• Eben Upton and the end of the shortage?

    From paul lee@1:105/420 to All on Mon Nov 14 15:55:52 2022
    www.tomshardware.com/news/raspberry-pi-ceo-talks-shortages-next-gen-pi

    I was reading an article this weekend where Eben Upton said he thinks the Raspberry Pi shortages should be all fixed in a years time - now that isn't tomorrow, and I still have a bit of an attitude w/ RPi because they were always supposed to be a tinkerer/maker device and a big part of the shortage problem is because they choose to sell to businesses over US; I can understand them wanting to support industrial and corporate customers, but I think some percentage of Pi's should ONLY be for hobbyists.

    At any rate, I am still itching to get my hands on a Pi Zero 2W as I haven't been able to give one a run since it came out... for me, its size and better performance are really appealing - at the normal retail price. :P

    And, of course, I'd love to see the RPi 5 - the SBC market has been heating up and there are lots of SBCs that are pulling ahead. Both for specific uses, such as boards w/ SATA connections for NAS builds and other chipsets that are finally giving the Pi 4 a run for its money - to x86 SBCs that are l00king really nice IMO - Odroid H3+...

    At any rate, I'll be really happy when the Pi shortage IS over and we can just order @ Adafruit for retail prices... the above article (and video) is a good read - what Pi will you order first, when you can?



    |07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
    |08.........

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (1:105/420)
  • From Andy Burns@3:770/3 to paul lee on Tue Nov 15 09:36:42 2022
    paul lee wrote:

    the SBC market has been heating up

    Yes, the Rock 5B and other RK3588 based boards seem to be trickling out now, not
    cheap though.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From paul lee@1:105/420 to Andy Burns on Tue Nov 15 17:01:14 2022
    Yes, the Rock 5B and other RK3588 based boards seem to be trickling out now, not cheap though.

    Keep yer eye on the Orange Pi 5 - RK3588 @ $60; pre-order only ATM @ AliX.



    |07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
    |08.........

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (1:105/420)
  • From Brian Gregory@3:770/3 to paul lee on Wed Nov 16 20:15:24 2022
    On 14/11/2022 02:55, paul lee wrote:
    www.tomshardware.com/news/raspberry-pi-ceo-talks-shortages-next-gen-pi

    I was reading an article this weekend where Eben Upton said he thinks the Raspberry Pi shortages should be all fixed in a years time

    Seems worse than ever at the moment.

    In November last year I was able to get a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, and in
    April this year I got a Pi 4 1GB to use as a web server.

    I had to look hard for a week or two in each case but I just never see
    anything available in the UK now. Not even the Raspberry Pi 400 that was
    for a long time by far the easiest Pi to get.

    --
    Brian Gregory (in England).

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us@3:770/3 to Pancho on Thu Nov 17 18:36:52 2022
    Pancho <Pancho.Jones@proton.me> wrote:
    A quick look at CPU comparison sites suggest the RK3588 is as powerful
    as my Desktop PC (Intel 2500k), 10 Years old, but no slouch. Indeed, I
    have put off buying a new PC because modern performance advantages seem slight, many recent NUC style PCs are still slower than the 2500K.

    Perhaps it depends on your workload. My last three home-desktop CPUs have been, from oldest to newest:

    * Core 2 Quad Q6600, purchased in 2008
    * Core i5 4690K, probably purchased around 2014-2015
    * Ryzen 7 3800X, purchased in 2020

    Each upgrade has been a significant performance boost over its predecessor
    that has significantly reduced time needed to (for instance) transcode video
    or compile software. Perhaps a less strenuous workload would still be
    within reach of the older chips (I donated the Core 2 Quad to my employer,
    who continued using it daily until around 2018 or 2019), but I kinda like having a computer that can boot to the desktop in under 10 seconds*. :)

    * Not counting POST, though that adds maybe 3-4 seconds. I just rebooted my
    Framework Laptop (with a Core i7-1165G7) to see how long it'd take. From
    GRUB to the login prompt took about 7 seconds, and from hitting Enter on
    my password to the KDE desktop was maybe a bit under 2 seconds more.

    --
    _/_
    / v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Computer Nerd Kev@3:770/3 to scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us on Fri Nov 18 06:28:26 2022
    scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us wrote:
    Pancho <Pancho.Jones@proton.me> wrote:
    A quick look at CPU comparison sites suggest the RK3588 is as powerful
    as my Desktop PC (Intel 2500k), 10 Years old, but no slouch. Indeed, I
    have put off buying a new PC because modern performance advantages seem
    slight, many recent NUC style PCs are still slower than the 2500K.

    Perhaps it depends on your workload. My last three home-desktop CPUs have been, from oldest to newest:

    * Core 2 Quad Q6600, purchased in 2008
    * Core i5 4690K, probably purchased around 2014-2015
    * Ryzen 7 3800X, purchased in 2020

    All of those are faster than any of the computers that I currently
    use at home, so I guess it depends on something. But then I'm well
    aware that a Pi4, and many other SBCs, have been plenty fast enough
    for my usage for years, so that's no longer really a point of note.

    --
    __ __
    #_ < |\| |< _#

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Deloptes@3:770/3 to scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us on Fri Nov 18 07:56:48 2022
    scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us wrote:

    * Not counting POST, though that adds maybe 3-4 seconds.  I just rebooted
    my Framework Laptop (with a Core i7-1165G7) to see how long it'd take.
    From GRUB to the login prompt took about 7 seconds, and from hitting Enter
    on my password to the KDE desktop was maybe a bit under 2 seconds more.

    you are may be aware that using SSD or NVMe in recent years boosted the boot time, right? So I wonder why you did not mention what disk you used inside.

    In fact a x386 Geod (333Mhz CPU) from 2007 here boots in 10secs from a CF
    card and consumes at max. 12W. I couldn't find replacement. I tried Orange
    PI with two network cards. It turned out the second one is connected to the
    USB bus and with pure debian stable it stops working for unknown reason
    after 1-2 days. I now ordered one more expensive based on intel.

    So it actually depends on the use case. Well you can still buy Bently and
    keep it in the garage or drive it 30km/h, or even once a month go and drive 200. What I am trying to say that one should look for balance in price, productivity and power consumption. Actually for desktop use the newer i5
    and later CPUs are very comfortable. I did not see the need to buy i7 yet.
    Not even on windows.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us@3:770/3 to Deloptes on Fri Nov 18 17:04:32 2022
    Deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> wrote:
    scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us wrote:

    * Not counting POST, though that adds maybe 3-4 seconds.  I just rebooted >> my Framework Laptop (with a Core i7-1165G7) to see how long it'd take.
    From GRUB to the login prompt took about 7 seconds, and from hitting Enter >> on my password to the KDE desktop was maybe a bit under 2 seconds more.

    you are may be aware that using SSD or NVMe in recent years boosted the boot time, right? So I wonder why you did not mention what disk you used inside.

    SSDs boost the speed of just about everything. I even managed to get one running in an ancient G4 Mac mini to some small benefit, though the bigger benefit is arguably the removal of a mechanical device subject to breakage.
    As SSDs were becoming cheaper (and more common), I saw how they were
    squeezing more life out of older computers by keeping them usable a little
    bit longer.

    As for the aforementioned Framework, it uses a 1TB SK Hynix Gold P31. I
    didn't mention it because computers have shipped with SSDs as standard equipment for several years. The Framework replaced a six-year-old Dell Latitude 7370, and even that shipped with an M.2 SSD (SATA, though I
    replaced it with a larger NVMe stick fairly early).

    --
    _/_
    / v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Richard Ashbery@3:770/3 to scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us on Sat Nov 19 10:19:26 2022
    In article <AWOdL.4320$TlS4.524@fx11.iad>,
    <scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us> wrote:
    Deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> wrote:
    scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us wrote:

    SSDs boost the speed of just about everything. I even managed to
    get one running in an ancient G4 Mac mini to some small benefit,
    though the bigger benefit is arguably the removal of a mechanical
    device subject to breakage. As SSDs were becoming cheaper (and more
    common), I saw how they were squeezing more life out of older
    computers by keeping them usable a little bit longer.

    I replaced the hard drive with an SSD on my old Acer Aspire 5741G
    laptop which has made a big improvement - absolutely worth doing to
    improve performance and keep older PCs going for longer.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Deloptes@3:770/3 to scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us on Sat Nov 19 15:03:32 2022
    scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us wrote:

    SSDs boost the speed of just about everything.  I even managed to get one running in an ancient G4 Mac mini to some small benefit, though the bigger benefit is arguably the removal of a mechanical device subject to
    breakage. As SSDs were becoming cheaper (and more common), I saw how they were squeezing more life out of older computers by keeping them usable a little bit longer.


    well SSDs have advantages and disadvantages.
    1. if it dies, most likely you can not recover any data out of it
    2. the price is a factor. I calculated recently the benefit of replacing the
    WD Red spinning disk with SSDs (2 TB in RAID pairs). The conclusion was
    that the power saved does not rectify the replacement - the price of the
    SSD is still too high. So I just left the spinning rust inside. Some of
    them are running for 8-10y already

    So no, I do not think it is always best choice. I have a problem with SSDs
    in single mode. It depends highly on the use case, but if using SSD in
    single mode one should take care of (more) regular backups.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From Ahem A Rivet's Shot@3:770/3 to Deloptes on Sat Nov 19 14:50:18 2022
    On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 15:03:33 +0100
    Deloptes <deloptes@gmail.com> wrote:

    2. the price is a factor. I calculated recently the benefit of replacing
    the WD Red spinning disk with SSDs (2 TB in RAID pairs). The conclusion
    was that the power saved does not rectify the replacement - the price of
    the SSD is still too high. So I just left the spinning rust inside. Some
    of them are running for 8-10y already

    It was even less favourable when I compared it with my array of
    second hand 2TB 3.5" SAS drives.

    For flat out performance there's nothing to beat a mirror of high
    end NVMe SSDs like the ones outfits like EMC put in their most expensive storage servers - but you need at least a 10gb backbone and probably 25gb
    to see the full advantage across a LAN - oh and a pretty fruity server to
    host them. If price matters don't go anywhere near this.

    --
    Steve O'Hara-Smith
    Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From The Tin Ear@3:770/3 to All on Sat Nov 19 17:06:04 2022
    I have two little QNAP NAS units, one with rust; the other with SSDs.

    Initially, the SSD machine outperformed the spinner. But after I junked
    the minimal memory that was provided with them and loaded them up, there
    was no longer much difference at all.

    Spend your money on RAM. If the machines aren't constantly paging, they
    won't keep you waiting (except, perhaps for an initial spinup).

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From paul lee@1:105/420 to Brian Gregory on Mon Nov 21 16:54:58 2022
    In November last year I was able to get a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, and in April this year I got a Pi 4 1GB to use as a web server.

    I still haven't been able to score a Pi Zero 2 W. Sure, I don't scour the interwebs to find one, but... I really wanna take a look at them.



    |07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
    |08.........

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbS>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (1:105/420)
  • From The Natural Philosopher@3:770/3 to paul lee on Tue Nov 22 10:57:14 2022
    On 21/11/2022 03:54, paul lee wrote:
    BG> In November last year I was able to get a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, and in
    BG> April this year I got a Pi 4 1GB to use as a web server.

    I still haven't been able to score a Pi Zero 2 W. Sure, I don't scour the interwebs to find one, but... I really wanna take a look at them.



    |07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
    |08.........

    Me too. Handy devices

    --
    There’s a mighty big difference between good, sound reasons and reasons
    that sound good.

    Burton Hillis (William Vaughn, American columnist)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)
  • From scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us@3:770/3 to paul lee on Tue Nov 22 18:21:48 2022
    paul lee <nospam.paul.lee@f420.n105.z1.fidonet.org> wrote:
    In November last year I was able to get a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, and in April this year I got a Pi 4 1GB to use as a web server.

    I still haven't been able to score a Pi Zero 2 W. Sure, I don't scour the interwebs to find one, but... I really wanna take a look at them.

    https://rpilocator.com/feed/

    Put this in your RSS reader and you'll see which vendors get which products when they get them. I've gotten a Pi Zero 2W that way (and a couple of
    CM4s, too).

    --
    _/_
    / v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: Agency HUB, Dunedin - New Zealand | Fido<>Usenet Gateway (3:770/3)