29 Jun
2012
29 Jun
'12
10:38 a.m.
On 29 Jun 2012, at 07:38, Tothwolf wrote:
I work with a lot of embedded boards these days.
Design wise, I rather like the Raspberry Pi.
It is a nice piece of kit, especially at the price point. For embedded or semi-embedded
work it's really nice, my only gripes are the SD IO speed is terrible, and the 5V
power input is via a USB Micro connector not a 2-pole barrel connector which would have
been more 'standard'.
My single gripe with the project is their choice of
Farnell/Newark as their retail distributor. Newark as they are better known in the US has
an enormous markup on parts and materials and I've had so many bad experiences with
them (including overnight shipping not shipping out for 3-4 days on /multiple/ occasions)
that I will simply not deal with Farnell/Newark unless there is absolutely no way I can
avoid doing so.
http://www.alliedelec.com/RaspberryPi/
Give Allied Electronics a shot, they are RS's US distributor.
The reason they are distributing via Allied and Newark is that Farnell and RS are the
*UK's* biggest distributors and offered them a good deal to sort out manufacturing and
selling the boards with their Chinese contacts. RS and Farnell in the UK are pretty
reasonable to deal with although both have a habit of stinging you on carriage if you
aren't paying 100% attention to what you are buying (notably if it's
'cheap').
With my latest experience with Newark last year, they
charged me $18 for a small heat sink plus $20 for UPS ground shipping (that they -finally-
shipped out about 5 days later) PLUS local sales tax for an out of state purchase. All
total, about $58.00 USD for a small aluminum heat sink that was less than 1LB shipped.
That part was for a rush repair job, and I ate the cost, but I vowed to never deal with
Newark again.
Ouch.
By the time Newark tacks on all their fees, that
"inexpensive" Raspberry Pi is no longer inexpensive by any definition. Until the
Raspberry Pi is available via another distributor, I will not buy one.
Allied may be better, I can't vouch for them for US customers but RS UK have thus far
been speedy and pretty fair with shipping and pricing on the RPi.
--
Mark Benson
http://DECtec.info
Twitter: @DECtecInfo
HECnet: STAR69::MARK
Online Resource & Mailing List for DEC Enthusiasts.