

$25 PC priced like a textbook, works with old analog TVs - ukdm
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/why-a-25-pc-because-its-the-price-of-a-textbook-2011091/

======
gravitronic
There's a second story here.

Want to build this board yourself? You can't. Try to find information about
this Broadcom BCM2835 chip. It only leads back to the Raspberry Pi (and a
teardown of the roku 2 media player). Broadcom has not released even a 1-page
summary datasheet on this chip. The only specs released are in relation to the
Raspberry Pi.

I work for a small tech company that would LOVE to be able to use this chip
and as of today it's impossible to even get the datasheet unless you are in
"the club" of trusted broadcom customers (or their employee, as one raspberry
pi creator is apparently?)

Will this chip ever be sold to the public?

~~~
joezydeco
Not just an employee, but an associate technical director at Broadcom. Others
have found that the Raspberry Pi blog posts and etc are coming from Broadcom
addresses. They're doing this on company time.

Earlier I thought this was a good marketing thing. Other companies like TI are
doing this to get chips in the hands of hackers and spread some goodwill
towards future commercial users of their chips.

But, as others have noted, Broadcom is a lot more standoffish with individuals
that want access to sample parts and datasheets. So what is Broadcom gaining
here? Inroads into educational markets? Access to open-source code written by
tinkerers that they can incorporate into future EVKs and chipsets?

Maybe this odd part # is just a series of chips that have failed speedbinning
and are being sold off cheaply?

~~~
ebenupton
Would you believe me if I told you we're just nice guys, who used to be kids
who couldn't afford computers?

~~~
gravitronic
Hi Eben.

Sorry, I don't mean to detract from what you're doing. I think it's great. I'm
very very excited for the Raspberry Pi, both personally and to see what it
does globally.

I'm mostly just curious why the chip isn't publicly available. That's all. I
personally hope to be able to use this chip in other designs.

~~~
ebenupton
Comparatively few Broadcom chips are available via channel partners.
Unfortunately that's just the way our business model works.

~~~
sneak
Well, if the RP organization is getting them for their boards, why not resell
them to hobbyists for cost or a very small margin to fund further research?

"Your business" here refers to Broadcom, when the internet generally thinks
you're Raspberry Pi. That's the rub.

------
6ren
With 700MHz ARM11 cpu (Broadcom BCM2835), if they had 1GB of RAM, it would be
pretty close to a mainstream device (1GB is about $10 now, though they're
using low power ram on the device).

 _See also:_ Demo: Raspberry Pi running Quake 3
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2932910> \----- Raspberry Pi - The alpha
boards are here <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2880507> \----- Raspberry
Pi $25 PC goes into alpha production
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2822255>

------
reemrevnivek
$25 for a textbook? If only! I spend $50-$300 per class for engineering
textbooks.

Also, the analog port is, I believe, only available on the $35 version of the
Raspberry Pi. It also works with HDMI and DVI (the latter through an adapter),
so you don't need to go scrounging for an analog TV.

~~~
qxb
I think the comparison is supposed to be with high / secondary school
textbooks, which are cheaper than university ones. Raspberry Pi is a charity
"to promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at
school level" and the device is aimed, in part at least, for use in teaching
programming to children.[1]

[1] <http://www.raspberrypi.org/?page_id=2>

~~~
nitrogen
If only that were the case... When I was in high school, replacing a lost
Calculus textbook would have cost $120.

------
asolove
In the last few weeks I've tinkered with the idea of doing hardware hacking.
This and the plug-computers look like they have an interesting future. Where
do you start to learn to hack real hardware? (I can do Arduino stuff, but
seems like there is a big jump I don't know how to make.)

~~~
Palomides
what sort of "hack real hardware" do you want to do?

~~~
asolove
I was going to say something else, but I thought, people should just say their
dreams, even if they sound crazy, and maybe they'll find someone who can make
it happen. So here goes:

I have a particular dream to open up an Android tablet; get plan9 running on
it so I can share my screen, peripherals, files, and programs across a local
network; and hack a keyboard onto the back so I can code while standing on the
subway. Rough silly mockups here: [http://electriceloquence.net/articles/re-
imagining-mobile-ha...](http://electriceloquence.net/articles/re-imagining-
mobile-hacking)

~~~
loup-vaillant
The keyboard on the back is a terrific idea. Just a nitpick: I'm begging you,
if you can, straighten those dammed keys.

<http://www.loup-vaillant.fr/articles/better-keyboards>

~~~
asolove
This is an excellent point. In the process of doing research I came across
these ideas. The difficult part is it's easy to find and disassemble split
"ergonomic" keyboards with staggered keys. But I can't find a straight
keyboard that uses two separate control boards, and I don't think I'm going to
be able to make my own control boards anytime soon...

------
zenijin
Personally I think this is fantastic. I wish I could've had something to
tinker with when I was younger, without fear of getting in trouble for messing
it up.

I don't have kids of my own, but I'll probably buy these for my nieces and
nephews, hopefully get them into it young.

I'll likely buy a couple of these for myself, too, to use as media PCs.

------
bugsy
OLPC has a $100 PC, India has a $10 PC, and now these guys have a $25 PC.

What do they all have in common? They all have in common that NONE OF THEM
EXIST. Yes, that's right. These projects get announced as if they are factual
existing devices, with announcements using verb tenses suggesting they are
currently in production and available. But then looking for details we find
that no one is sure what the form of the device will be, or what parts will be
involved because they are not developed products. That is a deceptive
practice. And you know what, people who resort to such deceptive practices
aren't the sorts of persons that can manage to deliver the goods.

edit: wow, downvotes, that is awesome. When downvoting, please also respond
with a web page where I can purchase OLPC for $100, the India PC for $10, or
this one for $25. Thanks.

~~~
soapdog
I have an OLPC XO-1, I used it every week. It is my favorite laptop. I have
very good net access with it and use this little gem for my server maintenance
needs... cool little thing. If OLPC would do another give-1-get-1, I would
pick three.

Now, I want do a little bulk order of Raspberry Pis when they are available
and see what I can do with them for my community.

About the downvotes, you COULD buy an OLPC for $200 during the give 1 get 1
phase. I got mine, if you were truly interested in these projects, you would
knew that. You're just a flamer...

~~~
bugsy
How is it a flame? The $100 OLPC doesn't exist, the $10 India PC doesn't exist
and this $25 PC doesn't exist. You confirm this with your post and then claim
I am flaming and downvotes warranted.

If they exist, where are they?

I might as well post about the $75 automobile we have for sale, details on
engine and number of wheels not available as we haven't decided, but the one
thing we know is it's $75. Completely absurd to be taking such a claim
seriously. The product doesn't exist. Pointing to products that cost
substantially more doesn't prove anything. I can buy a new ASUS Eee PC 1015PE
Seashell with 1GB RAM, a 1.66GHz processor and a 160GB hard drive for $200.
That is something that is for sale and being produced by a for-profit company.
OPLCs produced for $200 are not evidence that the $100 OPLC exists. The $100
OPLC never existed, nor did the $10 Indian PC, nor does this $25 PC claim.

~~~
a_bad_dream
The Raspberry Pi doesn't exist because products take time to develop. However,
the progress we have seen indicates that it is on track to be launched in
November, exactly when they said it would be.

~~~
bugsy
Fantastic, I look forward to purchasing a complete functioning PC for $25. I
hope someone is taking preorders somewhere too.

------
Ein2015
Where do I get $25 textbooks?

~~~
yardie
The same place you get 50 cent antibiotics and $1 DVDs. If you are in the US,
UK, CA, or western europe no need to apply. The publishers have decided you
can pay more and will charge you thusly.

Or try to get one of the international students to give you theirs. Makes you
laugh internally to know you spent $100s of dollars on engineering textbooks
while the internationally student sitting next to you has the same one in
paperback and probably paid $10 for it. And that's if their government
scholarship doesn't include the book stipend.

~~~
oacgnol
Buying international versions was one trick I wish I had learned when I was
just starting college. It would have saved me a lot of money over time for the
same content.

~~~
yardie
You used to be able to do so through Amazon but the publishers caught on
fairly quickly. I managed to get a bio book that way, my ex-gf bought her
organic chemistry books ($$$) this way as well. The next semester they were no
longer visible even when searching by ISBN.

------
nitrogen
What's to stop some consumer electronics manufacturer from buying Raspberry
Pis and building them into a device? I'd actually like to do that myself, but
if they're selling the boards at cost, that wouldn't be sustainable.

~~~
loup-vaillant
While the 25$ model certainly costs them, the 35$ one may not. Plus, if they
have massive commands, they may be able to invoke some economy of scale.

------
donnaware
Can you say vaporware?

