Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by bostand 3448 days ago
Counterpoint: The pi runs Linux inefficiently, draws too much power and gets too hot. All of these could probably have been fixed with minimal support from broadcom (and a bit more open thinking from them during the design).

Open source is not a crazy idea by a bunch of fanatics, it had real world implications.
2 comments
christina_b 3448 days ago
>All of these could probably have been fixed with minimal support from broadcom (and a bit more open thinking from them during the design).

Support from Broadcom is unlikely to fix it, the BCM283x family of SoCs are just a huge mess and in my opinion are either suited for really specific applications (TV boxes) or as "toys".

The ARM core itself is integrated very poorly almost as an afterthought, since it wasn't in the original design, the BCM283x family is just BCM27xx family VideoCore4 VPU+QPU combinations with an ARM core hacked (and I really do mean hacked) on top.

link
bostand 3448 days ago
Yes, 2837 is a 1995 soc design with a 64-bit quadcore forced into it. Their multicore support was probably thrown together in an afternoon by a junior asic designer on a hangover.

But some of the issues could have been worked around with better documentation.

link
kingosticks 3448 days ago
Out of interest, what is your situation where it 'draws too much power and gets too hot'?
link