Live data from Hacker News

The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

techcrunch.com

51–60 of 211 posts

Re: The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's cooler for people who actually create and hack hardware. There's a level of play and tinkering that you probably never ever experience in an apple store.

The problem is core CS subjects don’t train you enough to do that. You would have to learn that from somebody who already is an expert and that maybe a little out of reach for a lot of people. I have been wanting to hack hardware but I haven’t had any guidance yet about what/how to proceed and debug. Looks like abstractions have gotten complicated enough for somebody to necessarily ignore how it works under the hood…

Why would a CS course teach you any of this? You want an EE degree to learn this, not CS

Re: The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

#52
post #40

How are they going to afford the rent and salaries? Besides being very niche, their margins must be very low.

Isn't the whole raspberry pi company set up as a foundation/charity? They probably take a loss on the store to promote the idea.

Re: The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those brands have this own stores at all? I've never seen one. I've seen many Apple stores though.

They do. But that doesn't even matter. The point is that the article makes no comparison to any store. They just wedged Apple in the title because clicks. They could have spun it many other ways. Raspberry Pi's first physical store. You can see examples of what the Pi can do, even play around with them. Consult with staff about which Pi is best suited for your needs. Buy merch and goodies. Again, the article itself m…

I understand why they did it but to be honest if this will introduce someone to Raspberry Pi, open source and whole makers space then it was worth it.

Re: The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

#54

I wonder if they will sell you more than one Raspberry Pi Zero? The Zero is advertised as being $5, and it makes me angry every time, because it's not possible to buy it at that price. Every Pi retailer either has a one-per-customer limit, and charges shipping, or, charges up to $15(!) per Zero if you buy more than one. So it's essentially a $15 device being advertised as $5. I shouldn't be so annoyed about it, but I…

$10 still a good price though.

Re: The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

#55
post #32

I wonder if they will sell you more than one Raspberry Pi Zero? The Zero is advertised as being $5, and it makes me angry every time, because it's not possible to buy it at that price. Every Pi retailer either has a one-per-customer limit, and charges shipping, or, charges up to $15(!) per Zero if you buy more than one. So it's essentially a $15 device being advertised as $5. I shouldn't be so annoyed about it, but I…

Some of the alternatives (Orange Pi Zero in particular) might be a good option... They have more powerful hardware too, AFAICT, though the mainline linux support isn't as good. (Although looking at that now, the cheapest board is still about $9)

See, being able to run "just Linux" is about the main selling point of RPi. It's no secret you can get boards with better performance/price or performance/power, or even build your own RPi at a lower price (not sure about zero). But RPi being just "plug and play" with familiar software platform means that I can just go and link my software skills with physical doohickeys.

Re: The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

#56
post #43
post #29

Because this headline demands a cynical response - this isn't cooler than Apple, its cooler than RadioShack. Also, why the couch? Unless there are some coding camps at the location, I can't imagine someone (even a parent) coming in and needing to sit down. Maybe an experienced sales associate that maps out the types of activities that can be done, but I doubt that as well.

> this isn't cooler than Apple, its cooler than RadioShack. Arguably it could be cooler than both. You’re making an arbitrary distinction where one isn’t needed. Plus we never even had RadioShack in the UK (maybe Maplins might have been more apt? But I think the Apple comparison serves the authors point quite fine). > Also, why the couch? Plenty of shops in the UK have seating. It isn’t that weird at all. > Because t…

"we never even had RadioShack in the UK"

We did kind of.

Tandy was basically RadioShack, they even sold RadioShack branded products.

I would like to say that it rebranded as RadioShack towards the end, but I cant find any evidence of that. So that's probably just my failing memory.

Re: The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

#57
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ve never gone clothes shopping with your SO? Remember the chairs by the changing room? These are the changing room chairs for the other half.

I've always found this situation weird. When my wife and I go shopping, we don't really do it together. I go to my stores. She goes to hers. No need for chairs. I can certainly understand why someone might shop with an SO, but it's never been a requirement for us.

How does that work? You go into the shop, see shirt, check size, buy it, bam, done. Spend 30 minutes ogling PCs, Cars, Bikes, (pick your poison), before going to to find your partner who is still in the first shop with 50 rejected tops outside the changing room. So you find a seat.....

(This is a therapy session right?)

Re: The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

#58
post #55
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the alternatives (Orange Pi Zero in particular) might be a good option... They have more powerful hardware too, AFAICT, though the mainline linux support isn't as good. (Although looking at that now, the cheapest board is still about $9)

See, being able to run "just Linux" is about the main selling point of RPi. It's no secret you can get boards with better performance/price or performance/power, or even build your own RPi at a lower price (not sure about zero). But RPi being just "plug and play" with familiar software platform means that I can just go and link my software skills with physical doohickeys.

Eh, my experience with the orange pi zero was similar. But then I've been playing with debian on embedded boards since the NSLU2 days, so I guess I'm probably a little blind to the challenges.

Any build that doesn't start with a multimeter, a soldering iron and a TTL->USB cable is pretty straightforward...

Re: The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

#59

I wonder if they will sell you more than one Raspberry Pi Zero? The Zero is advertised as being $5, and it makes me angry every time, because it's not possible to buy it at that price. Every Pi retailer either has a one-per-customer limit, and charges shipping, or, charges up to $15(!) per Zero if you buy more than one. So it's essentially a $15 device being advertised as $5. I shouldn't be so annoyed about it, but I…

It hardly unique in that sense. Flights to Europe 1 Euro (plus airport tax, and booking fees and cabin baggage). Restaurant prices in the States where you are expected to add on 15% tip. Prices advertised before tax. I guess you would need some sort of regulation to real prices up front.

Re: The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

#60

This is super awesome. Does anybody know if they have an analogous program like Today at Apple but for kids to actually experiment with code? Would be nice to have volunteers though. Just a thought.

I would hope that would be their main thing. Not sure they could justify just a shop.

Ps I hadn't come across today at Apple before, so checked the website. There were only 2 beards there, both well trimmed, and no plaid. Apple has called peak hipster!

Post reply on HN