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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

#191

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

wrxd wrote: post #149
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are a few places that I've found pi's: Rapid prototyping: I created a PoC to take a webcam snapshot every half hour and upload it to a server in an afternoon. Freelance project. Could it have been done with a microcontroller? Yes, but not in 4 hours. Local digital displays in a gym: we built a system with a number of overhead 60" TVs, each with a pi on a VESA mount to show scheduling and workout information in a…

How do you find these kind of jobs? That’s something I think I would enjoy to do but I’m not sure where I would start looking for customers. Is it world of mouth?

Most of those were projects from when I worked for an engineering services company. The first one was a freelance opportunity I found online. Probably on reddit: it was about 4 years ago.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#192

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

dreamworld wrote: post #127
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Development speed is also one of the forgotten axes. I mentioned upthread a system I built that was done in less than a day. There's no microcontroller solution I know of that would have let me deliver it that fast.

I've been playing with Circuit Python (variant of Micro Python, etc.), and it seems quite great actually. For small projects it's far simpler to use than C/C++, although if you're using some peripheral that isn't just toggling pins or simple serial commands you need a library (module). But then in that case you'd probably want a library in C as well. Definitely recommend it :) (it works on ESP32 boards as well as sim…

I like CircuitPython: shipped at least one freelance project using it. However, MicroPython seems to have support over a broader range of platforms. Haven't decided which one to stick with just yet.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#193

Post by ssl-3 »

dangus wrote: post #185
ssl-3 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can show us where to find a new ThinkCentre for the price of a new Raspberry Pi 5 kit? The ones I find on Lenovo's website don't seem to get any cheaper than $649.

I’m talking about used on eBay, obviously. Or do a search for “mini PC” on aliexpress.

Comparing the price of used bananas to new raspberries is obviously disingenuous.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#194

Post by ianburrell »

ChrisRR wrote: post #177
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…

We need a 5 lite. The specs of the 5 without the massive power draw and heat generation

I want normal USB-C power. I also want USB-C video output, they might need to replace USB-A port with USB-C.

What would be really nice is Zero 3 with 2 USB-C ports and video output. Then have something cheap for projects that was flexible.

Finally, they should replace the header with new extension mechanism. Something that does PCIe, USB, and power. That would allow new extension boards including one that goes GPIO breakout.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#195

Post by ozim »

peteforde wrote: post #158
ozim wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I just got ESP32 C6 on a custom board, with micro python it pretty much made all RPi's obsolete for a quarter of price for I2C, GPIO, UART, SPI communication while having WiFi 6 and BLE.

There is no more use case for RPi if I can have ESP32 C6 for $10 - maybe I have to do some soldering on my own.

Then if I need a minicomputer I'd rather go with MinisForum PC that is in price range of RPi and if I need I2C or GPIO I can pair it with ESP32 like as many as I want ESP32 instead of single one like RPi. Then communicate over wireless as much as I want with BLE or WiFi.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#196

Post by peteforde »

ozim wrote: post #195
peteforde wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I just got ESP32 C6 on a custom board, with micro python it pretty much made all RPi's obsolete for a quarter of price for I2C, GPIO, UART, SPI communication while having WiFi 6 and BLE. There is no more use case for RPi if I can have ESP32 C6 for $10 - maybe I have to do some soldering on my own. Then if I need a minicomputer I'd rather go with MinisForum PC that is in price range of RPi and if I need I2C or GPIO I…

Oh yeah?

Remind me how many PIO channels does the C6 have?

Also, could you confirm that the RP2350 consumes 2-3x less power when idling?

If you have the contact details for any certification labs that don't charge extra for radio modules even if you're not using them in your product, that'd be super helpful as well.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#197

Post by ozim »

peteforde wrote: post #196
ozim wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just got ESP32 C6 on a custom board, with micro python it pretty much made all RPi's obsolete for a quarter of price for I2C, GPIO, UART, SPI communication while having WiFi 6 and BLE. There is no more use case for RPi if I can have ESP32 C6 for $10 - maybe I have to do some soldering on my own. Then if I need a minicomputer I'd rather go with MinisForum PC that is in price range of RPi and if I need I2C or GPIO I…

Oh yeah? Remind me how many PIO channels does the C6 have? Also, could you confirm that the RP2350 consumes 2-3x less power when idling? If you have the contact details for any certification labs that don't charge extra for radio modules even if you're not using them in your product, that'd be super helpful as well.

Unnecessary confrontation.

I am just hyped about ESP I have. I also have bunch of old RPi’s.

I guess power consumption can be lower on C6 if I turn off BLE and WiFi.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#198

Post by glouwbug »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #148
glouwbug wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always wanted to wrangle ~10 of these together and practice distributed computing for the price of ~$200. That was a 2014 dream. I guess instead someone else ran with all of Jensen's polygon drawers and Hynix's backlog. Que sera

Zero 2s can still hit that price, can't they? With much better CPUs than the 2014 dream. And if you're not worried about CPU you can get a pile of Pi Picos or ESP32s. Actually, considering that the original zero had a better CPU than 2014 Pis, I'm surprised you didn't get a 10 pack of those when they were extra cheap.

Zero 2s look to be about ~$50 here in Canada, but thanks for looking out. I'll reconsider for the future

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#199

Post by peteforde »

ozim wrote: post #197
peteforde wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah? Remind me how many PIO channels does the C6 have? Also, could you confirm that the RP2350 consumes 2-3x less power when idling? If you have the contact details for any certification labs that don't charge extra for radio modules even if you're not using them in your product, that'd be super helpful as well.

Unnecessary confrontation. I am just hyped about ESP I have. I also have bunch of old RPi’s. I guess power consumption can be lower on C6 if I turn off BLE and WiFi.

It's not a question of "unnecessary". You just don't like it when someone points out that you're making shallow statements and you don't even realize it.

When you frame two MCUs intended for different purposes as competition, you're completely missing why there are so many different useful MCU families in the first place.

If you need a programmable IO state machine (or twelve) then you need the RP2350, period. It's a feature that enables entire domains of functionality that wouldn't otherwise be possible. For example, I'm using it to perform a real-time 12 output MIDI THRU that doesn't tax the CPU cores. Nothing like that exists on the ESP32 family.

Re: News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development

#200

Post by peteforde »

imtringued wrote: post #175
qiqitori wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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:…

USB-C is a better connector in every aspect. Micro USB is a terrible connector. It's that simple. The economics don't add up either, because an adapter cable costs money too.

Correct.
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