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Introducing Raspberry Pi B+

raspberrypi.org

171–180 of 223 posts

Re: Introducing Raspberry Pi B+

#171
post #135

Curious they're explicitly naming this the "final evolution". First up, I'd be surprised if they continued with a "Raspberry Pi 2" soon. The RPi is still very adequate for its original goals in education and will likely remain so; it hasn't ever been quite enough for people wanting a cheap server or media center except for those with very modest needs. Given their announced goals, I doubt that the creators are going…

> Even if you pick an open source friendly SoC vendor like TI, there are currently no GPU designers for these SoCs that have open source drivers. It is unlikely improvemants can be made in that area that anytime soon.

Intel looks pretty good, current gen tablet SOC and followons have i915 lineage GPUs. Bay/Cherry Trail.

AMD too, current tablet SOCs and upcoming ARM models.

There are also reverse engineering efforts at various stages for Mali, Adreno, Tegra. Tegra even has some fledgling vendor support.

Re: Introducing Raspberry Pi B+

#172
Looks like a nice upgrade, more USB ports. The additional I/O might be in response to the Beaglebone Black taking share but video has consistently been better with the Pi. I've got a number of both and they each have their uses.

I've been whacking on a USB host driver for the Cortex M4 in my not very copius spare time and it amazes me how much the Pi manages to get done being handicapped like that. The difference between "old" computers where the system designer was making every effort to make I/O flow through the system as effectively as possible, and the Pi has a system where polling for I/O is part of the design spec. And not done well like the channel controllers of old, no done in a very inefficient way. Amazing what ubiquity will force upon folks :-)

Re: Introducing Raspberry Pi B+

#173

For people saying they want a faster revision - do remember there are other computers in this form factor. I recently got an Odroid U3 and am very happy with it. Of course, it's $65, not $35. I tried setting up owncloud, nginx, a web server, etc. on a Pi and it couldn't handle it (everything ran, but terribly), the Odroid does well. I still like the Pi, though. There are some people for whom saving $30 really does ma…

The Rpi is now a totally open source platform though, unlike the Odroid. Same for the Novena laptop. Also, I've heard bad things about the Odroid's stability under load. Do you have any problems? I've also definitely had problems with the Rpi under load, but I expect the new switching power supply to solve that.

I've had horrible experiences with Pi over load. SD card corruption very often. Tried various power bricks and several Pi's, always same issue - corrupt SD card after a couple of months of 24/7 use.

Have an Odroid U2 running now for 6 months on an eMMC card without any issues. I know which one I prefer. :)

Re: Introducing Raspberry Pi B+

#175
post #168
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most mobile devices draw much more power than 500mA over micro USB as well, I was assuming this was in-spec now, it certainly seems to work fine. And many people have spare 1A+ chargers lying around as mobile devices tend to break before their chargers (ramshackly plug notwithstanding). Those chargers are usually really tiny, as well. So I think micro USB is a fine choice. It also lets you draw from the fairly rich e…

It will work fine in 95% of the cases, but 5% will ruin their computer USB port, because the PI is not within the specs. The PI not only draws 750mA (old) or 600mA (new) when idle, but much more, if you attach SSD, and USB devices. The ramshackle micro USB port is a nogo for me.

reread the usb spec. it will not ruin the USB port.

Re: Introducing Raspberry Pi B+

#176

A dedicated digital audio jack would be a useful addition, it could even take the place of the useless composite video RCA, so the port arrangement of the Model B would be kept. With a digital audio jack a pi could be a decent hifi music streamer, better and cheaper than the AirPort Express. Now you need a $30-50 splitter (or the hifiberry add on) to get the audio off the hdmi, which makes the total cost more than do…

For many people, the "useless" composite video RCA is what allows them to use the Pi. It's a great way to repurpose an old TV you have laying around.

Re: Introducing Raspberry Pi B+

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made a home heating controller with temp plotting and frost alarm out of a couple of Pis. I don't think a $5 microcontroller would have run a tiny web server, tiny email server, or the plotter code that forms the core of the project. The Pi is a fine budget Linux computer. It's not fast, it's not powerful, it's not expensive. But it's fast enough and powerful enough for embedded applications you can put online with…

That sounds cool. Do you have any more details of the home heating project? I'm considering doing something similar.

Not a heating project but maybe this will inspire you. My RPi monitors of temperature and humidity in- and outdoor of my apartment: http://pi.tafkas.net/temperature

Documentation: http://blog.tafkas.net/2012/10/03/gathering-and-charting-tem...

Re: Introducing Raspberry Pi B+

#179
post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will work fine in 95% of the cases, but 5% will ruin their computer USB port, because the PI is not within the specs. The PI not only draws 750mA (old) or 600mA (new) when idle, but much more, if you attach SSD, and USB devices. The ramshackle micro USB port is a nogo for me.

reread the usb spec. it will not ruin the USB port.

I'm not aware of any spec requirements for overcurrent protection on the host ports (devices have strict power behavior per spec), though they may be there.

I am aware, however, of countless USB host designs that simply put a 5v regulator rail on the power line and could probably be induced to overheat by a misbehaving device.

Re: Introducing Raspberry Pi B+

#180

What's the same: - Same Broadcom BCM2835 Chipset - Same 512MB RAM - Same full size HDMI port - Same 10/100 Ethernet port - Same CSI camera port and DSI display ports - Same micro USB power supply connection What has changed: - Now comes with 4 USB ports so you can now connect more devices than ever to your Raspberry Pi. - There is a 40pin extended GPIO so you can build even bigger and better projects than ever before…

Current != power. I recommend altering this to say "uses less power (600mA at X volts) than the old (750mA at Y volts)," filling in X and Y with the voltage that the systems run at.

Or: "uses less power(X mW) than the old one (Y mW)," filling in X and Y wit hthe power that the systems run at.

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