Video Raspberry Pi Now Has Distributors -- and Will Soon Have Boards for All (Video) 304
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In an exclusive Transatlantic Skype conversation with Slashdot editor Timothy Lord recorded on Feb. 22, Raspberry Pi project leader Eben Upton talks about the state of Raspberry Pi, and tells us that yes -- finally -- they now have distributors in the U.S. and other countries instead trying to ship every unit from the U.K. Even better, instead of buying a batch of boards, selling them, and only then ordering another batch, the new distribution agreements mean they can keep a steady flow of orders coming in and going out. One slight downer is that people who have donated to the project may not get their Pi(s) right away; the distributors have spoken for all of the current order. Eben talks about this, and about how Raspberry Pi is going to take care of contributors, starting at about 4:15 in the video. You can also look at an in-person interview Tim did with Eben in January -- or wait until the end of today's video for a list of other Raspberry Pi videos.
Cursor (Score:5, Informative)
Mind moving the cursor somewhere else, please?
Don't play automatically (Score:5, Informative)
Electronics supplier DDoS (Score:5, Informative)
They went on sale this morning, and almost immediately downed the websites of two large electronics suppliers (RS and Farnell). By the time I had got to work, the sites were back up but that is largely because they didn't have anymore Raspberry Pis to sell.
That is the kind of reception that Apple wishes the iPad 3 would get (although it probably won't.)
Donators might have to wait? (Score:4, Informative)
I can't help but think that this is a giant "fuck you, revenue comes first" to those who believed in the project from the start. Yeah, even charities have to pay their staff, and I understand that, and I hope I've just misunderstood. Otherwise, poor form guys.
Ordered mine (Score:4, Informative)
Managed to order mine from Farnell this morning. Took almost a whole hour of refreshes & timeouts considering that i already had an account on their site. RS Online did not accepted any orders, they only have a "register for updates" page.
The DDoS of the Farnell & RS-Online servers caused by the announcement was massive (and still is for Farnell).
Re:Don't play automatically (Score:4, Informative)
What you need is a thing called "flashblock" - it's available for all good browsers and doesn't cost a penny.
Re:I love the new business model (Score:4, Informative)
You know, apart from the 10 they sold via E-Bay, this whole project has been a self funded "Not For Profit" charity...??
They activity REFUSED to do pre-orders (and accept money), stating that they would only take money once they had the physical devices in their hands in the UK.
They said it would be a world wide release and all profits would be out back in to building the net batch.
Major disappointment to say the least. (Score:5, Informative)
0700 CET, I hit refresh, again. Suddenly the raspberrypi.org site is alive again.
Huh, who are these Premier Farnell and RS Components companies? I'd expected these in the store on raspberry.com.
Ah well...
Farnell crashes in the first 90 seconds and stays down. RS has a few international sites that occasionally show signs of live. The Raspberry Pi is listed for 27,49 excluding tax. Including tax that $25-$35 computer suddenly sells for $42,50. Ah well.. oh, and 6 euros shipping ex tax. Hm, site crashes again. Hang on, they don't really want to deliver to consumers when an order is less than 50 euros.
Farnell has now been visited by some people and this company is at least as bad. In quite a few countries it seems not to do business with consumers at all.
At almost 1000 I finally manage to stay on a site long enough to actually click something into the basket. By then the feeble stocks have long been depleted.
What I wonder...
- why work with distributors who do NOT want to sell to private individuals?
- why work with consumers who are obviously unwilling or unable to handle a sizeable traffic load?
- Why such a small batch of boards in the first place?
Disappointing all around. I'm sure I'll get one sooner or later but I'm not going to pay a fortune for one.
Model A vs Model B (Score:5, Informative)
This seems to have gotten lost in the commotion, but they also announced that the $25 Model A will be produced with the same amount of RAM as the $35 Model B (256 MB). Originally the Model A was only going to have 128 MB, so now the only difference is the Model B has an ethernet port. The Model A is going into production immediately.
Re:Failed big time (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I love the new business model (Score:5, Informative)
These guys have figured out how to get people to just GIFT them money to develop the product, which they can then sell at a huge profit, that they can keep for themselves.
They are a charity registered as such in England.
You can see their accounts (presented to the British Government) here: http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityWithoutPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1129409&SubsidiaryNumber=0 [charity-co...ion.gov.uk] (but it seems, as they have had a turnover of less than £10000 so far, they don't need to file detailed accounts).
Re:Failed big time (Score:3, Informative)
Paypal is free to use with a bank account. Credit cards can charge significant subscription fees. Combined with the universal acceptance of debit cards and you see relatively few credit cards in this country.
So pay with a debit card.
Re:Is it too much to ask (Score:5, Informative)
You mean you've managed to miss all of the Slashdot stories thus far?
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/02/21/1324246/get-a-glimpse-at-the-raspberry-pi-fedora-remix?utm_source=feedburnerGoogle+Reader&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+(Slashdot)&utm_content=Google+Reader [slashdot.org]
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/02/13/2147203/despite-media-confusion-raspberry-pi-boards-still-on-schedule?utm_source=feedburnerGoogle+Reader&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+(Slashdot)&utm_content=Google+Reader [slashdot.org]
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/02/07/0332248/first-run-of-raspberry-pi-boards-to-be-completed-feb-20th?utm_source=feedburnerGoogle+Reader&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+(Slashdot)&utm_content=Google+Reader [slashdot.org]
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/01/31/203229/why-the-raspberry-pi-wont-ship-in-kit-form?utm_source=feedburnerGoogle+Reader&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+(Slashdot)&utm_content=Google+Reader [slashdot.org]
http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01/25/1543239/xbmc-running-on-raspberry-pi?utm_source=feedburnerGoogle+Reader&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+(Slashdot)&utm_content=Google+Reader [slashdot.org]
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/01/17/0014220/raspberry-pi-25-linux-computer-now-in-production-video?utm_source=feedburnerGoogle+Reader&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+(Slashdot)&utm_content=Google+Reader [slashdot.org]
http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01/11/1332222/british-schoolchildren-to-get-programming-lessons?utm_source=feedburnerGoogle+Reader&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+(Slashdot)&utm_content=Google+Reader [slashdot.org]
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/01/09/1413253/raspberry-pi-gertboard-in-action?utm_source=feedburnerGoogle+Reader&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+(Slashdot)&utm_content=Google+Reader [slashdot.org]
That's just this year.
Re:Failed big time (Score:4, Informative)
I don't think I've ever heard of a credit card charging its customers for transactions or general service - why would anyone use one if they did?
Many cards charge an additional fee for foreign transactions. This might not be a concern if you live and shop in the US, or indeed many large countries (UK, Germany etc). But if you live in a small country there might not be a local retailer for everything.
Re:Failed big time (Score:5, Informative)
The news here really isn't the retailers that have signed up, it is the fact that the distribution model has now changed. The retailers are licensing the board designs and handing their own manufacturing, which means that the 10,000 order limit and months lead time will disappear, since both were limitations of the Pi Foundation not having enough money in the bank to finance large scale manufacturing.
There is absolutely no reason why other manufacturers can't license the designs, e.g. Foxconn could license it, make it in their factories, and ship direct into their existing shipping channels. Chinese factories can turn this out and ship direct on ebay. If the Pi Foundation is now ready to license to everyone (I presume the licenses with Farnell and RS are not exclusive) this is going to end up making the Pi available more widely and more cheaply than they could ever have done with their direct manufacturing model.
Seriously, look at ARM or any of the other electronics design companies, and then tell me that licensed manufacturing isn't going to work better. This one change to the business model will increased their capacity from 10,000 units every 8 weeks or so, up to whatever is financially viable for third party licensers to invest. It means their manufacturing capabilty can scale to demand, instead of being limited by the fixed amount of money they have in the bank.
Re:Cursor (Score:5, Informative)
While we're all asking for stuff, how about not making the videos autoplay? It's far more an annoyance than a convenience. I had to track down this mysterious droning voice after I opened up half a dozen Slashdot tabs. I'm trying to avoid doing work covertly here, people!
Re:Failed big time (Score:5, Informative)
Instead, they gave us company-orders only, minimum order amounts of €50, creditcard only and only to a select amount of countries.
I've just ordered mine as an individual (not a company) for ~£25 (less than €50) using a debit card.
Re:Ordered mine (Score:4, Informative)
"Limit of one per person" - reportedly people who ordered 2 or more on the Farnell site received an invoice for a single one (for the cost of a single one). So at least Farnell got that right.
Newark is taking orders online and by phone (Score:4, Informative)
I'm in the US and had a heck of a time figuring out a way to order. Pre-order links not working, no results searching for Raspberry Pi on partners' site ...
But in a chat with Newark rep, found that you can just enter part # 83T1943 and it will come up. $20 handling fee if you order online, less if you call the order in.
"83T1943 is the Newark Part # for the Raspberry PI and has an approximate lead time of 30-40 daysyou will get charged shipping if you order online, you should call in 800-463-9275"
You will still probably be charged some shipping - but according the Newark rep less.
Disclosure: Not associated with Newark, other than an occasional customer.
Re:Didn't really work as planned tho. (Score:4, Informative)
or dx. there's going to be a clone there in a month anyways.
and those who already donated and paid.. well of course you'll wait for longer! you're already a guaranteed customer. same goes for people who signed up to be emailed when it's available, you'll be emailed when they got surplus stock they'll need to get rid of..
Don't expect clones. There's no magical board design to save costs or increase the power/utility here. What makes this unique is the RP foundation got Broadcom to sell them a cell phone chip at cost. I don't think you'll see anyone else getting those chips for those prices.
Re:Failed big time (Score:5, Informative)
You fail at reading the RPi forums:
- 100 empty, unpopulated boards were manufactured. All had a bug. And components had to be hand-soldered.
- The "official" Linux distro - Fedora - is being created by the Fedora guys. So all the delay faults lie with them, not the foundation.
- The foundation is not the one at fault that the UK manufacturers are greedy and lazy
- Yes, sh*t happens
- I am from outside UK, in a 3rd world country and i bought one without issues
- What's the HUB has to do with more RAM on the $25 model ?
They are a 6-person not-for profit foundation - they don't have a hundred-person PR department & co. The launch for the C & D will be smoother :)
Re:Newark is taking orders online and by phone (Score:3, Informative)
After stumbling about most of the day I can confirm that this is the way to order the Pi from the U.S :
- Go to newark.com and register an account (not really necessary but makes the rest easier)
- Call Newark's sales center @ 800-463-9275
- They will probably know what you want when you say Raspberry Pi but the part number mentioned above is correct for the model B (# 83T1943).
- Tell them you want it shipped from the Gaffney, South Carolina warehouse.
- Final cost will be $35 plus UPS ground to where-ever you are (quoted $7-8 for me in Virginia).
- Expect delivery sometime in May (My invoice says: Final Expected Ship Date: 05/10/2012)
If you try to order online from Premier Farnell (or newark) you will see a $20 handling fee pop up in your cart (I don't know if this includes shipping - probably not).