are so heavily invested in the project that they probably can't see it very objectively. Not too surprising I guess.

The BIS has just given them the bad news of how things really stand though. Here is a new update from Element 14's FAQ (one of the two Raspberry Pi distributors), quoting news from the Foundation's Eben Upton:

• 
  HOT OFF THE PRESS UPDATE FROM EBEN UPTON OF RASPBERRY PI EARLIER TODAY:
• "We have spoken with BIS this morning, and have been told that, given the volumes involved and the demographic mix of likely users, the development board exemption is not applicable to us; as a result, even the first uncased developer units of Raspberry Pi will require a CE mark prior to distribution in the EU...... ....we are working with RS Components and element14/Premier Farnell to bring Raspberry Pi into a compliant state as soon as is humanly possible."

.

The above is no surprise to anyone who uses Arduinos. Like the Raspberry Pi, they're bare boards, also from a European company (in Italy), and are manufactured in the same kind of volumes as the Raspberry Pi. They're fully certified with RoHS, CE, and FCC (Class B) certifications (as well as something called Life Zero Impact).

The Pi is even more consumer-oriented than the Arduino, since it's a fully working Linux computer and the Foundation has repeatedly extolled its great multimedia capabilities, even writing articles about its use as a media centre. This guaranteed immense interest from virtually everybody, not just from electronics enthusiasts, so huge numbers of these will be going into regular domestic situations.

Thinking that 10 thousand of the boards could avoid industrial certification when a large proportion of them will be purchased by ordinary consumers was really rather naive.

Morgaine.

Quote from Element 14 (one of the two distributers) Full FAQs Here

The current situation is:
2000 Raspberry Pi’s are now in the UK. Pictures are posted here for anyone who doubts their existence!

Rasppi Foundation claims boards are in UK, but post pictures from Chinese factory, they claim 2000 boards, but there is ~900 in the pictures
just like they claimed they already had 10000 boards READY TO BE SOLD a month ago
more lies :(

Worst product launch ever. If they really wanted to launch it quickly all they had to do was give blueprints and access to Broadcom chips to chinese factories. Btw This is why there wont be any third party clones - Broadcom doesnt sell without NDA and high volume commitments, chinese shops wont be able to get their hands on main chips. This is why Farnell will be making sweet money off of Rasppi. Money not on margin, but on all the fresh contacts they will get. Every email address from person interested in electronics is worth its weight in gold to components suppliers. Registering is equal to lifetime supply in Farnell catalogues and spam.

The problem seems to be the HDMI cable radiating extraneous signals and a solution maybe found in the cable.

Quote from Element 14 (one of the two distributers) Full FAQs Here

The current situation is:
2000 Raspberry Pi’s are now in the UK. Pictures are posted here for anyone who doubts their existence!
The compliance teams of element14, RS and Raspberry Pi are working round the clock with the testing houses to assess the product now. Any issues that are identified (hardware or software) will then need to be rectified and we will ensure this happens as quickly as is humanly possible.
There are different compliance standards around the globe and we are focused on meeting all of those as quickly as possible. However, some may take longer than others.
As soon as these initial 2000 Boards are compliant to at least one set of required standards, we will receive our share of this first batch from Raspberry Pi. We will ship on a first come, first serve basis to countries where compliance standards have been demonstrably met. So, customers who ordered first in countries where compliance standards have been met, will receive the product first.
Regrettably, we cannot give any firm delivery commitments on Raspberry Pi’s until this testing is complete. Please be assured we will provide this information as soon as we can.
Once the product is fully compliant our manufacturing partners have the necessary stocks of components to ramp up production very quickly, so despite these frustrating, initial delays we are confident the picture will improve and lead times for new orders will reduce.

I managed to pre-order one in the USA through the Farnell export site; this was about 8:20am GMT. The page has now gone to a register-your-interest form, so probably not much use now.

Price GBP 24.55, estimated delivery date 16/04/2012. No idea what postage will cost, I'm prepared for something horrendous to get it to Seattle.

What people are missing is that they're now build-to-order. Instead of before, where the Raspberry Pi organisation had an initial batch of 10,000, the sale of which would fund the next batch to arrive at some indeterminate point in the future - RS and Farnell are ordering the things from the manufacturers themselves.

I was watching with amazement as both RS and Farnell got nuked off the intertubes within seconds of the announcement. This board is popular. The previous plans for ordering wouldn't have worked at all.

Would Apple have coped better with such a launch? Probably. But as the Raspberry Pi twitter feed says: "Apple has a market cap of $500bn. We have Liz's collection of fridge magnets and a few coins down the back of the sofa."

I'm really looking forwards to my Pi arriving. Given that I was expecting to wait at least until the summer to get one, things are going well!