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Author Topic: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch  (Read 8269 times)

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2x3i5x

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patio

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Re: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch
« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2011, 03:36:45 PM »
It's a calculator and/or stupid phone at best...
Far from a PC.
" Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

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Re: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch
« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2011, 04:08:46 PM »
Yes, I think calling it a "PC" is a bit misleading, since that is neither it's intent nor it's purpose. I mean, technically, yes, it could be called a "Personal Computer" but the term "PC" now means much more, and this device doesn't meet the "more" part.

It's an interesting device. I won't be touching it since I personally don't like the whole idea.

By which I mean "home-built" computers. the people making these like to pretend they are better than people that build their own PCs, all because they happen to use a soldering iron. Well they still didn't build the ICs, and in this case,  the entire thing is pretty much built for you and you even get an Integrated Development Environment to develop the embedded software on, in C. Why would people want to learn C on that device when they can learn it on their PC? especially since you need a normal computer to even use the device. Which means it's clearly not a replacement for a standard PC after all.
I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

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Re: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2012, 11:23:12 PM »
Nobody reads anymore. ::)
From the posted link...
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The small PCB can connect up to a TV or screen via USB 2.0 or HDMI and sports a 700MHz ARM11 processor from Broadcom with 128MB of RAM, a SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot and OpenGL ES 2.0. It runs a Linux-based operating system, and videos demos have shown the diminutive computer able to run compute intensive video games like Quake, as well as 1080p HD video. The device also comes with the option of an additional USB hub and 10/100 Ethernet controller.

Eben Upton, the foundation’s executive director, who also works as an SoC Architect at Broadcom, said in a recent interview with Business Insider that the aim was to build a computer so cheap, it could be handed out to children like textbooks.


It is, indeed, a PC by any definition.
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...is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator
It is not a cloud device. Therefor is is more than a phone.

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Re: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2012, 12:41:13 AM »
It is, indeed, a PC by any definition.
No. It's not. Unless your definition happens to include it using a CPU architecture that has never found common usage among desktop PCs that has the same power as a standard desktop machine did over 10 years ago.

And again, I reiterate: when was the last time you needed a PC to use another PC? What can you do with this thing out of the box? Nothing. You already need to own a desktop/laptop machine to interface with it. if it was a "PC by any definition" you ought to be able to use another raspberry PI to set one up, but you can't. You need a desktop/laptop machine to do so, on which you install special software to interface with the device.

Does it have interesting capabilities? yes. It certainly could find itself at the center of home-made portable gaming devices. But it's prospect as a PC replacement is non-existent.
I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

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Re: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2012, 06:59:07 AM »
A  simple history of the Personal Computer.
http://www.pc-history.org/

I did not define the term PC. I was not the authority. Bu now you are?

Was the Apple ][ a PC?  By your narrow definition it was not until nit become popular and widely used. In was not an Intel CPU. Do you know what CPU it was? Did users who bought it even care what CPU it had? Do you even understand why they picked the 6502?

So you are saying a CPU type was not used widely would disqualify  a device from being a PC? Well, carrying that form of reasoning further, when a device becomes commonly to work as a PC, when does it become a PC.

It looks like a duck.
It walks like a duck.
It talks like a duck.
Is it a duck?

Also, you say that something that is less powerful that PCs used ten years ago is not a PC?  So then an old Commodore 64 is not, as  you say, any longer a PC?

BTW, the history of the PC began with a Intel chip named the 8008. That is not a typo. It was very widely documented. The 8008 was nearly the most wimpy CPU Intel ever made. (But it was not.)

 Raspberry Pi will have more computing power that many popular PCs used ten years ago. But why should that even natter? PCs made even 25 years ago are still being used somewhere and still do what they used to  do.

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Re: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2012, 07:07:09 AM »
It's a calculator and/or stupid phone at best...
Far from a PC.
Early calculators became PC's
   
Quote
Scelbi advertised its 8H computer, the first commercially advertised U.S. computer based on a microprocessor, Intel´s 8008. Scelbi aimed the 8H, available both in kit form and fully assembled, at scientific, electronic, and biological applications. It had 4 kilobytes of internal memory and a cassette tape, with both teletype and oscilloscope interfaces. In 1975, Scelbi introduced the 8B version with 16 kilobytes of memory for the business market. The company sold about 200 machines, losing $500 per unit.
(Source upon request)

The 8008 was better suited for a cash register. But they, SCELBI, did make a PC from it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCELBI

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Re: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2012, 11:22:15 AM »
Surely a PC is a computer used in a specific manner... regardless of what it's made out of?

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Re: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2012, 11:56:44 AM »
Hey I got an idea! Let's call it a computer and not a personal computer!

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Re: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch
« Reply #9 on: January 10, 2012, 02:40:53 PM »
I did not define the term PC. I was not the authority. Bu now you are?

Everybody. Even you. Knew Exactly what was being referred to. Don't pull that bull "I didn't understand the semantics of the discussion" crap. Moving the goalposts as usual.

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Was the Apple ][ a PC?
Yes. Can you use to to work with a raspberry PI via it's USB connection? No.

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By your narrow definition it was not until nit become popular and widely used.
I must have missed the part where I provided this definition.

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So you are saying a CPU type was not used widely would disqualify  a device from being a PC?
No. I'm saying a CPU type would disqualify a device from being a modern PC. modern was implied. When somebody, nowadays, says "should I buy a PC" we know they are talking about a Wintel machine (or possibly a Macintosh). Nobody suggests they buy a Commodore or an Amiga, because those aren't the first things that come to mind. Same for a lot of other stuff.

Quote
Well, carrying that form of reasoning further
You're reasoning, by the way. You're extrapolating nonsense from my post for the sole purpose of arguing against it.

Quote
It looks like a duck.
It walks like a duck.
It talks like a duck.
Is it a duck?
And now you're talking about ducks? To answer the question, it might be, but it might also be an American Coot, which is another bird often mistaken for a duck, for the very reasons that it looks like a duck and walks like a duck. I can't say it talks like a duck, mostly since birds, and most fowl in general, don't speak. Unless you're crazy...

Quote
Also, you say that something that is less powerful that PCs used ten years ago is not a PC?
No. I didn't say that.

Quote
Raspberry Pi will have more computing power that many popular PCs used ten years ago. But why should that even natter? PCs made even 25 years ago are still being used somewhere and still do what they used to  do.

yes, good for Raspberry PI.

But again, it's useless unless you already have a desktop/laptop machine. Nobody can go "well, as a low cost alternative to buying a full blown PC, I'll just buy a raspberry PI" because you need to connect it to a modern PC (Note my qualifier, to prevent you doing what you do best and extrapolating irrelevant nonsense to argue on for several paragraphs), to get it into a usable state. And if you already have a PC, what does this device offer above that? Sure, it has several features, could be used as a media thinga majig, for example, but it won't replace the standard PC for anybody because you need to have one in the first place. That was my point you so embarassingly decided to ignore in lieu of attaching to a single technicality and fabricating an extrapolation to argue against.
I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

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Re: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2012, 04:29:27 PM »
Than k you for your reply.
Yes, current persecution is that a PC must be a Mac or a Wintel. But perception can change if a real alternative chows up. The fact that this is from a non-profit may hinder success.

So the device made by Raspberry Pi foundation sways requires a working PC to jump start it? Where is that information? I did not see that in the PR from them. If that is true, then it is not a PC. Because a real PC is an independent device that does not require another computer to make it work.

Anybody who wants to chime in, Google 'the $25 computer is coming' and see what you find. Most links call it a 'computer' and a few label it a 'PC' . Add you deeply opinionated comment.

patio

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Re: Raspberry Pi foundation readies $25 PC for launch
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2012, 04:36:27 PM »
Quote
So the device made by Raspberry Pi foundation sways requires a working PC to jump start it? Where is that information? I did not see that in the PR from them. If that is true, then it is not a PC. Because a real PC is an independent device that does not require another computer to make it work.

Now you're catching on...
It's not a PC.
" Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "