Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by michaelt 164 days ago
Seems a bit of a strange feature to even want on a product targeting the education market. In a classroom setting you don't really want students to be able to set fuse bits so the device can't be re-programmed.

Presumably this is a sign RPi are deliberately aiming to straddle the hobby and light commercial markets?
6 comments
rcxdude 164 days ago
They have absolutely been aiming at industrial customers already. It would be hard for them to justify the cost of a custom die without having some volume to businesses. (And the previous raspbarry pis have absolutely been popular in industry as well, I would be surprised if hobbyists and learners are even half of their volume)
link
SequoiaHope 164 days ago
They have been serving enterprise markets for a long time. Back in 2020-2021 when there was a chip shortage, Raspberry Pi shorted their consumer availability to make sure enterprise customers could still get compute modules. The fusible bits on the RP2350 are very much an enterprise feature.
link
Tharre 164 days ago
If that's a concern, you can lock the OTP either permanently or with a password, before you hand them out. Or just use the older RP2040.

But I don't think that "targeting the education market" is accurate in the first place. They certainly make sure to serve that market with their very nicely priced Pico boards but it hardly seems to be their only goal. You don't go through the effort of spinning up a new revision to fix security holes if there aren't at least some industry customers.

link
JayHLee77 164 days ago
Security is an essential feature for everyone, not just Enterprise. Can you trust the code your device is running? Can your device keep a secret? These capabilities are needed universally.

As to students being able to set the efuse so the device can't be reprogrammed, sure but they're $5 each so it's not like they're destroying a $500 Chromebook (which they do, look on YouTube). That risk is the cost of attempting to educate though (and it's worth it).

link
Retr0id 164 days ago
Seems like a small risk compared to students creating a trivial short-circuit and letting out the magic smoke, and at $1/part it's not a big deal even if they do.
link
guenthert 164 days ago
Are you perhaps confusing the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the Raspberry Pi Holdings?
link