Raspberry Pi Hits 1GHz With Official 'Turbo Mode'

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Raspberry Pi Hits 1GHz With Official 'Turbo Mode'

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday September 19, 2012 @08:38AM from the awesome-because-they-test-with-quake-3 dept.

hypnosec writes "The Raspberry Pi, which was recently used to build a cluster, has officially been given a 'Turbo Mode' by The Raspberry Pi Foundation, thus enabling overclocking. It will bump the frequency of the on-board processor as high as 1GHz as long as the temperature stays below 85C. The patch would dynamically increase the voltage and frequency of the core until the thermals hold. According to the Foundation, users have the option of choosing one of five peak frequencies, the highest being 1GHz."

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No heatsink? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 08:42 · Score: 2, Interesting

Wouldn't this be more useful it they were shipping bolt on heat sinks?
1. Re:No heatsink? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 08:47 · Score: 0
  
  heatsinks? we dont need no stinking heatsinks!
2. Re:No heatsink? by del_diablo · 2012-09-19 08:48 · Score: 1
  
  Still not enough heat. If it had a heatsink, it would go higher.
3. Re:No heatsink? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 08:59 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  This is not true if you actually read. The patch detects overheating and downscales the CPU frequency if it gets too hot. That doesn't sound to me like a heatsink is unnecessary.
4. Re:No heatsink? by TheGratefulNet · 2012-09-19 09:08 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  you can't heatsink the cpu. its UNDER the ram chip!
  what a stupid design. I own 2 Pi boards and I kinda like them, but this sandwich is not at all diy friendly. you can't fix things, you can't upgrade things, you can't even heatsink things.
  I know why they did this. but I still don't appreciate this kind of approach.
  
  --
  
  --
  "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
5. Re:No heatsink? by Lumpy · 2012-09-19 09:15 · Score: 1
  
  Too bad you cant cement one on yourself. Damn them and their anti-heatsink technology!
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
6. Re:No heatsink? by Lumpy · 2012-09-19 09:18 · Score: 1
  
  Slap a heatsink on the chip you do make a difference by drawing heat off the ram that is soaked up by the processor. it makes a difference. One of those adhesive tape cheapie ram heatsinks for the DIMM modules makes a difference, small one, but the difference is there.
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
7. Re:No heatsink? by Lehk228 · 2012-09-19 09:21 · Score: 2
  
  it looks like a northbridge cooler would be perfect for the job, either fanned or fanless
  
  --
  Snowden and Manning are heroes.
8. Re:No heatsink? by viperidaenz · 2012-09-19 09:26 · Score: 2
  
  anti-heatsink technology
  
  They call it "package on package". Someone in a meeting said "How can we increase the thermal resistance between the CPU and any heatsink someone wants to put on it?". The solution was to put another chip on top of the CPU.
9. Re:No heatsink? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 09:28 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  what a stupid design
  It's an ingenius design for their actual intended goal: A tiny and cheap computer to aid in kids education.
  Remember that, and realize anything they do purely for the sake of the DIY community should come highly appreciated.
10. Re:No heatsink? by TheGratefulNet · 2012-09-19 09:28 · Score: 2
  
  I do agree and I plan to use some vga 'chipset coolers' that I bought and never used, years ago.
  that will *help* but it does not do much for the cpu below it.
  but yes, I plan to and suggest doing such. as long as it stays on and does not go for some 'round the world tour' (lol) if it comes unstuck and bounces around inside your case.
  
  --
  
  --
  "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
11. Re:No heatsink? by TheGratefulNet · 2012-09-19 09:30 · Score: 1
  
  its called 'frustration-inherent technology'.
  ie, when users hear about this, they'll have a FIT.
  
  --
  
  --
  "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
12. Re:No heatsink? by mk1004 · 2012-09-19 09:34 · Score: 1
  
  You can heatsink them. The question is, would it do any good? The answer is; yes, probably. The thermal conductivity between the memory and cpu die should be pretty good. As a comparison, I worked at a company that made some modules that consisted of a memory IC and some other devices, all contained within an epoxy-filled module. I ran some ja and jc tests, thinking that the epoxy would act as an insulator and increase the values over the memory IC by itself. It turned out that the numbers were lower. The epoxy acted as a fairly good thermal conductor and, because of the greater surface area of the module, it ended up working as a pretty good heatsink. In this case you've got interconnects between the two die that should have much better thermal conductivity than the epoxy in those modules.
  Certainly you won't get results as good as you could attaching a heatsink directly above the cpu, but I'd still expect a measurable improvement.
  
  --
  I can mend the break of day, heal a broken heart, and provide temporary relief to nymphomaniacs.
13. Re:No heatsink? by CanHasDIY · 2012-09-19 09:38 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  They call it "package on package".
  Would Google for specs, but afraid of getting gay porn by mistake...
  
  --
  An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
14. Re:No heatsink? by TheGratefulNet · 2012-09-19 11:00 · Score: 1
  
  look at the side view.
  its a chip, then balls of solder, then another chip. HUGE air gap and not even a heatsink join between them. just solder balls, which are not meant to conduct heat, really.
  you get heat rising from the cpu, below, thru the air and to the top ram chip. but that's VERY indirect cooling.
  I'd take a WAG and think that you get 10% improvement in cooling via an 'upper decker' heatsink. the ram will be cooler but we don't care about the ram as much.
  
  --
  
  --
  "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
15. Re:No heatsink? by Amouth · 2012-09-19 11:25 · Score: 1
  
  I can't seem to find a picture, but if there is a "huge air gap" then you should be able to get away with filling that gap with non electrically conductive thermal grease to assist moving the heat. Then cool the memory chip and/or cap it so that you can fill the void completely and allow direct heat-sink to grease contact along the edges.
  
  --
  '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
16. Re:No heatsink? by Goaway · 2012-09-19 11:42 · Score: 1
  
  what a stupid design.
  It's a cellphone processor. It needs to be small. That's how you get them small.
17. Re:No heatsink? by Lumpy · 2012-09-19 11:54 · Score: 2
  
  if there is any contact between the packages you will get thermal conduction.
  
  --
  Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
18. Re:No heatsink? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 12:40 · Score: 0
  
  Submerge the entire board in transformer oil.
19. Re:No heatsink? by philofaqs · 2012-09-19 12:58 · Score: 1
  
  Wouldn't a large dollop of raspberry (c)ripple icecream solve the short term heat problems. OK it might be cream crackered later.
20. Re:No heatsink? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 16:13 · Score: 0
  
  Many, many years ago (like 45 - before the availability of good RF power transistors...) a ham friend of mine took an RF signal transistor, carefully cut the metal cap off of it, and mounted it into the bottom of a Campbell's Soup can with a blob of epoxy (with the leads extending out a hole in the bottom through the epoxy). He then build an RF transmitter with that transistor as the final output stage. He filled the Campbell's Soup can with silicone oil, fired the transmitter up. Worked fine, until he spilled a soda into the can of oil/RF transistor.
  Maybe you could try running the R Pi in a bath of silicone oil with the cold side of a Peltier device in there as well.
  Just sayin'
  Now, GET OFF MY LAWN!!!
21. Re:No heatsink? by rastos1 · 2012-09-19 19:25 · Score: 2
  
  It seems that the hottest part is actually not the CPU but the ethernet/USB controller.
22. Re:No heatsink? by petes_PoV · 2012-09-19 19:53 · Score: 0
  
  A tiny and cheap computer to aid in kids education.
  Oh really, it's time this manifestly bogus myth was put to rest. If you want to educate children about programming you simply load an app onto the PCs that are everywhere in schools. You don't create a brand new little computer that needs an HD-TV to display AND extra an keyboard and mouse before it can do anything.
  If the intended audience really was the poor and the underprivileged (even in "rich" countries) the additional hardware needed to use Pis in any meaningful number requires a school to make an enormous investment in TVs or LCD screens in addition to the screens they already have for their PCs. And no, you can't share screens, as that just makes the far more versatile PC unusable when it's screenless.
  The only educational value of the RPi, that I can see, is to illustrate all its shortcoming, to teach electronics students how NOT to design an embedded / industrial computer.
  
  --
  politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
23. Re:No heatsink? by makomk · 2012-09-19 20:55 · Score: 2
  
  That apparently varies from board to board because in many cases it's the result of a hardware design flaw that was quietly fixed in the latest board revision. They screwed up and accidentally connected the output of the onboard 1.8 V regulator on the LAN chip to the 1.8 V power rail on the board. Depending on the actual voltage each of the two 1.8 V regulators is trying to regulate down to, the LAN chip's regulator winds up supplying some or all of the current for that rail. That regulator is not actually designed to power external components - its output is only connected to a pin because it needs an external capacitor - and overloading it causes the chip to get very hot. As per usual the RasPi Foundation banned the person who pointed this out from their forum.
24. Re:No heatsink? by makomk · 2012-09-19 20:59 · Score: 1
  
  Doubt it. At a guess, the thermal conductivity to the PCB itself is probably going to be much better than the thermal conductivity up through the top of the package and through the RAM chip, possibly so much so that adding a heatsink to the top of the chip stack would make essentially no difference.
25. Re:No heatsink? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 21:41 · Score: 1
  
  Well, if you want to educate people in low level programming it helps a lot if you have a common platform with a pre-configured tool chain to start out with. You aren't necessarily _done_ teaching kids to program when they have mastered Python.
  And just for Python programming I think that it helps to have pre-configured environment on identical hardware too. I don't think hardware is the greatest challenge for most schools/individuals that want to teach programming, but rather setting up and maintaining a development environment.
26. Re:No heatsink? by tommeke100 · 2012-09-19 22:00 · Score: 2
  
  They call it "package on package".
  Would Google for specs, but afraid of getting gay porn by mistake...
  Would Google for specs, but "afraid" of getting gay porn "by mistake"...
  
  There, fixed it for you ;-)
27. Re:No heatsink? by Alioth · 2012-09-19 22:25 · Score: 2
  
  It doesn't need an HDTV to display. It can use any old analogue TV set - it has composite video out. It can also use any old DVI monitor. Being able to plug straight into both HDMI and DVI monitors cover the vast majority of monitors and TVs out there. The analogue composite video addresses those who can only get hold of a cast-off TV (most likely for free). USB keyboards and mice cost buttons.
  The other thing is most school computers are locked down tighter than a duck's ass, and many schools will never entertain proper programming on the great majority of their computers. As such, the school might have a whole heap of PCs, but none are actually available to learn how a computer works, they are just glorified typewriters. This is a big problem in the UK - "IT classes" today are actually not information technology classes, they are just office skills classes, i.e. how to type, and how to use a spreadsheet (and a proprietary one at that). The Pi can be used as a standalone device which doesn't even need to be on the network, where a student is free to do whatever they want without making the IT department fear they will break something - because if the student buggers up the filesystem, for instance, you just reimage the SD card and you're done. The student can use their own SD card if they like. They can just use the keyboard, mouse and monitor of the computer the school won't let them use for programming.
  
  --
  Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
28. Re:No heatsink? by Alioth · 2012-09-19 22:37 · Score: 1
  
  Well, if the person just politely pointed it out I expect they wouldn't get banned.
  But instead they labour the point, and bang on and on about it in an agressive and unhelpful manner.
  
  --
  Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
29. Re:No heatsink? by Crosshair84 · 2012-09-20 01:40 · Score: 1
  
  If you want to educate people in low level programing you use a BASIC stamp. You can program them on any computer you might have and they have plenty of power for the basic robotics stuff.
  
  If you are getting into the more advanced programing, why would you cripple your students by confining them to such a limited platform?
30. Re:No heatsink? by mk1004 · 2012-09-20 04:20 · Score: 1
  
  The point is, the solder balls actually are a really good conductor of heat, as are the interconnects that they join. You can't change the basic thermal properties of a material just because you are not intending to use those properties. Just because our first intuition is that the air gap is going to drive the overall thermal conductivity of the package doesn't make it so. Just like I, along with others, thought that the epoxy in the modules I worked with would act more as an insulator rather than the pretty good heat conductor that it turned out to be.
  I'm sure that Amcor and other assembly manufacturers have characterized the thermal conductivity of stacked assemblies like these, but I haven't found any data for them to verify this.
  Running some tests using the on-cpu thermal register data, with and without a heat sink, would of course answer this question. I, for one, intend to add a heat sink if I end up overclocking the cpu.
  
  --
  I can mend the break of day, heal a broken heart, and provide temporary relief to nymphomaniacs.
31. Re:No heatsink? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-21 03:42 · Score: 0
  
  Sure. Because there is absolutely no evidence of the foundation banning people just for politely pointing out how many grave errors were made in the design.
  Except that there are plenty of examples of this, even for people who behaved perfectly well. The foundation people seem to have a serious problem with criticism. Instead of trying to mute valid concerns they should better fix their shitty design.
  But the Pi is an enormous disappointment anyway because it fails on several points especially on the promised open-sourceness which just isn't there (see the binary blob which you need to even boot).
Ah, to be young again... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2012-09-19 08:47 · Score: 3, Insightful

If I hadn't grown out of my...thermally adventurous... computing phase, I'd be lamenting the fact that the RPi's Package-on-Package SoC design means that the RAM is on top of the CPU, which severely limits the amount of fanatically-careful lapping to perfect the thermal transfer between the CPU die and the somewhat outrageous heatsink I could perform without destroying the system RAM and making it fairly useless....
(More generally, does anybody know how much headroom these weedy little power-constrained chips have? Are they generally frequency limited by comparatively cheap fab processes, or design tradeoffs of various sorts, or could somebody willing to feed them 30 watts rather than .3watts and provide them with a heatsink larger than the cellphone they were designed to power hit a genuinely substantial overclock?)
1. Re:Ah, to be young again... by allanw · 2012-09-19 09:42 · Score: 2
  
  If you keep increasing the voltage then it's likely that you can hit higher frequencies, but the power scales with voltage squared and frequency linearly, so power will go up pretty quickly. However, nowadays in advanced processes the interconnect is becoming more of a factor in the limitation on frequency scaling instead of the transistors themselves, in which case increasing the voltage will only help up to a certain point.
  The trade-off that the company selling the CPU's makes is between the cost of cooling, reliability and lifetime of the device (higher voltage will wear the transistors out quicker, and high temperatures accelerates this process), and yield.
Old by gcore · 2012-09-19 08:48 · Score: 4, Informative

Been running mine stable at 1Ghz for two months now. What is new, is the dynamic frequency scaling. Support for that was added like last week.
1. Re:Old by UnresolvedExternal · 2012-09-19 08:52 · Score: 1
  
  Anyone fried theirs yet?
2. Re:Old by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-20 06:01 · Score: 0
  
  Even older: last week I bought an Olimex OLinuxino-A13, which runs natively at 1GHz and can be overclocked to 1.5, not to mention having 4x the RAM and being a Cortex A8 so gets more instructions per cycle than the ARM9-based RPi, all while costing not a lot more than a Pi.
  Sure, there are downsides (no TV-out or HDMI, 800x600 max resolution, onboard wireless rather than ethernet is less reliable), but for many applications it's much, much better.
3. Re:Old by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-21 03:53 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, I run mine stable @@ 900 MHz / 500 memory / 250 core (forgot to go back and overclock it again) with no over volt as I didn't want to void the warranty. Over volt throws a flag such that revision will always read with a starting 1000 once activated forever.
  Their new doesn't trip that, and so warranty is still good. MAXIMUM temperature of 85Â C mine runs @ about 42ÂC maximum now. ODDLY enough they star over volt @ 900.
  Mine hangs during boot @ 950 with no over volt.
Now with free heater app.. by DeTech · 2012-09-19 08:51 · Score: 1

Surprised they didn't roll this out at launch. It seems like it would've taken care of most of there growing pains.
Poor design by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 08:57 · Score: 0

Pis are too small to slap a turbo button on.
Aww by kiriath · 2012-09-19 09:00 · Score: 1

Makes me miss my 'Turbo' button on my 486...
1. Re:Aww by dchamp · 2012-09-19 09:22 · Score: 1
  
  The "turbo" button wasn't really turbo... it was either normal speed, or 1/2 clock speed, or otherwise crippling the cache or something to slow it down.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_button
2. Re:Aww by cpu6502 · 2012-09-19 09:32 · Score: 1
  
  I never could figure-out what that 486 Turbo button was for. I didn't notice any difference in speed.
  
  --
  My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
3. Re:Aww by TheGratefulNet · 2012-09-19 09:33 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  about 10 yrs ago, maybe even 12, I had to buy a dual pentium 'compute box' for our group. I think a pentium-pro was about as good as you could get, back then. I ordered an asus board and had the whole system built by a pro builder (who did a decent job).
  but this dual pentium pro was really slow! what the hell is going on?
  go into the bios, poke around. what do I see? a setting called 'de-turbo mode' and its 'on' by default.
  think about that. the name is a 'lower my performance' and default was 'yes, please'.
  once I turned off the de-turbo mode, it ran as fast as I was expecting. very snappy system for its day.
  
  --
  
  --
  "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
4. Re:Aww by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 09:51 · Score: 0
  
  You obv weren't a gamer back then.
5. Re:Aww by mk1004 · 2012-09-19 09:52 · Score: 1
  
  The turbo mode was generally intended to be used if you didn't want the faster speed, e.g. when running programs that depended upon the cpu to be running at the IBM "standard" frequency and had hard-coded loops for timing control. Running a faster cpu frequency could make those programs unusable.
  If you didn't notice any difference in speed on your machine, it could be that some bios setting was overriding the turbo button setting.
  
  --
  I can mend the break of day, heal a broken heart, and provide temporary relief to nymphomaniacs.
6. Re:Aww by Zordak · 2012-09-19 10:39 · Score: 1
  
  I remember there was a flight simulator program that had to have the Turbo button off. If you turned it on, your plane went crazy.
  
  --
  
  Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.
7. Re:Aww by timeOday · 2012-09-19 10:54 · Score: 1
  
  It was for Tetris.
  And if the button wasn't working, it probably wasn't plugged into anything.
8. Re:Aww by TheGratefulNet · 2012-09-19 11:03 · Score: 1
  
  my old computer used to have a turbo button. it didn't seem to do anything, but every few days, I'd flip it on and off just for the heck of it.
  a few weeks later, I got an email from a lady in holland. she said 'cut it out!'
  (shamelessly stolen/adapted from steven wright)
  
  --
  
  --
  "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
9. Re:Aww by MarkRose · 2012-09-19 13:03 · Score: 2
  
  12 years ago was 2000. A great x86 chip back then was a 1.4 GHz Thunderbird Athlon.
  To go back to a time when the Pentium Pro was the best x86 consumer chip, you'd have to back to at least early 1996, or 18 years ago.
  Yes, time does fly.
  
  --
  Be relentless!
10. Re:Aww by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 18:19 · Score: 0
  
  it's been 18 years since 1996? no kidding, time does fly.
11. Re:Aww by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 20:24 · Score: 0
  
  Time flies so fast that basic arithmetic becomes difficult.
  So lets try that again: 2012 - 1996 = ?
  I'll give you a hint, its not 18.
Can You Imagine .... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 09:07 · Score: 0

An S3 Cloud of these?
Huh - Beowhat?
Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by Adult+film+producer · 2012-09-19 09:18 · Score: 1

what sort of application would require this sort of cpu horsepower? I thought they were for basically running lego robots and turning lights on and off.
1. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by Jesse_vd · 2012-09-19 09:21 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  XBMC is the biggest use that comes to mind.... one of these on every TV in your house = one hell of a media center for CHEAP
2. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 09:23 · Score: 1
  
  You really can't think of anything that's heavyweight for a general purpose CPU to do? It can do whatever you want it to do. It has an onboard graphics accelerator. Think computer vision, a fancy control scheme, etc. Let me guess, you sit at a console all day doing server side stuffs. :P
3. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by Githaron · 2012-09-19 09:24 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe sensor data processing for robots?
4. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 09:30 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  "I thought they were for basically running lego robots and turning lights on and off."
  Yep, thats what an Arduino is for. Now the Pi has IO facilities to do that sort of stuff too, but its really a cheap Linux computer to encourage the Youth of today (and tomorrow) to toy about with programming on a device that encourages personal ownership due to its low cost, and the fact that its easy to program, unlike family PCs, which may not have development environments installed or may have a parental prohibition on "being fiddled with".
  Yes, they might also have smartphones, tablets and so forth, but those aren't platforms that are fun to program on. The Pi is.
  The speed boosts also improve the RaspPis capability as a general purpose computer for web browsing and light office applications. Its not as painful in that respect as some would have you believe, and with the ability to painlessly boost performance, make it even more worthwhile than it was before.
5. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by Adult+film+producer · 2012-09-19 10:33 · Score: 1
  
  Thanks for the thoughtful reply.
6. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by hairyfeet · 2012-09-19 13:58 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah they are cheap...but also limited as hell for that function. You have to have the media in the right codec, not have it at too high a bitrate, basically you pretty much have to tailor your media to the device.
  A MUCH better device for a cheap HTPC is the E350 kits. You can get the board alone at Amazon for around $70, that gives you a dual core and a Radeon GPU that'll accelerate a heck of a lot of formats, but I prefer the ones with the nice case and PSU for $125. Slap on a copy of Win 7 Home or if you want a free OS then OpenELEC has a Fusion build ready to go. You can use videos in dozen of formats, it multitasks well, its just a better system for an HTPC.
  That said there are still a ton of places that the pi makes an excellent device, rocketry, robotics, UAVs, there are a ton of different jobs that this will fit and the fact they keep adding cool features like this is just icing on the cake.
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
7. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by tommeke100 · 2012-09-19 22:12 · Score: 1
  
  If you have an old TV.
  Otherwise, TVs already come with a network port and integrated media player.
8. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by coofercat · 2012-09-20 00:31 · Score: 1
  
  I'm trying to do the exact same thing - I bought a big monitor to connect to my laptop for working from home. The rest of it's life it's just in the way, so I figured it could just run XBMC. So far, no particular joy though - you need a fast SD card to make it workable, and my particular one isn't supported by the raspbmc project yet (although it is supported by the Pi itself). On a slower card, it's just awful to use.
  The Pi really is a great little gadget - and for £30 quid, you can have a dozen of them easily (once supply is available!).
9. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by Crosshair84 · 2012-09-20 00:41 · Score: 1
  
  I just go to the local pawn shops and check the computers they have. I turned one cheap Atom netbook into a DVR for my garage. Another is a beater netbook for out by the bonfire, bullet casting, and firing range. (You don't want anything too important when working with molten lead or drunk people by a fire.)
  
  Sometimes they really screw up, I got a $340 NIB AMD C60 netbook with Win7 64 bit for the same price as a 3 year old single core Atom. I then crammed an 8gb stick of ram in it, max "supported" was 4 gb but it worked just fine. I use it as my media computer downstairs. Power consumption is so stupid low I can not worry about accidentally leaving it on.
  
  Often they are way overpriced, but if you keep an eye out you can spot a deal.
10. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by Crosshair84 · 2012-09-20 02:32 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry, but that is pure fantasy. You could have said the EXACT same thing about basic stamps and graphing calculators, like the Ti-83.
  
  Hand-me-down computers today will completely curb stomp a pi and there is vast quantities of software and software development tools for windows, or even linux, for those who are interested. People who want to "toy about" with programing won't give the pi a second thought because it is simply too slow and too restrictive.
  
  It will be used by serious tinkerers, for high level robotics courses and other advanced projects that can take advantage of its small size. The Pi will compete with BASIC stamps, not PCs.
11. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by hairyfeet · 2012-09-20 05:10 · Score: 1
  
  Ahhh...that is what I use Craigslist for, as the local pawnshop has discovered eBay so anything good is gonna be priced no different than its highest eBay selling price. I've been picking up those Atom netbooks for $60-$80 which is frankly all those are worth as far as I'm concerned but if I spot an AMD Bobcat I snatch ASAP. I have one of the EEEs and like you loaded it with 8Gb, great little netbook. After the holidays I'll slap an SSD in it and have a pretty fast little ultra portable for cheap, just great little units.
  But I think you'll agree that the Pi is just too limited a chip for HTPC. It can really only accelerate H.264, and then only in the correct flavor as far as bitrate and wrapper, I mean who wants to spend all that time making their media fit the device? A good HTPC should run whatever you throw at it in at least 720p if not full 1080p which is why I recommended those E350s. The E350 rocks when it comes to HTPC, I have accelerated DivX, Flash, MPEG 1/2/4, H.26x, pretty much anything that is even slightly popular is accelerated, easily cooled passively or with a tiny NB fan, and you can get it already put together with a nice case and PSU for just $125 and all you have to do is add the RAM and HDD of your choice.
  For an HTPC you really can't beat the E350. That C60 you grabbed will do the job fine, but if someone hadn't lucked into one the E350 can be picked up every day for that price and is already in a nice case that looks good in a TV cabinet.
  
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  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
12. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by mlk · 2012-09-20 07:58 · Score: 1
  
  Compling Quake 3... ;)
  Playing Q3 I've not yet attempted as it not currently connected to a TV.
  
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  Wow, I should not post when knackered.
13. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by Crosshair84 · 2012-09-20 11:08 · Score: 1
  
  Funny, round here it is the exact opposite. Every college student on Craigslist here thinks their 2 year old netbook is worth $250. The pawn shops are far more reasonable.
14. Re:Haven't touched one or an Arduino but.. by hairyfeet · 2012-09-21 08:08 · Score: 1
  
  Funny how that stuff works, huh? Round here I've bought a NIB acoustic bass, beautiful black which I just love, for $60, 5 strings for $50, netbooks for anywhere from $60-$120, again depending on the chips, and can buy really nice Core duo laptops for $125-$150 again depending on how much battery life is left.
  The pawnshops on the other hand want $120 for a P4 desktop with crappy CRT monitor, you are not touching ANYTHING in a laptop shape for less than 2 bills, and basses that look like they've been used as baseball bats go for over $100. You walk in there and you can see a guy in the corner just watching auction prices and if anybody brings something in first thing they do? See what its going for on eBay.
  Now I tell my friends if they want something nice just have me hit Craigslist and shoot them a heads up when the right one comes along. I recently got a former customer that is a hell of a nice guy a NIB Dell Atom mini 9 for $80 flat, still in the wrapper. The seller got an iPad at the same time and decided he preferred the pad so he just left it in the box. If that would have been at the pawnshop it would have been $225, not a penny less.
  
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  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
10MHz Turbo-XT! by tverbeek · 2012-09-19 09:22 · Score: 2

If this "Turbo" mode is enabled by pressing a square red button on the front of the computer, I will kiss the person responsible.

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http://alternatives.rzero.com/
1. Re:10MHz Turbo-XT! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 14:30 · Score: 0
  
  You are not and never will be worth the oxygen you consume, retard.
2. Re:10MHz Turbo-XT! by L4t3r4lu5 · 2012-09-19 22:22 · Score: 1
  
  They should have called it Pedestrian Mode. It was designed to be used to underclock the processor for some applications which couldn't handle the faster timings.
  
  --
  Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
3. Re:10MHz Turbo-XT! by tverbeek · 2012-09-20 05:23 · Score: 1
  
  That's what turning Turbo mode "off" was for.
  
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  http://alternatives.rzero.com/
This be unstable as a skiff at high sea in a storm by Iamthecheese · 2012-09-19 09:26 · Score: 1

Heat is VERY local in many cases. Unless they have a pixalized thermometer measuring temperatures at every point this is a bad, bad idea.

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If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
Where are the raspberry Pi?? by franciscohs · 2012-09-19 10:06 · Score: 2

I've been on a waiting list for at least 6 or 8 months and the last notice I had is that it was going to be shipped in about 4 months. It's ridiculous. Where does everyone get theirs?, do they even exist!?!?
1. Re:Where are the raspberry Pi?? by Ignacio · 2012-09-19 10:18 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Cancel your order with RS and go to one of the sane companies stocking and shipping them.
2. Re:Where are the raspberry Pi?? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 10:36 · Score: 0
  
  There's no more queue from what I see, at least in Canada.
  I ordered one last Friday from Newark/Element14, and it arrived at my house Tuesday afternoon.
3. Re:Where are the raspberry Pi?? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 10:37 · Score: 1
  
  I agree with Ignacio; cancel your order with RS and go through Farnell. They have a clue and they ship product fast. In the U.S. I had mine within a week with expedited shipping.
4. Re:Where are the raspberry Pi?? by kiddygrinder · 2012-09-19 10:42 · Score: 1
  
  i cancelled my order with rs after they sent me an email saying it would be another 9 weeks after the initial 12 week wait and got 2 through element 14 in 2 days
  
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  This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
5. Re:Where are the raspberry Pi?? by kelemvor4 · 2012-09-19 10:52 · Score: 1
  
  I've been on a waiting list for at least 6 or 8 months and the last notice I had is that it was going to be shipped in about 4 months. It's ridiculous. Where does everyone get theirs?, do they even exist!?!?
  I have the exact same problem. Maybe I'll try and get my money back and order from one of these other companies who are supposedly shipping real devices.
6. Re:Where are the raspberry Pi?? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-19 11:51 · Score: 0
  
  I'll concur with everyone saying to cancel and order elsewhere. I ordered from Allied on July 3. September 4 I canceled my Allied order and placed an order with MCM Electronics. It shipped the next day. Having a Raspberry Pi is way more fun than waiting for a Raspberry Pi.
7. Re:Where are the raspberry Pi?? by lgftsa · 2012-09-19 13:48 · Score: 1
  
  I was allowed to order (and pay for) mine in June, after the initial bait-and-switch and then a shipping hike of more than the cost of the board itself. I finally got an order number in the low 80 thousands with a nine week shipping estimate.
  Still no shipping notification, and no more updates on where they're up to in the list.
  Yet, the people claiming to be in charge of this train wreck are giving boards away as prizes. Unbelievable.
8. Re:Where are the raspberry Pi?? by Alioth · 2012-09-19 22:31 · Score: 1
  
  Cancel your order with RS and order it from Farnell (element 14). Farnell are currently shipping in 2 days I hear. RS have made some huge balls up it seems.
  
  --
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9. Re:Where are the raspberry Pi?? by Goth+Biker+Babe · 2012-09-19 22:35 · Score: 1
  
  I was at Farnell's trade counter just the other day. I could have bought one there and then! RS has been dreadful with their deliveries.
10. Re:Where are the raspberry Pi?? by Dynetrekk · 2012-09-19 22:45 · Score: 1
  
  Ordered mine recently, took 2 weeks from farnell.
11. Re:Where are the raspberry Pi?? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-20 05:49 · Score: 0
  
  I got 2 about a week ago. Ordered three days before they were delivered.
it's from the manufacturer by Chirs · 2012-09-19 10:25 · Score: 1

presumably they know what the chip can handle
Bring on the LN2! by rrohbeck · 2012-09-19 11:11 · Score: 1

If you cool the memory package to sub-zero the CPU will probably cooled quite well.

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Where is it? by nagasrinivas · 2012-09-19 14:07 · Score: 1

I wish they'd just send my backorderd one before telling me all the features I'll never see.
switch distributors by Chirs · 2012-09-19 15:44 · Score: 1

Seriously, cancel and order from the other guy. In Canada Newark has them in stock and Allied is saying many weeks delay.
Reiterating the past by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-20 01:23 · Score: 0

The PI is nothing special... sure it's a decent design, but only if it were 1. an x86 chip and 2. comparably fast to the newer even mid-range chips today..
That being said, the ideal behind 'overclock til you hit 85' will be on failblog. Not every chip is made equal, and using a temperature range to identify what is an ok OC is the biggest sham ever... I've had OC's on normal chips fail and the cpu never went above 65 degrees..
Overclocking Raspberry Pi by thewiz · 2012-09-20 02:20 · Score: 1

Does this mean that the Raspberry Pi can bake itself?

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If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?