

Pricing updates for Raspberry Pi - Ecio78
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/826

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kennywinker
I understand their reasons for doing this, and I appreciate their
transparency... but the way raspberry pi has gone about selling their product
is frustrating. I just want to hand over my money and get one as soon as I can
possible have one. I don't want to keep having to check back and sign up for
mailing lists and register my interest etc. etc. etc.

The sooner I can place an order and have my credit card charged, the sooner I
can stop thinking about it and be pleasantly surprised when it arrives on my
doorstep.

~~~
corin_
> _the way raspberry pi has gone about selling their product is frustrating_

Would you rather they not let anyone buy them until they had more than enough
to sell to absolutely everyone who might want one?

Or is there a third option that they should have taken?

~~~
pieter
The other option would be directly selling them themselves, instead of being
at the mercy of a few existing retailers.

I'm not sure that would go smoother, but at least you wouldn't have to go to
each retailer and sign up for their lists or having to check their sites which
one will get a new batch first.

(EDIT: I'm not saying I would think that's a good idea, but I think that's
what the GP meant)

~~~
DanBC
In the future you will be able to buy directly form the few existing
retailers.

The only reason that you can't now is because they sold all their product.
Both RS and Farnell are pretty large distributors (worldwide, not just UK) and
should be able to easily meet demand. Only problem is confusion about selling
to individuals not businesses, but that'll get solved.

EDIT: The foundation is a non-profit charity, where everyone involved has
other jobs. That sounds sub-optimal for receiving orders, processing them,
shipping them, and handling returns. It's much better that they've outsourced
that to companies who are in business to sell stuff.

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dsr_
I am pleasantly surprised that this didn't turn out to be an unexpected price
increase.

~~~
zrgiu_
me too. Maybe the op can change the title to also include the "good news!"
part. When I first saw the title I was actually expecting some bad news.

~~~
Ecio78
it looks like I can't edit it, dont know why..

------
franze
> Currently we are restricted in selling to private individuals in Austria
> only.

anybody knows why that's the case?

------
noonespecial
Yeah. A bit disappointing. Its been weeks since the launch, and the only thing
I can do is register my interest in a product that, even when available here
in the USA is coming very close to being double the magic $25 I was hoping
for(1).

I somewhat infamously predicted last December that if the RasPi had trouble
shipping and didn't deliver on the crazy low price that made it nearly
disposable that the magic could be lost.

It seems to me that they are one "Beaglebone" clone (shaving an Andy Jackson
off the price) away from irrelevance. In many ways, the 'bone is already way
ahead with "cape" addons and a vibrant community.

Now is the time for the foundation to fight relentlessly for their core
principles. Cheap, open, available. I want to believe.

(1) I am aware that only B is for sale and the $25 is for A which should
become available at some point.

~~~
beagle3
> when available here in the USA is coming very close to being double the
> magic $25 I was hoping for(1).

You were expecting a free-shipping model A, and instead have to pay for
shipment (the horror!) and only have the model B available (exactly as they
say). If there's any problem here, it lies with your expectations.

You can wait till the Model A becomes available. You can also arrange for
people at your hackerspace to order 100 together to make the shipping cost
negligible. Other than Apple, RP seems to be as good or better at delivering
on their promises as any other vendor. And apple mostly deliver on their
promises because they hardly ever make any.

~~~
corin_
> _You can also arrange for people at your hackerspace to order 100 together
> to make the shipping cost negligible_

Out of interest, is this currently possible with their one-per-person
restriction? If not, would be nice if there was a way for people to group
together and get one-each, all in a single shipment.

~~~
beagle3
I do not know, but I suspect their one-per-person restriction is "one per
person, unless you can convince us that you are not a scalper, and plan to
order > 100 to make our time checking out your explanation worth its while".

I suspect if a well known hackerspace (SF Noisebridge, NYC Resistor,
PumpStation One, Nottinghack) made such a request, they could get it.

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ars
I really wish it had VGA output, without that it's useless to me since I have
no spare monitors to connect to it.

~~~
augustl
HDMI => DVI => VGA should work, no? A lot of adapters, but at least you'll get
a signal out of it.

~~~
ars
I checked - those adapters cost more than the Raspberry Pi! Around $50.

The cheap cables you may be thinking of require the device to output a VGA
signal.

~~~
linker3000
Not ideal, but you can get composite (CVBS) to VGA converters for about £15 on
eBay.

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chj
any one actually lay hands on this thing?

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SandersAK
I'm confused. I just put in a pre-order for three of these via Newark. Has
that changed?

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itmag
I'm seeing this Raspberry Pi meme on HN a lot lately so I guess I should look
into it?

What kind of cool things will I be able to do with it exactly?

~~~
itmag
Haters be downvotin' instead of answering my honest question.

So far I know of 0 cool uses for a Raspberry Pi. I don't have time to research
every new HN trend in detail either. That's why I ask for a summary of what
this thing can do for me.

~~~
nitrogen
_I don't have time to research every new HN trend in detail either._

So in your laziness, you expect us to do it for you?

~~~
itmag
[http://raspberrypihacks.com/raspberry-pi-hacks/some-of-
the-b...](http://raspberrypihacks.com/raspberry-pi-hacks/some-of-the-best-
raspberry-pi-ideas-and-uses-ive-seen-so-far/)

