Raspberry Pi: The Truth or a Hoax?

technomonkey76 · Posted: 09 May 2011 07:44:00 pm Post subject: Raspberry Pi: The Truth or a Hoax?

I was browsing around a blog I follow, and saw a post (http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/05/raspberry-pi-the-25-usb-sized-ubuntu-pc/) about a $25 computer. I felt an overwhelming urge to click on it. The post took me to a website, http://www.raspberrypi.org/, and had a video from BBC News attached. There is more information at the URL, and I'm sure Google searches have some insight into this, but I'd like to know the opinions of the Cemetechians: Is this going to be possible? I'm mainly wondering about the price. I'm unsure of its expected release date, but I'm unsure about the price of the components. I have no way of knowing if the hardware will cost under $25 total, so that the makers can profit.

Simply put, is the device at http://www.raspberrypi.org/ a realistic device or is it a scam?
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KermMartian · Posted: 09 May 2011 11:22:28 pm Post subject:

I saw that on Engadget, Hackaday, and all the usual places, and I'm inclined to believe that it is indeed $25 of raw components, at quantity. Factor in the cost of fabbing the board, the cost of putting everything together, packaging, shipping... Yeah, I think it will be more like $50-$75 with all that, echoing a lot of comments I read, but I think it's a real thing.
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DShiznit · Posted: 10 May 2011 06:05:27 pm Post subject:

Wow, so would this be a great base on which to build my own portable gadgets(camera, calculator, small robot, etc.)?

KermMartian · Posted: 10 May 2011 10:14:33 pm Post subject:

DShiznit · Posted: 10 May 2011 10:25:44 pm Post subject:

I wonder if I could use this to make my dream of a real life R2-D2 come true...

EDIT- this would be a GREAT way to reuse the internal usb webcam and wireless cards from my decommissioned netbook...

KermMartian · Posted: 11 May 2011 12:25:30 am Post subject:

Assuming it is indeed internal, then definitely! I tend to think you'd want something a little bigger and higher-powered for a real R2-D2, and you could probably lower your price point because you don't need to go too far towards compactness. Heck, you could fit a whole desktop inside an R2-D2 chassis.
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technomonkey76 · Posted: 14 May 2011 09:54:47 pm Post subject:

*bump* This topic has actually not been forgotten. I simply haven't made the time to reply. Sad

If you believe it would be sub-$100, how do you think it would fare as the basis for developing a tablet device? I think it would be better than the iPad; at least for the price-to-feature ratio. There would be many issues, however... development of a case and possibly the need for a keyboard/trackpad (?)/networking/extra USB (via hub)/battery and charger/more. Does anybody, however, think that a tablet made from this is even close to being possible? Maybe you could have Bluetooth through USB and then use a Magic Trackpad and some random USB keyboard... That still doesn't solve networking and especially the large issue of battery power, though.
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KermMartian · Posted: 15 May 2011 11:13:35 am Post subject:

It wouldn't be super-powerful for building an actual device; if I understand correctly, this is more a DIY gadget, but I could be misreading it. I won't deny that I was wondering if it might make a good base for the Ultimate Calculator 4. Smile

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ParkerR · Member Joined: 15 Nov 2010 Posts: 135

I think it is real. I am impressed that it has HDMI out. If it is powerful enough I can just hide it behind my TV. I don't do any 1080p or even 720p. I think it would be great for playing back 700 mb DVD quality movies.

KermMartian · Posted: 15 May 2011 11:17:49 am Post subject:

ParkerR · Member Joined: 15 Nov 2010 Posts: 135

KermMartian · Posted: 15 May 2011 11:23:51 am Post subject:

I definitely agree that a reusable piece of hardware that would be powerful enough to be applicable to a range of projects would be a great boon to hobbyists, no arguments here. Smile

I suppose we'll have to wait for more details from the studio that's designing these.
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DShiznit · Posted: 15 May 2011 01:30:18 pm Post subject:

It's too bad we won't see it since the release date is after the projected end of the world...

KermMartian · Posted: 15 May 2011 01:38:41 pm Post subject:

DShiznit · Posted: 15 May 2011 01:41:22 pm Post subject:

Ok. In seriousness, I was thinking of using this to make my own tablet too. Assuming you could get a small touch screen for under $100, it should be plausible. If I understand correctly, you could even put the Android OS on it, since it's linux-based, and have your own cheap android tablet.

technomonkey76 · Posted: 15 May 2011 02:07:16 pm Post subject:

KermMartian · Posted: 15 May 2011 03:52:58 pm Post subject:

Sure, but just as Linux is compilable for x86, ARM, MIPS, etc architectures, I would be far from surprised if Android is similarly portable and perhaps ported already. I think I'd try to use this for a new, cheap, powerful calculator, as I mentioned above.
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KermMartian · Posted: 26 Aug 2011 09:03:55 am Post subject:

*bump* So, Raspberry Pi is actually progressing, according to Hackaday, and looks like it might do some of the things it promised, at some sort of $25-$35 price point. The disadvantage is that the board has gotten much bigger, closer to the size of a (big) business card than a thumb drive, but I guess such is life:

http://hackaday.com/2011/08/26/raspberry-pi-might-not-be-vaporware/
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seana11 · Posted: 26 Aug 2011 01:44:34 pm Post subject:

OK, my thoughts on this are as follows: AWESOME!!!

Seriously though, this has sooooooo many applications for the real world. Think about it, Tablet? Yup. Cruise Missile? Yup. SpyBot? Yup. Model rocket onboard computer (See this)? Yup. (Previous cost of something like that has been $100$ for a z80 type chip on a I/O board) Neural network? For $2500, Yup. Endless Possiblities? Yup.

Kllrnohj · $/=\$ PH34R |\/|3 Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 8189