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$25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs

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Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs

#2
With 700MHz ARM11 cpu (Broadcom BCM2835), if they had 1GB of RAM, it would be pretty close to a mainstream device (1GB is about $10 now, though they're using low power ram on the device).

See also: Demo: Raspberry Pi running Quake 3 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2932910 ----- Raspberry Pi - The alpha boards are here http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2880507 ----- Raspberry Pi $25 PC goes into alpha production http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2822255

Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs

#4
$25 for a textbook? If only! I spend $50-$300 per class for engineering textbooks.

Also, the analog port is, I believe, only available on the $35 version of the Raspberry Pi. It also works with HDMI and DVI (the latter through an adapter), so you don't need to go scrounging for an analog TV.

Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs

#5

$25 for a textbook? If only! I spend $50-$300 per class for engineering textbooks. Also, the analog port is, I believe, only available on the $35 version of the Raspberry Pi. It also works with HDMI and DVI (the latter through an adapter), so you don't need to go scrounging for an analog TV.

I suspect $25 for a textbook is more common in non-Western countries, which would likely be a great market for these things as well.

Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs

#7
post #3

Where do I get $25 textbooks?

The same place you get 50 cent antibiotics and $1 DVDs. If you are in the US, UK, CA, or western europe no need to apply. The publishers have decided you can pay more and will charge you thusly.

Or try to get one of the international students to give you theirs. Makes you laugh internally to know you spent $100s of dollars on engineering textbooks while the internationally student sitting next to you has the same one in paperback and probably paid $10 for it. And that's if their government scholarship doesn't include the book stipend.

Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs

#9
There's a second story here.

Want to build this board yourself? You can't. Try to find information about this Broadcom BCM2835 chip. It only leads back to the Raspberry Pi (and a teardown of the roku 2 media player). Broadcom has not released even a 1-page summary datasheet on this chip. The only specs released are in relation to the Raspberry Pi.

I work for a small tech company that would LOVE to be able to use this chip and as of today it's impossible to even get the datasheet unless you are in "the club" of trusted broadcom customers (or their employee, as one raspberry pi creator is apparently?)

Will this chip ever be sold to the public?

Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs

#10
post #7
post #3

Where do I get $25 textbooks?

The same place you get 50 cent antibiotics and $1 DVDs. If you are in the US, UK, CA, or western europe no need to apply. The publishers have decided you can pay more and will charge you thusly. Or try to get one of the international students to give you theirs. Makes you laugh internally to know you spent $100s of dollars on engineering textbooks while the internationally student sitting next to you has the same one…

Buying international versions was one trick I wish I had learned when I was just starting college. It would have saved me a lot of money over time for the same content.
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