Hi Bill, keep on making the video's. The people who watch them probably have a lot of them just like I do. And your video's are realy good thanks for that.

Like so many others, I love your presentations and hope you will keep putting them out. I also use them for educating myself about devices I want to get familiar with. Another idea, there may be a lot of followers that like me cannot bring themselves to throw away old or broken e-junk. So you might branch into salvage methods and projects.
 
Hope you are feeling better.

I have noticed that OrangePi have upped their game recently.  Documentation and the website generally is much better.  They have come out with a RaspberryPi 400 competitor.  They are creating an OrangePi OS that they maintain and should work across their boards.  So it seems like they are trying to be a competitor to RaspberryPi org.  AliExpress has a lot of OrangePi boards.

Here is a link to a comparison of RaspberryPi and OrangePi SBCs.  This is a google spreadsheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NQ0CYVEBofLfrJ3tGrYejHIvEwafUWy1FFL57wOR6ds/edit?usp=sharing

I was creating a little presentation on this topic, but here is the slide that shows images of the boards side by side.  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Hv74wt3rqkt7vSn51FA7VZ89_MQtGDrQuVA-caXH-IM/edit?usp=sharing

I have not yet done a thorough test of these boards, so I am not yet recommending them.  But they match up feature-wise very well with RaspberryPi, they include LTS versions,  they are available and they are pre-pandemic priced.

The chip shortage is a temporary thing and you should keep producing content for a very popular platform.

Like the TP production dislocation caused by the pandemic - not enough TP for home use and a glut of TP for commercial use - the chip production has likewise been displace such that car manufacturers shut down and everyone working from home bought phones, computers and pretty much anything with a chip. Add to that a perfect storm of factory fires, natural disasters and idiot central planners in a central panic ... etc. 

So ... keep the content coming ... this too will pass.

Regards

Regarding your latest newsletter, Bill, I vote to keep going with the Raspberry Pi. As @dxj opines, this chip shortage is temporary. Many of us have a spare Pi lying around, and we appreciate the ideas and explanations you provide.

I noted that when the shortage began, it was mainly with the 8GB Pi4, then the 4GB, and now it's almost everything. It seems like there are two main "categories" of Pi users. Those who want the "biggest, fastest" and those who want to do something with the smallest and least expensive SBC.

How about comparing a project of your choice using a 2GB vs an 8GB? Or a Pi4 vs the smallest "any Pi" it will run on? Just a thought . . . instead of looking for Pi replacements, we could see if we need the latest and greatest. That's my 2-cents worth. 😎 

@veteran68 Thanks for providing that information. Got a kick out of the name. I bought an Apple Macintosh Quadra 950 years ago, about 150 times the price for less memory and speed. However, as a professional purchase, it did the job and was worth it as a daily driver. Cheers 😀 

Good question, Bill. Part of it relates to the "in-between" nature of the Pi. Yes, it's a real Linux computer, but it does have those GPIO pins and good support for a lot of operations, such as I2C protocol, etc.

Three or four years ago, I would just think of a Pi first for any of my own projects, as a computer with desktop, exploring security cameras, timelapse photography. I still use my original Pi (the one without any mounting holes at all) as DNS server with Pi-Hole. A lot of this could be done with the Inovato Quadra, and I may well get one. (OK, not the things connecting with the CSI camera interface.)

However, I have always appreciated your focus on the small devices, things I could actually buy and try out, as an experiment. I do have one idea: projects which use one SBC and one microcontroller. The Linux SBC might not have GPIO, but it can have WiFi and Bluetooth. Some microcontrollers have those wireless connection methods, so let the SBC control the smaller device and then get status back. You've done some great projects involving wireless communication of one kind or another. Cheers, and best wishes. John.

P.S. In my "lab," where the fun happens, I use a RPi 4 / 8GB as my daily driver. Mostly, it is for watching Bill's videos over and over, until I get it right, and can connect my own circuit correctly. 😉 

I am also trying to save up for a Linux workstation computer similar to the one in your article:

Build a Developers Linux Workstation

but I, er, got diverted because my PIR sensors were naked, without any enclosures. So I told myself I finally just had to have a 3D printer . . . 

Dear Sir,

I would like to see more content regarding the pi family. The chip shortage will be overcome sooner or later. And I like to take my time with your videos, they are very comprehensive and I watch them in several steps, sometimes more than once, to get the full understanding. While I am at it: Thank You for the good work - keep it up!

Kind Regards

Klaus

Some suggested that it was the Virus that has caused issues, I would normally agree. In this case I think it could come down to workers, rather than silicon.

The reasoning is that other electronics have been flying off the storerooms just fine (apart from GPUs)

@dazza FYI @iserlohn The chip shortage is caused by several factors. Covid certainly escalated the problem, but the shortage was predicted earlier due to continuing consumer demand and the long lead times required to build fab plants. With so many more people staying home demand increased even faster. If you are following the news, you will know it is only going to get worse in the short term due to the 3 respiratory viruses currently on the loose(so far) and China is spiking hard again so full plant lockouts are probably going to happen again. At 80 I don't have many years left and I was hoping that certain boards I am looking for as well as pricing would come back into line early summer 2023. The latest news re China now makes me wonder if we will recover before 2024.

@zander 

At 80 I don't have many years left ...

My father in law is 92 and still has all his marbles although he doesn't move around as fast anymore 🙂

@robotbuilder I certainly move slower as well, but I have also lost a lot up top and will likely continue to. Very frustrating.

I would like to see any new content that you make. I also have a few pis around, and can take one of my in-use pis to build another project. Like a number of other people here I assume that the pi shortage is temporary so I can replace mine as they become available. Thanks for your great site Bill, looking forward to new videos soon. Thanks.

@barry7 Your statement

I assume that the pi shortage is temporary 

WAS going to be correct with summer 2023 being the end or at least the beginning of the end BUT with China now back into major outbreaks of Covid and full lockdowns again possible we could easily be another 6 to 12 months longer yet again. I spend a good part of my days now trying to figure out a cost effective and technically doable solution that a Pi ZERO and some off the shelf software can solve. I am not making much progress and even the odd board I found to replace the ZERO has increased in price as well.

100k PIs being shipped to distributors according to the Register.

Raspberry Pi shortage is abating just in time for holidays • The Register