Update: Raspberry Pi-Compatible Development Board Cancelled 165
An anonymous reader writes "Anyone who might have been interested in the miniature Raspberry Pi compatible board mentioned here a month ago should know the board has been cancelled due to problems sourcing the Broadcom SoC. Given the less than welcoming response from the rpi community to the board's release, there is speculation as to why Hardkernel is having trouble buying the chip.
Broadcom... (Score:1, Insightful)
... need i say more. Who in their right mind would make anything with a broadcom chip.
That's open source (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's what one person said about it:
What I don't like about this project is that they simply use all the work (software development) of the foundation and the RPi community to sell their product. They call it "compatibility" but in fact it means: let other people do all the work and we make money from it.
Someone is new to open source/designs I see. Arduino has a bazillion knockoffs that are compatible yet they still seem to be doing okay. Unless RPi isn't an open architecture - in which case, why do we advocate its use?
Re:Broadcom... (Score:4, Insightful)
Indeed. The choice by the RPi-team was utterly stupid and can only be attributed to incompetence. I mean, a computer aimed at education, and then you cannot publish the full datasheet? That is just insane!
Personally, I also found the official forum overrun with people with big egos and small skills and a lot more techno-mysticism than actual engineering. It is no surprise that the RPi is such a badly designed device. Basically all competitors are significantly superior.
Re:Broadcom won't release documentation ever (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed. And if you look at the competing chips, for example from Ti (e.g. on the Beagle Bone black), you have the full, detailed datasheet after a minute of web-searching. Broadcom chips have no place in "open" hardware.
Re:Broadcom don't deal with little guys (Score:5, Insightful)
They won't even talk to a little player, or anyone else who is unlikely to place an order for large numbers of chips.
They need to realize that big players start out as little players. I remember seeing an interview of Steve Jobs, and he was asked why they used the 6502 in the original Apple. He listed several technical advantages of the 6502, and then said that none of those factors had anything to with their decision. They used the 6502 because Motorola had given Woz a free sample.
Tsk... Tsk.... (Score:2, Insightful)
To round up comments so far:
"Nasty Nasty Broadcom"
"Pi is bad because it uses Broadcom"
"You can't use it for "education" because you can't get the graphics datasheet and the works are encased in a blob."
Yet the Pi IS a cheap and flexible general purpose computer and depending on your educational perspective you don't NEED access to low-level information. Its also important to remember that the Pi originated as Eben Uptons home project consisting of a wire-wrapped board containing an Arduino processor to create a simple programmable study computer before the move was made to the Broadcom chip to improve performance and flexibility. There's no need to invoke charges of conspiracy or even cronyism.
All we see here is the typical slashdot kneejerk response to all things Broadcom. There may be cases where this might be valid, but not as far as the pi is concerned.
Other small computing modules exist. Use one of those if it fits your particular need and quit whining!
Re:Why. (Score:4, Insightful)