SUSE bakes a Raspberry Pi-powered GNU/Linux Enterprise Server SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 (SLES) has been released for the diminutive Raspberry Pi computer. SLES is aimed at enterprise users of the open-source operating system, restricting itself to a major version update every three or four years, with more minor service packs hitting every 18 months or so. Longer term support …
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> Longer term support makes the product an attractive one for users less keen to live at the bleeding edge of an ill-advised apt-get command on a rival distro.
Well... No. Not if you talk about Debian (which is where apt comes from). I read somewhere that Debian has three flavours: rusty, stale and broken, and for servers I really prefer (or used to... not doing much admin stuff any more) Debian over basically everything else. For them "stable" really is that: stable. Sure, if you want the latest and greatest you might want to run testing (which is still pretty solid) - ok, I admit: if it is the latest and greatest you want it will neither be in testing... and running unstable is a recipe for failure if you cannot be arsed to read the changelogs for all important packages (but who in their right mind wants to do this every f'ing day).
Also note that the release cycle of Debian is slow. And the old stable version is still supported (security fixes) way past the release of the new stable version, basically every release is a LTS.
They told us that a small single board ARM 'puter didn't make business sense and now everyone is jumping on board.
I just hope this doesn't make Broadcom / RPi Foundation too big for their boots as they target Enterprise ARM copmputing and deprive us hobbiests of cheap / open(ish) kit for another 20 / 30 years.
Should we start stockpiling Pis yet?
No, don't get one of those. Compare the specs of the beagle bone boards to the raspberry pi. You have a board with a one-core processor and 512mb of ram in the beagle bone. The raspberry pi has that, too. It's called the raspberry pi zero and it costs $5. If you want the same processor but with WiFi, the 0w does that. The only thing the beagle bone has that the raspberry pi doesn't is built-in flash on the board. However, that is a limited size that you can't replace, so unless you want to manage having an OS and data on multiple storage devices, just use a raspberry pi with a larger storage card, which can hold an OS and all the packages you put on it.
The raspberry pi has its problems--the one that I would like to see changed (although it would be nearly impossible) is power consumption such that you could run one from a battery for a significant length of time. Other than that, it's a really good piece of tech. Given that the competitors also can't run forever on battery, either, raspberry pi doesn't even have that as a comparison point.
Yeah, power consumption is practically impossible to improve, but the Pi's size and affordability make all kinds of fun things seem tantalisingly within reach... Until you need to run a power supply to it.
I'd settle for a (cheap) HAT or similar, that allowed a broad range of different types of power source, and included a backup battery to keep things going while you recharge the primary source (assuming that's also a battery). At least that way you could pair it with a big power bank that you'd recharge daily and not have any downtime.
Failing that, I believe young Mr Tesla had some interesting ideas about wireless electricity... :)
I wish they would make a Pi without the USB and Ethernet sockets. Just leave them in the box and I'll attach them if I need them. Without those (which are still and forever more in an aweful place) the pi would be much thinner and allow easy re-routing of the ports to a more sensible position on my cases ;)
If you're confident enough with a soldering iron that you reckon you could attach them when needed, surely you can just as easily remove them? You won't be the first, either: check YouTube for examples.
I haven't bothered, personally, because whenever I've needed small/thin, the power tradeoff of using a 0w has been acceptable, and I've never had a problem with the USB/Ether location (having the HDMI perpendicular to them, on the other hand, is a little annoying - but a blob of blutack stops the pi from spinning around too much). If it's just a question of rerouting, there's nothing really stopping you.
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