Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by dangerlibrary 4125 days ago
Until Raspberry Pi can get their power supply problems under control, they really aren't good enough to use as any kind of workstation.
2 comments

They did, with the B+ in mid 2014, and the current Pi 2 with the same power design. The B+ and newer boards don't suffer the odd power supply issues that the older boards (even the B rev2) suffered.

And I'm not just rehashing what someone else said; I've had one each of the original B, a rev 2 B, a B+, and now a Pi 2. I've used the same power supply on all four, and on the B+ and Pi 2 I don't have any issues with hotplugging flash drives and wifi adapters whereas I did on the original and rev 2 models.

I've had my B+ running 24/7 since August as a webcam server to watch my dog in the back yard, and I've only had to reboot it once for an update. It's running a Microsoft USB-powered 720p webcam and an Edimax wifi adapter directly off of the built in USB, and it hasn't once had a power issue. I've had my Pi 2 running 24/7 since I got it a couple of weeks ago, as a "light" GNU/Linux workstation I can switch to and use when my main workstation is otherwise occupied. Again, no power issues on that board.

This reflects my experience as well. Not only did the B+ add a switching power supply, but there is proper USB power protection and soft-start as well.

Unless GP is referring to the flash problem of the RPi 2.0, which is readily solved by using a case, piece of tape, or an epoxy blob (which I imagine is what will be added to the manufacturing line eventually)

What do you mean by soft start?
Many DC devices have capacitors on their power rails. When they are plugged in, they generate a huge current spike as the capacitors charge up (limited only by the resistance and inductance of the capacitors/wires). This is enough to overwhelm the power supply and cause a reset.

The solution is a current limiter of some sort. Sometimes this is as simple as initially powering the USB port through a resistor, watching until the USB voltage gets high enough, then switching over to a direct connection.

I can echo this; I actually am using a Pi2 as one of my daily drivers. Using the official adapter. No power issues at all.
First I've heard of this; it does need a decent USB power supply, but that's a consequence of not shipping one and expecting the user to supply one of suitable quality.
I found the first model would sometimes brownout when trying to maximally utilize the ethernet. Which was not a big deal for a hobby device, but it did eliminate a number of possibilities.