The Pi is similar in power to the original Xbox GPU-wise but not CPU-wise. From the FAQ, here: http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs
Overall real world performance is something like a 300MHz Pentium 2
This simply isn't true. XBMC on the Raspberry Pi is actually a rather poor experience. The Ouya is reputed to be powerful enough to decode H.264 in at least 1080p24 (using the ARM CPUs NEON instructions on all four of its cores) if need be, i.e. no video decode hardware acceleration necessary This ability might come in handy with some non-standard H.264 content that the Pi can't play.
Future samples are approved for sale as a standalone product because "they boot", which obviously qualifies them to ship.
Isn't that the same criteria the Raspberry Pi Foundation used?
Liz can be just so incredibly abrasive sometimes. She once implied I was a lunatic when I complained about the Raspberry Pi's USB issues. How a person like her ends up doing PR is beyond me, although she appears to have done a good job with the media side of things.
Ok, so you're saying that it makes sense to risk frying a $500 laptop instead of a $25 Pi? Riiiight.
Only an idiot would connect something capable of damaging their computer directly to it. This is what opto-isolators are for.
And when you say "underpowered", that's because you hadn't realised that the SoC was designed to go into hi-def PVRs or BluRay players, so it has a muscular GPU, and the "underpowered" ARM CPU was an afterthought...and you haven't kept up with the news,
You're making an incorrect assumption. I say the Raspberry Pi is underpowered because there are similar SoCs available that have ARM Cortex A8 or A9 CPUs in them which are clocked higher than the older ARM1176JZF-S CPU in the Pi and which support the newer ARMv7 architecture versus the Pi's ARMv6. This is a big deal since ARMv7 CPUs can run at their full potential using standard armhf Linux distributions.
Also, the GPU in the Pi isn't as powerful as the Raspberry Pi Foundation would have people believe. Just look at the results Luc Verhaegen has achieved with the supposedly much weaker GPU in the Allwinner A10.
Instead of putting up with the buggy and underpowered Raspberry Pi you could just spend $15 and use GPIO with your existing computer: http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G135390529643
Hey Luc, why not drop round the Raspberry Pi forum and tell them about this. As you know they are a friendly bunch of guys and will want to offer you their congratulations.
For the benefit of those who don't realize it, this is sarcasm. Read this and see both Eben and Liz Upton at their "charming" best and you'll understand: http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2221
It's a pity the mainstream media haven't mentioned these sorts of events which have occurred numerous times on their forums. The Raspberry Pi Foundation and the Raspberry Pi apologists ought to brace themselves though, the PR bubble and hype surrounding the Pi won't last forever. Eventually reality will prevail.
The Ouya will provide a greatly superior XBMC experience I'm sure. XBMC is simply too sluggish to be truly usable on the Pi.
While there have been quality control problems recently which the Raspberry Pi Foundation has downplayed the USB issues are inherently a result of the notorious USB controller in the BCM2835 SoC that the Pi uses. They've actually just hired a Broadcom employee full-time now to address these problems after many months of complaints, see this thread: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=30764&p=270951
They are long overdue in taking this issue seriously but better late than never. Hopefully they'll have some success but I would be extremely surprised if the isochronous transfer problems are ever solved.
Your perception that one socket for power is better than another is ridiculous, BTW. A USB wall wart is no different to a wall wart with some 1.3mm connector.
I don't think he was referring to the physical design, rather to the very real issues regarding USB power. My argument is that if the Raspberry Pi was competently designed these issues would be much less of a problem than they are.
As for programmability, which is what actually matters, Mali 400 has no open source driver except some reverse-engineered garbage. The GPU on the Pi does, and it's code from the manufacturer.
No it doesn't, they just made the source of a message passing interface available, i.e. it's just a shim, not an actual driver. See here: http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2221 and http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTIxNDk
Running off of USB power is just ridiculous.
Not really. The way the Raspberry Pi uses USB power is flawed though. The power supply connected to the Pi's Micro-USB connector is merely passed through to USB devices when it should be regenerated instead. Doing this would improve reliability with power supplies that output lower than USB spec voltage, i.e. less than 4.75 volts.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation is an NPO. Their goal is not to sell shit loads of Raspberry Pis and rake in money for shareholders, but to promote a platform for children to learn about computers and hopefully as a result increase the number of competent programmers and otherwise IT literate people joining the workforce.
Yes, but what pays for this promotion? Sales of the Raspberry Pi do.
This is why increasing the specs of the Pi is not relevant. They are NOT in an arms race with other hardware manufacturers, and changing the platform often would just mean more work for them, and it would probably fragment the platform, since everyone would have a different version and newer software would not work on the older models unless it ignored the features of the newer boards.
But if you could could get something similar both in function and in price to the Raspberry Pi but with more RAM and a faster processor then why would you buy a Pi instead?
What is research but a blind date with knowledge? -- Will Harvey
