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Raspberry Pi - Hardware Flaws and Fixups?

e14 Contributor

Several people have commented on the hardware design of the Raspberry Pi.  Some are buried in other topics so please post your comments here.  I'll try my best to answer questions about the design decisions we made.  The Raspberry Pi is not perfect, never will be.  I've always found that perfect designs have a habit of never getting built, engineers are always a bit guilty of that, but I had Eben phoning/emailing me every day wanting to know when it would be finished.  Also, one persons perfection is another persons nightmare.

 

e14 is the home for engineers so please contribute to make Raspberry Pi better.

 

Thanks

 

Pete

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  • Hi Pete,

     

    I love the work you have done on this, I am having great fun and learning loads with my Pi.

     

    I do have one suggestion/request.

     

    In my current setup, I have an external USB hub powered with a 3A PSU (which I know is overkill, but it was handy).  For the wiring I have a micro USB lead into the hub just for power, and then I have a standard USB A to USB B lead from the hub into one of the USB ports on the Pi.

     

    This seems to be one cable more than I should need.  To make the cabling cleaner and simpler looking, I have tried removing the micro USB lead and the Pi starts to boot up, but then resets when it gets to the USB Hotplug boot code.

     

    Why couldn't the power flow from the powered external USB hub into the Pi via one of its two USB ports via a USB A to USB B lead?  Then I would only need the one lead from the Pi into the hub for both power and data.

     

    It is a very small point, but I think it would be a nice touch.

     

    Thanks

     

    Gary.

  • in reply to e14 Contributor

    Perhaps "Power Options" could be a topic examined in some detail when considering the next revision.  I know that people have expressed interest in PoE on the Rpi blog or forum, so that's an item for the wishlist if it can be done cheaply.

     

    It would certainly appeal to have your Rpi-based servers connected only by an Ethernet lead and nothing else.  Nowadays it's quite inexpensive too --- an 8-port 10/100Mbps switch with PoE on all ports costs around $55 from Amazon, and would give you a nice little cluster with no extra wiring.

     

    Morgaine.

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  • in reply to e14 Contributor

    Perhaps "Power Options" could be a topic examined in some detail when considering the next revision.  I know that people have expressed interest in PoE on the Rpi blog or forum, so that's an item for the wishlist if it can be done cheaply.

     

    It would certainly appeal to have your Rpi-based servers connected only by an Ethernet lead and nothing else.  Nowadays it's quite inexpensive too --- an 8-port 10/100Mbps switch with PoE on all ports costs around $55 from Amazon, and would give you a nice little cluster with no extra wiring.

     

    Morgaine.

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