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Raspberry Pi in production! - Page 2 — Parallax Forums

Raspberry Pi in production!

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Comments

  • potatoheadpotatohead Posts: 10,261
    edited 2012-03-03 14:08
    This thing is cheap and powerful enough to do a lot of basic things. The lack of case, or simple OS, apps, etc... doesn't matter one bit. All of those things are simply opportunities for people to fill, nothing more. Frankly, they are the basis for a nice ecosystem.

    Put a handful of these in kids hands, and connect them to other people via Internet, local groups, mentors, teachers, etc...and good stuff is gonna happen. I can't really see a failure mode on this stuff, barring some critical flaw in the manufacturing model. Looks clean to me.

    Even at $50 US, this little bit of capable hardware is a no-brainer.

    Linux has it's merits, and I'm always a fan of people learning a UNIX. UNIXes have some basic attributes that pack a hell of a punch, and the body of open code out there to work with is a huge use value, meaning this device has a lot of value added to it on that basis alone. Some kids will be able to handle that, others won't.

    Again, opportunities. Who is to say somebody won't strip the Linux down, or simply build a more simple, application and task based way of running programs and or writing them?

    I'm going to order one of these very soon. IMHO, devices like this are the future, because they put enough power to do useful things into ordinary people's hands at a price point that makes the learning investments totally worth it to enough people to sustain the manufacture of them.
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2012-03-05 06:23
    User Name wrote: »
    "Today's kids aren't interested (in coding). The world has moved on…what makes their applications work or what is inside the black box is as interesting as the washing machine or vacuum cleaner. I've long thought that there is a bubble of tech; people of my age are more techie than their children."

    Ridiculous. People "of my age" are simply OLDER than their children. Same as its always been.

    It can't be the SAME guy, but every few years I seem to hear an old guy say some variation on the old theme:

    "You kids today!
    In my day... IN MY DAY.... We could have got that ... for a nickle! A NICKLE!
    You kids today, with your cars and telephones? Useless!
    Which one of you can shoe a horse?"

    I hope I turn out like that when I grow up. I've been practicing "Hey! Get off my lawn!"

    http://www.newark.com/raspberry-pi/raspbrry-pcba/dp/83T1943

    $35 US, with ethernet and two USB, as advertised.
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2012-03-05 07:15
    @Prof_b: I certainly don't think children have changed mentally or biologically. There has not been nearly enough time for evolution or natural selection to make any real difference. But our toys and technology have changed. As a kid, I took everything apart. My children, nieces, and nephews wouldn't even know where to find a screw driver. A screw driver wouldn't do them any good, anyway, because the devices are too small and techie to be held together by something so primitive as a Philips screw or three. And if they ever did get something apart, there would be nothing of value inside - nothing they could pull out and re-purpose. And --that-- is what has changed.

    A modern cell phone is an engineering marvel, but what are the prospects of stealing the RF section out of one and using it in your next scratch-built ham radio? And who wants to fuss with ham radio, anyway? It is far too easy and too dependable to IM your friend in Nanyang.

    I'm not knocking modern society like your prototypical old dude does. I'm saying what the aforementioned British journalist said...that for the most part, society has moved on. It seems crystal clear.

    I knew an old duffer in Colombia that made shotguns out of Jeep tie-rods. They were pieces of junk, and I wouldn't want to own one, but I admired his ingenuity and resourcefulness - the same ingenuity and resourcefulness that once existed here at home. But there is simply no need to make such a crude device anymore because modern manufacturing makes far better products at very little expense. Same with practically everything else.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2012-03-05 08:24
    I was the same as you when I was a kid, always taking old clocks and radios apart and doing simple electrical experiments. I built a crystal radio when I was 12, and then got interested in electronics and radio. I'd have loved something like the Pi.

    My local radio and electronics club gets quite a few youngsters enrolling for our UK amateur radio Foundation Course every year, and most of them go on to get their Intermediate and Advanced licenses:

    http://www.radioclubs.net/herc/news.php?news_id=1584

    I don't think that kids today are much different from when we were young, if they are given the opportunity to mess about with electronics.
  • GordonMcCombGordonMcComb Posts: 3,366
    edited 2012-03-05 12:18
    I don't think we'd see RadioShack spending millions getting back into the DIY scene, or new multimillion-dollar-a-year concerns like Pololu or SparkFun, if there wasn't any interest in these things. I recall reading the average age of employees at SparkFun is about 26. That's not "kids age," but I bet as kids they were already interested in these things.

    Earlier this year SF gave away close to a quarter of a million dollars in free stuff to customers -- a casual estimate pegs that at about 1% of annual gross, or a minimum of $20M last year. You don't make that kind of money, or give away so much for free, if you have a slowing base of consumers. Quite the opposite.

    Arduino folks are coming out with several new boards to answer consumer demand, and again you don't do this unless people want to buy from you. They plan a cheaper version of the Uno, to compete with the Chinese stuff, and an ARM-based Arduino, among others.

    Then there's Parallax, with new sensors and accessories, upcoming Prop II, etc. These things don't happen unless there's demand, and I don't believe all the demand is coming from duffers.

    So while some kids are more motivated to playing Farmville, you only need a couple percent of schoolage children interested in pursuing this field to keep it alive and growing.

    -- Gordon
  • Cats92Cats92 Posts: 149
    edited 2012-03-05 12:36
    Hello,
    The last 3 years I had groups of kids about 12 years old and try to make then build small robots with a Propeller Platform , 2 servos and a plastic box or play with Hanno Tbot.
    (It is in a French teaching project : "La main a la p
  • phishguyphishguy Posts: 36
    edited 2012-03-05 16:02
    Looks like I ordered it just in time.


    Thank you for your recent Raspberry Pi preorder.

    Due to the uncertainty of lead times, we have suspended all future orders at this time. However, your order is still in place and you will be the first in the Allied order queue once the product is available.

    Please stay tuned for more updates. We will contact you as soon as the Raspberry Pi is available and your order is in process.

    Thank you,
    Allied Electronics
  • __red____red__ Posts: 470
    edited 2012-03-08 05:00
    phishguy wrote: »
    Looks like I ordered it just in time.

    I got one of the first 10,000. It ships Monday.

    I "cheated".

    I "expressed an interest" as they requested but then saw a journalist post his receipt. The receipt contained the product ID. I searched for the product ID on the site and directly hit the "inactive" order page. *click*

    A few days later I got the "thank you for expressing interest, order now" email and I ordered again. The second is due April 3rd.
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2012-03-09 17:24
    rod1963 wrote: »
    .... programmed in Forth, a almost extinct programming language. .....

    Many forth programmers would disagree with this assessment, just as the C programmer might disagree with statements that C has out-lived its useful life. :)
  • rod1963rod1963 Posts: 752
    edited 2012-03-09 18:38
    It's a assessment based on observation. At the very minimum Forth is sadly below the popularity it experienced in the mid-90's. No one can point to major apps written with it(with the exception of Zoomracks), many of the vendors have went out of business. No new books being published since Rather's works.

    I'm not saying it to slam the language since I used a lot during the 90's(CSI Forth, Mitch Bradley's Forthmacs and a tester for the Mup21 Forth engine from Ultratech) but saw the language basically go off a cliff in terms of usage since then.
  • icepuckicepuck Posts: 466
    edited 2012-03-14 10:30
    I just got an email saying mine will be shipped 8-1-2012.
    -dan
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2012-03-14 10:58
    It is difficult to say what is going on, but I had expected Raspberry Pi to be significantly backordered after what Texas Instruments did with their '$5 give away' of the TI-430.

    This is tons and tons of great publicity that the chip makers are happy to see. Everyone sits arounds and talks about how good it is going to be. All the sellers have to do is stay within legal bounds, deliver a run that was likely donated by the the chip makers for their exposure, and then sit back and see if the product will be viable for enough orders to deliver. Being non-profit and such just promotes more buzz than a generic product release. They have every right to not sell anything if not cost effective, but they have gotten you reading their literature and pondering their product - haven't they.

    The fact that they mentioned buying one and donating one put me off. Was this a way of saying that if you really wanted one right away - pay double?

    All the intrigue really doesn't matter as I dislike lingering backorders of anything.

    Similar tactics were done with the Panda Board and the Beagle Board. Frankly, I like the Panda Board best of all as it has wireless features included.

    Does anyone remember 'vapor-ware'?
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2012-03-14 12:03
    Also on backorder... No expected date, but I'm willing to bet it'll be August.. Sigh..

    OBC
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2012-03-15 07:06
    I just received an email from RS, mentioning this update by the Pi people:

    http://www.raspberrypi.org/?cm_mmc=uk-email-_-other-_-uk-150312-raspberry_pi_weeklyupdate-_-0
  • K2K2 Posts: 693
    edited 2012-03-19 00:05
    It's probably old news by now, but the first run of boards were built with the wrong RJ-45 connector. Raspberry Pi needs the type that includes an internal isolation transformer. While the original boards have been reworked, it may be a challenge in the short term to source sufficient parts for subsequent boards.
  • ReinhardReinhard Posts: 489
    edited 2012-03-19 00:44
    Good hidden docs ;-) found here
    http://elinux.org/RPi_Documentation
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-03-19 08:27
    K2,
    ...built with the wrong RJ-45 connector.

    I guess that's a bit of Pi in the face. Still, at least it's not Pi in the sky.
  • Mark_TMark_T Posts: 1,981
    edited 2012-03-19 16:01
    I think Pi in the sky would be a quadcopter project?
  • mikevmikev Posts: 23
    edited 2012-03-19 20:03
    I have ordered one. Ships in five months!!
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-03-20 02:56
    Seem The Pirate Bay have already got dibs on "Pi in the sky":
    http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2012/03/19/low-orbit-servers-or-a-pirate-prank/
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2012-06-16 02:47
    My Pi was shipped yesterday. I should get it on Monday.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2012-06-25 05:23
    I received my RasPi last week. The power supplies were out of stock, but were back in stock last Friday so I ordered one and a couple of 4 GB SD cards. They arrived just now and I have got the system booting Debian Linux, and waiting for me to login. I need a USB keyboard which I can get from my local computer shop.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2012-06-25 07:32
    Maybe you could be so kind as to tell us how much the actual total cost of this ends up to be, including your VAT. My largest barrier to buying this little bare-board bargains is that I have a Toshiba NB250 with Linux installed for less than $300USD complete. And it even has W7Starter (which I don't use) on a dual boot configuration. Don't forget that you have a TV or monitor to include.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-06-25 08:17
    Loopy,

    Does your Toshiba NB250 weigh 45g, measure 85.60
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2012-06-25 08:25
    I'm having problems with the keyboard I bought, it causes a Linux kernel panic. The forum is pretty good, and someone has suggested that it takes too much current, but it takes < 50 mA according to the label, which should be OK.

    Total cost so far (RasPi, PS, keyboard and SD card) is £44.37, including VAT. I already had the TV with HDMI, but an old monitor with composite video input could be used which would cost virtually nothing.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2012-06-25 08:46
    Any chance to run your keyboard through a USB hub with it's own PSU as an experiment. My ARM boards here won't accept a keyboard connected directly.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2012-06-25 09:02
    No, not planning to put the Toshiba NB250 on the robot, but then I am not planning to provide video and keyboard on any robot or require a sophisticated Unix file system for tasks that need none. I would like to use the BeagleBoard to provide video camera on a roving robot though. The PandaBoard would be even better with built-in wifi, but my attempt to order one was refused shipment to Taiwan for lack of being a registered business.

    The Propeller offers all the other features that you mention, for $7.99 or a Protoboard for somewhat similar costs. And it provides adequate power to the keyboard and mouse.

    Keyboards and Mice are rather power hungry - each requires up to 500ma. Could it be that <50ma is a typo? So they may be too much without an independently powered USB hub. Or at least a bigger wall wart.

    Here is a typical USB keyboard by Apple

    Keyboard Hub: Product ID: 0x1006 Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.) Version: 96.15 Serial Number: 000000000000 Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec Manufacturer: Apple, Inc. Location ID: 0xfd300000 Current Available (mA): 500 Current Required (mA): 300

    I did successfully take a Professional Engineers EIT exam in the State of California and they did have a rather important section on Engineering Economics.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2012-06-25 09:25
    Heater. wrote: »
    Any chance to run your keyboard through a USB hub with it's own PSU as an experiment. My ARM boards here won't accept a keyboard connected directly.

    I don't think it's the current consumption, but I might try that.

    The wiki has a list of keyboards that work and ones that don't. Mine isn't on it. One that is claimed to work and is quite cheap (£6.65) is the Trust ClassicLine. Rapid Electronics has them in stock and I might try one.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2012-06-25 12:09
    Regarding the keyboard (and maybe mouse) problem, it may be an inrush current problem as the keyboard (or mouse) starts up. That was the problem with the ones that just used a DIN connector before USB came along. And of course, we see that USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 provided 500ma per port as their standard.

    The BeagleBoard has had some power distribution problems and apparently the wrong connections can damage the board - something about not putting too much else on it if HDMI was used. Hopefully the Raspberry Pi isn't discovering similar oversights.

    I cannot make any sense out of how power is applied to the Raspberry Pi. It seems that it is all supposed to go through a miniature USB connector.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2012-06-25 12:35
    That's right, it's supplied through a mini USB connector. Both RS and Farnell sell suitable power supplies, or one could modify a USB lead for use with an existing supply.

    A mouse doesn't cause any problems, but I can't check it properly until I get a working keyboard.
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