$25/$35 Mini-PC Available Next Month - ARM based

[mikeford]

HTPC use seems possible, but last time I checked most people in 3rd world countries have more of a demand for the basic PC functionality that these will do just fine.

Biggest impact is that once Rasberry Pi has some success it opens the doors for all sorts of niche products and that is going to be fun.

Doesn't run Win7, thats a feature isn't it?

 

[wirednuts]

doesnt run win7, but theres a chance it will run win8. probably wont run it well, but shit the entire pc will cost less then the oem license for the software

 

[jhansman]

"We would like nothing more than some company in China to make a million of these. It would be perfect, we would achieve our goal, which is ubiquitous presence of cheap computers," he explained.

Michael Dell just sat up....

 

[beergeek]

doesnt run win7, but theres a chance it will run win8. probably wont run it well, but shit the entire pc will cost less then the oem license for the software

Really doubtful that there's even a chance, as the ARM core in the chip is a v6 and Win 8 apparently requires at least a v7. Additionally, the 256MB of RAM in this Pi (which includes the frame buffer) is _really_ unlikely enough to even boot Win 8.

A potential future version of the Pi, fitted out with one of the more advanced Broadcom VideoCore chips (BCM21654 or BCM28150) almost certainly would (assuming someone does a port of Win 8 to it) if it was configured with enough memory, but you're likely talking about a much more expensive gadget than this Pi... (And that's before, as you mention, you even get to the Windows license costs.)

However, I'd think this would make quite a good HTPC (with the emphasis on HT rather than PC - it won't be a great game machine and I wouldn't do number crunching on it, but it should do HD video display and web browsing fine). The fact that XBMC has already been demonstrated running well on it even though most of the codecs haven't been optimized for it yet seems like a good sign...

 

[Subyman]

Upping the memory to even 1GB would increase the price by 30-40%. The specs are in the sweet spot right now. You can get a USB wifi module on newegg for around 10 bucks. I think that's a worthy upgrade that the user can do.

I'd say they can iterate with this device pretty quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a V2 model around the holiday season or early next year. ARM processors are moving at such a fast rate that we could possibly see a version that will run windows 8 next year.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

their site is hammered right now or something

 

[Subyman]

their site is hammered right now or something

They said they had a big announcement at midnight central time. I suspect they are bringing down the site to update. IMO you will be able to order tonight.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

their site is hammered right now or something

yeah...the site is jacked up. lol

 

[HybridSquirrel]

http://farnell.com/

or

http://rswww.com/


to buy. Search Raspberry Pi. However, both of those sites are also hammered like a blonde chick at a frat party


Model A to now have 256mb ram rather than 128

 

[vshah]

can't find it for sale on either farnell.com or uk.rs-online.com

 

[HybridSquirrel]

can't find it for sale on either farnell.com or uk.rs-online.com

just posted what was listed on their website. don't know what else to say. neither webpage has even loaded for me

How to Buy
The Raspberry Pi is available at either Premier Farnell or RS Components. Search for Raspberry Pi, and then follow the normal shopping and checkout process.

 

[vshah]

just posted what was listed on their website. don't know what else to say. neither webpage has even loaded for me

ah didn't even see your post!

farnell is hammered and doesnt load, while RS simply has a page where i can express interest.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

ah didn't even see your post!

farnell is hammered and doesnt load, while RS simply has a page where i can express interest.

yeah....meh i have l ike 7 computers around the house....think i won't really miss this too much


Good luck

 

[vshah]

yeah....meh i have l ike 7 computers around the house....think i won't really miss this too much


Good luck

bit this one is tiny! i want one as it reminds me of the little gumstix boards i used to play with in college

 

[Subyman]

RS only lets you register for interest. They are supposed to have it up, but don't. Farnell has it up, but when I tried to add to cart it said there was no price and broke the cart. Now both sites are down. Pretty lame.

EDIT: NM, the raspberry pi won't be limited by quantity anymore. No more 10K batches, they will be rolling them out to match demand. Looks like the resellers will be SOL.

 

[mikeford]

I think its fair to give it maybe a few days to settle.

I'm not going to prebuy before I have a plan to use one, but I can think of several areas of interest.

 

[Mitch101]

Just posted direct links to where you can purchase.

 

[etrin]

both verdors say available soon.
overall this is a BS start.
wait till the day (ok a week late) of release then say buy from these vendors.
and RS is the only one saying they have international sales and the US site has no listings for it.

poor at best...looks like NO planning at all.

 

[jalaram]

both verdors say available soon.
overall this is a BS start.
wait till the day (ok a week late) of release then say buy from these vendors.
and RS is the only one saying they have international sales and the US site has no listings for it.

poor at best...looks like NO planning at all.

Everyone knew that the initial run was only 10k and there was a huge groundswell for it. I'm not surprised that both vendors got DDOS'ed and things sold out in 2 hrs. Heck the raspberry pi website was crawling all of yesterday even when they said it would be a static page all day.

As has been said, this is not a limited run. They are not a business. They will be continuing to make them. Just be patient.

 

[Raswan]

Someone in the US let us know when you successfully place an order, please?

 

[svgeek78]

Someone in the US let us know when you successfully place an order, please?

After much searching I managed to get my order placed at farnell.com shortly after midnight in California. Received acknowledgment of my order, and an ETA of March 16.

 

[kami333]

After much searching I managed to get my order placed at farnell.com shortly after midnight in California. Received acknowledgment of my order, and an ETA of March 16.

What was your total with shipping? Did they charge you an extra $20 handling fee?

 

[Subyman]

I managed to get an order through as well. They did not give a shipping quote. I'm guessing they will send the full invoice once it is time to ship. They offered UPS. I did hear someone say that they talked to a rep on the phone and it would be $35 to ship it to the US.

As of right now there is not a local US option, so be prepared to pay 26.55 pounds + international shipping. You are probably looking at 60 dollars for a $35 device.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

damn you, I want one lol.

 

[TwiceOver]

$60? Not worth it at that price. I'll wait for a US distributor, which I would imagine wouldn't be long.