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Turbocharged Raspberry Pi 2 unleashed

theregister.co.uk

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Re: Turbocharged Raspberry Pi 2 unleashed

#181

Post by [deleted] »

throwaway000002 wrote: post #164
pjc50 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't meet the (absurdly high) openness standard of "RTL of the processor" mentioned by throwaway000002.

My, overly-impassioned, exaggerated point is that the RPi is no better that many other competing devices on the market and should me measured solely on technical/business merit. The popularity of the device has spawned a product category of itself. However, at this point in time, claiming something about education is total rubbish. Take the old Pi, run ARMv7 QEMU on it et voila you have the new Pi. There is nothing n…

[deleted]

Re: Turbocharged Raspberry Pi 2 unleashed

#182

Post by aswanson »

throwaway000002 wrote: post #58
jacquesm wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok. I find it rather rude to call a company 'assholes' for doing something that is 100% within their rights. They're releasing a chip that powers a relatively cheap fairly powerful computer, have supported the effort in as many ways as they could without giving up their competitive edge (when you're in a leadship position it is sometimes quite risky to open up too far), nobody forces anybody to buy the product and la…

I think aswanson is simply expressing his feelings. Broadcom has garnered goodwill from being involved with the Raspberry Pi foundation. Goodwill, I must add, from a broad swath of people who are not too technically inclined. Yes, the computer (or device if you're lacking generosity) is a god-send for those without the capacity to buy an Intel/AMD-based PC, but let's not kid ourselves: the device is less open than a…

Dead on. Those pricks cost me about 5 weeks of progress at a startup because they didnt provide drivers for linux or a register set, much less a description. All because some clueless hardware guy used their chip because it was 'pin compatible'. Unless you are Apple or Dell, do NOT do a design with their chips.

Re: Turbocharged Raspberry Pi 2 unleashed

#183

Post by brudgers »

glynjackson wrote: post #91
brudgers wrote: post #78

The headline gave me hope. Alas no button on the front for overclocking. I am wistfully disappointed.

Really? Build a button yourself to overlock! The Pi is about giving you the tools, now, go forth and build.

First I want to revel in inch thick Computer Shopper whist.

Re: Turbocharged Raspberry Pi 2 unleashed

#184

Post by FrankenPC »

davexunit wrote: post #165

It still requires proprietary firmware to function at all. No thanks. Please fix this serious flaw! Edit: And to make things worse, they are giving away gratis Windows 10 licenses for it!

This is actually a great boon. The Windows development environment is incredibly inviting to beginners and it has a lot of power. Linux may be more flexible and open, but it's really hard to get started with when you have no experience programming.

Re: Turbocharged Raspberry Pi 2 unleashed

#186

Post by throwaway000002 »

pjc50 wrote: post #180
throwaway000002 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My, overly-impassioned, exaggerated point is that the RPi is no better that many other competing devices on the market and should me measured solely on technical/business merit. The popularity of the device has spawned a product category of itself. However, at this point in time, claiming something about education is total rubbish. Take the old Pi, run ARMv7 QEMU on it et voila you have the new Pi. There is nothing n…

I think you've missed what layer the education is targeted at: software, especially Python but also Scratch, SonicPi, and so on. The hardware stuff is at the "turn on LED with GPIO" super-introductory level. Edit: Eben Upton is also a real person?

Eben Upton and the foundation should rightly be lauded for the RPi Model A. That was 3 years ago. What purpose does this update serve? If it's the "developing world", then you haven't made the device any cheaper, and more functional competitors at similar price-points have existed for at least a year. As for the "developed world", I could have bought a Chromebox for $150 on Black Friday. I'm sure a school could easily negotiate that price and have a device that easily has >6x the functionality (and far more open thanks to tireless work of the coreboot team and Googlers working with Intel on minimizing the closed bits).

What again is the point of the RPi2? What new thing does it bring to the table that an at most $5 set of GPIO pins, in the physical form of the Pi connector, off a USB plug with an API can't bring to a basic PC?

Re: Turbocharged Raspberry Pi 2 unleashed

#189

Post by Narishma »

tbrock wrote: post #72

Why would anyone buy this over the much more powerful ARMv7 odroid-C1 for $35 that has been out for months now?

In addition to what others have said, the C1 isn't actually more powerful than the RPi2. They should perform about the same in terms of CPU. The main thing the C1 has over it is the GbE port.

Re: Turbocharged Raspberry Pi 2 unleashed

#190

Post by Narishma »

techrat wrote: post #142
mkesper wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could you compare it against the brand new raspberry?

C1 came first, is available now and has a fully open GPU whereas the Pi still relies on Broadcomm's mostly proprietary chip. C1 also allows you to add NAND directly to the board where the Pi is still limited to MicroSD. C1 also confirmed to not have the same bus limitation that plagues the first Pi an is unconfirmed to exist in Pi2. C1 also has a built in RTC and a 5v Barrel Pin jack so you don't have to rely on Micr…

The C1 has a ARM Mali GPU, which is just as close as the rest of the GPUs available on ARM SoCs. The RPi GPU is the most open in that market in that it has some documentation and source code available.
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