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Why the Raspberry Pi Won't Ship In Kit Form
An anonymous reader writes "A post at the Raspberry Pi blog shows an image containing the device's SoC and memory chip to help explain why the tiny PC won't ship in kit form. Clearly, the chips are so small, and the solder blobs required so tiny, that most people would mess up doing it by hand. Add to that the fact one chip has to sit on top of the other, and if you're a millimeter out, your chips are fried."
The post also addresses the use of closed source libraries for graphics acceleration.
The only assumption I saw was that most folks would botch assembly due to the teeny smd tolerances. It seems pretty reasonable to me. I don't know a lot of people with reflow ovens or hands that steady. And at $25 & $35 for the assembled models, I don't know why people would really want to.
So, anyone who does it successfully would achieve a rare accomplishment, through hard work, diligence, and skill.
And for those ten to twenty people out there? The phrase I'm looking for is "not a significant market".
If you really want a kit you can buy an assembled board, de-solder all of the components, and *make* a kit.
The kind of person who can solder BGA are also usually the kind of people who can acquire parts and produce PCBs.
So you're saying if you care about video quality you should spend more than $25?
Really? You don't think the bad publicity they might get if lots of people report "I bought a kit and it failed" is a sufficient reason for them to refuse?