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News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#151

Post by pjmlp »

Gigachad wrote: post #119
ozim wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah every "hardware hacker" I know has pile of ESP32 at home now instead of pile of raspberry pi's.

The pi, particularly the pi zero is still useful if you need something that can run normal software but not a full mini pc. One example I've seen is using a Pi zero as a "wireless usb" where you can plug it in to a machine that accepts files over usb, and can now drop files on to it over the network. Maybe you could do this with a ESP32 but it's easy on linux where you can use all the normal tooling and filesystem dr…

ESP32 can run FreeRTOS, and I think people nowadays have no idea how much stuff we could do in MS-DOS PCs even with all their limitations for the epoch.

ESP32 hardware is much better than they used to be.

Not everything needs to be under Linux monoculture, thankfully.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#152

Post by pjmlp »

ssl-3 wrote: post #116
myself248 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the ESP32 is offering CPU power on par with many of the embedded-x86 SOCs that powered some of the early wifi routers...

A $2 Chinese ESP32 dev board is more stout in many ways than the first Pentium machine I had, which sure did feel fast-enough to run the whole world with at that time. :) In this amazing world full of such inexpensive choices, it seems so bizarre to me to demonize any of them. They're all excellent in some way, and it's OK that there's more than one. This isn't football, handball, American politics, or Highlander: Th…

This is what I keep repeating in many threads about ESP32, the little thing is actually quite powerful, especially for those of us that experienced MS-DOS PCs.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#154

Post by pjmlp »

wolpoli wrote: post #43
ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #2

> " ...: 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…

Raspberry Pi isn't in direct competition with N150's. Their niche is the industrial/embedded space. For that market, power consumption doesn't matter. What matters is that each model is guaranteed to be available till a specific date.

It is for those of us that rather play around with an ARM CPU, and first class Linux support.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#155

Post by pjmlp »

stdatomic wrote: post #129

It used to be that raspberry pi was a cheap pc. Well it's not longer cheap. And at their price point, you could just get a mini PC and have better performance, or if you want to use it as a microcontroller, you can just use an arduino, esp32, or an actual microcontroller for a fraction of the price and power consumption. So, what do people actually do with these pies?

Getting a mini PC with ARM and first class Linux support from the OEM.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#156

Post by pjmlp »

dirtikiti wrote: post #17

I 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…

Which mini PCs are available at the same price with ARM CPUs?

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#157

Post by alexellisuk »

I was thinking about the RPi 6 yesterday whilst realising I couldn't set up my RPi Zero 2W anymore - the OS has become burdensome - tied strictly to an imager, that gives me an allergic reaction. Yes - they did all this for the uninitiated - but for Raspberry Pi OS Lite - bring back this experience: dd the image, write ssh into the boot drive, SSH in - change password, fully set up in almost zero fuss or effort.

Then I actually couldn't set the thing up because of the mini HDMI connection - I have a mini to HDMI cable, but to use my portable screen with it I need mini HDMI to MINI HDMI. Don't get me started on micro HDMI - almost everyone of of those connectors I've bought slips off or breaks in the device. Every time I go to set up an RPi5 I end up having to order another one of those tiny connectors.

Full HDMI for all new devices please. Even if the second display can't be connected.

These days a 175 GBP N95 from a no-name Chinese OEM on Amazon, with 16 GB of RAM and a 500GB SATA SSD is way better value and performance - and importantly - zero fuss - standard setup.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#158

Post by peteforde »

ozim wrote: post #74
mrlambchop wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A very small point, but pulling from a feather form factor BOM to compare. $0.12 for microUSB female connector (rated 1A) $0.26 for a USB-C female (rated 3A). Needs 2 x resistors ( I think the power capabilities are the biggest item. If you want to pull higher current from a laptop for development or supply from a wall, you have to switch to USB-C. I don't think either of these prices are that aggressive - pretty sur…

But then you loose market share to ESP32 where people just get USB C on their own.

Comparing an RP2350 to the ESP32 family (which is broad) is very much apples to oranges; they each have feature sets which make them ideal for completely different use cases.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#159

Post by thisisabore »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #2

> " ...: 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'd be interested in seeing them partner with some of the other interesting and open-ish players, like Pine64 or Radxa, to push for a more standardised, unified SBC landscape.

But that's not as good for PR as "bigger, faster, better" even if that comes with the problems you mentioned.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#160

Post by magicalhippo »

wlesieutre wrote: post #138
ianburrell wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Raspberry Pi uses USB-C and USB-C is more generous with power. Almost everything except computers provides 15W. With USB-C, devices request want they and there is no reason has to work with minimum possible. The problem with the Pi5 is that they use weird profile, 5A/5V, that requires special charger. Most 5V chargers are 100W and beefy. If they hadn't cheaped out on power circuits, they could have used normal 30W ch…

That’s crazy, 5A/5V is not and has never been in range of the USB power delivery spec. It only goes to 5 amps at 20V for the 100W output, or higher voltages in the newer Extended Power Range topping out at 5A/48V. 5A/5V what are they smoking?

Keep in mind at least 2A of that is to power the four USB ports at their rated 500mA. So if you don't have four USB devices loading the USB ports at their max, you should be fine with 3A.
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