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The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store

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

#161
post #153
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have managed to buy a Pi zero for $5 at a Micro Center store.

That's only if you buy 1 https://www.microcenter.com/product/486575/zero-w >1 at $5.00 each >2-5 at $14.99 each >6+ at $19.99 each

TBH, I never realized just how strange pi pricing was until seeing that web page. 1 for $5, but if you act now, you can get two for the low price of $30! Its really strange and it makes me wonder what the real price in quantity (>500 units) is.

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

#162
post #149

I have had 4 different RPi boards in the past including the latest and the pi zero, and every single of them failed to work reliably. The hardware design and quality are poor. One of my board had soldering issue, another has power supply issue, another has SD card reader issue. You would run into lots of tough ones. Software eco is mostly for playing around. There're lots of frustration around but no good answers. I…

How do you know the problem is the boards? Many people have had issues with SD cards and power supplies, but I don’t recall ever hearing of a bad RPi before.

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

#163
post #149

I have had 4 different RPi boards in the past including the latest and the pi zero, and every single of them failed to work reliably. The hardware design and quality are poor. One of my board had soldering issue, another has power supply issue, another has SD card reader issue. You would run into lots of tough ones. Software eco is mostly for playing around. There're lots of frustration around but no good answers. I…

I'm surprised to hear of so many issues. Like the other commenter, I have used a couple of them for everything from home automation and network storage, to an openwrt router.

I worry a bit about the SD cards (especially with the zero, which is really being overworked), but overall I haven't really had any issues.

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

#164
post #153
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have managed to buy a Pi zero for $5 at a Micro Center store.

That's only if you buy 1 https://www.microcenter.com/product/486575/zero-w >1 at $5.00 each >2-5 at $14.99 each >6+ at $19.99 each

You can bring a friend (or two) and they can buy one also. I'm in San Diego and last time I drove back from Northern California I just stopped by (it's in Tustin) with my wife and picked up 2. If you need many then of course it doesn't work. I don't think there is any rule about you going back in another day either, although I guess if you went everyday they might notice. They didn't take down any information when I bought them, they just handed them to me.

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

#166

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…

> and I just can't get them. Why can't you just pay $15 for them?

OP most certainly can, but that wasn't the point of their rant. They're criticizing retailers for their inability to sell RP Zero's in bulk at $5/unit.

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

#167
I lost faith on Raspberry Pi when they went anti-consumer by implementing some DRM bullshit[0] using their firmware blob together with a dedicated crypto chip in their camera accessory to prevent third party cameras from working. Nevermind the extracted key that's circulating through the net: The crypto chip is itself not cheap and totally unnecessary if not for the DRM.

So, until they backtrack and apologize for their disgusting anti-consumer behavior, there's no way I will buy or endorse their products in any way. There's plenty of highly competitive alternatives[1] and absolutely no need to buy from these crooks.

[0]: https://np.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/7npv6a/20_raspberry...

[1]: https://www.hackerboards.com/

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

#169
post #163
post #149

I have had 4 different RPi boards in the past including the latest and the pi zero, and every single of them failed to work reliably. The hardware design and quality are poor. One of my board had soldering issue, another has power supply issue, another has SD card reader issue. You would run into lots of tough ones. Software eco is mostly for playing around. There're lots of frustration around but no good answers. I…

I'm surprised to hear of so many issues. Like the other commenter, I have used a couple of them for everything from home automation and network storage, to an openwrt router. I worry a bit about the SD cards (especially with the zero, which is really being overworked), but overall I haven't really had any issues.

I have 4 RPi's in frequent use. The one in my kitchen (music player, Pi 2 model B) needs a clothes peg to squeeze the SD card into the reader otherwise it won't boot. So that's a 25% failure rate for me as far as hardware issues are concerned.

It has worked reliably for a few years with the clothes peg though!

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

#170
post #108

Cambridge native here - the store is super cool. The look and feel is very Apple store so that probably is the fairest comparison - but they’ve managed to retain the good bits without it feeling like the chaotic jumble sale that Apple Store’s have become. Dotted around the store are live demo machines showing Python code running on Pis powering sensors etc, and tutorials showing you how to run it etc. Was really inte…

The comparison to the Apple Store (just downstairs from the Pi store …) is both apt and misleading: Apple Stores are all shiny but in essence it’s a sales room. the Pi store, by contrast, has the potential of becoming a place to geek out, to learn something new¹, and to mingle. Let’s see whether this will actually happen. As somebody else said, with luck it might become a modern version of Maplin/RadioShack. ¹ I’m aw…

The Apple Store has classes for kids that teach them to program robots such as the Sphero. With Swift Playgrounds for the iPad, kids can program Raspberry Pi as well.
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