Raspberry Pi Replacements

I would like to see some comparisons of the different alternative boards, though I don't have anything to contribute about which ones are worth comparing.

What I do want to say is I often watch your videos that are years old, well before the Pi shortage started, so my 2c is to just keep making videos. I actually follow through on very few projects, due to time, but its still entertaining and informative to watch. On-top of that people will continue to watch your videos years into the future when the Pi shortage is over.

Keep Making Videos!

Always enjoy them and we can always try them once we get back to having parts. Most of us probably have a few to explore with anyway...

Also hope your health issues are resolved. 

Ive learned alot from your videos!

I say wait on PI projects until we can all enjoy more supply.  Like many folks on the response I have a number of RPIs.  Each one has it's merits but the Pi Zero 2W is just the right fit for so many cool IoT projects. And of course the PICO W.

Truly appreciate all the time and effort you put into shows. I know they take a GREAT deal of time but you always look like you're having fun and that's what makes it special.

Tom

Hey Bill,

Quite an interesting issue we are all facing here in the computer world. Personally speaking I have 2 Raspberry Pis and I am holding on to them dearly as replacements are so difficult to source at this point in time. I think that you should make some new videos on some Pi based projects. I think that in the intro you should state what is going on with the shortage and apologize if someone wishes to follow along on their own, but cannot source a board. I think it would be wise to also ensure that people do not buy poorly made/documented boards and those that are overpriced. Regarding replacements I have nothing I can offer as I myself have not had a chance to poke around the internet to find out what is good and bad.

Happy to hear you're doing well!

Hello Bill,

I enjoy your video's especially the ones related to robotics. Please continue making video's even if the used equipement is hard to get at the moment, your explanation is also valuable and useful in other projects. The video can always be archived for later use. 

I hope this will help you make a decision.

Best regards

Hi Bill

I too am sorry to hear about your health issues and wish you a full and speedy recovery. 

I think that you have detailed the pros and cons of the issue at hand. It seems to me that it is a classic six of one, half a dozen or the other. In such cases there is really no right answer. 

So my opinion would be go with what you want to do, mate. I think the posts here show that people truly appreciate your work and will be happy with anything you graciously offer up.

PS... A RasPi will set you back between AUD$250 and $400 down under at the moment. At those prices, I will not be designing any projects around them any time soon... unfortunately. 

PI PICO...  

The Pico has brought sooo much money to them that they are going to keep that alive no matter what.

I strongly recommend thinking of all you most important projects you've already done for the regular pi and create all new videos for how to get those projects up and running with the pico.  also add a link to the project as it was when you make it originally for the regular pi.

I also suspect that a new Pi 5 will be announced in 2023 however, if that doesnt happen then you would already be well on your way with the pico.

The pico will be around for years because of soo much interest from big companies looking for the chips and inexpensive microcontrollers.

For me, i have a vested interest in making my own pico-based personal handheld computer.  I also know that Microcenter has made it super easy to get the pico (always limit one per customer per day)  I have about 10 ish of them so if i screw up then i'm good.

there is:

Pico (regular non-soldered)

Pico-H (has headers soldered already)

new Pico-W which is not soldered but has wireless but they moved the debug headers and now the LED is controlled through the wireless chip instead of directly through GP25. but all else i think is the same.

Please consider this, your regular pi projects have been extremely helpful for everyone i know.  Having your expertise create more videos (Regular Pi Dronebot Workshop Projects remade for the Pi Pico series) would be most very welcome

Grrr. RPI...Grrrr. If I remember correctly, the whole foundation was based on the idea

there would be an affordable computer for every kid in England...Where did idea go ?

I have had to dig up an old RPI 3b+ to run some Radio Amateur WSPR software.

The 4 just wouldn't handle it because Broadcom changed the way dma was done in its chip. Sigh. 

I think the best thing to do is forget about worshipping at the altar of RPI and move

to lots of Teensys or lots of ESP32s.

I am sure a lot of the software running on RPIs can be ported to these other boards.

When I was building robots, I decided against the RPI because it didn't do good real-time and

it was power hungry. 

Also, flexibility is imperative. What happens if a new microprocessor

breakout board comes out with a 125 sample/second ADC with a nifty chip to do the calculations ?

I have sincere doubt it will be a RPI.

Posted by: @sticks

PS... A RasPi will set you back between AUD$250 and $400 down under at the moment. At those prices, I will not be designing any projects around them any time soon... unfortunately. 

Yes, I would never pay that inflated price for them. It's not only Raspberry Pi boards though, have you tried to buy a Jetson Nano lately?  Of course, in the case of the Nano it is discontinued, which is a shame as it would have been my first Pi replacement choice.

Posted by: @ucmrich

PI PICO...  

The Pico has brought sooo much money to them that they are going to keep that alive no matter what.

I strongly recommend thinking of all you most important projects you've already done for the regular pi and create all new videos for how to get those projects up and running with the pico.  also add a link to the project as it was when you make it originally for the regular pi.

 I fully intend to keep making Pico (and Pico W) videos and articles, but it is not a replacement for the Pi 4 or Zero 2 W. The Pico is a microcontroller, whereas the other Pi boards are microcomputers. Huge difference! I want something that I can run Linux on.

Posted by: @diverbw

I bought a single Orange Pi board to learn on, but see very little content to help me in my quest.

 That seems to be common with many of the Pi replacements.  

Posted by: @benny

I am gradually replacing all my RPIs with the Odroid-C4 (the U3's successor) which is on par performance wise with the RPI4.

 I will certainly look into the Odroid-C4, thank you for the recommendation. Odroid seems to have a number of other interesting boards as well, and I like the fact that they actually seem to be in stock.  Lots of the Pi applications I have in mind don't require WiFi (and I prefer wired connections when given the choice anyway). 

Posted by: @sysguru

I would prefer you keep using what you have in stock, whether that is Raspberry Pi or Arduino.

😎

Posted by: @zander

Bill, use your existing boards and keep the content flowing as long as your health is back to 100%. Once boards are available we will all catch up. 

😎

Posted by: @ianhun

My vote would definitely be to stick with the rpi sbc for now - my wife is already aghast at the amount of hardware I have in my study, without you encouraging me to buy more!

😎 

Posted by: @dubbeldrank

If the dilemma is between making videos or Pi hunting, the answer is definitely: make more videos

Thank you all for your feedback, both here and via email - I've received a few hundred responses to my newsletter and I am reading each one!  And I appreciate the kind words and well-wishes too, thanks!

The consensus (here & email) seems to be to continue projects based upon the Raspberry Pi, despite the current shortage.

😎

Bill

Bill,

I'm sorry to hear about your health.  I hope you are on the mend and will keep you in my prayers.

My thought is to continue with the raspberry pi content with the boards you already have.  If you get some alternatives from others that would work great.  But I'm guessing the chip shortage is effecting those manufacturers as well like you suggested.  I would rather see your content continue with your stock.

Thank you for all you do!

I would prefer not to have to learn another platform so I'm happy to see your Pi 4 videos and refer to them in the future.

@dronebot-workshop

I am still playing with the original RPi so apart from a few new sensors and a nice touch screen for the Rpi I see no reason to keep buying the latest and greatest when there is fun stuff that you can do with what your already have particularly if you are into software. If it was useful and fun three years ago it still is as are your old videos 🙂  So I suggest anything you find fun to explore will interest other people.

@dronebot-workshop

Bill, more than happy for you to continue making video's, irrespective of the boards you have.

I however, did come across another board not yet mentioned:

ZimaBoard (YouTube)

https://www.zimaboard.com

Wishing you all the best and a speedy recovery.

Cheers

I sent this to Bill via email but figured I'd repost it here for everyone, since there doesn't seem to be as much awareness of it.

For those projects that don't require GPIO or dedicated GPU workloads, a great Pi alternative is the the Inovato Quadra. This originated as an Android TV box design that was repurposed as a mini-PC running Armbian, a Debian distro for ARM-based computers. It runs most Pi software and includes a GUI tool to install Pi packages.

It has roughly the same processing power as a 3B+, but comes with a nice case, power supply, and HDMI cable ready to go for only $29 USD. For an extra $10 you can upgrade to the Plus model that includes a 4-port USB hub and a USB dongle with BT and upgraded WiFi. Great for non-GPIO projects like PiHole, Octoprint, Klipper, Home Assistant, etc.

I got one to play with, not expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised. I'm planning to convert my current Pi 3 & 4 projects that don't need GPIO over to the Quadra, so I can save those rare Pi's for electronics/GPIO projects.

Bill:

I love your work!  I agree that is hard to find a Single Board Computer (SBC) with as much computer speed and power (without being a total power hog) as a Rpi.  

An alternative that I have used recently to circumvent costs is a "Thinclient."  I find these with adequate performance power, but they also take a heavier power supply.  They also don't have a set of GPIOs.  They work well with most of the Linux distros, and make great little servers.  I thought it would be a good "mention" in this part of the forum.