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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

#191

Post by altmind »

thinkmassive wrote: post #160
kelrien wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The raspberry pi Zero W was never priced at 5€ AFAIK. edit: found the announcement: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero-w-joins-f...

Exactly! $5 Zero, $10 Zero W, still an excellent deal compared to alternatives. An ESP dev board or a Feather costs more, and those don’t run Linux. People who complain about the cost making their projects difficult should speak up about the alternatives they’re jumping to instead.

esp32 boards(not a devboard, but rpi is not a devboard too) starts from $4.42 with free shipping on aliexpress. yet you are right - less ports, slower, less memory, no linux and a different microarchitecture.

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

#192

Post by seba_dos1 »

semi-extrinsic wrote: post #189
ac29 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Pi Zero W can run a full Linux stack. The ESP8266 is essentially a fancy microcontroller. They aren't really comparable solutions, though they can certainly do some of the same tasks.

I know the difference between the stacks, but what I'm asking specifically about the Zero is, when do you (need the additional benefits of a full Linux stack) && (the modest hardware of the Pi Zero W is enough) && (are shipping stuff at scale yet can live with the flakyness of microSD)?

You don't need to ship stuff at scale in order to make sensible use of more than one board.

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

#193

Post by bpye »

_ea1k wrote: post #161
ihuman wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The Pi Zero pricing is entirely to get them into the hands of people. I seem to recall reading somewhere that volume pricing is similar to that of the Raspberry Pi Model A, which makes sense given that they are very similar just smaller.

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

#194

Post by abrugsch »

gangstead wrote: post #183
abrugsch wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

one word: Microcenter I don't live in the states, but am on a forum of people centered around various projects that (among other things) happen to make use of Pi Zero's the people who live near MC's are always saying how they just popped into their MC on the way home from work and picked up a (sometimes couple of) $5 zero W. So yeah while your experience is that $5 zeros don't exist (as is mine since in the UK there…

> in the UK there are exactly zero B&M stores that sell zeros Now there's one!

But how much is a zero(W) in the new RPF store?

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

#195

Post by lrem »

dom96 wrote: post #64
lrem wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> even build your own RPi at a lower price How would you go about doing that? Any guides out there for something like this?

I'm afraid step 1 of such a guide would be "get a relevant engineering degree". I got mine on the wrong floor of the building, so all I know is that "RPi is overpriced for what it contains".

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

#196

Post by qhwudbebd »

ForHackernews wrote: post #92
IshKebab wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how economics works! If they aren't making a loss at $5 then by now they have had plenty of time to ramp up production to meet demand (and save money since more production means lower costs). The fact that they haven't strongly implies that they are selling it at a loss.

They might well be making a loss at $5! Don't take this too harshly, but the Raspberry Pi foundation's goal is to encourage young children to learn about programming and computer science, not to subsidize the IoT hobbies of wealthy adults who already have careers in computing.

They failed at that goal. Hobbyists, yes; hobbyists building stuff with their kids, yes; kids on their own or in schools, not really.

There have been campaigns to get RPis into schools for free, but for the most part, they gather dust there.

Whatever their original goal, they might as well embrace their only successful market and stop using 'it wasn't meant for you' as an excuse for every engineering mistake they make.

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

#197

Post by kingosticks »

qhwudbebd wrote: post #196
ForHackernews wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They might well be making a loss at $5! Don't take this too harshly, but the Raspberry Pi foundation's goal is to encourage young children to learn about programming and computer science, not to subsidize the IoT hobbies of wealthy adults who already have careers in computing.

They failed at that goal. Hobbyists, yes; hobbyists building stuff with their kids, yes; kids on their own or in schools, not really. There have been campaigns to get RPis into schools for free, but for the most part, they gather dust there. Whatever their original goal, they might as well embrace their only successful market and stop using 'it wasn't meant for you' as an excuse for every engineering mistake they mak…

Getting stuff into schools and getting them to use it is difficult. There was a push some years ago for Lego Mindstorms kit in schools. That stuff was very cool but mostly went unused - nobody knew how to use it, let alone create lessons around it.

The RPF's work is better in that it's both cheaper and a more joined up plan with both kit and teacher resources. A big part of their work is running courses for teachers but training people takes time. That goal is expectedly still ongoing. The code club stuff they do seems pretty successful too. I have no doubt they will continue what they are doing and I think it's the correct strategy.

There are plenty of other SBCs out there now (in response to RPi) which can embrace the consumer market as you desire. It sounds like you are looking for something that meets everyone's requirements; a product that makes no compromises in features or cost. I wish you luck.

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

#198

Post by kingosticks »

lrem wrote: post #195
dom96 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> even build your own RPi at a lower price How would you go about doing that? Any guides out there for something like this?

I'm afraid step 1 of such a guide would be "get a relevant engineering degree". I got mine on the wrong floor of the building, so all I know is that "RPi is overpriced for what it contains".

Could you provide a breakdown of what you know it should cost? That would be interesting.

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

#199

Post by rusk »

sangnoir wrote: post #152
rusk wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

feint

> feint Incorrect - it's not damning with fake praise - it's damning with super-light praise; the implication being the subject of 'praise' is not that great. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/damn_with_faint_praise

For some strange reason, paper with light lines on it is called feint ruled which is the source of my confusion going all the way back to my school days ... but every day is a school day, evidently.

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

#200

Post by qhwudbebd »

kingosticks wrote: post #197
qhwudbebd wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They failed at that goal. Hobbyists, yes; hobbyists building stuff with their kids, yes; kids on their own or in schools, not really. There have been campaigns to get RPis into schools for free, but for the most part, they gather dust there. Whatever their original goal, they might as well embrace their only successful market and stop using 'it wasn't meant for you' as an excuse for every engineering mistake they mak…

Getting stuff into schools and getting them to use it is difficult. There was a push some years ago for Lego Mindstorms kit in schools. That stuff was very cool but mostly went unused - nobody knew how to use it, let alone create lessons around it. The RPF's work is better in that it's both cheaper and a more joined up plan with both kit and teacher resources. A big part of their work is running courses for teachers…

I'm not in any feasible target market for them anyway because I'm happy to pay significantly more for higher spec SBCs with mainline kernel support, avoiding proprietary boot loaders/threadx and long-obsolete SoCs. The current crop of RK3399 boards are a great example of that.

But I do understand why the lower spec, lower price point devices appeal so much to hobbyists and makers. These people actually buy and use RPis in significant numbers, unlike the schoolchildren whom they keep aiming at and failing to reach. These people are the only reason for the RPi's success.

The RPi folks would be better to acknowledge and take credit for the important part they've been playing in the maker and hobbyist movement and plan their future devices on that basis.

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