Raspberry Pi Model A Makes First Appearance

An anonymous reader writes "It's easy to forget that the Raspberry Pi currently shipping is the more expensive model of the board. It is actually called the Model B as it sports more features than the $25 Model A. The main differences [compared to the B model] include a lack of an Ethernet port and the associated networking chip, as well as the presence of only one USB port instead of two. There was originally going to be less memory on the Model A (128MB instead of 256MB), but the Raspberry Pi Foundation managed to make enough cost savings during a redesign to increase the amount to 256MB on the cheaper version. With all the focus being on the Model B, we haven't actually seen the (near) final Model A board yet. But that changes today, as Eben Upton has just shown off the $25 board."

Comments

Interesting.

[queazocotal]

So - no CSI/DSI - for which there are no drivers anyway.
No ethernet port.
I do wonder what that white blob in place of the ethernet/USB hub chip is.
Is it simply a bit of tape, to cover some wires linking the USB directly to the SoC, or something else.

As to why this is an interesting bit of hardware - it's not.
It's interesting because it's a relatively open platform, at a reasonable price point.

Devices I want a model A for.
Wifi weather-station controller.
Heating controller.
Door camera system.

Re:Interesting.

[macemoneta]

My main issue with the device is that they crippled the openess to include something that no one in this target group actually wants - 1080p video.

Unless you want to run XBMC, and turn a dumb TV into a smartTV for $25.

Re:Interesting.

[sirsnork]

The schematics show that when the ethernet chip (also a USB hub) is missing there are two SMD resistors that connect the actual port up to the single USB pins on the main SOC. When the chip is present those resistors are left off and that port goes into the ethernet chip to give both ethernet connectivity and two additional USB ports.

No idea what the white blob is, but it's not something required to make the USB port work.

No idea why the CSI connector isn't attached, seemingly there is nothing stopping it working if the header is attached as it's completely supplied by the main SOC

Re:POS

[macemoneta]

This "crippled piece of shit" can, among thousands of other things, run XBMC and output 1080p video, turning and dumb TV into a smartTV. Not too shabby for $25.

Highest bang-per-buck ratio of any SoC

[muon-catalyzed]

How does that Broadcom SoC compare to the current Shenzen's SoC king the disruptive $7 Allwinner-A10 SoC?

Bonus: comes with open source GPU driver, unlike RasPi.

Re:Highest bang-per-buck ratio of any SoC

[lobiusmoop]

Some other people doing low-cost A10/A13 board stuff:
Olimex are developing an A13-based board currently.

Gooseberry is an A10-based board sourced from a tablet designer.

Re:Highest bang-per-buck ratio of any SoC

[Vairon]

The Allwinner A10 has an incomplete 72 page summary of features that calls itself a datasheet compared to a fairly nice 205 page peripheral datasheet for the Broadcom BCM2835 SOC in the Raspberry Pi.

The Allwinner A10, like the BCM2835, uses closed source proprietary libraries to access 3D features of its GPU. The MALI 400 GPU is being reverse engineered which is why there is a preliminary open source GPU driver.

The Allwinner A10 CPU/GPU are faster but less efficient and use more power than the Raspberry Pi's BCM2835.

The Rhombus Allwinner A10 has no final cost yet unlike the Raspberry Pi. They are hoping to hit a $15 price point if they purchase 100,000 units. The Raspberry Pi is available today at $35 which was achieved with only an initial 10,000 units purchased.

Re:English please?

[nadaou]

> There are editors somewhere aren't there?

No, generally not. This is a semi-automated crowd sourced news aggregation site not a tech news magazine. Spend some time at firehose.pl to understand how it works and how stories get voted onto the front page, typically more verbatim* than not.

* if that made you cringe then comfort yourself in knowing that it was only a partially unique experience.

Master & Archimedes models next please

[drunkahol]

Loving my Model B Pi, but can't help thinking that there's a niche wanting filled for systems that can actually function as a near normal desktop. Something with more grunt, more RAM etc. My phone is a quad core ARM CPU, why not a system a little larger than the Pi for the older audience who remember the Model B, Master & Archimedes the first time round. We have the cashflow and desire to use.
(just don't make an Electron version - even if it has Plus 1 and Plus 3 expansion modules like I had back in the day!)

D

Re:POS

[Zaiff Urgulbunger]

$10 for ethernet and a second USB port is a smaller premium(and, of course, better integrated) than pretty much any peripheral option, and some sort of networking is an extremely convenient feature. The 'A' seems like a very niche sort of device.

I think most nerds will want the model-B, but note that if you stick a WiFi dongle in the single USB port of a model-A, you do still have a fully network accessible device... but likely it'll be easier to do development for that using a model-B. The main "wins" for the model-A are (1). it costs less, and (2). I believe power consumption is quite a bit lower.... I seem to recall seeing a video where Eben indicated that the networking/usb-hub chip uses quite a lot of power on the model-B.

No, it's not easy

[DerekLyons]

"It's easy to forget that the Raspberry Pi currently shipping is the more expensive model of the board.

No, it's not easy - because Slashdot reminds us of every trivial thing about the Raspberry Pi on a daily basis.

Re:English please?

[ChunderDownunder]

since US-centrism is in their official policy, you'd think they would use english correctly.

Haha.The American language forked from 'English' in 1776. Any mutual intelligibility is purely coincidental! :)

Model A vs. Model B - History Repeats Itself

[Dogtanian]

Seems like history repeating itself here. As Slashdotters may know, the "Model A" and "Model B" designations are a homage to the two original versions of the BBC Micro. In that case (as Braben himself will be aware!), the more powerful Model B was by far the more popular of the two despite its higher cost. The "BBC B 32K" became the canonical version of the computer, with the Model A little more than a footnote.

So is this the same situation we're seeing here?

(just don't make an Electron version - even if it has Plus 1 and Plus 3 expansion modules like I had back in the day!)

Yes... given that the Acorn Electron- intended as a cut-down "home" version of the BBC Micro- was a flop (*) that led to Acorn being taken over, that would probably be A Bad Thing. Also, as far as I know, the Electron was pretty underpowered and needed those add-on modules for any "serious" expansion.

(*) Sort of- apparently what happened was that there *was* quite high demand for it, but they had problems with the custom ULA chip and couldn't get enough out in time for Christmas. By the time they had the problem sorted out in the New Year, those potential customers had bought rival machines instead and Acorn were left with warehouses full of unsold Electrons.

You all started somewhere.

[ax25-ack]

I think the project is a good one. I cut my teeth on an on sale TS-1000 from a catalog store Montgomery Wards that had it on closeout for $35.00. Call me stupid, but the hours I spend mashing the membrane keyboard learning every last bit of the z-80 and what it could do still serves me well!

Re:POS

[MadCow42]

I'm using the RPi to drive a prototype device that I'm building. Currently it's just driving two real-time stepper motors (or close to real time), and doing a great job of it. For our production device though, we don't need Ethernet, and only want/need one USB - so the $10 savings and lower power consumption is perfect.

As for why we'd use an off-the-shelf board? Why not - it does everything we need, runs an off-the-shelf operating system, and is easy to program/update/use.

Why re-invent the wheel when we have areas where we can get a lot more value out of our time. As you seem to support - it's a great board!

MadCow.

Re:English please?

[TheRaven64]

I think you mean that American English has refused to incorporate bug fixes from upstream.

Re:Vaporware

[BlueLightning]

Rubbish. Mine was one of the original orders and it has been fulfilled already. A friend also ordered well after the launch day and has received hers too.

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