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Pi vs BeagleBone-Black

Former Member

So, just over a year on from the initial availability of the R-Pi and the new BeagleBone Black is upon us.  They've obviously taken a leaf out of the RPF's playbook and produced a cost reduced version at a price only marginally above the Pi.

 

I find it interesting that the compromises are very different, for example there's a proper PMIC and the ethernet is not troubled by being connected to USB, however the on-board HDMI seems less capable.

 

Other differences are in the documentation, I'm currently viewing the pcb gerbers for the beaglebone..  Have yet to see any sign of those for the R-Pi a year later. There's even an up to date devicetree capable kernel too.

 

Technology has also moved on somewhat, we get a 1GHz Cortex A8 which is better than the Pi, along with various other stuff and lots more GPIO's too.

 

Ok, so it's clear that I like the look of the new beaglebone, and given the price I'm likely to put any further R-Pi plans on hold until I have a chance to play with this. It's also making things like the Olinuxino-maxi I bought recently look very slow/expensive while still being cheaper than the similarly specced Olinuxino-A13

 

Some details of the beaglebone-black here http://circuitco.com/support/index.php?title=BeagleBoneBlack

 

What do the rest of you think ?   I don't expect this to displace the Pi anytime soon, but I expect it to be very attractive to those people who don't simply want to put XBMC on it and duct tape it to the back of the TV..

  • in reply to Former Member

    coder27 wrote:

     

    Ever since hearing that word, I've been looking for an opportunity to use [opprobrium]

    in a sentence.  Maybe Eben was just doing the same.

    Good luck -- I think the concept of shame went out of style back in the 20th Century, at least in the USA.  The New York Times just published an article about this: Politicians Are Slowed by Scandal, but Many Still Win the Race.  It compares Gary Hart's "monkey business" which ended his political career in 1988 with the politics of today.  Now voters don't seem to care what you do as long as you apologize with enough fake sincerity and tell voters what they want to hear.

  • in reply to johnbeetem

    John Beetem wrote:

     

    The New York Times just published an article about this: Politicians Are Slowed by Scandal, but Many Still Win the Race.  It compares Gary Hart's "monkey business" which ended his political career in 1988 with the politics of today.  Now voters don't seem to care what you do as long as you apologize with enough fake sincerity and tell voters what they want to hear.

     

    The problem may be just a teeny weeny bit worse than that:

     

    Ex-President Jimmy Carter stated at a meeting in Atlanta a few days ago:

     

    "America has no functioning democracy at this moment".

     

    Any political comment made in the last 20 years probably pales into insignificance compared to that.

     

    But yes, the days of politicians feeling honorbound to resign on scandal are long gone.  As is honor itself.

  • in reply to morgaine

    Morgaine Dinova wrote:

     

    The problem may be just a teeny weeny bit worse than that:

     

    Ex-President Jimmy Carter stated at a meeting in Atlanta a few days ago:

     

    "America has no functioning democracy at this moment".

     

    Any political comment made in the last 20 years probably pales into insignificance compared to that.

     

    But yes, the days of politicians feeling honorbound to resign on scandal are long gone.  As is honor itself.

     

    IMO Jimmy Carter always put honesty, human rights, and human lives ahead of political effectiveness.  He is highly underappreciated in the USA.

  • in reply to morgaine

    "America has no functioning democracy at this moment".

     

    At least it functions enough to scrutinize the charities.

  • in reply to Former Member

    I see the Raspberry Pi Foundation as more of a front for Broadcom than anything else.  I'm sure there are tax incentives for them.

  • Good summary there.

     

    After a year and a half of conflicting statements and contradictory evidence, anyone who has kept their eyes open has probably learned by now not to take RPF sources at face value on any subject, not only on Broadcom support.

     

    I assume it's deliberate tale weaving to project the desired image, because it's hard to imagine so many errors and inconsistencies appearing in any other way.

     

     

    PS. This thread has meandered off-topic, and  Pi vs BBB was a pretty interesting topic which would be sad to lose.  How about splitting the discussion off at  #186 and giving the new thread a title of  "You can't buy the chips" (coder27's appropriate quote) as a good home for examining that issue?

     

    I'm bored to death of RPF silliness anyway, but  Pi vs BBB is a good technical topic, and I'm sure there are many other relevant matters to examine within it.

  • I agree FPF are very silly and their attitude drives people away but they are cambridge people and its how cambridge people think.

    Anyway someone asked me why my clients regreted trying to use the pi in their own projects and the simple reason is that its a badly designed product, almost as you would get from a student project, its outdated, it uses unobtainable parts so if you believe the PRF about it being open source then you think you can relay out the board to incorporate any changes that you might make to the hardware and then you get bitten by the fact that its not open source.

    Its clearly supported by cambridge companies such as broadcomm because they took one look at it and knew that with their man doing the design they would get a slice of the pie if you'll pardon the pun.

  • Frippy Frippy wrote:

     

    It's clearly supported by Cambridge companies such as Broadcom because...

    Broadcom is based in Irvine, [Southern] California though they do have sites all over the world, probably from their many acquistions.  I assume the Cambridge site is the former Alphamosaic Ltd, which created VideoCore.  Broadcom acquired it in 2004.

  • Hey Jimbob - some serious sense talking there.

     

    I really don't get where all  the consporacy is coming from. Broadcom supply chips using a standard chip sale/support agreement, Broadcom provide support for those chips. It's what every chip company does (I know, I come from that background all but outta it now). It a good deal for both sides Ireckon, the Raspberry people get top line support, Broadcom gets top line advertising. Win Win. Not sure why people think its such a big deal or think something shady is going on. All chips sales of this sort of device come with support. Of course there a close relationship - you cant develop stuff like this without it. I'd bet that without broadcom support the damn thinh woudlnt even exist, and the beaglebone black woudlnt exist at the price point it is. You guys need to be grateful, not looking for conspiracies.

     

    If i was still in the industry, I be kicking myself I didn't get that gig. What the Raspberry people have said seem to match all the known facts - nothing shady going on here at all. Broadcom keep on the boss because its great advertising, boss gets paid to do Raspbery pi stuff. Still a win win.

     

    BBT