Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Raspberry Pi Opens First High Street Store in Cambridge

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 153 posts

Re: Raspberry Pi Opens First High Street Store in Cambridge

#141

Post by Intermernet »

adrianN wrote: post #107
swebs wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>and can play full HD movies Can you be more specific? "Full HD" usually refers to 1080p, which all Raspberry Pi models can easily handle for h264 video due to their hardware decoder. The Raspberry Pi 3 can handle most other formats through software just fine, though it may struggle with more intense formats like 10 bit h265. For that, an Odroid C2 may be what you're looking for. They advertise: >H.265 4K/60FPS and H…

Yeah, I'm looking for something that has some hardware support for h264 and a sufficient amount of RAM that is not too expensive and only uses a few Watts.

Pretty much all RPis can handle this, depending on your definition of "sufficient amount of RAM".

Re: Raspberry Pi Opens First High Street Store in Cambridge

#142

Post by arcaster »

I wouldn't be surprised if the store eventually meets a similar demise to the "MakerBot Store" on Newbury street in Boston did a few years back.

Really cool stuff, just nobody ever really seemed to have a reason to buy anything of reason in the store.

I bought filament for my home-built 3-d printer there maybe once - only because it was higher quality than what MicroCenter carried and was a color I'd otherwise have to order.

But obv most people in the store weren't buying $2k 3d printers - anyone who happened to already own a 3d printer knew that MakerBot's tech was garbage.

Re: Raspberry Pi Opens First High Street Store in Cambridge

#143

Post by linksnapzz »

analognoise wrote: post #14
raverbashing wrote: post #6

It's surprising that it has become the best selling British computer even it being a hobbyist oriented product

If you've ever worked on a vintage British car's electrical system, you wouldn't be surprised that the only thing the global marketplace decided the British should handle, electrically, would be hobby-oriented.

I would pay real money for an Rpi with Lucas components. Extra if it could somehow be convinced to leak oil and not boot when the outside temp is below 10C.

Re: Raspberry Pi Opens First High Street Store in Cambridge

#144

Post by Intermernet »

chrisseaton wrote: post #16

When did the British start calling shops ‘stores’?

Anecdata, most Australians would probably be ambivalent to either term. Shop or Store? They're synonymous. Just to let you know, and to keep you updated on international terminology :-)

Re: Raspberry Pi Opens First High Street Store in Cambridge

#145

Post by driverdan »

adrianN wrote: post #77
ChrisRR wrote: post #25

Hurry up and announce a Raspberry Pi 4 already! I want to give you more money

Is there a computer in the Raspberry Pi price range that has >=4gb RAM and can play full HD movies? The 1GB limit is basically what's keeping me from using a Pi as my main computer.

Check out ODROID: https://www.hardkernel.com/

It doesn't have that much RAM but they have models with 8 core CPUs, USB3, and one with SATA. They're around $50.

Re: Raspberry Pi Opens First High Street Store in Cambridge

#146

Post by wolfgke »

folkrav wrote: post #120
wolfgke wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The "RPi is for nerds" shtick is specifically what they're probably trying to get rid of with that store. Companies should be very careful not to alienate their core audience that made them big. In the past, lots of companies in their plans to widen their audiences made this mistake.

I fail to see how having a clean looking store alienates anyone. If it does, these people should look back at their priorities in life.

> I fail to see how having a clean looking store alienates anyone.

I do not claim that. But it is a strong sign of the direction that the Raspberry Pi Foundation might want to target in the future. And this direction has a potential to alienate the core audience.

Re: Raspberry Pi Opens First High Street Store in Cambridge

#147

Post by dingaling »

cbhl wrote: post #136
Siemens wrote: post #131

Is anyone aware of a way to cheaply purchase multiple Raspberry Pi Zero W's? They are sold at $10 but are limited to 1 per person. If you want to buy more, the price is around $20 each. That's a big price difference if you are buying 30 out of pocket to teach a class.

If you're going to teach a class, I'd recommend going out of your way to give each student a Pi 3 Model B+. The additional ports means that the device can be useful as a general-purpose computer outside of class (just hook up a keyboard, mouse, and monitor/TV). I realize the difference between $300 and $1050 is a lot, but you get way more hardware at the $35 price point. Building the institutional muscle to figure ou…

> just charge each adult a fee to cover the hardware cost

That seems a quick way to discourage adults from taking programming courses. Should they pay for a chair and table too? Or a screen? Of course not, that cost is amortised across many classes.

It's ridiculous that the Foundation makes bulk purchasing so difficult when the original vision for the RPi was for education. But that was fairly quickly forgotten when it became the darling of hackerspaces and upselling became the priority.

Re: Raspberry Pi Opens First High Street Store in Cambridge

#148

Post by fenwick67 »

cbhl wrote: post #140
fenwick67 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they fixed power (stop using USB micro B, add a power switch header) and SD card stuff (let me boot from USB), I would be so much happier with my pis. But as it stands they are really messy to work with.

Using USB micro B lowers the BOM while making the device accessible in international markets (regardless of what your local power is, everyone has USB power adapters). Personally, I'd like to USB-C, but USB-C headers are still hella expensive. That being said, you can power a Pi by attaching the right cables to the GPIO headers: https://www.adafruit.com/product/954 https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruits-raspberry-pi-le…

Wow I truly did not know you could simply boot from USB on the 3+, thanks for that.

Re: Raspberry Pi Opens First High Street Store in Cambridge

#149

Post by sincarne »

claytonius wrote: post #85

I had a minute to check it out over lunch - most of the floorspace is dedicated to demonstrating what the raspberry pi can do at a high level. They had stations for coding, gaming, sensors, etc. but only ~1/4th of the space was devoted to inventory. While they have a decent selection of Pis, sensor kits, and accessories, it's definitely not a replacement for Maplin. Additionally, Already__Taken seems to have been cor…

I was there just before lunch. I spoke with the guy who put together the PiCade they had out for demo. He was very helpful. The one thing that surprised me was that so many of the kits they had on sale require soldering. I would have thought that if you’re going for a more general audience, that’d be something to avoid. But I really don’t have anything negative to say about the place. Nice space, good inventory, pleasant staff.

Re: Raspberry Pi Opens First High Street Store in Cambridge

#150

Post by whywhywhywhy »

HeadsUpHigh wrote: post #110
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Looking approachable is a pretty key component of that. Agreed, the other key component though is actually making their machine and software/hardware approachable, smooth, performant and reliable. Which they haven't really put any effort in to since they started. I really wanted the dream of an affordable computer for kids to be a reality but at the end of the day when the $35 just isn't as performant as a budget t…

Tinkering is not the same as consuming media/games. The kids who play with tablets and the kids who tinker with pis are completely different demographics( or the same person at different times). While I agree that the rpi leaves a lot to be desired( and other boards have left it in the dust hardware-wise) it is still the most accessible board out there and to say that they haven't improved on that is false( especiall…

I totally get that I just think there is a lot of value to the tinkering being possible on the device they use for everything else.

How many kids got a PC to play games on but while bored found QBasic and Gorillas.bas.

How many kids on MySpace or NeoPets learnt HTML/CSS as a way to customize their profiles.

This all used to be a reality when kids grew up using a general purpose computing platform, now the choices are a Tablet that works as a general purpose platform you can't tinker with or a board you can only tinker on but not use as a computer.

Post reply on HN