Raspberry Pi Gets 512MB Filling

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Raspberry Pi Gets 512MB Filling

Posted by samzenpus on Monday October 15, 2012 @01:35AM from the bigger-and-better dept.

sfcrazy writes "Good (and bad) news for Raspberry Pi lovers, the Model B has been upgraded to 512MB RAM from 256MB. Bad news is for those who already got their Model B shipments because all those who have outstanding orders with either distributors will get the *upgraded* version of the device, means with 512MB RAM instead of 256MB. The upgraded devices should be arriving to customers from today onwards. Raspberry Pi team will be pushing a firmware upgrade soon so these news devices can detect and use the additional RAM."

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"Bad news" by Bronster · 2012-10-15 01:41 · Score: 5, Insightful

That's what happens when you adopt early, you get earlier revisions of stuff.
The alternative would be to never upgrade for fear of making the early adopters sad. Of course there has to be a balance, but most non-assholes accept that this is how things work.
On the plus side, they actually HAVE their Pi now, and have had the use of it already. If they hadn't bought it (collectively), there would be no Pi.
Mmm, Pi.
1. Re:"Bad news" by mfh · 2012-10-15 01:45 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  That's what happens when you adopt early, you get earlier revisions of stuff.
  Early adopters get a rare slice of history. Nothing wrong with that.
  
  --
  The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
2. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 01:48 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  @ $35, it's not even an issue. buy a second one! wooo.
3. Re:"Bad news" by Crosshair84 · 2012-10-15 01:51 · Score: 1, Offtopic
  
  Just like with SSDs, early ones were still faster than spinning rust, but horrifically unreliable. If you were someone who wanted the bleeding edge you still bought them, but for people who value reliability, we waited for the later models to come out.
  
  I know I said in the past that I would buy one when Western Digital started making them, but the fact that Intel has a 5 year warranty on their SSDs now for awhile and the specs of the new 520 series I went ahead and got one. Combine that with finally listening to hairyfeet and switching from Firefox to Comodo Dragon, I've seen a nice speed boost. (That and now there are Chrome equivalents to my favorite plugins.)
4. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 01:54 · Score: 0
  
  why would you want to run Windows?...
5. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 01:59 · Score: 1
  
  No bad news about it. 16 years ago I spent a stupid amount of money on a PC with far less memory than the Pi. Computers get better and cheaper, that is the way of things.
  I ordered a Pi with 256MB and got what I ordered, and am happy.
6. Re:"Bad news" by decipher_saint · 2012-10-15 02:02 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Hmm, I guess the alternative is to wait until just before the end of time to buy all your devices.
  (but you just know they have better devices in a parallel universe anyway)
  
  --
  crazy dynamite monkey
7. Re:"Bad news" by kelemvor4 · 2012-10-15 02:05 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  @ $50, it's not even an issue. buy a second one! wooo.
  FTFY. Although at this point, I didn't really buy a pi, I loaned them 50 bucks.
8. Re:"Bad news" by inasity_rules · 2012-10-15 02:20 · Score: 1
  
  I have my slice of Pi. And I am quite satisfied with 256Mb. I have plans for the little beast that don't require more RAM.... So I am happy. I liked the idea of a cheap limited computer. It makes you frugal with your resources and efficient. But then again if my ZX81 still worked, I'd be playing with that...
  
  --
  I have determined that my sig is indeterminate.
9. Re:"Bad news" by kriston · 2012-10-15 02:30 · Score: 1
  
  I haven't had a need to use more than the 256 megabytes it comes with but I will probably order another upgraded version anyway.
  
  --
  Kriston
10. Re:"Bad news" by cjjjer · 2012-10-15 02:31 · Score: 1
  
  Why would you want to run Linux on <insert_device_name_here>, people love to hack things, it's how we learn and keep amused.
11. Re:"Bad news" by MightyYar · 2012-10-15 02:31 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I know I said in the past that I would buy one when Western Digital started making them
  I know, I'm waiting for Boeing to start making automobiles. Toyotas just aren't reliable enough ;p
  Sorry, I just couldn't resist. I personally think you are better off with an Intel SSD, since intel has experience with chips. WD might know how to make a good spinning disk, but AFAIK they don't own a single chip fab.
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
12. Re:"Bad news" by drinkypoo · 2012-10-15 02:32 · Score: 1
  
  On the down side, I'm kind of pissed that I have a device that will now be relegated to second-tier status, because everyone and their mom will end up planning for a 512MB memory envelope.
  On the even further down side, they will almost certainly target Android to use that much memory, and those of us with a Rev.A will have a nightmare of a time.
  On the even further down side, you still can't get ICS, which they claimed to have working two months ago. WTF?
  Finally, for the same actual delivered price, you can get something else. For barely more you can get a VIA APC from Newegg. For the same price, you can get one of these sticks that run ICS.
  Raspberry Pi has turned out to be kind of a comedy of incompetence, and I now regret buying one. Between the ethernet jack and the usb polyfuses and the low memory and the lack of forthcomingness I feel like I might as well have just bought a finished commercial device and saved myself a lot of trouble. This is what I get for being impatient. They've talked a lot about how "Open" they are but they don't even seem to be able to release the updated blob to make ICS work, they won't tell us when or even any kind of detail on why, the memory upgrade had to be coming but they didn't want people to wait so they didn't tell us. And then there's how pathetic the shippers have been, claiming they have them in stock when they aren't even fulfilling orders themselves, promising air shipping for the price of ground and then shipping them ground anyway, etc.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
13. Re:"Bad news" by tepples · 2012-10-15 02:39 · Score: 0
  
  Some developers of non-free applications decline to port them to GNU/Linux.
14. Re:"Bad news" by msauve · 2012-10-15 02:52 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  "I guess the alternative is to wait until just before the end of time to buy all your devices."
  
  Even better, if you're buying at the end of time, pay with credit!
  
  --
  "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
15. Re:"Bad news" by Gaygirlie · 2012-10-15 02:53 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  The reason they were able to upgrade the Pi to 512MB is exactly because the 256MB - version was so popular. If there had not been such demand there still wouldn't be 512MB - version. So basically, you're annoyed because it is popular and therefore managed to get a discount -- rather illogical from your part.
16. Re:"Bad news" by Gaygirlie · 2012-10-15 03:00 · Score: 2
  
  Finally, for the same actual delivered price, you can get something else. For barely more you can get a VIA APC from Newegg. For the same price, you can get one of these sticks that run ICS.
  You do realize that those do not offer the same kind of modifiability as the RPi? The VIA APC has very few extra ports and the sticks have literally none. In other words, they cater to entirely different audience and if you bought an RPi but actually wanted a VIA APC or similar then you hadn't really thought about what you actually want. Yes, it is sad that the RPi doesn't seem to suit you, but blaming them for that is just shifting blame for your bad purchase from yourself.
  
  the memory upgrade had to be coming but they didn't want people to wait so they didn't tell us.
  I quite doubt it's like that. Most likely they couldn't secure a deal for larger memory chips at the same price because the manufacturer of those chips wasn't convinced that there'd be enough demand for the RPi. Now that the demand has been proven the deal could be closed. It's just basic business practices, mate.
17. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:03 · Score: 0
  
  Hopefully not a 330 or 520, failure rates on those are massive... not even the mighty chip giant can work around all sandforce bugs.
18. Re:"Bad news" by xaxa · 2012-10-15 03:06 · Score: 1
  
  My my, what a great big sense of entitlement you have!
  The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a registered charity, created to improve computer science education in schools. Much of the work has been done by volunteers.
  If you don't want your board, sell it on eBay. They seem to have held their value so far.
19. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:06 · Score: 0
  
  Maybe he wants to actually do things on his computer.
20. Re:"Bad news" by Laxori666 · 2012-10-15 03:11 · Score: 2
  
  I think the notion of 'credit' will become more and more obsolete as the end of time approaches.
21. Re:"Bad news" by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2012-10-15 03:13 · Score: 2
  
  That's what happens when you adopt early, you get earlier revisions of stuff.
  That's why I'm waiting for the fastest and bestest computer anyone will ever build! By the way, is there any schedule for when they're gonna build it?
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
22. Re:"Bad news" by Crosshair84 · 2012-10-15 03:24 · Score: 1
  
  Ummmmmm, your analogy is a non sequitur. Boeing has never made cars. Western digital does make storage devices, so getting into SSD would be a logical step for them. You example would be logically coherent if you replaced "car" with "single engine prop planes", but even that's a stretch since SSDs are a growing market share while single engine prop planes are a rather mature market.
  
  Nvidia doesn't own a single chip fab either, what does that have to do with anything?
23. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:25 · Score: 0
  
  Good for them. Your point?
24. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:29 · Score: 0
  
  Then I'm keeping mine in it's original packaging!!! 8D
25. Re:"Bad news" by MightyYar · 2012-10-15 03:31 · Score: 1
  
  Boeing makes a reliable way to get from point A to point B.
  Aren't you taking a joke a bit too seriously?
  
  Nvidia doesn't own a single chip fab either, what does that have to do with anything?
  Nvidia at least designs their own graphics chips. If WD has any chip design experience at all, it is in their drive controller. And I'm sure some of that experience applies to SSDs, but they have no memory chip experience at all.
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
26. Re:"Bad news" by Crosshair84 · 2012-10-15 03:31 · Score: 0
  
  It's not 1994 anymore, ram is dirt cheap. Putting in 512mb from the start SHOULD have been obvious at the design meeting, would not have added significant cost, and would not have fragmented the software base, as now there will be different version for stuff with differing amounts of ram.
27. Re:"Bad news" by Ritz_Just_Ritz · 2012-10-15 03:32 · Score: 1
  
  Re: Intel 520's
  I've been buying them and sticking them into the SAS slots on HP DL360/DL380 servers. They snap right in. I bought about 25% more than I need in case there are any failures and will proactively rotate them out for newer/larger ones in a year.
  Very fast.
28. Re:"Bad news" by Dishevel · 2012-10-15 03:33 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Everybody STOP!
  Do not improve anything. AC just bought something and we must respect his feelings in this matter.
  
  --
  Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
29. Re:"Bad news" by Gaygirlie · 2012-10-15 03:37 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  It's not 1994 anymore, ram is dirt cheap. Putting in 512mb from the start SHOULD have been obvious at the design meeting, would not have added significant cost, and would not have fragmented the software base, as now there will be different version for stuff with differing amounts of ram.
  The manufacturers weren't convinced there'd be enough demand for the Pi and therefore getting a deal for 512MB chips would indeed have increased the price of the device quite a bit. Also, your argument is like saying that they should never ever do upgraded versions of anything whatsoever because -- gee whiz! -- there will be new versions of stuff to make use of new possibilities!
30. Re:"Bad news" by Erbo · 2012-10-15 03:42 · Score: 1
  
  Why "bad news"? This is an excellent opportunity to get a second one...and give the original to someone who would appreciate it as a Christmas gift. Which is what I plan on doing...and it means ModMyPi will be getting more business, too, as I get another case for the new one.
  
  --
  Be who you are...and be it in style!
31. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:45 · Score: 0
  
  You need not wait all the way to the end of time. You can get pretty much the same effect by buying the device a split second before your own death.
32. Re:"Bad news" by Narishma · 2012-10-15 03:51 · Score: 1
  
  It's not 1994 anymore, ram is dirt cheap.
  Only some types of RAM.
  
  --
  Mada mada dane.
33. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:59 · Score: 0
  
  Don't know about server environments, only know about the numbers for a large german etailer. Well over an order of magnitude higher "defective product" returns vs. sales for the 520 compared to intel controller intels. Not quite as bad as OCZ in the vertex2 days, but ... close.
34. Re:"Bad news" by Ginger+Unicorn · 2012-10-15 04:09 · Score: 2
  
  In keeping with the BBC Micro inspired naming scheme, they should have just called them the B+
  The BBC model B+ was basically a B with twice as much RAM.
  
  --
  (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
35. Re:"Bad news" by Crosshair84 · 2012-10-15 04:32 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  The manufacturers weren't convinced there'd be enough demand for the Pi and therefore getting a deal for 512MB chips would indeed have increased the price of the device quite a bit.
  I was not aware of this, do you have a link elaborating on that? Given that the VIA APC has 512 of ram and almost the same price I am slightly skeptical of this claim.
  
  Also, your argument is like saying that they should never ever do upgraded versions of anything whatsoever because -- gee whiz! -- there will be new versions of stuff to make use of new possibilities!
  No it is not like that at all. There IS such a thing as reving your product so often that nobody wants it, see Desktop Linux for proof of this. With a constantly shifting baseline, a good base of stable well developed software cannot be created because developers are constantly redeveloping for the new baseline. If the Pi was out for 2 years before the 512 came out, that would be one thing, but reving the baseline so drastically mere months after the initial hardware shipped is not smart when you are trying to get your new product established.
  
  Come to think of it, hasn't Microsoft gotten a TON of flack for doing the exact same thing for WinPhone7? Depreciating the old version by reving the baseline to a new version just as the old version was starting to establish itself?
36. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 04:37 · Score: 1
  
  PC-style RAM with dozens of small chips are cheap. One large package-on-package RAM chip is not cheap, especially in small quantities. You can't even buy 1 gig POP chips without being a major manufacturer. I imagine the switch to Sony's UK plant was key in getting quantity discounts.
  If it was solely a matter of dropping in a new stick instead of having a single chip soldered directly to the CPU, we wouldn't even be discussing this.
37. Re:"Bad news" by Gaygirlie · 2012-10-15 04:41 · Score: 2
  
  I was not aware of this, do you have a link elaborating on that? Given that the VIA APC has 512 of ram and almost the same price I am slightly skeptical of this claim.
  Well, comparing VIA to the foundation behind the Pi is quite unfair as VIA is a large, established manufacturer with plants of their own; of course they can get deals with other manufacturers much more easily than a completely new entity that has no track record whatsoever and a questionable amount of financial resources to back up a deal with. Also, in VIA's case they themselves manufacture their own boards, the CPU, many of the connectors and so on, meaning that they can squeeze just that much more out of the price.
38. Re:"Bad news" by Gaygirlie · 2012-10-15 04:53 · Score: 1
  
  Ummmmmm, your analogy is a non sequitur. Boeing has never made cars. Western digital does make storage devices, so getting into SSD would be a logical step for them.
  I don't feel it's actually that big of a stretch. Western Digital is and never has been a player in the flash-storage market, they've always been a player in the mechanical storage - market, just Boeing has always been about transporting people through the air instead of on the ground. Boeing does have experience with developing lightweight, sturdy structures with passenger safety and aerodynamics/fuel efficiency in mind just as WD has experience with error-correction, data usage patterns and such details; it'd be a new area for both, but not that far from what they already do.
39. Re:"Bad news" by tepples · 2012-10-15 05:01 · Score: 2
  
  My point is that some people have legitimate reasons to run Windows, such as Windows-exclusive business-critical applications.
40. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 05:19 · Score: 0
  
  Don't bend your wookie! :)
41. Re:"Bad news" by Crosshair84 · 2012-10-15 05:57 · Score: 0
  
  Boeing makes a reliable way to get from point A to point B.
  Aren't you taking a joke a bit too seriously?
  From my point of view the way you wrote that you appeared to be making fun of what my standards for accepting SSDs for use in my own machines and are now trying to backpedal for using a bad analogy. Which one is true doesn't really matter to me. When dealing with written words between people who don't know each other it is very easy to have humor be interpreted as an insult if is not careful in how they write, it happens to everyone. Not gonna get bent out of shape over it.
  
  Anyway, back to discussing WD.
  
  Nvidia at least designs their own graphics chips. If WD has any chip design experience at all, it is in their drive controller.
  and that is the part that seems to have given SSD users such headaches in the past.
  
  And I'm sure some of that experience applies to SSDs, but they have no memory chip experience at all.
  Apple didn't have any cell phone experience either, that didn't seem to stop them. As far as I can see, WD easily has the resources to make a SSD if they want to. Though at this point in the game they seem to be betting on spinning rust continuing to be vastly cheaper per gb than SSD, which could be either a very smart or very stupid move, time will tell.
42. Re:"Bad news" by Crosshair84 · 2012-10-15 06:07 · Score: 1
  
  Why exactly could they supposedly get the 256mb chips so easily as to make a $35 machine, but 512 would suddenly be a monumental hurdle? If you can get a deal one one, why not the other?
  
  I am still interested in the assertion of 256 being chosen, because of problems getting bulk deals, being backed up. Perhaps a link to a forum discussion or something elaborating on why certain choices were made? I'd love to see the reasoning behind some of the design choices.
43. Re:"Bad news" by Crosshair84 · 2012-10-15 06:08 · Score: 1
  
  Well what type of ram does it use and how expensive is it vs other types in common use today?
44. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 06:20 · Score: 1
  
  I was trolling, comment #41657069 was written by a complete moron so I replied like he did. Obviously both OSes would have their respective uses on the Pi depending on your project.
45. Re:"Bad news" by Crosshair84 · 2012-10-15 06:22 · Score: 1
  
  Finally, an actual explanation, thank you.
  
  The next question then is why did they chose to use a POP chip if there would be such difficulty in acquiring them. I would assume that a POP design would allow things to be more compact while using cheaper, lower density chips would have decreased the costs of chips, might have increased the price of construction in other ways. I suppose the use of laptop memory was probably considered at some point and rejected for some reason.
  
  Just trying to get a grasp of why they made the design choices they did. There could have been good reasons for doing what they did, but until I know those reasons I can only go by what I can see.
46. Re:"Bad news" by psergiu · 2012-10-15 06:35 · Score: 1
  
  Using the PoP memory means that the RPi doesn't need PCB traces from the CPU to a memory socket which results in:
  - Smaller PCB without a RAM socket
  - Fewer layers in the PCB
  ==> Cheaper.
  
  --
  1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
47. Re:"Bad news" by Belial6 · 2012-10-15 06:36 · Score: 1
  
  I'm going to have to agree with you on the too frequent of revisions issue. This is the third revision of the board in less than a year. If they were going to up the memory, they should have done it at the same time that they changed the motherboard layout.
  
  At $35, you can do a lot more revisions than on a $100 or more device, as price is not really an issue. As you say, it is compatibility that is an issue with too many revisions. If the Pi Foundation were smart, they would shoot for a revision once a year, and roll all of their changes into those revisions. I would happily buy 1 or 2 new Pi's a year that had noticeable improvements.
  
  The biggest problem here is that they don't seem to have a really good way to identify by sight which Pi you have, or which Pi you will get if you order one. They need to have clearly stated and marked revision numbers on the boards.
48. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 06:48 · Score: 0
  
  Are you dumb? He's literally giving you a reason why someone would want to run Windows on the RPi, that is to use these applications.
49. Re:"Bad news" by ballpoint · 2012-10-15 06:54 · Score: 1
  
  But then again if my ZX81 still worked, I'd be playing with that...
  Mine still does, but I'm bored with it since I've tried out all 256**1024 possible programs.
  
  --
  Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
50. Re:"Bad news" by Narishma · 2012-10-15 06:59 · Score: 1
  
  It uses LPDDR2 RAM in a Package-On-Package format where it sits on top of the SoC. The SoC only supports up to 512 MB of RAM, so if you want more you'll have to redesign the board and use a different SoC.
  
  --
  Mada mada dane.
51. Re:"Bad news" by inasity_rules · 2012-10-15 07:28 · Score: 1
  
  And all possible input combinations...?
  
  --
  I have determined that my sig is indeterminate.
52. Re:"Bad news" by partyguerrilla · 2012-10-15 07:55 · Score: 1
  
  Why wouldn't it "run" facebook? Are you trying to piss me off?
53. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 08:40 · Score: 0
  
  http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2180
  Right on the announcement page. Scroll down to the comments and find one by Liz:
  "It wouldn’t have been remotely affordable to use 512MB back when we started manufacture – happily, it is now!"
54. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 08:59 · Score: 1
  
  Early adopters get crappy stuff, the Pi is defective: USB doesn't work properly, the SD card driver hogs the cpu, the board was revised because of some big flaws. The worst is, USB will very probably never work alright due to defects in the USB IP in the processor and a terrible kernel driver for it. Try to do anything even remotely meaningful with the Pi and you'll be hitting a brick wall.
  See:
  http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=11529
  http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=5249
  http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=7866
  http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=12097
  http://www.element14.com/community/thread/19573?tstart=30
  And there's more: several people have been banned for stating the Pi is defective in several forum threads. Apparently this foundation enjoys behaving like a big bully. First the fanboys come and bully the person who complains (it can't be... that's not really a problem... what do you expect for a few bucks), then the moderators come and look for excuses to ban him/her.
  I've sold my Pi on eBay for more than it cost me (yeah, for real), and you should too.
55. Re:"Bad news" by MightyYar · 2012-10-15 10:02 · Score: 1
  
  you appeared to be making fun of what my standards for accepting SSDs for use in my own machines
  Correct. I consider WD's bread and butter to be making an entirely different product. While it is possible that their SSDs will be great, I'd put my own money on a chipmaker (as you did with Intel).
  I thought the analogy was pretty decent. Two ways to travel with different underlying technologies versus two ways to store data with different underlying technologies.
  
  and that is the part that seems to have given SSD users such headaches in the past.
  Agreed. The drive controller is probably pretty hard to get right. But in the case of Intel, some of their products use a chip by LSI's Sandforce, who make nothing except SSD controllers.
  
  Apple didn't have any cell phone experience either, that didn't seem to stop them.
  That's an excellent point, but let me ask you - would you have taken that bet? I sure would not have. Maybe WD will rock the world with a really superior iSSD, but I'm not going to bet on it. And as you say, the do seem to be betting on their bread-and-butter. The weird thing is that they inherited an SSD joint venture of some kind with Intel when they bought Hitachi.
  
  --
  W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
56. Re:"Bad news" by freman · 2012-10-15 10:04 · Score: 1
  
  I feel like an apple user happy with incremental updates (only they pay $700 odd, I only paid $42)... but I'll have an original, an original with mounting holes, and now a 512 meg version... What'll you give me for the complete set? :P
57. Re:"Bad news" by icebraining · 2012-10-15 10:50 · Score: 1
  
  Since they probably haven't ported them to ARM either, running Windows on the RPi would be rather useless for that purpose.
  
  --
  Dilbert RSS feed
58. Re:"Bad news" by dbIII · 2012-10-15 13:14 · Score: 1
  
  Raspberry Pi has turned out to be kind of a comedy of incompetence
  Welcome to version 0.1 of anything new.
59. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 17:28 · Score: 0
  
  Slice of historical Pi..mmm. There is never anything wrong with little Pi. The availability is always a bitch, though.
60. Re:"Bad news" by wigyori · 2012-10-15 22:27 · Score: 1
  
  If early adopter wouldn't mean a 3-4 months delay in this case.
61. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-16 00:53 · Score: 0
  
  That's true. I'll bet you'll see more promotions like: "Buy one bubble universe, get the next one free!"
62. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-16 02:48 · Score: 0
  
  I wouldn't have a problem with that if not for the following.
  I ordered my Pi 14 weeks ago from Allied Electronics, who said at the time there was a 7 week delay. I finally got fed up of no shipment and no information, so a few days ago I tried to cancel my order. There's no way to do that through their web app so I sent an email to their support email address.
  I got no response other than a notification that my Pi was now shipping. No mea culpa, no apology, no "we should have sent you a message a few weeks ago about further delay."
  Now I know why they shipped. If they'd waited even two more days I'd have been able to get the 512 version instead.
  I'm fine with my Pi, but would never buy from Allied again.
63. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-16 14:57 · Score: 0
  
  Guessing here, most likely because 256MB chips are old tech and harder for the makers to sell. Most DIMMs sold today use 512MB chips so you need to purchase in really huge volume to be even considered as a potential customer for them. Likewise, for the PoP packaging the RPi uses they are competing with the big phone manufacturers for supplies and it is most likely cheaper to get the ones those guys don't want.
64. Re:"Bad news" by Douglas+Goodall · 2012-10-16 19:24 · Score: 1
  
  Call me when it can take out the trash.
65. Re:"Bad news" by Gen_Music · 2012-10-17 04:12 · Score: 1
  
  Did you miss the part where he said chips? Or did you just not know that SSD's are completely, absolutely, intrinsically different technologies to mechanical disks and the technology inside an SSD is far more akin to a Intel Processor or the the Unified Shaders in a Graphics card than they are like mechanical disks. WD's chips (for SATA busses attached to their drives and such) are made by third parties, so WD themselves don't make any chips. Whereas whether SLC or MLC all SSD's are just arrays upon arrays of chips.
66. Re:"Bad news" by Gen_Music · 2012-10-17 04:32 · Score: 1
  
  Jesus Christ, are there really this many Slashdotters that have never heard of Economies of Scale? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economies_of_scale Put simply, if you will be ordering more, then the price per item is cheaper. At the start of the Pi's manufacturing, nobody know how much it would sell so every single part in the Pi cost more as they couldn't order in bulk. As more sold and they realised they could, the prices of every single part came down as they were able to buy in bigger batches, that is why 512MB is all of a sudden affordable, because not only is the RAM itself cheaper in bigger batches, so is every other part in the Pi and that contributes greatly to fitting 512MB into the $30 BOM area. (Assuming $5 for execs, admin and profits, which would be very little)
67. Re:"Bad news" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-17 10:48 · Score: 0
  
  At $35, you can do a lot more revisions than on a $100 or more device, as price is not really an issue.
  Er, what? The cost of revising a device does not necessarily scale with its retail price.
  In fact, it's sometimes more expensive to design or revise something which is sold very cheaply in high volume. The extra engineering time needed to optimize for super low cost of production doesn't come for free.
yeah, if you can get your hands on one. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 01:41 · Score: 0

Good luck!
1. Re:yeah, if you can get your hands on one. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:27 · Score: 0
  
  I would assume that the delivery problems are mostly sorted out by now.
Bring on the Android Pi by judgecorp · 2012-10-15 01:42 · Score: 4, Interesting

One exciting thing is the Pi can now run the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android... http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/raspberry-pi-512mb-ram-96143
1. Re:Bring on the Android Pi by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 02:00 · Score: 0
  
  This is funny; I want to get rid of my stupid 15 month old phone that old has 512 MB of RAM and can't even run the Gingerbread (2.3) that it is forever stuck on properly. It has severe screen lag, takes 8 seconds for the camera app to start, pressing a "direct dial" shortcut on the home screen makes you think you didn't press it hard enough since it takes another 10 seconds for the dialer to appear. I wouldn't want to run any version of Android in only 512 MB of RAM. It isn't enough - at least for a phone that is running all the "goo" that makes up Android on a phone and also running Motorola's ridiculous "blur". Perhaps it is fine on a Pi that is running just targeted code.
2. Re:Bring on the Android Pi by CastrTroy · 2012-10-15 02:29 · Score: 1
  
  I'm going to go with the AC sibling of mine. Android to me is a terrible operating system, I don't know enough about it to know whether it's better in newer versions (jellybean etc) or whether it's something specific to my phone and the phones I've seen, but Android isn't my idea of a good OS. I would much rather run Linux on the Raspberry Pi, and don't care to run Android. I only have an Android phone because there really isn't a whole lot else out there. iPhone is nice but expensive. Windows Phone is almost non existent. Nokia (symbian) had some really nice phones but there are almost no apps available. Don't even get me started on BlackBerry. The entire phone ecosystem is actually pretty terrible as far as I'm concerned.
  
  --
  
  Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
3. Re:Bring on the Android Pi by drinkypoo · 2012-10-15 02:36 · Score: 0
  
  One exciting thing is the Pi can now run the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android... http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/raspberry-pi-512mb-ram-96143
  
  On July 31 they said ICS was coming, in only 256MB RAM. They said that it was working except for sound, with a new VideoCore binary. Then they claimed (eventually, after much begging and wringing of hands) that they couldn't release it. Now they're claiming you need 512MB? First, that's a lie. Second, does this mean I'm not going to be able to run ICS on my Rev.A? Because I was promised that I could.
  The idea of being able to run ICS would be more exciting if they would release it, which they don't appear to be willing or able to do. It hasn't quite reached bait and switch yet, but it's close.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
4. Re:Bring on the Android Pi by Lifyre · 2012-10-15 03:10 · Score: 1
  
  I suspect it is your phone mostly. The biggest problem Android has is that there is a huge quality range from phone to phone and manufacturer to manufacturer. The software and modifications that HTC, Motorola, and Samsung force on Android users are horrendous and lead to some absolutely horrible experiences with worse performance.
  If you use the Android that Google releases (or something close to it, like Asus) there is a world of difference and (to me) a superior experience to iOS.
  
  --
  I'll meet you at the intersection of "Should be" and "Reality"
5. Re:Bring on the Android Pi by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:57 · Score: 0
  
  That's funny because my N900 runs Gingerbread perfectly well* in only 256MB RAM. 512MB is plenty of RAM for Android, some apps may want more and more will help with the limited multitasking Android does, but the OS itself will be fine with it. Maybe your phone has lots of crap running in the background or something.
  *I mean performance wise the last time I tried it, it did however have power management issues.
6. Re:Bring on the Android Pi by jjmcwill · 2012-10-15 04:29 · Score: 1
  
  This behavior by the phone makers has had perplexed me for some time now.
  Can't they see how bad they're making the phones when they pile on all these crappy mods?
  
  --
  Opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of my employer.
7. Re:Bring on the Android Pi by evilviper · 2012-10-15 05:50 · Score: 1
  
  the Pi can now run the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android
  Except the Pi shipped with an ARM11 (ARMv6) CPU, while just about all native Android apps are compiled for ARMv7. So most of the apps people are going to want to run... Multimedia programs, games, Firefox, etc., etc, won't ever work on the Pi, all for the sake of saving $1 rather than upgrading to a non-ancient CPU.
  
  --
  Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
8. Re:Bring on the Android Pi by SimonTheSoundMan · 2012-10-15 10:36 · Score: 2
  
  PC manufacturers have done this for years and have never learnt either.
  Nothing better than a brand new PC that take 2 minutes to boot then 3 minutes for the HDD to settle down after login followed by a ton of nagware, reformat and reinstall and choose not to install he bloatware and the PC takes 40 seconds to boot and no HDD activity after a couple of seconds after login.
Good site for Raspberry Pi hardware? by crazyjj · 2012-10-15 01:42 · Score: 2

My son is really interested in robotics and hardware stuff. Is there some site out there that has a list of components and accessories for sale (like robotic arms, led displays, etc.) that will work out of the box with Raspberry Pi's? I've seen a few of these for other prototyping hardware controllers, but the prices were a bit steep.

--
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
1. Re:Good site for Raspberry Pi hardware? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 01:51 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Adafruit.com has some nifty items. Also checkout hackaday.com for some interesting raspi stuff.
2. Re:Good site for Raspberry Pi hardware? by capedgirardeau · 2012-10-15 02:18 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I would check out the RPi forums and potentially the wiki. There are a lot of folks who use the RPi for robotics.
  Here is a link to the sub forum that includes robotics, but I bet there are robotics threads in lots of other places on their forums as well:
  http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=37
  And here is the RPi wiki:
  http://elinux.org/RPi_Hub
  Feel free to ask on the forums, I have found them to be very friendly.
  
  --
  Wax on, wax off baby!
3. Re:Good site for Raspberry Pi hardware? by Hemlock+Stones · 2012-10-15 02:36 · Score: 2
  
  I can personally recommend these: http://www.dfrobot.com/ http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/robot/robotstore.html http://www.societyofrobots.com/
How about actually shipping them? by Terrasque · 2012-10-15 01:43 · Score: 4, Interesting

How about actually, you know, shipping the things? Ordered a month ago, only thing I've got from it so far is an automated email and a PI-shaped hole in my paypal account..
Less mucking about, more actually delivering stuff please.

--
It's The Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules."
1. Re:How about actually shipping them? by niftydude · 2012-10-15 01:50 · Score: 2
  
  How about actually, you know, shipping the things? Ordered a month ago, only thing I've got from it so far is an automated email and a PI-shaped hole in my paypal account..
  I see this comment all over the place. Who did you order from?
  
  I have two already. Bought mine from element14.
  
  I don't mind about the extra ram, cause the tasks I'm using these ones for don't require it.
  
  --
  You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
2. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 01:53 · Score: 0
  
  I ordered mine in mid-july.... still waiting...
  At least, now I know that whenever it arrives (if it arrives) it will have more RAM
3. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 01:55 · Score: 0
  
  Only a month? Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!
  I'm at 4 and counting, while I saw a dude on Reddit mention 1 year.
4. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Terrasque · 2012-10-15 01:56 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Ordered from raspberrypi.rsdelivers.com - one of the two that was recommended from http://www.raspberrypi.org/ page.
  I looked at element14 but they didn't seem to have a casing for it, so I ended up at the other recommended place.
  
  --
  It's The Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules."
5. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Sique · 2012-10-15 02:04 · Score: 1
  
  Same with me. I ordered mine at Element14, and about a week later, I got it.
  
  --
  .sig: Sique *sigh*
6. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 02:13 · Score: 0
  
  while I saw a dude on Reddit mention 1 year.
  Raspberry pi hasn't even been out a year...
7. Re:How about actually shipping them? by wjousts · 2012-10-15 02:15 · Score: 1
  
  I'm in about the same place. I ordered from Allied since I'm in the states. Their website now states:
  
  *Please note that due to extreme demand and short supply, the estimated delivery time is uncertain and will likely take several months. We do regret the delay and inconvenience this may cause.
  I e-mailed them last week and they never got back to me. Fucking useless.
8. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Picass0 · 2012-10-15 02:17 · Score: 1
  
  Order a Model B last month from element14, it took 1 week to arrive. I live in Nebraska.
9. Re:How about actually shipping them? by rdnetto · 2012-10-15 02:19 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Here's a useful reference point: I ordered one from both element14 and RS at the same time. The RS one arrived several weeks after the one from element14. I ordered another one from element14 more recently, and it arrived in under 3 weeks.
  AFAICT, most of the people complaining ordered theirs from RS. I suspect part of the reason may be that RS is using a completely separate website and therefore likely has a completely separate administrative process for fulfilling orders, which isn't as capable. Element14 just added them as items to their regular site, so they aren't subject to the same limitations. (I'd say that was a pretty good move on their part, given that I've since ordered lots of more obscure components from them.)
  
  --
  Most human behaviour can be explained in terms of identity.
10. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 02:27 · Score: 0
  
  Me too. I wonder how many gigabytes of RAM is in my device if/when it arrives any year from now.
11. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Tarkhein · 2012-10-15 02:34 · Score: 1
  
  Interesting. In my case, RS 'offered' the Rasberry Pi a month earlier than element14, so I jumped at the chance despite the 11 week despatch time warning. Later, this was delayed an additional 5 weeks, probably due to this RAM upgrade. Even now, RS warn a 6 week lead time between order and despatch, whereas element14 is 1-2 working days.
12. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:18 · Score: 0
  
  I originally ordered from RS at the end of June, with a shipping estimate of 11 weeks. Five weeks later, I saw that Farnell/Element14 was shipping with a 4 week delay. I ordered a second Pi from Farnell, which arrived 10 days later.
  I immediately cancelled my RS order. Since I wanted to get a Pi for my son, I ordered a second from Farnell. That too arrived before RS's original shipping date rolled around.
  Avoid RS. Cancel your order if you still can. They're flat-out incompetent when it comes to the Pi.
13. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:55 · Score: 0
  
  Have you considered that maybe the reason you haven't received it is NOT because of the lack of devices but because of the lack of cases? I don't beleive there are any official cases, so this would be the fault of the vendor you ordered from. Just a guess on my part.
14. Re:How about actually shipping them? by SimonTheSoundMan · 2012-10-15 10:48 · Score: 1
  
  RS have been terrible.
  I ordered one, two months later they cancelled my order for no reason. Ordered another in July from RS, one month past so I went to Element14. Element14 delivered in 3 days, ordered a seconds one a couple of weeks later and that took 2 days. My second RS order from July still hasn't arrived.
  My local Tesco has RPi for sale in the CPC (Farnell) section.
  It reminded me how incompetent RS are. I used to make orders of components, used to take weeks for everything to arrive. Farnell can get them to me by next morning.
15. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 13:44 · Score: 0
  
  Then sorry to say you ordered from the wrong location. I ordered a pair 3 weeks ago and received them w/i a week.
16. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Xenna · 2012-10-15 17:20 · Score: 1
  
  "I'd say that was a pretty good move on their part, given that I've since ordered lots of more obscure components from them."
  Same here, I didn't know they existed before, but now I have placed 4 orders with them.
17. Re:How about actually shipping them? by coofercat · 2012-10-16 00:05 · Score: 1
  
  If you have a Farnell account, you can get a Pi in two days (or at least, that's what I did).
  I went to the site, and it says "business users click here" - I did, and it asked me for my Farnell account number, and then left me with an item in my basket with an estimated 3 week delivery time. I actually got it 48 hours later.
  Failing that, buying as a consumer, as you say, gets it pretty quickly too - faster than RS by the sounds of things.
18. Re:How about actually shipping them? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-16 01:10 · Score: 0
  
  How about actually, you know, shipping the things? Ordered a month ago, only thing I've got from it so far is an automated email and a PI-shaped hole in my paypal account..
  Less mucking about, more actually delivering stuff please.
  Been waiting 3 months... ordered from rs
THE!!!! by organgtool · 2012-10-15 01:56 · Score: 2, Informative

I have been reading Slashdot for fourteen years and I have never once complained about the grammar in a summary before (usually there are enough pedants out there to do more than enough complaining), but this summary is horrible. I do not blame the submitter because I realize that English may not be his or her first language, but I though Slashdot was supposed to have some sort of editors who at least read the summary once before posting it to the front page. I had to read the second sentence several times to confirm that it meant what I thought it did and in the rest of the summary the article "the" is missing at least two times. I really do love this site, but if you want to call yourself an editor, then please do the job or turn it over to someone who will.
1. Re:THE!!!! by L4t3r4lu5 · 2012-10-15 02:18 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  I have been reading Slashdot for fourteen years and I have never once complained about the grammar in a summary before. Usually there are enough pedants out there to do more than enough complaining, but this summary is horrible. I do not blame the submitter because I realize that English may not be his or her first language, but I thought Slashdot was supposed to have some sort of editorial staff who at least read the summary once before posting it to the front page. I had to read the second sentence several times to confirm that it meant what I thought it did, and in the rest of the summary the article "the" is missing at least two times. I really do love this site, but if you want to call yourself an editor, then please do the job or turn it over to someone who will.
  Muphry's Law strikes again
  
  --
  Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
2. Re:THE!!!! by Ginger+Unicorn · 2012-10-15 04:06 · Score: 1
  
  but I though Slashdot was
  
  Did you?
  
  --
  (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
3. Re:THE!!!! by organgtool · 2012-10-15 05:25 · Score: 1
  
  Good catch! To my credit, I'm just some random shithead posting a quick comment between work tasks and not a member of the editorial staff responsible for posting stories on the front page. :)
4. Re:THE!!!! by bill_mcgonigle · 2012-10-15 08:23 · Score: 1
  
  Hey, I upvoted the other sumission on this on the firehose, but expected this flamebait version to be accepted. And, predictabaly, there's a big thread debating the flamebait about the merits of being an early adopter (again...).
  The Slashdot community gets the editing it deserves.
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I know this sounds stupid, but... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 02:05 · Score: 0

If someone ordered the 256MB version and didn't want the "upgrade" for a variety of reasons, do they have resource? (No, I didn't order one.)
1. Re:I know this sounds stupid, but... by Narishma · 2012-10-15 02:11 · Score: 1
  
  What would those reasons be? It's the same price as the 256 MB version. If you don't want the extra RAM, nobody is forcing you to use it.
  
  --
  Mada mada dane.
2. Re:I know this sounds stupid, but... by scythian_monk · 2012-10-15 02:34 · Score: 2
  
  I am sure you will be able to find folks who want to sell off their 256 MB Pi to buy the upgraded one.
3. Re:I know this sounds stupid, but... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:04 · Score: 0
  
  Poster #41657203 here. I meant "recourse", not "resource". But, I believe RAM does produce some heat let alone draws slightly more electricity. That's not a big deal unless one is making a server farm out of them. Hypothetically, of course.
just cancelled my pi by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 02:11 · Score: 0

if they cant deliver to me 12 weeks after i paid for the thing i am just going to have to do without it
btw / i used the rsonline store i probably should have used the other one. but hell i saw them for 59 bucks at radio shack like 4 weeks ago--not online but physically inside the store--the guy at the counter said it wasnt a radio shack purchase and that he had ordered them from the same place i did ,AFTER i had ordered my single board , and he got his first.. understandable as the order in bulk gets filled first , i emailed them and asked fthem to speed it up a little bit ,, now waited several more weeks and finally just cancelled the whole thing outright /bitter
1. Re:just cancelled my pi by 3dr · 2012-10-15 04:16 · Score: 1
  
  Locating a source has been a problem due to demand and what appears to be limited production. I've periodically checked, but have not found it in stock yet. But, I ordered 2 today while reading the comments here, and Newark's estimate is delivery this week. We shall see.
2. Re:just cancelled my pi by 3dr · 2012-10-15 08:19 · Score: 1
  
  Well, that didn't take long. My order for 2 is back-ordered, not shipping until Oct 26. NBD, but if an online retailer is going to bother posting any inventory counts on a product's page, and a customer places an order that *their system* states has N units "ready to ship", then just how does this become back-ordered?
Alternatives by wjousts · 2012-10-15 02:17 · Score: 1

Anybody got any leads on a decent alternative to the Raspberry Pi? Since it seems impossible to actually get hold of one and I'd like to get a really compact embedded computer for a project.
1. Re:Alternatives by Brit_in_the_USA · 2012-10-15 02:38 · Score: 1
  
  Try researching:
  Audrino, TI MSP430 Launchpad, TI Stellaris ARM Cortex-M Launchpad, Electric Imp
2. Re:Alternatives by Narishma · 2012-10-15 03:58 · Score: 1
  
  If you want to get hold of one, just don't order it from RS/Allied and you'll be fine.
  
  --
  Mada mada dane.
3. Re:Alternatives by wjousts · 2012-10-15 04:31 · Score: 1
  
  I've used the Netduino before, and it's not quite the same thing.
4. Re:Alternatives by ssam · 2012-10-15 05:16 · Score: 2
  
  There are lots of arm dev boards. though none quite as cheap as the raspberry pi. for example I have had a beagleboard for several years, its a bit bigger (though still tiny by most standards), and quite a bit more expensive. If you want smaller you could look at gumstix. if you only need 8bit then arduino. if you want ubuntu support you could look at pandaboard. if you want a 16/64 core coprocessor then parallella.
5. Re:Alternatives by wjousts · 2012-10-15 08:39 · Score: 1
  
  Thanks. The pandaboard and the gumstix look very interesting.
Can we just hurry by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 02:38 · Score: 0

Can we just hurry up, use all of the oil in the middle east and we can go back to not giving a fuck about that region or the 15th century inhabitants?
prices raised ? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 02:43 · Score: 0

Is it a coincidence if the price on Farnell (for business custommers) just went from 29 euros to 38 euros (without taxes) ?
http://fr.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?id=2191863&Ntt=2191863&
Why the complaints? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 02:44 · Score: 0

David Braben's original Model B only had 32K RAM! It didn't stop him writing Elite software ...
1. Re:Why the complaints? by jones_supa · 2012-10-15 04:26 · Score: 1
  
  Probably because people started to use this as a full Ubuntu system.
2. Re:Why the complaints? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 12:18 · Score: 0
  
  Unsurprisingly I could certainly see the potential for a $35 "Ubuntu for grandma" board.
3. Re:Why the complaints? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-16 00:30 · Score: 0
  
  David Braben ..... Elite ...... seminal space trading and fighting game ..... first brought out on the BBC Model B Microcomputer ...... never mind .......
switch distributors by Chirs · 2012-10-15 02:48 · Score: 4, Informative

The one distributor (RS, I think) is notorious for crazy long shipping times, while the other has almost always had stock. Cancel your order, go with the other guy.
1. Re:switch distributors by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:13 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Parent post is correct: RS has had atrociously long shipping times (though they'll charge your credit card almost immediately). Go with Farnell/Newark/Element instead.
  And if you're not keen on trusting an AC's posting, go check the Shipping forum on the Raspberry Pi site for a second opinion.
2. Re:switch distributors by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:21 · Score: 1
  
  Fairly certain RS is just scamming a lot of people at this point, considering you can get a dozen Pi's shipped next day from anyone else.
3. Re:switch distributors by kelemvor4 · 2012-10-15 03:49 · Score: 1
  
  The one distributor (RS, I think) is notorious for crazy long shipping times, while the other has almost always had stock. Cancel your order, go with the other guy.
  Thanks, I just cancelled the order.
4. Re:switch distributors by bigrockpeltr · 2012-10-15 05:27 · Score: 1
  
  this is true but i didnt cancelmy order with RS because i live on a tiny rock in the middle of the ocean and they offered a cheap shipping rate even though they are from the UK and im actually closer to the US whereas the other guys (farnell) that are US based wanted around $45-50 dollars to ship... which is more than the cost of the device itself.
  
  the other thing is that i bought it jsut to play around with and not for any particular need so i dont really mind waiting. (hopefully should be here soon since i ordered in july lol)
  
  --
  $ unzip, strip, touch, finger, grep, mount, fsck, more, yes,fsck,fsck,fsck,umount, sleep
5. Re:switch distributors by sonamchauhan · 2012-10-15 08:20 · Score: 1
  
  Check out myus.com if you shop online a lot
6. Re:switch distributors by XcepticZP · 2012-10-15 10:45 · Score: 1
  
  I also cancelled my order. It's been THREE MONTHS today since I paid for my order with RSComponents. Today I cancelled my order with them. Tomorrow I reverse the payment with my CC provider. This is BS.
7. Re:switch distributors by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 20:50 · Score: 0
  
  Well I think you're learning why the shipping cost so much.
8. Re:switch distributors by speardane · 2012-10-16 09:04 · Score: 1
  
  pity - I received my model B from RS - Yesterday...
  
  --
  if "Faith" could be proved with facts - would it still be faith? So why does "Faith" try to present beliefs as fact? -
9. Re:switch distributors by Douglas+Goodall · 2012-10-16 19:23 · Score: 1
  
  Farnell is not so great. They lost the first shipment to me and it took them 6 months to refund my money. Their business practices $#&%. I will never do business with them again.
Allied is RS Components....try Newark by Chirs · 2012-10-15 02:54 · Score: 1

I've seen tons of horror stories from people that ordered from RS Components (AKA Allied). On the other hand, people ordering from Farnell/Newark/element14 seem to be able to get them within days.
switch suppliers by Chirs · 2012-10-15 02:55 · Score: 1

Cancel your order and go with Farnell/Newark/element14
Order via Farnell/Newark/element14 by Chirs · 2012-10-15 02:56 · Score: 1

They seem to be handling this competently, while RS Components/Allied seems to be screwing up royally.
1. Re:Order via Farnell/Newark/element14 by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 03:31 · Score: 0
  
  In the UK Maplin is also selling the Raspberry Pi in a starter kit eg. mouse, keyboard, SD card etc.
2. Re:Order via Farnell/Newark/element14 by wjousts · 2012-10-15 04:32 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, that does seem to be the observation a lot of people are making. I might well cancel my order with Allied and try ordering from the other guys.
3. Re:Order via Farnell/Newark/element14 by SimonTheSoundMan · 2012-10-15 10:55 · Score: 1
  
  So are Tesco at some stores. They sell the CPC (Farnell/Element14) kits.
Newark still shows $35 by Chirs · 2012-10-15 02:57 · Score: 1

with 100 in stock to ship
Some Pi Alternatives by evilviper · 2012-10-15 04:07 · Score: 2, Informative

If you want a smartphone, the Alcatel Venture has comparable specs, and sells for $50, contract-free (and VirginMobile also has some of the cheapest cell plans, too, if you want to sign up).
If you want a desktop, you can usually get a used, mini P4 system (40w idle) for $32 from geeks.com. Better deals are often available from local off-lease PC dealers.
If you want a tablet, Walmart stocks a 7" Pandigital unit for $50.
If you want video streaming and 1080p decoding, the D-Link MovieNite Streaming Player, DSM310 is selling for $38 at WalMart.
If you want network-attached cameras, you can find ethernet and WiFi (g) models with PTZ, built-in mic and speaker, and night-vision for $50, maybe less.
With the Pi needing binary blobs as well, I really see nowhere than the Pi makes sense.

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1. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by jockm · 2012-10-15 04:17 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Hmm none of those systems have open pins for hardware work, only one is roughly the same size, you can't really install any linux you want on most of them, only one can be run off of AA batteries.
  And while you can to a lot with the hardware you mentioned, it isn't the same as having a small, relatively powerful, piece of generic hardware.
  Binary blobs don't bother everyone...
  
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2. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by marcosdumay · 2012-10-15 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  Binary blobs don't bother everyone...
  Know what bothers me? People like the GP saying something akin to "The Pi uses a proprietary blob! That's bad! Go buy this completely proprietary system instead."
  
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  Rethinking email
3. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by evilviper · 2012-10-15 05:35 · Score: 0
  
  Know what bothers me? People like the GP saying something akin to "The Pi uses a proprietary blob! That's bad! Go buy this completely proprietary system instead."
  Except that's not remotely what I said...
  The binary blob eliminates the fantasy that the Pi is for teaching hardware to kids. When that's gone, you're better off with a PC like the one I listed, which should substantially out-perform the Pi in every way as well.
  Meanwhile, I listed a few things which people might want a compact system like the Pi for, and gave cheaper and FAR superior alternatives.
  Binary blobs aren't foremost on everyone's top-10 list, but it eliminates "open" as a selling point, which then makes it just another device competing in a sea of cheap hardware.
  
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4. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by evilviper · 2012-10-15 05:41 · Score: 0
  
  only one is roughly the same size, you can't really install any linux you want on most of them, only one can be run off of AA batteries.
  What are you smoking? Except for the old P4 desktop PC, every single one of those I listed can all run on a few AA batteries easily enough, are smaller than a Pi if put to the same use.
  By that I mean, the tablet is a bit larger, but if you need a screen for your Pi, then the tablet is then smaller and lower power. The network cameras are far smaller than a Pi plus a webcam.
  
  And while you can to a lot with the hardware you mentioned, it isn't the same as having a small, relatively powerful, piece of generic hardware.
  You're right, it's not the same... The custom-purpose hardware does the job BETTER, doesn't require a lot of setup work, and all the while being much cheaper.
  
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5. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by jockm · 2012-10-15 06:00 · Score: 1
  
  I suppose it means what you mean by teaching hardware to kids. If you mean using the Pi as an example of hardware they can completely understand, then you are right.
  If you mean teach kids to make hardware projects using the Pi, then it is perfectly suitable.
  While I am sure there are those who think the former, most of the discussion about teaching hardware I have seen has been about the latter.
  
  --
  
  What do you know I wrote a novel
6. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 06:00 · Score: 0
  
  > If you want network-attached cameras, you can find ethernet and WiFi (g) models with PTZ, built-in mic and speaker, and night-vision for $50, maybe less.
  Bullshit. You're looking at $80-$90+ for those kind of features.
7. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by fa2k · 2012-10-15 07:14 · Score: 1
  
  Depending on your requirements, the Arduino board may be better for hardware work. The AVR microcontroller has much much lower specs than the R.Pi, but the electrical connections of Arduino are much better, with more pins and an ADC. R. Pi go out of their way to warn you about experimenting with the GPIO pins, because they are not protected and can fry your Pi. You can add something called a Gertboard to the Pi and that has a huge number of connections, but I couldn't figure out how to get one or if it was available at all. I agree that Raspberry has its place though, as it's a credible computer, which can do things like image processing, and the Arduino is not (nor does it pretend to be)
8. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by evilviper · 2012-10-15 07:19 · Score: 1
  
  Bullshit. You're looking at $80-$90+ for those kind of features.
  Wow, you're quite the idiot, aren't you?
  How about $45.50 from Amazon right now:
  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JLPWAK/
  
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9. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 07:24 · Score: 0
  
  The binary blob eliminates the fantasy that the Pi is for teaching hardware to kids.
  
  Ah yes, I forgot that you can't learn anything about hardware unless the entire stack is open, from the applications to the chip layouts.
10. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by jareth-0205 · 2012-10-15 08:09 · Score: 1
  
  I don't think you really 'get'what it is, there's very little like having a ubiquitous platform that has many hobbiests all clustered around it providing support and enthusiasm.
  But that's ok, you don't have to get it, and can continue to not buy it. The rest of us will be having fun with our toys...
11. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 11:18 · Score: 0
  
  The custom-purpose hardware does only one of the jobs that you described; the RPI can do all.
  The RPI does require a lot of setup work - but that's the purpose! it's not supposed to be a "one-size-fits-all" thing, it's supposed to be a learning tool.
12. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by marcosdumay · 2012-10-15 14:08 · Score: 1
  
  the Alcatel Venture has comparable specs, and sells for $50
  
  Walmart stocks a 7" Pandigital unit for $50
  
  the D-Link MovieNite Streaming Player, DSM310 is selling for $38
  How was that not what you said?
  
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  Rethinking email
13. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by evilviper · 2012-10-15 14:44 · Score: 1
  
  No, a Pi can do ONE of those things... at a time.
  If I needed network attached webcams for a short time, then a streaming video player for a short time, then an Arduino for a short time, I might get a Pi. But I can't see that scenario ever happening.
  If I need an IP camera, I'll get an IP camera (or an old Android phone). If I need a streaming video player, I'll get one. And I will NEVER expect or desire to have one of the cross over and do the job of the other, cause I want them both.
  If I wanted one device to do EVERYTHING, I'd get a PC. A Pi is so low-end that it really won't be able to do more than one of these tasks at a time, and is so horribly limited in expansion capabilities that you'll always be working around its limitations, and spending more money to get things done in the end.
  
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14. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by Xenna · 2012-10-15 17:36 · Score: 1
  
  It make make no sense to you, but it makes sense to me. If there are enough people to whom it makes sense and who are actually willing to spend their money and their time to get one the project makes sense, business sense.
  And it certainly seems that way...
15. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-17 02:10 · Score: 0
  
  If you want to tinker and do OS stuff, customize the kernel etc. then binary blobs are a serious problem. A few years down the road you'll be stuck with an ancient kernel and practically no means to get new features, basically it's a long-term support issue. Just because you fall into the same user category as my grandma doesn't mean the rest of us don't have valid complaints about blobs.
16. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by marcosdumay · 2012-10-17 02:52 · Score: 1
  
  If you want to tinker and do OS stuff, customize the kernel etc. then binary blobs are a serious problem.
  Yes, they are. Is that an excuse to bulshit people into getting proprietary systems?
  
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17. Re:Some Pi Alternatives by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-17 05:51 · Score: 0
  
  No, if that was your main point then my apologies, I misunderstood your comment. The binary blobs on RasPi will become a problem down the road which is why my interest in it (personally) is fairly limited. I've been down that route with my Kyro II card, and it was practically useless after the 2.4 to 2.6 kernel transition because the vendor never ported the driver. Also, because of the lack of driver source code the card never worked on BSD so whenever I can, I avoid cards without open source drivers like the plague.
Great, now they'll have another excuse to. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 07:29 · Score: 0

delay shipping them.
The people waiting for their order will never get them, they'll just keep changing and promising more features just before they're due to ship..
Do you see how that works?
1. Re:Great, now they'll have another excuse to. by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 07:32 · Score: 0
  
  A bird in the hand, is worth two in the bush, but on the other hand, a hand in the bush is priceless.
No free case? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 08:57 · Score: 0

Where is the free plastic case that was promised with the device from the beginning?
I would trade half of the device's RAM for a good plastic case any day.
How tasty is this pi? by Trogre · 2012-10-15 09:34 · Score: 1

512MB is nice and all but, other than the cute name, what does the relatively closed architecture of the Raspberry Pi have over other efforts such as the Rhombus A10 project?

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1. Re:How tasty is this pi? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 13:06 · Score: 1
  
  Mostly that the Raspberry Pi actually exists and you can buy one now.
Windows on ARM by tepples · 2012-10-15 12:04 · Score: 1

You are correct that applications exclusive to the x86 editions of Windows won't run on ARM CPUs outside of DOSBox, and any Windows application old enough to work well in DOSBox is probably two decades old and made for Windows 3.1. But several Windows family operating systems do run on ARM: Windows CE, Windows Phone 7, Windows RT, and Windows Phone 8. I'm not aware of any Wine-alike project to run applications for these environments under GNU/Linux or Android on ARM.
And let me nudge the goalposts slightly with another likely scenario: Say an application is ported only to Windows, Mac OS X, and iOS. It won't run on GNU/Linux on ARM, despite being ported to another ARM environment.
Sweet berry pi by niftymitch · 2012-10-15 12:41 · Score: 1

By George I will have another...
The little thing is a hoot and a holler...
I have a couple and may grab some more.
Watchers on the ARM front should keep an eye out for an upgrade to the Pandaboard family.
The OMAP 5 seems to be alive and running on a board with no name.

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Go for the full *nix by dbIII · 2012-10-15 13:20 · Score: 1

It's a fully open platform so you don't need a compatibility layer (android) to get to secret hardware underneath. Android doesn't even have a fully working X yet so you are more limited in the applications that can run than if you run a compatible linux, bsd, or whatever.
1. Re:Go for the full *nix by evilviper · 2012-10-15 14:35 · Score: 1
  
  I generally agree with you, but there could be many good reasons to run Android. It's certainly the better choice for touch-screens. And even on a desktop-like system, android apps are designed to be small and fast, while their desktop equivalents are nightmarish resource hogs. Firefox and Chrome are great examples of that. And while the source code of both is open, I've yet to see any lightweght desktop version being forked off.
  Android has a number of applications that Linux lacks... Netflix streaming, all manner of games, native Pandora client, Winamp, and untold numbers of others.
  
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2. Re:Go for the full *nix by dbIII · 2012-10-15 20:29 · Score: 1
  
  X has been used on touch screens since back before linux existed. Multi-touch is new, but I can't see it as being any more difficult to do on X as on a frame buffer.
3. Re:Go for the full *nix by evilviper · 2012-10-16 01:15 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, X has been used, but there were a ton of crappy touch-screen devices. IOS and Android took off for a reason, and it's in large part because good decision were made in designing the touch-screen UI.
  If your touch-screen interface involves clicking on a scroll-bar or scroll buttons, you've failed... miserably.
  
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cubieboard by Anonymous Coward · 2012-10-15 15:32 · Score: 0

If specs matter, at $49 there's the cubieboard, which is many times better than the Raspberry Pi, with Allwinner A10 SoC.
They have 1-1.5 GHz Cortex A8, Mali400 GPU (which has LIMA free drivers), 1GB RAM, 1xSATA 3GB/s, microSD slot, 4GB NAND storage builtin, 2 USB host, 1 USB OTG, 100M Ethernet (not through USB crap), uboot as bootloader and many other things I forgot.
http://cubieboard.org/