Rasberry PI

[vieome]

I recently bought myself a Raspberry PI and while it is advertised as a cheap motherboard the whole deal works out quite expensive, and the idea that it will be ideal for the 3 world is not exactly true.

Cost of Raspberry PI model B

R540.00 Include delivery http://za.rs-online.com/web/
R40 Keyboard
R15 mouse
R50 HDMI cable
R1400 small HD tv to use as monitor, yes they do say you can use a tv with avi but it is such a pain to get that to work .
R40 SD memory card
R50 Blackberry Charger to use to power MOBO
R250 cost of downloading the software
R100.00 Raspberry case
Excluding the TV which I had already
Total Cost

R1085.00

Loading the Raspbian OS Image to the card can be done through dd on linux and winimager on windows. Once done there is still quite a few tweaks once has to do to get it up and running.
So Raspberry PI is more of a hobby item for geeks and nerds, but as a tool to teach third world programing cheaply, not quite there yet.

[adrianh]

I just don't get the facination with this product. There are hundreds of dev boards avaliable including Arduino. Mikroelektronika have been making brilliant boards for a very long time, Microchip, Atmel, CCS and many others have stunning development platforms with excellent support.

[IanF]

I have seen them run as a headless server so the only extra cost was a powered USB hub and sd card and we gave them a case. But they are computer geeks.

[vieome]

I just don't get the facination with this product. There are hundreds of dev boards avaliable including Arduino. Mikroelektronika have been making brilliant boards for a very long time, Microchip, Atmel, CCS and many others have stunning development platforms with excellent support.

Just think of it as nerds and their toys, just like how someone might upgrade their windows xp to windows 7. So having tried the ones that have been around for a long time one is eager to try the new.

[adrianh]

Fair enough...I own far too many dev boards allready - also trying the new ones all the time :-)

...and I must admit - if i had the cash and time i would probably also have one of those....

[Justloadit]

I just don't get the facination with this product. There are hundreds of dev boards avaliable including Arduino. Mikroelektronika have been making brilliant boards for a very long time, Microchip, Atmel, CCS and many others have stunning development platforms with excellent support.

The Pi is aimed at the PC market, as opposed to the micro controller market. Two worlds apart.

I got mine for about R300 bucks from Mantech. They order on request.
Electrocomp is another crowd offering the Raspberry pi.

[adrianh]

A thought on programming from Jack Ganssle

Deliver yesterday, code today, think tomorrow.

[vieome]

The Pi is aimed at the PC market, as opposed to the micro controller market. Two worlds apart.

I got mine for about R300 bucks from Mantech. They order on request.
Electrocomp is another crowd offering the Raspberry pi.

Hi is yours a Model A or B?

[Justloadit]

Hi is yours a Model A or B?

Now you asking, have not had the time to even power it up.

[Justloadit]

Maybe an equivalent - the Beagle Board

[Markadam]

That's expensive though, I bought mine from Neotronics SA for R895.00 On special for the Kit and 16gb Memory Card.