2 Jul
2012
2 Jul
'12
12:54 p.m.
On 28 June 2012 20:57, Tony Duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:
Fortunately I learnt long ago that it's unwise to spend too little.
How many people have all those and don't have a computer to conenct them
to? Why but an Rpi rather than just using said computer.
It is, if you hae a slow dial-up line and no SD card interface on your PC
(both apply to me).
It is being hyped as a reincarnation of the BBC micro or whatever. But
from what I remembr, you could buy a BBC micro, plug it into the mains,
plug it into a TV and start using it. You didn't have to pvodie all sorts
of extras, downlaad software, etc to get it to work.
I would argue this is not a consumer device. You mentioned RS and Farnell
as suppliers (and I was annoyed ahvign to navigate past the Rpi pages to
actualyl find the bits I needed), those are not conusmer electronics
companies.
In any case the fact that noting else comes wit ha schematic is no reason
why this thouldn't
They're not hidden.
IMHOP they are. People keep quoting the price for the Rpi board, not a
complete working set-up.
The thing to remember is that it is not finished yet. This is not the
final product.
The motto of Open Source is "release early, release often". They
shoved the hardware out the door as soon as they could. The OS(es)
is(are) not finished, there is no case, there is no ecosystem or
infrastructure around it.
*Yet.*
It will come. Getting the boards out there in the hands of hobbyists
was a brilliant way of doing this.
As for why the media have not highlighted this: the media is mostly
composed of arts/humanities graduates (if that) who don't really know
what a computer *is* and certainly do not understand concepts like
"operating system" or "Free Software". All they understand is that it
is new and cheap and British.
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
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> As am I. People are talking about it like
it's the first small form
> factor Linux machine.
Price. That's what's exciting about it. The Rpi board is only part of what you need. You
also need a PSU,
keyboard, mouse, USB hub, SD card and some kind of monitor. Even without the
last, that would essentailyl double the cost of the device. Please don't
tell me I can find those extras in the trash/junk box. I can't. My junk
box doesn't contain PC bits. It does contain enugh to build a computer
from scatch though.
But most normal people who might be interested *do* have all of those. And then there's the OS. From what I
understnad the Rpi doesn't come wit
hthe OS. You have to download it onto an SD card yourself. That's a major
problem for me.
If downloading it and putting it onto an SD card is too difficult, then The
docuemantion is attrocious. I couldn't find a schematic, or a real
hardware manual.
Errm, what consumer electronics comes with a schematic these days? The > the extreme cheapness is what is driving people.
That must be it. See below.
But as I saidm, watch for hidden costs...