I feel like RPI lost the plot at some point. Like the entire point of them was a small minimal headless system that runs low end programs and scripts like a dns server or home automation system. I don’t really see why something like that needs 16 gb of ram(or a nearly 400$ price point). At the new pricing, why would anyone want to go for a Pi vs just getting a low end pc which contains actual hardware meant for higher end systems.
I guess form factor? I feel like you are just artificially restricting yourself going with the higher end pi’s vs just biting the bullet and going with a normal system.
Also I feel I should mention that this was also the same company that decided to link the ram to the firmware meaning you no longer can buy a pi and then solder a new ram on it. They claimed it was to prevent counterfeit sellers putting bad ram in it but, it still puts a bad taste in my mouth. The only way to bypass it is to go back to the 2024-9-23 firmware.
Raspberry pi started as a weird educational side project of a Broadcom engineer, and that enabled them to work with a dirt cheap mass produced SoC for the first iterations. Without broadcom, there would be no raspberry pi. The problem is, it got wildly successful, and moved from side project to actual project that makes money, and education for poor kids wasn’t as much of a priority anymore.
The entire point of them was to be a cheap, open, educational computer for kids. Even the hobbyist/homelab use-case lost the plot, let alone the commercial bullshit they’re targeting these days!
honestly I would argue that is the same plot(or at least overlapping). Low end systems would be an entry level use case for sysadmin and network design. that’s how I got started, I had an RPI that I used as a DNS, file backup and a chat bot I ran, learned a lot from the experience. But I can see how it could be taken into the commercial field as well.
I’ll admit that being a cheap way for adults to learn is plot-adjacent. But at its core, Raspberry Pi was intended to be the spiritual successor of stuff like the BBC Micro, Alan Kay’s KiddieComp/Dynabook, and OLPC.
(The shared purpose and British heritage of the BBC Micro is part of why the Raspberry Pi people picked ARM instead of x86, by the way.)
I feel like RPI lost the plot at some point. Like the entire point of them was a small minimal headless system that runs low end programs and scripts like a dns server or home automation system. I don’t really see why something like that needs 16 gb of ram(or a nearly 400$ price point). At the new pricing, why would anyone want to go for a Pi vs just getting a low end pc which contains actual hardware meant for higher end systems.
I guess form factor? I feel like you are just artificially restricting yourself going with the higher end pi’s vs just biting the bullet and going with a normal system.
Also I feel I should mention that this was also the same company that decided to link the ram to the firmware meaning you no longer can buy a pi and then solder a new ram on it. They claimed it was to prevent counterfeit sellers putting bad ram in it but, it still puts a bad taste in my mouth. The only way to bypass it is to go back to the 2024-9-23 firmware.
Raspberry pi started as a weird educational side project of a Broadcom engineer, and that enabled them to work with a dirt cheap mass produced SoC for the first iterations. Without broadcom, there would be no raspberry pi. The problem is, it got wildly successful, and moved from side project to actual project that makes money, and education for poor kids wasn’t as much of a priority anymore.
The entire point of them was to be a cheap, open, educational computer for kids. Even the hobbyist/homelab use-case lost the plot, let alone the commercial bullshit they’re targeting these days!
honestly I would argue that is the same plot(or at least overlapping). Low end systems would be an entry level use case for sysadmin and network design. that’s how I got started, I had an RPI that I used as a DNS, file backup and a chat bot I ran, learned a lot from the experience. But I can see how it could be taken into the commercial field as well.
I’ll admit that being a cheap way for adults to learn is plot-adjacent. But at its core, Raspberry Pi was intended to be the spiritual successor of stuff like the BBC Micro, Alan Kay’s KiddieComp/Dynabook, and OLPC.
(The shared purpose and British heritage of the BBC Micro is part of why the Raspberry Pi people picked ARM instead of x86, by the way.)