Just get one of the compatible boards
The main selling point of a Raspberry Pi is that the “compatible” boards often… aren’t. Instead of the well-supported, plug-and-play experience you get with a Raspberry Pi, with other boards even people like Jeff Geerling often struggle to get them to work. Also, the Raspberry Pi has excellent documentation, a large community for support, etc., whereas with alternative boards you end up having to hunt around for documentation and download firmware off obscure Chinese websites and whatnot.
Aux@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The problem with alternatives are:
Raspberry Pi has a huge and diverse ecosystem. We’re stuck with it.
MeanEYE@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Understandable, but considering I can get RPi software compatible board with 4 gigabit ethernet ports and fiber optics + expansion slot and is available whenever I want to purchase it, then in some cases it’s a no-brainer. Really depends on use case. Some hardware will work, other might not, it depends. Screens will work if they go through HDMI or S-Video. Hardware should work if it uses USB. GPIO pins are a different matter.
Even if it doesn’t work for majority of cases, I’d be willing to play with it and try to make it work with board I can purchase than a board that’s never in stock. And to be honest I even hate Chinese sites like AliExpress but some options are better than none and some manufacturers from China are offering a lot of options.
Aux@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Fair enough