Where do I get $25 textbooks?
At places selling textbooks to schools, not to university students.
$25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs
51–60 of 64 posts
Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs
#52Can you say vaporware?
Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would you believe me if I told you we're just nice guys, who used to be kids who couldn't afford computers?
Maybe you have to be an old fart... I was here for this last time, but then I remembered that 'last time' was 1981. This still looks like the most important thing of any kind for three decades to those of us who came out of the cheap home computer wave of the early 80s. (Me, I'm even closer to the Raspberry Pi heritage since I got my CS O-Level in 1987 with an IRC-alike network chat app for BBC LANs.) So try not to c…
I should throttle back my skepticism as well. I understand the intent of the project and I think it's a noble one.
We've already lost an entire generation of potential programmers by not having something like this in the post Apple ][ / BBC Acorn / C64 era. Maybe I'm an old fart by thinking that we don't need a full desktop running at 1080p to make the kids happy, but what do I know anymore.
It's an exciting and ambitious project that only the scale of current SoC systems can achieve. Unfortunately the environment also means licensing of cores and building of these highly complex chips by massive companies like TI and Broadcom. We're all afraid of obsolescence as things accelerate even more, of course, which is probably why we're so hard on Broadcom here.
Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi Eben. Sorry, I don't mean to detract from what you're doing. I think it's great. I'm very very excited for the Raspberry Pi, both personally and to see what it does globally. I'm mostly just curious why the chip isn't publicly available. That's all. I personally hope to be able to use this chip in other designs.
Comparatively few Broadcom chips are available via channel partners. Unfortunately that's just the way our business model works.
Well, if the RP organization is getting them for their boards, why not resell them to hobbyists for cost or a very small margin to fund further research?
"Your business" here refers to Broadcom, when the internet generally thinks you're Raspberry Pi. That's the rub.
Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect you're right in that the $25 is probably just a BOM cost (and an optimistic one at that). Once you actually try to get it built and delivered into someones hands, especially in small batches, I'm sure that $25 could ballon 2-5x easily.
Nope. BOM cost is well under $25. The price includes a healthy component margin, assembly cost (in the UK), assembly margin, test and OTP programming cost. We are professional electrical engineers; we know how to do this stuff (and in any case, it's not rocket science). Volume assumption is 10K batches. Anyone think I can't sell 10K of these?
If you are so professional, then where is the hardware block diagram? where is the pin description of all your connectors? Lots of people are wasting time on your blogs because you haven't released technical information. The product doesn't have to be finished to release more information.
Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
You used to be able to do so through Amazon but the publishers caught on fairly quickly. I managed to get a bio book that way, my ex-gf bought her organic chemistry books ($$$) this way as well. The next semester they were no longer visible even when searching by ISBN.
Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect you're right in that the $25 is probably just a BOM cost (and an optimistic one at that). Once you actually try to get it built and delivered into someones hands, especially in small batches, I'm sure that $25 could ballon 2-5x easily.
Nope. BOM cost is well under $25. The price includes a healthy component margin, assembly cost (in the UK), assembly margin, test and OTP programming cost. We are professional electrical engineers; we know how to do this stuff (and in any case, it's not rocket science). Volume assumption is 10K batches. Anyone think I can't sell 10K of these?
I wish you the best of luck in the venture. I hope it's very successful.
Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect you're right in that the $25 is probably just a BOM cost (and an optimistic one at that). Once you actually try to get it built and delivered into someones hands, especially in small batches, I'm sure that $25 could ballon 2-5x easily.
Nope. BOM cost is well under $25. The price includes a healthy component margin, assembly cost (in the UK), assembly margin, test and OTP programming cost. We are professional electrical engineers; we know how to do this stuff (and in any case, it's not rocket science). Volume assumption is 10K batches. Anyone think I can't sell 10K of these?
Regarding the GPU (BCM2763?):
Can you share any more details on the user space situation? Will there be Xorg/Mesa/Gallium support? Will you be relying on Broadcom's driver team for updates, if any, or do you guys have driver source under NDA with which you can support the GPU in future?
This seems to be the biggest concern for many who are looking at the platform. Just trying to gauge what kind of useful lifespan this board will have with regards to keeping an up to date Linux distro running on it. There's going to be a lot of flux and ABI changes ahead in the Linux graphics stack. Some more GPU details on your Wiki would be great if you have them available.
Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs
#59OLPC has a $100 PC, India has a $10 PC, and now these guys have a $25 PC. What do they all have in common? They all have in common that NONE OF THEM EXIST. Yes, that's right. These projects get announced as if they are factual existing devices, with announcements using verb tenses suggesting they are currently in production and available. But then looking for details we find that no one is sure what the form of the d…
The $100 Laptop could have been done, but OLPC and the buyer countries agreed that it was better to add more memory and storage, and use a faster processor. Also, the dollar was falling during the design phase. So the actual production cost came to $188, and the price to governments in quantity 10K was $189. More than 2 million have been sold, delivered, and put into the hands of students all over the world. (Later designs cost less, and we have every confidence in reaching the $100 price point due to the inexorable working of Moore's Law.) You can buy one on eBay for about $150. I own two, which I have named thing1 and thing2.
The $10 PC from India was a publicity stunt, not a PC, and never went into production.
The Raspberry Pi is $25, needing in addition a keyboard, display, external storage, and networking. That should come to about $150-$200. These guys just now announced the first engineering test build, and you complain that they didn't go into production yesterday.
"Please check your facts before posting nonsense to the Internet."--Beable van Polasm, alt.religion.kibology
Re: $25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have an OLPC XO-1, I used it every week. It is my favorite laptop. I have very good net access with it and use this little gem for my server maintenance needs... cool little thing. If OLPC would do another give-1-get-1, I would pick three. Now, I want do a little bulk order of Raspberry Pis when they are available and see what I can do with them for my community. About the downvotes, you COULD buy an OLPC for $200…
How the hell did you type on that thing? I have one and I can _easily_ type on an Acer Aspire One 8.9" netbook, which many people complain about typing on. I couuldn't come close to touch typing on my XO due to how close together the keys are. I think the feel of the keyboard would have been at least a minor stumbling block even if the key spacing were wider. Obviously the design must work pretty well for children, s…
As you say, the keyboard was designed for primary school children, who have no trouble with it, and immense trouble with keyboards for adults. You can plug in a cheap USB keyboard, no problem.