Is it time to end our love affair with R-PI?

There are already a number of alternatives out there: Libre Computer, Orange Pi, Banana Pi, BeagleBone Black, and more.

Some are more powerful. Some offer additional features (and form factors). All run some form of Linux. And most of them are available today.

If your focus is the GPIO then boards like the BeagleBone are already a better option. And if your focus is a low-cost computing platform, then you can add in the NUC and a ton of other items.

Will the mass market move to one of these? Probably not. With so many options there will just be fragmentation moving forward.

The apparent shift of focus for Raspberry Pi Trading, LTD to industrial/commercial customers does imply it is time for the non-commercial market to consider alternatives.

However, I doubt any will become as ubiquitous as the Pi had been.

What surprises me is that Beaglebone was available way before Raspberry Pi's launch. Yet R-pi has replaced almost every SBC in the market. Not sure why..

IMHO, Marketing and availability of open source collaboration. RPi has a pleasant website aimed at kids and beginners, great support organization,  free online fun project books, all kinds of option cards with libraries, all being continuously improved. 

rsjawale24 I will say dito to robogary's comment. And BTW I really don't care for it, It has almost no I/O but It handles things well, like a complete VOIP phone system but you have to add a IDE drive and a second Network port for the phones via my Cisco VOIP switch.  but the dam thing will not support OpenBSD!! 

I'm going with price point.  The RPi is hard to beat in that category.  At $35, I could afford to try my hand at it and not worry as much about accidentally destroying it.  The Beaglebone is more affordable now, but I remember it being a bit pricey to start.  Some of the other SBC's now are priced beyond consideration for my limited skill set.

I'm going with price point.  The RPi is hard to beat in that category.  At $35, I could afford to try my hand at it and not worry as much about accidentally destroying it.  The Beaglebone is more affordable now, but I remember it being a bit pricey to start.  Some of the other SBC's now are priced beyond consideration for my limited skill set.

kmikemoo said:

Some of the other SBC's now are priced beyond consideration

I agree, those might be good for industry, but for myself as a hobbyist, and for general personal use, other options are much more useable and affordable - like tablets, laptops, those small cube type computers, or even used computers.

Yes, I remember hearing about the Beagle board many, many years ago.  But it was its price point that prevented me from pulling the trigger.

Economy changed. Now the Pi is cheaper but virtually not for sale. The BB is available.

True enough.  Could be worth another look.