One of the reasons the Raspberry Pi is really cool is it's helping to make it easier for people to get into hardware hacking. It's fun, and it's cheap enough you don't need to worry about break it.
While it's not quite as simple as a arduino, for those of us who like Linux anyway, it makes it almost trivial to wire into all sorts of projects - Wireless Helicopters, Door badges, tiny webservers, etc.
It's a great piece of kit, and a nice introduction into the embedded HW world.
No, it is not helping people get into hardware hacking. There is no more "hardware hacking" going on here than there is on my macbook.
Arduino AVR is helping people get into hardware.
Raspberry pi is helping people build cheap netflix settop boxes.
edit: maybe I'm jaded. We've got about 4 totally idle raspis at our hackerspace that have been donated by people who have no idea what to do with them, but bought them anyway.
Raspberry pi is helping people build cheap netflix settop boxes. ... edit: maybe I'm jaded. We've got about 4 totally idle raspis at our hackerspace that have been donated by people who have no idea what to do with them, but bought them anyway.
I'd agree with that, based on my own personal experience. Of the several people I know who have them, half have no clue what to do with it, and the other half are using them as tiny media centres. There's definitely not much hardware hacking going on.
And I can understand it, to be honest. I can't think of a good use for one that isn't already covered ably by some other computer I have. Media centre? Xbox plus external hard-disk does the job. Small *nix box? Better off using my MacBook -- it's got everything built-in.
The best idea I came up with was a mini backup server connected to my router that pulls power from its spare USB port, but even then, it's easier just to plug in an external HD once in a while, or dump things onto one of the SD cards I have in rotation.
Raspberry pi is helping people build cheap netflix settop boxes.
That's hardware hacking.
In reality, those of us who don't bring a pickaxe and a carbide lamp to work are just "systems integrators" anyway. Attitudes and titles don't pay the bills.
Wha? There's a difference between SWE, EE/CE, and IT. The community around the pi is more for the IT crowd. I see very few using the gpio pins for anything, though that does seem to be getting marginally better.
Most of the value in the pi is the video decoder. So, that's the types of projects it gets used for.
FWIW, I and many of my friends (who admittedly deal primarily with hardware) find the gpio a big draw. The machine is cheaper and more useful than an arduino after you've thrown in an ethernet shield. I got one to serve as a doorbell router.
Well considering the pi can't run Netflix I would have to disagree with you. There are tons of hardware projects using the pi. I know of a few people locally that just got a pi and basic electronics kit to learn with.
The HDMI port on mine has never been touched. I'm using it right now to control my roomba though its SCI interface. An uno with a wifi shield costs way more than a Raspberry Pi with a usb wifi dongle. Unless you need more GPIO pins or lower power consumption, Pis just make more sense.
What project that is supposed to be an introduction to embedded electronics can you think of that the raspi would be good for, and the arduino wouldn't be?
500ma is a problem. The fact that you can't easily run it off of a battery without buying additional [expensive] hardware is a problem.
Nasty attitude? If you're telling people that a raspi is a good intro to embedded electronics, then you're harming their development.
This isn't even what the raspberry pi was intended for. It was intended as a cheap machine to introduce people to programming with. For that, it's awesome, but I have yet to see anybody actually use it for that.
MK808's might be a better alternative for that, with built-in wifi and male hdmi dongle type design.
My son (6) got his pi as his first computer, we built a lego case for it and he gets excited everytime he connects peripherals. It may not be hw hacking for us, but it is for little folks.
In a world where devices are getting smaller and smaller, and hobbyist PC computers are going the way of hobbyist automobiles, the RPi offers a cool choice of open hardware you can really play with. This is a milestone I wish they had hit sooner by trying to solve their supply chain problems.
On a personal note, I don't want a replaceable battery or hackable ROM on my phone. I want that thing locked down tight, and small as possible. I'd rather "hack" a $35 board than a $600 phone.
It also re-affirms the business model of creating a super-cheap yet capable development platform, and then not attempting to extract max profit from it.
I'm not really sure you could call that a `business model': the Raspberry Pi Foundation is a charity, so by definition they aren't out to make a profit. I'm not sure the Raspberry Pi would even exist in the first place if a for-profit company was responsible for making it. It certainly wouldn't be so cheap, and as a result, unlikely to be so successful.
While it's not quite as simple as a arduino, for those of us who like Linux anyway, it makes it almost trivial to wire into all sorts of projects - Wireless Helicopters, Door badges, tiny webservers, etc.
It's a great piece of kit, and a nice introduction into the embedded HW world.