The flagship Pi boards are also hitting the thermal design ceiling of what makes sense for this size or platform. Pi 5 is IMO already on that edge because it pretty much needs active cooling and a dedicated power supply. Going past this point means it will compete with much more powerful platforms and likely loose due to it’s architectural limitations.
News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development
91–100 of 208 posts
Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are broadly available third party RP2350 boards with subc and a variety of additional capabilities if that is important for you. https://shop.pimoroni.com/en-us/collections/rp2350 https://www.sparkfun.com/sparkfun-pro-micro-rp2350.html https://www.dfrobot.com/product-2913.html https://www.seeedstudio.com/Seeed-XIAO-RP2350-p-5944.html
Not the point, though I appreciate folks listing links in an attempt to help. What I am saying is that we're well into 2026 and there's no good reason for RPi not to offer a USB-C version of the reference board for this MCU.
The good reason is that there are plenty of third party boards that already offer what you want. There’s very little to be gained by an ‘official’ one. The next one probably should have C, if just because it is the Euro standard, but no urgent need to backport.
Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
For what it's worth there are third-party rp2350 boards with USB-C connectors if that's important to you. Heck, WaveShare has one with two USB-C connectors: https://www.waveshare.com/rp2350-usb-c.htm
I am aware, thanks. I do think that you're missing my point, which is that we're significantly past the point in this wretched timeline where they should offer a USB-C version of the reference board for this MCU.
Oh, no, I'm with you. The fewer connector types we have to use, the better. My comment was meant as an FYI for you or anyone else who wasn't aware and not as a dismissal of your valid criticism.
Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development
#94Pi's refusal to drop a USB-C on Pico due to cost increases is a terrible call IMO. I seriously cannot fathom being someone doing development who wouldn't pay $0.50 extra to purge the last micro USB from their desktop.
I cannot fathom why USB-C would make any difference. It's not like USB-C is intrinsically better for this use case? If you're doing hardware development, your desk is likely full of in-development crap anyway and a micro USB cable more or less won't make any difference whatsoever, nor is the Pico likely to the only thing needing a micro USB cable.
Edit: one thing I can think of where micro USB connectors are better: if you broke off the connector, it's much easier to solder it back on.
Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development
#95I have bought an rpi at every generation. And I still have yet to find an actual use for them. Everything they do from a compute perspective is just better with a mini pc or old laptop with a mobile spec chip. Everything they do from a programmability perspective is just better with a microcontroller specific to the task. I just don't see the actual market position for these things. They were supposed to be a cheap b…
They have great software support and Google-ability, which also means LLMs understand how to work them. I use them in scenarios where I want both Linux and GPIO. Specifically, right now I have 4 Pi 5s running kiosk displays with RGB LEDs around the outside of each. The displays show a web page, requiring something powerful enough for modern Firefox, and the LEDs are synchronized to the state of the web pages. You could do this with a mini PC and a microcontroller, but it’s just way easier, and cheaper, to use a Pi.
Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
At one point, the raspberry pi was a decent option if you wanted something hobbyist friendly that could toggle GPIOs and connect to the Internet (and later Bluetooth). I suspect Espressif has mostly taken over that market now
Yeah every "hardware hacker" I know has pile of ESP32 at home now instead of pile of raspberry pi's.
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Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development
#97They aren't actually shipping the new RP2350 silicon revision on Pico 2 boards yet. If you want the errata fixes, you've gotta source the chips and make your own boards.
Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development
#98I have bought an rpi at every generation. And I still have yet to find an actual use for them. Everything they do from a compute perspective is just better with a mini pc or old laptop with a mobile spec chip. Everything they do from a programmability perspective is just better with a microcontroller specific to the task. I just don't see the actual market position for these things. They were supposed to be a cheap b…
For a hobbyist, they're quite nice for "I want to SSH into a thing, write my tools on Linux, and still have access to SPI / I2C / GPIO, USB, and whatever hats can plug into that." The Hat form factor, while not technically great and frequently overpriced, is also nice for distribution; both inside a team commercially and on the web as a hobbyist, it's a lot easier to share software and say "hey, buy this pi, this hat, and run this" than "fab this PCB / solder this bundle of nonsense to an ESP."
For a company, they're also nice for "I want to make an IoT device that's heavier weight than an ESP32 and/or I only want to hire Linux Application People and not Firmware People; what's the cheapest Linux module I can get that's widely supported, backed by a real company, and has regulatory approvals" - Pi Zero W. My understanding is this exact pattern is why it's harder to get them as a hobbyist.
I use them widely in automotive reverse engineering; ESP32 can and does work just as well or better for an end product, but for experiments it's really nice to have a self-contained appliance to SSH into and use SocketCAN on rather than some bespoke firmware project to manage and iterate on.
Given the price and availability issues I suspect the market is "correcting" a bit and companies are hiring Firmware People and switching to true MCUs in places they'd previously have avoided doing so, but it was definitely a thing for a long time.
Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development
#99> " ...: It sounds like the key feature will be 'more': a faster CPU and faster IO, rather than new features. " Raspberry Pi Holdings is a embedded systems manufacturer for pity's sake; we don't need more from them, we need less. [EDIT] A faster Raspberry Pi 6 is encroaching on the territory of the Intel N150 and its successors and mainstream Linux distributions and that is a battle they would lose in terms of price…
I wonder how they are positioned now in the market.
During covid I wanted a small low power always on server. I thought about Raspi, but at the time it was expensive and I went with an intel nuc, for a similar price.
Now if I wanted to do hobby electronics, I heard I should look into esp32 or stm32..
Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development
#100I have bought an rpi at every generation. And I still have yet to find an actual use for them. Everything they do from a compute perspective is just better with a mini pc or old laptop with a mobile spec chip. Everything they do from a programmability perspective is just better with a microcontroller specific to the task. I just don't see the actual market position for these things. They were supposed to be a cheap b…
I have one running Klipper on a modded Ender3.. but I agree with the sentiment.
They also make OK Kodi/Libreelec boxes due to better documented video decode silicon (Intel still better at that).