Is the raspberry PI becoming a bit of a joke?

londonTiger

I've seen the latest release of the pi 3, it's got bluetooth, wifi and everything. The pi2 can even have a lite version of Windows 10 on it.

I thought the whole point of these was to be a basic computer so that kids can tinker with it and learn programming languages on it. So it needs to be stripped down so they cant play videos, browse the net and do other procastinting stuff on it. If they keep increasing the specs on them sooner or later someone is going to start playing crysis on it.

pappa_golf

Pi zero?


nope , they have stopped production


anyone want to buy my Amstrad pc1512?

Johnmcl7

londonTiger wrote: »

I thought the whole point of these was to be a basic computer so that kids can tinker with it and learn programming languages on it. So it needs to be stripped down so they cant play videos, browse the net and do other procastinting stuff on it. If they keep increasing the specs on them sooner or later someone is going to start playing crysis on it.

No, the idea was it was a computing device every child could have access to - it wasn't stripped down to make it more suitable for that role, it was simply built to a very strict budget that didn't allow much more than basic hardware. The original Raspberry Pi could play videos (in fact this was one of its strengths thanks to a fairly decent media decoder) and could browse the internet so the newer one is no different in that regard.

Although the newer Pi's are more powerful than the previous ones that's simply because technology is newer and faster, equivalently each PI is as powerful as its predecessor in that each one has used older, low end cpu cores which hasn't changed with the Pi 3. It's a long way behind a decent smartphone and even further beyond even a low end PC.

In terms of their usefulness as a programming aid I don't think it's really ever worked that purely as a device on its own as most children have access to a computer of some sort and even the original Pi was advanced enough that there's no way school age pupils were writing their own kernels for it.

However as an embedded controller I think it has far more potential both as a programming learning aid for adults as well so the addition of BT and wifi on the Pi 3 makes it far better in that role and it's what the original would have had if the budget had allowed it.

John

Nilrem

Johnmcl7 sums it up quite well.

It's also likely that due to the price point and the parts list that the Pi is having to be updated to remain in bulk production at the right price, as they are using parts that are IIRC intended for things like mobile phones originally so as those parts start to be phased out the price of them tends to go up.

Even things like the choice of ram on the pi will affect it's price and require changes every year or two as there is a point in the life cycle of the ram (and every other semi conductor) where it reaches the lowest price it'll reach, after that it starts to go back up again.
I suspect the Pi is made using parts whose costing for a year or so's worth of components is at that point, and it then becomes more efficient to release an updated version.

The one thing I would say, is that for any form of hardware/software interface the Pi beats normal computers and most cheap dev kits hands down, as it's cheap enough that if a kid wires it up wrong you lose a £20-25 part, and if they screw up the programming it's a 5 minute job for the SD card to be reformatted and a 30 second job for someone to swap it out with a spare (no need to open a case and take the drive off for re-imaging let alone move the PC to the IT support area).

I would have killed for something like the Pi when I was at school, as the extent of our electronics/IT lessons was wiring up some very basic lights (at home I didn't have a computer nor the money to invest in a lot of the gear for more advanced electronics although I did dabble in etching PCB's and the odd kit).

I'm currently trying to learn some programming with the pi for fun, as and when I have the time (I fitted mine out with a pi screen and it's small enough to drop in a drawer when I'm not playing with it).