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Raspberry Pi Passes 10M Sales Mark (bbc.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The Raspberry Pi has sold 10 million units -- continuing its success as the most popular British computer ever. The computer, about the same size as a credit card, was first released in 2012 and is widely used as an educational tool for programming. However, it can also be used for many practical purposes such as streaming music to several devices in a house. A new starter kit for Raspberry Pi, including a keyboard and mouse, has been released to celebrate the success. The kit also includes an SD storage card, official case, power supply, HDMI cable, mouse, keyboard and guidebook -- it costs $130 and will be available in the coming weeks. The Pi, which is manufactured in Wales, has been adopted by pupils, programmers and inventors around the world.

102 comments

  1. " it costs $130 and will be available in" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No better way to celebrate the success then to rip people off with overpriced starter kits!

    1. Re:" it costs $130 and will be available in" by Z80a · · Score: 1

      You can get like 8 pis with that.

    2. Re:" it costs $130 and will be available in" by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      Well, if you do buy 8 Raspberry Pi's, you're still going to need:

      8 Power Supplies 8 SD cards 8 HDMI cables

      And for those of you who think you're clever, and say "Well, I don't need the HDMI cables. I'll just SSH into them.", then you better add 8 CAT 5 network cables and at least one (if not more) 8 port network switch.

      I will concede that the user guide in the starter kit is completely unnecessary, though. :)

    3. Re: " it costs $130 and will be available in" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not true in any way. Most of the pis around my house are happily doing their jobs without hdmi or eithernet, home automation, robots and Web crawlers. If I do need hdmi, no need for more than 1 cable which can be bought for $1 at most dollar stores, not sure why there are so many arguments about this.

      Also wifi is built into the p3 so no need for anything.

    4. Re: " it costs $130 and will be available in" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also forgot about console over Bluetooth which works great, and built in.

    5. Re: " it costs $130 and will be available in" by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but you started only using one of them, right? You wouldn't be buying eight starter kits.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    6. Re:" it costs $130 and will be available in" by Mr.+Droopy+Drawers · · Score: 1

      You don't need the cat5 cables; RPi3 has WiFi built in. Just use a router and you're all set. Set up your first one with SSH enabled and WiFi enabled for your wireless network. Then, clone the card for the other 7 systems. They should all show up on your WiFi router and you can SSH to them as needed.

      I've got 5 RPi's of various generations. I could be accused of being a "Cat Lady" of Raspberry Pis!

      --

      To Copy from One is Plagiarism; To Copy from Many is Research.

    7. Re: " it costs $130 and will be available in" by jason777 · · Score: 1

      Can you point me to a resource to help setting that up??

    8. Re:" it costs $130 and will be available in" by Cruciform · · Score: 1

      I had a Beaglebone Black before, but the Pi3 is my first Pi and I love it. Makes a great server for Octoprint, and will likely monitor my terrarium environment shortly :)

    9. Re:" it costs $130 and will be available in" by jeremyp · · Score: 1

      The RPi is powered off a USB port. You could get away with an 8 port powered USB hub instead of 8 power supplies.

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
    10. Re:" it costs $130 and will be available in" by peawormsworth · · Score: 1

      ...you're still going to need: 8 Power Supplies 8 SD cards 8 HDMI cables

      You can buy a single wall plug with 4 USB charging plugs to run 4 Pi's at the same time for about $20 + 4 cheap USB adapter cables.

      The latest Raspberry Pi's come with wifi built in.

      You can run this setup very cheap and SSH to these boxes. It works. I do it and you can too.

  2. 10M ? by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

    I'm still waiting for the zero.

    1. Re:10M ? by Dave+Whiteside · · Score: 2
      --
      who where what when now?
    2. Re:10M ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Really? I have 3 of them, including the new 1.3 version with the camera connector. They're not that hard to get, I mean Adafruit has them in stock right now.

  3. I got a Pi 3 recently. by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I got one recently and they're frickin awesome.

    I got the official touch screen as well which is really sweet. I expect there will be a bunch of naysayers pointing out how you can get faster/cheaper things which blow the Pi away.

    Sure you can, but it's under 30 quid, more than fast enough for what I want and has an excellent user community and documentation. I don't really care about shaving 50% off something already really cheap especially when it will inevitably cost me much more time in even the short term.

    Oh also, the kernel provides access to GPIOs in /sys/class/gpio, including select() to wait for edge events. How cool is that? I never knew and that's going to save time screwing around with, well, GPIOs.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
    1. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by drinkypoo · · Score: 0

      I got one recently and they're frickin awesome.
      I got the official touch screen as well which is really sweet. I expect there will be a bunch of naysayers

      If they've got the USB working properly now then it's awesome. If they don't then it's useless to me. Have they got the USB working properly now?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No.

    3. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      You have yet to see Pi 3.14!

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    4. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it doesn't? in what way? mine seems to be working just fine (Pi 2 Model B), must be I'm missing something by not getting a 3...

    5. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Feral+Nerd · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I got one recently and they're frickin awesome.

      I got the official touch screen as well which is really sweet. I expect there will be a bunch of naysayers pointing out how you can get faster/cheaper things which blow the Pi away.

      Sure you can, but it's under 30 quid, more than fast enough for what I want and has an excellent user community and documentation. I don't really care about shaving 50% off something already really cheap especially when it will inevitably cost me much more time in even the short term.

      Oh also, the kernel provides access to GPIOs in /sys/class/gpio, including select() to wait for edge events. How cool is that? I never knew and that's going to save time screwing around with, well, GPIOs.

      For the most part I agree. Unfortunately the main reason I use the PI is simply because of the widespread community support and the avaialbility of software for it. The PI is not without flaws. For one thing the PI has no A/D converter which is a major flaw from my point of view. It also has no internal charging circuit, the CHIP 9 Dollar computer has one and that's a big plus for the CHIP. Finally I'd like a version of the PI to be available off the shelf:

      1. A) without those clunky old 40 pin strips soldered on. There are quite a few hat boards that you could mount 3-4 mm closer to the PI main board if you used machine pin header and connector strips.
      2. B) With no USB-A connectors soldered on. That way I could solder some kind of pin into the holes the where the connectors of the USB-A socket go and use a ribbon cable to connect the PI to external USB devices. That would make the job of cramming the PI into the most compact possible device enclosure much easier than if you are using big and clunky USB-A patch cables.
    6. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Feral+Nerd · · Score: 4, Informative

      I got one recently and they're frickin awesome. I got the official touch screen as well which is really sweet. I expect there will be a bunch of naysayers

      If they've got the USB working properly now then it's awesome. If they don't then it's useless to me. Have they got the USB working properly now?

      Depends on what you mean. I connect a 2W USB WiFi board to my PI using USB and I'm getting 150mps out of it and stream video for up to a kilometer. Other than that I mostly connect keyboards, mice, external USB drives, webcams and occasionally a USB sound card. Of course I'm not constantly plugging, un-plugging and then and re-plugin my connected devices at runtime but up until now I have had no problems.

    7. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Kinwolf · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think you'll have to explain what you mean by "properly"

    8. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      If they've got the USB working properly now then it's awesome. If they don't then it's useless to me. Have they got the USB working properly now?

      Works for me. It's got 4 ports. I use the keyboard port regularly, but not the others. I've not tried any heavy use, but I've not had any errors either. I will be runnnig a memory device on there soon, though.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    9. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Qzukk · · Score: 1

      If I wasn't replying, I'd give you a +1 for (B). Compact or not, it's a huge pain in the ass to have a bunch of those patch cables, not just for USB A but for the USB power and the HDMI as well. With points to soldier to, it'd be easy to cut cables to fit.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    10. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by chispito · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If they've got the USB working properly now then it's awesome. If they don't then it's useless to me. Have they got the USB working properly now?

      It is what it is. I'm trying to think of the very limited set of applications you must have in mind that it would be "useless" when there are so many successful projects people use them for.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    11. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      Unfortunately the main reason I use the PI is simply because of the widespread community support and the avaialbility of software for it.

      I'm not sure why that's unfortunate. It's kind of the reason. It's not the most powerful or the cheapest, but they sell then for a long time and community support is excellent so they work with out the screw-with-it factor.

      The PI is not without flaws. For one thing the PI has no A/D converter which is a major flaw from my point of view.

      Come to think of it that is quite an odd feature to miss on a general purpose microcontroller.

      It also has no internal charging circuit, the CHIP 9 Dollar computer has one and that's a big plus for the CHIP.

      I run mine off the mains :). The downside with a built in charging circuit is that it determins your battery type. LiPo is best for energy density, but they're subtle and quick to burst into ravenous flames. Lead Acid can be abused to hell and back, but you pay a penalty in weight. NiMH are a reasonable middle ground.

      1. A) without those clunky old 40 pin strips soldered on. There are quite a few hat boards that you could mount 3-4 mm closer to the PI main board if you used machine pin header and connector strips.

      I see your point, but having two of everything or more likely only one of the various peripheral types would lead to fragmentation which would spoil half the advantage of it.

      2. B) With no USB-A connectors soldered on. That way I could solder some kind of pin into the holes the where the connectors of the USB-A socket go and use a ribbon cable to connect the PI to external USB devices. That would make the job of cramming the PI into the most compact possible device enclosure much easier than if you are using big and clunky USB-A patch cables.

      That's true. Well in a sane world, they'd be micro-A except that's micro-AB but micro AB to B cables don't exist.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    12. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by stabiesoft · · Score: 1

      I've got a couple of PI-B's I use as access points. I've used beagle bones for project thingie's as the beagle bones have built in A/D. Not a great A/D but good enough. So far I have a pool controller, garage door controller, irrigation controller HVAC monitor and just recently added current monitoring to the A/C compressor and fan. All these inexpensive SBC's have made some really amazing projects easy to build. I also have to give credit to cheap components too. Thermistors, current probes, wifi, cheap modular P/S's, triacs even pressure sensors are all just so inexpensive and readily available. Wish I was a kid again so I could do it all over again.

    13. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Oh also, the kernel provides access to GPIOs in /sys/class/gpio, including select() to wait for edge events. How cool is that? I never knew and that's going to save time screwing around with, well, GPIOs."

      Those are fighting words to Microsoft and so are "10 millon sold".

      How has Microsoft not shut this project down like others( OLPC comes to mind )?

    14. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, most of the 'community' thinks that it's an acceptable solution to require their own boot image to run some ported software. God forbid you would want to do something unheard of, such as having both a media player software (Kodi or Plex) and still have access to a web browser without having to fucking reboot, or go through dependency hell to get things working.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    15. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just picked up a second Pi3 since I put the first one in a touchscreen case and wanted another one to use as a media player. Plus the 3 Zeroes and the 7 Arduinos of various flavors....I think I have a serious microcontroller problem!

      BTW, the Smartipi touchscreen case for $25 is badass, holds a Pi on the back and the official touchscreen.

    16. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A) and B) sound like the $5 Pi Zero.

      A/D converter? Well, there's one or two in the audio circuitry, obviously, but for something more precise there are breakout boards that can connect to the GPIO bus very easily.

      Or, you can connect an Arduino to the Pi and offload the work to an independent CPU that has multiple A/D and PWM channels built-in. Some Arduino models retail at under $5 in single quantities these days.

    17. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > How has Microsoft not shut this project down like others( OLPC comes to mind )?

      They are working on it. They have the 'embrace' with Windows 10 IoT running on Pi. They did the 'Extend' by getting the Pi3 built (in order to run W10IoT). Next will be ...

    18. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Feral+Nerd · · Score: 1

      A) and B) sound like the $5 Pi Zero.

      A/D converter? Well, there's one or two in the audio circuitry, obviously, but for something more precise there are breakout boards that can connect to the GPIO bus very easily.

      Or, you can connect an Arduino to the Pi and offload the work to an independent CPU that has multiple A/D and PWM channels built-in. Some Arduino models retail at under $5 in single quantities these days.

      You can either install a hat to get A/D or you can design some simple circuit board that fits on the 40 pin connectors, that's not a big deal really just an annoyance unless your A/D hat has to be installed on top of a power management hat for charging the battery. That adds another 1.5 cm to your device height. Of all the things on my wish list the ones I want most are a charging circuit and a version with device enclosure friendly USB connectors and no 40 pin connector soldered on. When you are trying to design a really compact device, those 3-4 millimetres you can shave of the height with machine pin connectors can translate into being able to fit a 8000 mah battery instead of a 4000mah one.

    19. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Feral+Nerd · · Score: 1

      If I wasn't replying, I'd give you a +1 for (B). Compact or not, it's a huge pain in the ass to have a bunch of those patch cables, not just for USB A but for the USB power and the HDMI as well. With points to soldier to, it'd be easy to cut cables to fit.

      I created my own USB cables by buying USB connectors on Adafruit, leaving off al the plastic crap and soldering them myself using thin copper wire. That cuts the amount of space you need for the connector down from something like 4-5 cm down to 1 cm. However, those USB connectors are a bitch to solder, especially mini and micro USB. I know you can order customised raspberries but for small projects that's not practical. if you have 20 pre production prototypes to assemble for user testing then it's impractical to solder so many cables. Soldering 90 degree pins into the USB connector house on the PCB and connecting them with female pin connectors like the ones on the page in the below link is much easier. https://buildyourcnc.com/Item/...

    20. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are still some small problems. They are due to hardware issues with the USB controller and cannot be fixed. You are unlikely to have problems unless using webcams or usb soundcards (or anything else that uses isochronous mode). If you switch the host to USB1.1 AFAIK all issues are solved.

      It used to be much worse, to the point a USB keyboard or mouse was basically not usable.

    21. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The /sys/class/gpio is the standard linux GPIO subsystem. Any board will do that if you put the GPIO controller in the device tree. Be careful with the select, not all IO drivers support interrupts and it may actually be polling in the background from kernelspace.

    22. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I'm trying to think of the very limited set of applications you must have in mind that it would be "useless" when there are so many successful projects people use them for.

      Doing any kind of heavy USB I/O used to cause massive errors and failure, on earlier Pis. So I want to know if they've got it right this time.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    23. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      weird, Ive had a pi1 pi2 pi2b and a pi3 now and no usb issues keyboard, and mouse have been attached to all of them. the only issue i have, is the build quality. i know i play with these things but the first 3 basicaly broke in a year-ish

    24. Re:I got a Pi 3 recently. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You'd think that a 56k modem would be not too bad. Mine also doesn't work. And why am I using a 56k modem in 2016? #justbritishthings

  4. LOVE these things!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You'll want this bad boy right here http://arm.slackware.com/, and this OMX Remote on your phone.

    Silent media player, 1080, NFS mount, remote control. Priceless.

    Oh, and the Canadian dollar goes a long way in the UK these days :)

  5. What does this have to do with Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    /\

    1. Re:What does this have to do with Windows? by Kinwolf · · Score: 1

      Windows 10 can run on the Pi

    2. Re:What does this have to do with Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      You say that like it's good thing

    3. Re:What does this have to do with Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey! Go easy on the little guy.
      It was just minding its own business when the Microsoft came along and mugged it.

    4. Re:What does this have to do with Windows? by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 2

      It's a special magic version of Windows, it's been cross compiled to the non-x86 CPU, you can't install any actual Windows software on it.

      In short - its only use is as an embedded dev platform for organisations that have their head so firmly entrenched in the splenic flexure of Microsoft's colon that they cannot possibly consider using that nasty filthy commie Open Source stuff.

    5. Re:What does this have to do with Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So does RISC OS, several BSDs or Plan9. Does this mean this story should be in these OSes categories?

    6. Re:What does this have to do with Windows? by DickBreath · · Score: 1

      Yes. That. I am disappointed that Slashdot would put a friggin' Windows logo next to a Raspberry Pi article. Insulting and clueless actually. Let's use the logo of a company that has and continues to try to destroy Open Source and Linux at every possible opportunity.

      Microsoft putting a broken special stripped down Windows on the Pi is the fizzle of a "me too!" moment. Like many other things, Microsoft will lose interest in this as soon as a new shiny comes along. Windows on the Pi is too little, too late. Just like Microsoft being late to the mobile devices revolution.

      The kind of people likely to anything great with a Pi are probably not using Windows.

      Microsoft's adding a Linux personality to Windows 10 is Microsoft's recognition that the developers developers Developers DEVELOPERS they want . . . are on Linux.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    7. Re:What does this have to do with Windows? by Keruo · · Score: 1

      > I am disappointed that Slashdot would put a friggin' Windows logo next to a Raspberry Pi article

      I have one Pi running windows 10 iot. It's perfectly viable platform for Pi.

      --
      There are no atheists when recovering from tape backup.
    8. Re:What does this have to do with Windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a waste of perfectly good hardware.

  6. As Bob Dylan Sang by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Raspberry Pi Forever!

    1. Re:As Bob Dylan Sang by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      That was the Beatles, I think.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:As Bob Dylan Sang by JBMcB · · Score: 1

      That's Forevaeah - where the last vowel sound is that weird British thing that's between an Ah and an Eh sound.

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    3. Re:As Bob Dylan Sang by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah. There's even a spot in Central Park to memorialize Bob Dylan called Rasperberry Beret.

    4. Re:As Bob Dylan Sang by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kind of like "Champagne Supanover?"

    5. Re:As Bob Dylan Sang by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Wasn't that a Prince song?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re: As Bob Dylan Sang by whopis · · Score: 1

      No. You must be thinking of Blueberry Hill. By Chubby Checker.

  7. Size of a stack of 20 credit cards by Tinsoldier314 · · Score: 2

    Try putting it in your wallet, I dare you.

  8. I call bull shit by ninthbit · · Score: 0

    I love my 3 Pis but I call bullshit. There are several models from the same branded line. That's like saying the Optiplex (over the course of 20+ years) has sold millions and is the most popular. Plus, are they counting all the zeros they gave away with magazines a while back?

    1. Re:I call bull shit by Kinwolf · · Score: 1

      On the official Pi blog page they do specify "sold"

    2. Re:I call bull shit by ninthbit · · Score: 1

      Define sold though.... did they sell them to the magazine for pennies, where they a straight freebie. They could have been sold in the sense that the magazine purchased them for the same cost of writing a feature article (I doubt anything like that happened though).

      In any case, my point was that you can't claim "making it the best selling computer of all time" or "continuing its success as the most popular British computer ever" when you're talking about 9 different models. How many Galaxy phones have been sold? It's just as much if not even more of a "computer" than the Pi. Computer for one is too broad a term. There are microcontrollers that have vastly outsold the Pi. The NES sold like 60+ million units, it's a computer and is much more well-known/popular. If they mean workstation, then I challenge that most Pi's aren't even used with a keyboard. They're mostly in embedded projects and on TVs as a media center.

      10 million Pis is a feat, and I'm excited about their success. It's a great product and supported well in it's community. But the claim to be the most popular/best selling computer is wrong.

    3. Re:I call bull shit by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      Don't know how many British computer manufactures are there? but they wouldn't be competing against dell, hp, lenovo, acer, sony... none of them are British.

    4. Re:I call bull shit by ninthbit · · Score: 1

      That's true, they're all technically/legally Irish. :)

    5. Re:I call bull shit by pjt33 · · Score: 1

      The ZX Spectrum sold 5 million. I think that was probably the previous winner in this category.

    6. Re: I call bull shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are none because they can't figure out how to make a computer leak oil.

    7. Re: I call bull shit by mr_mischief · · Score: 1

      Samsung is Korean. Nintendo is Japanese. Dell is USian. Sony is Japanese. HP is USian. Lenovo is Chinese.

      When saying it's the best selling UK computer line they are comparing it to Sinclair, Psion, OpenPandora, and other UK companies that make and sell computers.

    8. Re: I call bull shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      English-speaking people do not say USian, that word does not exist in English and pegs you as an ignorant foreigner.

      How would you like if I make up a word that defines you in your own language ?

    9. Re: I call bull shit by mr_mischief · · Score: 1

      Actually I'm a native born US citizen, and you are a presumptuous assbag.

  9. Beowulf Cluster of rPi3's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  10. A credit card-sized device in 2D, sure. by mr_mischief · · Score: 1

    It's only credit-card sized in two dimensions. It's more like a full deck of playing cards in the world most of us inhabit away from the screen.

    It's also terrible that they are celebrating their $30 to $35 SBC by selling something triple the price. A starter kit like that often goes for more like $70 near me including the Pi 3. http://www.microcenter.com/sea...

    1. Re:A credit card-sized device in 2D, sure. by c10 · · Score: 1

      What's that in football fields?

    2. Re:A credit card-sized device in 2D, sure. by IMightB · · Score: 1

      Umm the $70 price point includes:

      heatsinks
      power cable
      hdmi cable
      case
      32GB microsd

      none of which are needed if you already have the parts laying around. Even the case is relatively optional.

    3. Re:A credit card-sized device in 2D, sure. by mr_mischief · · Score: 1

      Right. You get all of that for $70, which was my point. So why is the celebratory starter kit $130, enough to buy another Pi on top of the $70 kit and an inexpensive keyboard and mouse?

  11. LIES LIES LIES by wizkid · · Score: 1

    The computer, about the same size as a credit card, was first released in 2012 and is widely used as an educational tool for programming.

    Baloney. It's lots bigger then a credit card!

    --
    I take no responsibility for what I say. Even though I'm never wrong :)
    1. Re:LIES LIES LIES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not only about the size but the use. "educational tool for programming" is a stretch. As if were really widely used in schools my ass. More like mediacenters, showoff clusters and arduino replacements.

    2. Re:LIES LIES LIES by cellocgw · · Score: 1

      Baloney. It's lots bigger then a credit card!

      Hey, size isn't everything (you insensitive clod)!

      --
      https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
    3. Re: LIES LIES LIES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The Raspberry Pi foundation actively works with educators to develop curriculum to go with the hardware.

    4. Re: LIES LIES LIES by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is only the alibi

  12. Overpriced+vaporware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are other similar fuity boards with many options and price ranges all significatively cheaper, like the Orange Pi or Banana Pi not like the unobtanium $5 zero. But still binary blobs are the real problem

    1. Re:Overpriced+vaporware by Cpt_Kirks · · Score: 1

      I like my Banana Pi, the SATA is nice, and the board is a bit faster than my Raspberry Pi 2+

      However, I would prefer USB 3.0

    2. Re: Overpriced+vaporware by mr_mischief · · Score: 1

      There's also the Pine64, the CHIP, and the Onion (soon releasing the Onion2). I'm getting hungry just thinking about all the names. I need someone to make a Basil SBC so I can make a Pesto workstation.

    3. Re:Overpriced+vaporware by ssam · · Score: 1

      Blob free arm boards, not yet https://www.fsf.org/resources/... , but there will be soon https://www.fsf.org/blogs/lice... . Actually a few can be run blob free if you don't mind sacrificing some features.

  13. Target market by rijrunner · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The interesting thing here is that people are complaining about how the Raspberry Pi operates when used by people who were not its primary customer when it was designed.

    When it launched, it was launched, it was done as a teaching system and it has been aimed more at replacing the arduino than PC's, where this is very cost competitive given its vastly greater capabilities.

    That is does not have all the functionality of a desktop is not surprising. That is not what it was designed for. But, the low cost is really causing people to think about the system and deploy it in very surprising ways. (We are using them at my place of business in our NOC for all our monitoring systems where more powerful systems are just overkill.)

    1. Re:Target market by jason777 · · Score: 2

      Ya, plus the commercial use. Consider companies like homeseer using it as a base for their home automation controllers. I bet they place many orders for PIs.

    2. Re:Target market by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The interesting thing here is that people are complaining about how the Raspberry Pi operates when used by people who were not its primary customer when it was designed.

      You mean, just like how people complaining about iPhones when they didn't even own one? Sounds like /.

  14. Sinclair ZX?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I refuse to believe that the Raspberry Pi could ever be as popular or as useful as my Sinclair ZX-81 computer with 16K memory expansion pack!!

  15. ir scheduling by sims+2 · · Score: 1

    I'm still looking for a way $15 or less (for each tv) to automate about 25-30 tv's just to switch them on in the morning and off in the evening.

    A outlet timer can handle most tv's but a bit less than half won't switch back on when connected to power and need to be manually switched on.

    --
    Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
    1. Re:ir scheduling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a raspberry can send CEC commands to a tv, or if they are all on the same reprogram a tv-be-gone with a channel code instead of the usual turn off code

  16. Re: So, like, a couple of hours of iPhone sales? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What are you going to do? Your vibrating buttplug peripheral for the Iphone relied on the 3.5mm jack.

    Are they calling the new wireless interface for those choking hazard earphones browntooth? Probably you should rig up a peripheral interface for your Apple buttgadget using that. Apple will probably even license it to you.

  17. Pi USB data loss hardware fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He's probably referring to the USB controller problem that has existed since day 1 in Pi, causing loss of USB data when peripherals of different USB versions are mixed. This requires USB split transactions to work in the host, but all Pi SoCs contain only a cut-down USB controller which requires hard realtime response in under 1ms from the ARM CPU, and this cannot be guaranteed in Linux. As a result, USB data is non-deterministically dropped on the floor under these circumstances, so mixed-version USB peripherals commonly stop working or work only intermittently.

    It's a well known hardware limitation of USB on all Pi versions, and it has been fully described by the Pi developers. It is formally a hardware fault because USB2.0 compliance requires backwards compatibility with earlier versions of USB including correct operation with mixed versions, which Pi does not provide.

    Everyone was hoping that when the Pi3 was released, the new 64-bit architecture would be accompanied by a full hardware USB controller not suffering that previous fault, an ideal opportunity for such change. Alas, it didn't happen, it still uses the same old half-baked one as before.

  18. and also ditch the heat sinks.. by SethJohnson · · Score: 1


    Speaking of optional...

    The heatsinks sold for SOC are pointless. The original design of these chips was for usage in thin smartphones. No conductive heat distribution is expected to be available in this application.

    1. Re:and also ditch the heat sinks.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wrong, my current smartphone has a heat-pipe
      http://mashable.com/2016/03/09/samsung-galaxy-s7-torn-down/#nzllUB3SoZqb

      Also, just about every recent smartphone has at least some part near the main chip touching the case.. That is why you get hot spots when doing heavy processing tasks on your phone.

      The heat sinks are not pointless on the Pi... If you do things that make the chip hot enough to reduce life or to cause CPU throttling.
      I also doubt that the distros used on the Pi are as energy efficient as the OS used on smartphones. More energy, more heat.

      The heat-sinks are not _necessary_ but I would recommend them. I know when doing a full noobs install on a Pi3 the SOC was hot enough to make me fear a burn on my finger when touched for just a second. I measured and it was over 160 f.

      One little heat-sink.. even in a closed case, drastically lowered temps.

  19. Microsoft will soon kill it by Air-conditioned+cowh · · Score: 1

    They are getting loads of publicity about their Windows 10 that actually transforms the Pi into a vegetable. People will read the articles and think, "I must buy one of these and install Windows 10 on it". Having done so its vegetative qualities under the Windows 10 curse come out in full force and the poor punter has to return it as it "wasn't as good as expected". Then tells all his friends how "rubbish" the Pi is.

    1. Re:Microsoft will soon kill it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Putting Windows 10 on *ANY* hardware turns it into a vegetable !

      And one that spies on you to boot.

  20. Still Linux Distro Problems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have Mate running on a R-Pi Model 2-B. It worked great, and I enjoyed programming in the Visual Basic workalike, Gambas. However, the last OS upgrade broke Gambas, there's a lot of chatter on the Internet about failed attempts to build from source, etc.; so, no more Gambas for me. It still works in the non-Mate distros, but I don't want to switch.

  21. I know where 9.5 million of those units are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They are sitting unopened in a box in someone's closet.

    1. Re:I know where 9.5 million of those units are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > They are sitting unopened in a box in someone's closet.

      Where they will become treasure chests during the zombie apocalypse, when mad max'es are looking for small computing devices running off their backpack solar cells...

    2. Re:I know where 9.5 million of those units are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But Pisdon't have on-board flash, and the website to download Rasbian will have disappeared long ago. You might be better off using an Intel Atom based netbook. Throw the screen out and you save 7-10 watts right away.

  22. mod parent up please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what won't you guys tag with windows and/or microsoft?

  23. How the fck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can you plug an ethernet cable into something the size of a credit card? Did credit cards suddenly get thicker while I was sleeping?

  24. Pi's In Space.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are currently two Raspberry Pi's in use on the International Space Station as part of experiments that UK students are performing. It's a great device for teaching and learning and getting kids interested in physical computing and programming.

    https://astro-pi.org/