Pi availability

Posted by: @zander

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Not sure where to post this, but I got notified yesterday that all models of the Pi are starting to flow at pre-Covid levels. Pi 4 2GB & 4GB are available NOW in quantities of 5, while the 8GB and Zero 2's will be coming in a couple of weeks. I have yet to see that improvement in Canadian stores, but I suspect that will happen in 2 weeks or so. Remember, there will be no new Pi this year, but there is a good chance (in my opinion) that the fall of 2024 will see the next Pi, most likely Pi 5. I am guessing the SD card might finally disappear, and support for NVMe might be either an option or standard with a new all-in-one Pi 500 replacing the 400 with NVMe built in. If that happens, it will be my new *nix box.

The Raspberry Pi section under "Components and Programming" would make more sense, but I'm flexible...

I don't keep track of Raspberry Pi much.  But why would you say they'd ax the SD card?  It may not be the best performing hard drive, but for a cheap, computer with a "disk" of any size you need seems to be still quite compelling.  What is the alternative?  If they made me buy some expensive / wired equivalent that I have to power separately, my Raspberry Pi 4 will be my last.

@zander

When I visited an electronics store to see if they had any RPi4 in stock they suggested this instead?

https://www.altronics.com.au/p/zr6302g-rock-model-4c-plus-single-board-computer/

@robotbuilder Yep, I think Bill covered that board in his alternatives. The point is if you do NOT want to try an alternative, then the wait is or very soon will be over. It looks like you are in AU, and I understand your country po's China even more than my Country so they may be continuing to mess with you. Good luck with that.

@inq I have not used the SD card since USB boot became supported, and now I believe default behaviour. If I needed an SD card for storage when a USB drive wouldn't work, then an optional HAT would be possible, but this is 2023, so I think maybe it's time to put the SD card alongside the tape drive of the 80s. In fact, I have a multi-device dongle that connects to the Pi or laptop via USB and supports SD and USB 3 and USB 2. Same idea as a USB HUB (powered even better). It will depend on the available board real estate, especially if they want to maintain the same form factor. Just my guess from my perspective, I am sure many will agree and disagree, but even I hope they maintain a way to add it back in as an option for those who need it.

Posted by: @zander

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I have not used the SD card since USB boot became supported, and now I believe default behaviour.

The boot sequence is a configurable option, with the SD card being given preference if desired, but if normally booting from USB drive, then it usual to have it boot from the SD card if the operating system cannot find USB device to boot from.

Posted by: @zander

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I am guessing the SD card might finally disappear, and support for NVMe might be either an option or standard with a new all-in-one Pi 500 replacing the 400 with NVMe built in.

My money is on a hybrid pi that includes a rp4020 chip as well as whatever chip the Rpi 4 uses.   I don't think theres much milage is boosting the the Rpi 4 further into a desktop type of offering as the price of the cheaper end of small boxes that can happily run windows or linux is now in the ballpark of the larger rpi4's. And its easy to add GPIO's via i2c to PC's and Mac's with an add-on board such as the adafruit FT232H.  I think whatever their latest Rpi4 type of box turns out to be it will be aimed at the education/maker community rather than just another desktop type of PC.  - Just a bit of Byronic speculation over my cuppa and very likely amorphous twaddle 😀 

@byron I was definitly showing my bias for sure but the biggest market for the Pi4 is the industrial sector (44%). Not sure how many are sold into the education especially outside the UK so we hobbyists are either the 2nd or 3rd largest sector with at most 30% I would guess. I recently shopped for a cheap Windows box and they are still 3x the cost of a top-end Pi, at least in Canada. The cheapest Pi is now $4 for the PICO so I don't see a low end product especially since Pi had to increase the price on their lowest price offering due to increased costs. Time will tell.

@zander

Posted by: @zander

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@robotbuilder Yep, I think Bill covered that board in his alternatives.

Must have missed it.  I just went to the Dronebot Workshop, so many projects and tutorials! I typed ROCK into the search but nothing turned up.

I still have my RPi on the back of an LCD touch screen with camera attached and wireless keyboard sitting in a drawer unused apart from flashing a led and reading a push button so I decided not to buy the Rock.

@robotbuilder It may be he didn't look at the ROCK specifically, but there are a few competitors out there. The question is do ANY of the competitors have the staying power and full infrastructure re support etc? I have a couple of competitor boards but have yet to do anything with them partially due to a lack of examples and support etc.