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Is the Raspberry Pi Still an Affordable SBC? I Don't Think So

⁨180⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨throws_lemy@reddthat.com⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://linuxiac.com/is-the-raspberry-pi-still-an-affordable-sbc/

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  • Buffalox@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    It looks to me they have lost focus on their original purpose. Which was to provide cheap and open compute opportunity for education and tinkering.

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    • AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      I heavily dislike them locking down their cameras. Idk if that was a particularly recent move or not, but I would never consider the hardware as open if it has built in vendor locking functions.

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    • pelya@lemmy.world ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Raspberry Pi Zero is still very much available, and costs less than the original Pi 1/2/3/4. It’s enough for most microcontroller tasks, if you want cozy Linux with Python and don’t want to dive into RTOS and C microcode.

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      • Buffalox@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        That’s not the point, the point is that their new developments do not do for the community what the original products did.

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    • ohulancutash@feddit.uk ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Dont they still dothis? And subsidise it with higher spec items?

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      • circuscritic@lemmy.ca ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        lol no

        The Pi Foundation died when it was reborn as a for-profit organization.

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  • pelya@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Y’all need a price chart. You are literally getting what you are paying for.

    Raspberry Pi 5, 16 GB RAM

    • Price: $205 (don’t trust the price on RPi website, no way you are buying it for $145).
    • Generic desktop PC: runs Blender and video editors.
    • AI agent: yes.
    • Computer vision: yes, with face recognition and real-time AI filters.
    • SDR signal processor: you can broadcast an HD TV station on it.
    • Servers: whatever you want, can host Amazon and Netflix.

    Raspberry PI 5, 1 GB RAM

    • Price: $45.
    • Generic desktop PC: you can edit office documents.
    • AI agent: lol no.
    • Computer vision: a movement sensor for your surveillance camera.
    • SDR signal processor: you can broadcast FM radio.
    • Servers: home file server and torrents.

    Raspberry PI Zero 2, 512 MB RAM

    • Price: $15 on a website, $19 in shops.
    • Generic desktop PC: probably runs Solitaire.
    • AI agent: dream on.
    • Computer vision: a movement sensor for your surveillance camera, and it won’t support HD cameras.
    • SDR signal processor: you can record FM radio, not much else.
    • Servers: online garage door opener.
    • Ethernet adapter sold separately, if you don’t want your garage door opener to drop offline at random because of unstable WiFi.

    Raspberry Pi Pico, 264 KB RAM

    • Price: $4.
    • Generic desktop PC: nope.
    • AI agent: absolutely impossible.
    • Computer vision: nope.
    • SDR signal processor: nope.
    • Servers: unsecure garage door opener.
    • Ethernet adapter requires soldering skills.
    • You don’t need 40 programmable pins to control one garage door.
    • Just buy ESP32 instead.

    ESP32-C6-Zero, 400 KB RAM.

    • Price: $3.50.
    • Does everything that Raspberry Pi Pico does, but better.
    • Works for a year from three AAA batteries.
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    • AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      A few years ago I installed Linux on a $40 used Chromebook with 4gb RAM. It runs Blender, Freecad, Minecraft, Celeste, Portal, Kdenlive, etc perfectly acceptably. It has CPU performance a tiny bit worse than the Pi 5, but is x86 and comes with a mouse, keyboard, battery, etc.

      I don’t think comparing performance over used PCs is ever going to be favorable for a pi, I think the reasons to get one are reliability, gpio, and the small form factor.

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    • thatonecoder@lemmy.ca ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Now I want to see a self-hosted LLM running solely on a Raspberry Pi Pico!!

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      • AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

        Not an LLM or a Pi Pico but I think this project is pretty cool regardless

        github.com/traviszech/RPI-ZERO-2-OnnxStream

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    • friend_of_satan@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      After reading your comment on price I checked Microcenter, an authorized pi dealer, and you’re right. The pi 5 with 16gb is listed at $200.

      www.microcenter.com/product/…/raspberry-pi-5

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    • HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      That’s not really bad pricing it’s actually cheaper than I paid for my 4 according to the chart and that was a bunch of years ago

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  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I don’t know what people would need a Pi 5 16gb for other than using it as a low-powered PC alternative. I’ve got a bunch of 4’s and 3’s doing utilitarian tasks, from running an older 3D printer to PiHole. One I’m using as a budget PC in the garage to listen to music and look up how-to videos if I get stumped on something.

    A $200+ 5 seems outside the needs of the users who have viewed Pi’s as relatively inexpensive hobbyist devices, but below the needs of people needing to do the work of desktop PCs.

    I’m sure there’s niche uses for them, but is there actual demand for them?

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    • Professorozone@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      I find that if you don’t need it to be small but just cheap you can often find used boards or even cheap new boards in the ATX, micro ATX or mini ITX form factors that have more ports and such. I think sometimes people get hung up on using a Pi “because they are cheap” not realizing that if they AREN’T cheap they can switch to a “normal” computer.

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  • bryndos@fedia.io ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    16gb raspberry pi was always weird, even 8gb. It's more just a desktop pc or something at that level - the used pc market has usually been similar vfm when you factor in storage and peripherals.

    The pizero2(W) is still very cheap for real raspberry pi stuff - where you just want an OS for some reason instead of esp32.

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    • tburkhol@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I was really intimidated by ESP32. Liked RPi, back in the 3b days, because I could comfortably sit in the python interpreter, play with sensor interfaces, and get immediate feedback of what & where I screwed up. Familiarity led me to RPi4 for libreelec and 0w for more sensors.

      Recently took the plunge on some ESP32s, though, and, just…wow. I mean, I’m going through esphome, but every sensor and control I’ve checked is just a couple of lines of YAML away. And low enough power that I’m starting to think about batteries. ESP32 is still pretty intimidating for noobs, but the ecosystem that’s grown up around it is fantastic once you get over that hump.

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      • 4am@lemmy.zip ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Wasn’t there some kind of exploit found in ESP32s recently? Did that turn out to be nothing?

        I’ve often wanted to get into them and that kind of intimidated me out of it at the time; haven’t had an opportunity to dive back in

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      • LeFrog@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Just curious, what is your use case for ESPhome/ESP32? I am still not sure what people do with it.

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    • 73ms@sopuli.xyz ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      We’ve got phones with that amount of RAM now so it definitely isn’t something just reserved for desktops. I tend to like getting something with plenty resources even if it’s unnecessary at the time because it often means a longer lifespan for the hardware…

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    • Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Did the Pi Pico ever make any headway in the microcontroller space? It looked interesting when it was first announced but I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere since.

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      • bryndos@fedia.io ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        I think esp32 is more commonly used. i think they're pretty similar capabilities and both dirt cheap.
        I just see more projects with esp32.

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      • stsquad@lemmy.ml ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        There are a fair number of third party boards based on the RP2040/RP2050 silicon. Even esphome can target it even though it originally targeted the esp32.

        The silicon itself is pretty nice although the original had done problems with deep sleep.

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    • a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      The pizero2(W) is still very cheap for real raspberry pi stuff - where you just want an OS for some reason instead of esp32.

      Pi-Hole baby!

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    • Mwa@thelemmy.club ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I always thought the 16gb ram ver was not worth it in my opinion

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  • obinice@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Hasn’t been for years now. I appreciate the extra oomph and definitely the extra RAM, but so many projects need a Pi3 level of oomph and price point.

    They don’t make those any more, and the new ones are too expensive, so just can’t do those projects any more.

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    • friend_of_satan@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Pi 4 has over twice the performance per watt (see the-diy-life.com/raspberry-pi-drag-race-pi-1-to-p…), so I think that may be the sweet spot for certain uses, but I agree that the 3 is still a perfectly capable device for so many projects.

      Also the 3 is the last one to have a full HDMI port which is makes it really appealing for display related projects.

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    • AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Plus software seems to be dropping 32bit support. While I usually appreciate the benefits of 64 bit architecture, that’s uncalled for on most of the things I’d use RPi for

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    • 73ms@sopuli.xyz ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      They do still make Pi3, they guarantee availability for a decade for each model and there’s still over 3 years to go until Pi 3 hits that.

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  • Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    It still as full support. That counts for a lot. Fly by night boards that quickly lose support are hardly ‘worth it’

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  • homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Ever since they hired a cop to develop copware and their social media genius told us to go fuck ourselves (and their non-apology) they’ve been dead.

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    • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Don’t forget about COVID-times when they stopped selling to consumers in favor of corporations. Or when they spun the commercial sector of the Raspberry Pi Foundation out into its own for-profit business.

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    • incompetent@programming.dev ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I didn’t hear about that. Do you have a link with more info?

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      • homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        buzzfeednews.com/…/raspberry-pi-hired-ex-cop-mast…

        resetera.com/…/raspberry-pi-hires-a-former-cop-an…

        Image

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  • BenderRodriguez@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    What are some alternatives?

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    • curbstickle@anarchist.nexus ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Price? Tiny/mini/micro PC

      Simple sensor use? ESP32

      Complex GPIO? Arduino is still a cheap option if you dont need it too standalone.

      Straight up pi-alikes? OrangePi is my preferred

      Most of what I personally use is esp32s and tiny/mini/micro. TMM for servers and services, esp32s for sensors, interfaces, prototyping, etc. If I need something fully standalone thats going to go in a rack or whatever, needs to be small and have all the GPIO, thats where I’ll use an orangpi, clockwork, whatever. Ive even used a tinkerboard or a Jetson (client paying obviously, because screw those prices and nvidia).

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    • justinthegeek@lemmy.zip ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      At that price point, a mini PC. Look at Dell or Lenovo, they make super small form factor computers that will blow a Pi out of the water.

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      • Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        It really depends though, if you want to do analog in or out, relay control, or use existing hats, you are bought/forced into the ecosystem. If you are just using it as a small computer, yeah roll with whatever. To me, it’s always occupied the void between an arduino and a sffpc or when I wanted to do compute and analog/digital control on something.

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      • BenderRodriguez@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Thanks!

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    • Mwa@thelemmy.club ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Orange pi 5?

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      • IsoKiero@sopuli.xyz ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Orangepi and other “clones” often use rockchip on their boards which isn’t as well supported as Raspberry equivalent so it’s not direct replacement. Also their supported lifespan is often much less than rpi.

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      • BenderRodriguez@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        That looks like a similar price point.

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  • Mwa@thelemmy.club ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    125 usd for a Rpi 5 ain’t worth it anymore ngl

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    • stsquad@lemmy.ml ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Are they as well supported? There are lots of SBCs out there but if they are only supported by vendor kernels and have no documentation then i’d rather pay the Pi premium.

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      • Mwa@thelemmy.club ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        but armbian exists which is a Linux distro that tries to support alot of SBCS IIRC

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  • realitista@lemmus.org ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I guess I have been in enterprise for too long, I thought they meant Session Border Controller. And I was thinking “wow, a Pi can be an SBC?!”

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  • Ludicrous0251@piefed.zip ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    At this point I see the value proposition of the RPi being for the developer more than the user (who gets indirect benefits from the devs).

    RPi provide a platform for testing code optimizations that is somewhat standardized. Memory leaks, inefficient code, etc. stick out like a sore thumb.

    If you can get something to run well on a pi, good odds it’ll run well everywhere else.

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  • TheBat@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Been that way since last couple of years.

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  • 7rokhym@lemmy.ca ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Orange Pi?

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