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The results are in: The Raspberry Pi 3 is the most desired maker SBC by a 4-to-1 margin. In other trends: x86 SBCs and Linux/Arduino hybrids get a boost.
More than ever, it's a Raspberry Pi world, and other Linux hacker boards are just living in it. Our 2017 hacker board survey gives the Raspberry Pi 3 a total of 2,583 votes — four times the number of the second-ranked board, the Raspberry Pi Zero W.
[...] Note that by "votes" we are referring to Borda rankings that combine 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice rankings [...]
So, which if any credit-card-sized computers are you lot playing around with?
Source: http://linuxgizmos.com/2017-hacker-board-survey-raspberry-pi-still-rules-but-x86-sbcs-make-gains/
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2017 Hacker Board Survey: Raspberry Pi Still Rules, but x86 SBCs Make Gains
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
I consider the day misspent that I am not either charged with a crime,
or arrested for one.
-- "Ratsy" Tourbillon
(Score: 3, Touché) by jimtheowl on Thursday June 22 2017, @04:48PM (7 children)
Is this not simply cattle mentality?
The better the product works as advertised, the less support you will require.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 22 2017, @07:24PM
When you think of the flows of resources that are required for humanity to get through a day, it becomes rather frightening; there is definitely safety in numbers: If there is a humongous number of people engaged with a certain project, then it's a pretty good bet that said project won't evaporate into the ether before you've spent your own resources on it.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Thursday June 22 2017, @07:47PM
It helps because you know the product is making money and less likely to be discontinued.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday June 23 2017, @02:57AM
There are so many hidden side benefits to cattle mentality:
- product lifetime, run with the herd and your board will be produced in greater numbers for a longer time
- software support, pre-made goodies that you don't have to develop on your own
- developer support, people suss out all the crazy edge cases and quirks and document them
- cost, higher volumes, lower prices
- delivery times, more in stock, less waiting
- accessories
But, yeah, if you got something that works better and/or costs less, sure, go for it. Problem is: Pi is so close to zero cost that it's almost impossible to beat the above on price, and so the only rational reason to go away from Pi is if you need more power - and the Pi3 is so freaking powerful compared to anything you might have bought 10 years ago, you have to need heavy graphics or supercomputing to have a good reason to go upmarket.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheRaven on Friday June 23 2017, @09:20AM (1 child)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by jimtheowl on Friday June 23 2017, @02:29PM
It doesn't have to be part of the biggest 'herd' to be the better choice for a given project.
(Score: 3, Informative) by cafebabe on Friday June 23 2017, @02:51PM
This is not the mentality of, for example, using Windows because it is "supported". A minority of Raspberry Pis will still be available in 10 or 20 years. For a similar scenario, the Nokia 3210, released in 1999 [wikipedia.org], is still widely available [ebay.com]&\160;- and that isn't because Nokia (Microsoft) offers good support.
In 20 years, when an embedded system stops working (and the company which made it ceased trading 10 years before), when a junior technician opens the box and blows away the dust, the junior technician can ask the senior technician "What's a Raspberry Pi?" and the senior technician can answer "Oh God! I thought I'd seen the last of those!" which is one step better than "We're completely screwed!" but, admittedly, not by much. (And, unlike systems deployed with the Feb 2016 version of Raspian, current deployments might handle the 2038 problem [wikipedia.org].)
Paradoxically, by envisioning such future-proofing, this scenario is less likely to happen. Mainstream components make customers more confident. Products have higher re-sale value. Confident customers keep a business viable. Viable business is able to offer long-term support.
1702845791×2
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @12:30PM
Because the support is usually community-based, and 99.9%* of people just do their own thing with it and don't contribute back to the community, which is fine, but doesn't leave a whole lot of people to get help from, which considering the ones providing help are only doing it occasionally in their spare time, having a user-base of millions to start with really helps.
*Yes, I did pull this number out of my arse, but it feels right. If you have a better number based on evidence, please provide it.