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Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

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Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#11

Post by iancmceachern »

mikewarot wrote: post #10

It would be nice if they where an open source hardware company. They don't publish the full schematics of anything, which makes it impossible to do low level programming of the thing in a reasonable manner. I'm going to use up the hardware I bought in ignorance, and find better stuff for the future. https://github.com/raspberrypi/documentation/issues/347

A lot of times companies like this need to sign NDAs to get the design documentation for the ICs and SOCs needed to even make the thing. If theybhad an open source SOC and ICs then they could do it....

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#12

Post by beervirus »

> The Raspberry Pi Foundation, formed in 2009, is a registered charity with a goal of putting “the power of computing and digital making into the hands of people all over the world.” The famous eponymous SBC was designed to be affordable and champion programming in schools, hoping to repeat the home computer boom of the 1980s. Raspberry Pi Trading Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary responsible for the engineering and trading operations of the foundation.

Why even is there a trading company? Seems random. Why not the Raspberry Pi Coffee Growers Association, or the Raspberry Pi Law Firm?

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#13

Post by KaiserPro »

I'm not saying this isn't going to happen, but I would be surprised if it floats.

Given that the trading arm is there entirely to fund the learning bit, I would be surprised that they would float effectively giving away the profit stream needed to run the education part.

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#14

Post by paulgb »

jacknews wrote: post #9

RIP RPi. I thought the whole idea was to produce boards, priced near cost, for educational/inspirational purposes? ie to give today's kids the same kind of intro to computers (you have to program it) as kids enjoyed with the home computers of the 80's. The profit motive inherent to a public company does not seem compatible with that mission.

As an RPi fan and user I agree with the concern, but as a small consolation I'd also point out that the companies making those computers in the 80s were also profit-motivated.

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#15

Post by markb139 »

mikewarot wrote: post #10

It would be nice if they where an open source hardware company. They don't publish the full schematics of anything, which makes it impossible to do low level programming of the thing in a reasonable manner. I'm going to use up the hardware I bought in ignorance, and find better stuff for the future. https://github.com/raspberrypi/documentation/issues/347

Aren't the schematics here: https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberr...

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#16

Post by tehwebguy »

RPi accomplished something really cool, probably got a lot of people into electronics hacking and linux that weren’t before (like me).

There are plenty of competitors making higher and lower end alternatives now at varying degrees of open source, in my opinion the mission has been extremely accomplished for years now.

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#17

Post by gchadwick »

jacknews wrote: post #9

RIP RPi. I thought the whole idea was to produce boards, priced near cost, for educational/inspirational purposes? ie to give today's kids the same kind of intro to computers (you have to program it) as kids enjoyed with the home computers of the 80's. The profit motive inherent to a public company does not seem compatible with that mission.

I think we need to wait for further details.

RPi has been structure as a for profit company owned by the charity for a long time. This IPO may result in a huge amount of money for that charity. It also doesn't say how much of a stake their selling. The charity may retain the majority share and so continue to have control along with a vast capital reserve to continue doing what they're doing plus a lot more.

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#18

Post by kbaker »

markb139 wrote: post #15
mikewarot wrote: post #10

It would be nice if they where an open source hardware company. They don't publish the full schematics of anything, which makes it impossible to do low level programming of the thing in a reasonable manner. I'm going to use up the hardware I bought in ignorance, and find better stuff for the future. https://github.com/raspberrypi/documentation/issues/347

Aren't the schematics here: https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberr...

They are reduced ones showing just the pins of the external connectors. None of the processor interconnects or any of the on-board power management peripherals.

Compare with the BeagleBone Black, which contains the complete design:

https://github.com/beagleboard/beaglebone-black/blob/master/...

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#19

Post by mytailorisrich »

gchadwick wrote: post #17
jacknews wrote: post #9

RIP RPi. I thought the whole idea was to produce boards, priced near cost, for educational/inspirational purposes? ie to give today's kids the same kind of intro to computers (you have to program it) as kids enjoyed with the home computers of the 80's. The profit motive inherent to a public company does not seem compatible with that mission.

I think we need to wait for further details. RPi has been structure as a for profit company owned by the charity for a long time. This IPO may result in a huge amount of money for that charity. It also doesn't say how much of a stake their selling. The charity may retain the majority share and so continue to have control along with a vast capital reserve to continue doing what they're doing plus a lot more.

The for-profit company has been raising money from investors in order to finance growth.

I'm sure that an IPO would result in the charity getting cash but the aim does not seem to be that.

Now, the good thing is of course that the accounts of the foundation are public [1]. I am not impressed that only about 10% of their income goes to "charitable activities".

[1] https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/chari...

Re: Raspberry Pi Trading plans £370m+ stock market IPO

#20

Post by [deleted] »

iancmceachern wrote: post #11
mikewarot wrote: post #10

It would be nice if they where an open source hardware company. They don't publish the full schematics of anything, which makes it impossible to do low level programming of the thing in a reasonable manner. I'm going to use up the hardware I bought in ignorance, and find better stuff for the future. https://github.com/raspberrypi/documentation/issues/347

A lot of times companies like this need to sign NDAs to get the design documentation for the ICs and SOCs needed to even make the thing. If theybhad an open source SOC and ICs then they could do it....

[deleted]
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