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

The RPi provided a full computer with HDMI and USB ports at a revolutionary price. We need to be grateful that this pushed the price of hobby electronic modules down to consumer price points and proved that it was possible to create a successful product using this strategy. The door is now open to someone (including Raspberry) to take this business model to the next level.

Designing a decent computer module that costs between $20 and $50 is no longer hard to imagine. The next level is probably going to be all about the eco system - both hardware and especially software. Imagine a $25 pocket computer that loads self-configuring applications, dragged seamlessly from an app database. Plug and play peripherals. A software development environment that is simple enough to harness a massive number of users developing proper self-configuring apps automatically published in the app database.

It sounds like a smart phone without the display and that may be how it converges, but the  key is an eco system that enables smart people, who are not programmers, to create polished hardware and software applications in their field of expertise.

There are millions of RPIs bought with this promise, but gathering dust because this missing link has not been bridged.

The RPi provided a full computer with HDMI and USB ports at a revolutionary price. We need to be grateful that this pushed the price of hobby electronic modules down to consumer price points and proved that it was possible to create a successful product using this strategy. The door is now open to someone (including Raspberry) to take this business model to the next level.

Designing a decent computer module that costs between $20 and $50 is no longer hard to imagine. The next level is probably going to be all about the eco system - both hardware and especially software. Imagine a $25 pocket computer that loads self-configuring applications, dragged seamlessly from an app database. Plug and play peripherals. A software development environment that is simple enough to harness a massive number of users developing proper self-configuring apps automatically published in the app database.

It sounds like a smart phone without the display and that may be how it converges, but the  key is an eco system that enables smart people, who are not programmers, to create polished hardware and software applications in their field of expertise.

There are millions of RPIs bought with this promise, but gathering dust because this missing link has not been bridged.

"Designing a decent computer module that costs between $20 and $50 is no longer hard to imagine. The next level is probably going to be all about the eco system - both hardware and especially software. Imagine a $25 pocket computer that loads self-configuring applications, dragged seamlessly from an app database. Plug and play peripherals. A software development environment that is simple enough to harness a massive number of users developing proper self-configuring apps automatically published in the app database.

It sounds like a smart phone without the display and that may be how it converges, but the  key is an eco system that enables smart people, who are not programmers, to create polished hardware and software applications in their field of expertise."

That's so far from my vision of computing and learning about it  !

To me it sound like one of Dante's Circles of Hell.

Layer upon layer of unkown code wasting billions of processor cycles while stealing your private information !

My ideal single board computer has a small FPGA on it - if you want a CPU then design your own 

MK

This year I have had my first experiences with FPGAs, and I couldn't agree more with that dream. It's the same feeling as when I was given my first meccano as a child, I could build anything. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time and the meccano did not take me to the moon, but I had fun and learned. That's the same thing I look for as an electronics hobbyist.

Yeah I use a lot of FPGAs in my designs - or if you really want a good SoC look at the PSoC range from Cypress - combining a hard core ARM processor with FPGA style configurable logic. Want 12 UARTS? You got it. Want bespoke timers? You got it. Want PWM galore? You got it. PSoC would make a good basis for an MCU based dev kit. Although it won't run Linux ;-)
If you'd like a low cost flexible Linux platform - how about Onion's Omega 2S+ ?

Yeah there's no doubt the R-PI was revolutionary and kick started a whole generation of great things.
However at the moment the R-PI is a unicorn for most folks.

dougw said:

It sounds like a smart phone without the display and that may be how it converges, but the  key is an eco system that enables smart people, who are not programmers, to create polished hardware and software applications in their field of expertise.

You may not be surprised to learn that in 'newer' communities that revolve around hardware modding, a staple, standard, typical answer is often:

"Why bother doing that when you can just use a smartphone? android phones are cheap, just use one of those"

Mostly gone are the days of encouraging you to customise and roll your own with electronic components.

Path of least resistance I suppose.

Reminds me of when I first was starting out in electronics and the ol' timers used to spurn the likes of the 555 timer as a waste of money and 'much better to do it with discrete components'.

Through the years I've seen this shift and the ol' timers spurn the microcontroller as a waste of time and money and 'much better to do it with a 555 timer'.

In later years, this has shifted again with microcontroller vs SBC and again with SBC vs smartphone... 

I think that doing things with your smartphone is a good choice, if you want to learn software modding.

If your path is electronics, smartphone may be a component, but not a platform.

Half yes, half no

a SBC will only replace a microcontroller if neither budget nor power consumption are at play. 

I think we sometimes suffer from Maker Blindness. Consumer industry thinks differently.

cstanton said:

"Why bother doing that when you can just use a smartphone?

I’ve thought that. Part of finding the right solution is to be open to possibilities. I feel that’s also a maker way of thinking: using things in forms that aren’t their main purpose.

Depending on the purpose, a smart phone or tablet might be the right option. I’m using a smart phone right now, for example, and not a Raspberry Pi  

For many of my projects they are definitely not the right option. I’m not sure how you’d run a server on an old phone, for example… that might be cool though 

"Layer upon layer of unkown code wasting billions of processor cycles while stealing your private information"

This sounds like you are describing almost every smart phone and connected computer already in existence...

For some reason one or two people still want  their smart phones...