Raspberry Pi 4 takes a trip to Vulkan, sharpens 3D vision Raspberry Pi supremo Eben Upton has trumpeted the arrival of Vulkan 1.2 conformance for the Raspberry Pi 4. Vulkan is an abstraction layer – like OpenGL – for game devs working on graphics-intensive apps. It's quite the achievement both for the diminutive computer and Igalia, the company which has collaborated with the …
If I don't have the device here to see this magical 3D ability, does the ability even exist?
Honestly I think the one feature of the Raspberry Pi I'm longing for is availability. Every time I've had a few quid to buy one, all my usual haunts have been empty. Rinse repeat for 12 months at least now (although that is on and off).
This post has been deleted by its author
Wasn't that the whole point of the raspberry pi to begin with? Something cheap and powerful that could be made in its millions and given out to schoolchildren and the like?
If you look on Amazon/Ebay, you'll find people selling them for £150 out of warehouses in California and Cheshire, apparently. Are they being scalped? Or is this just a second-hand market?
They are available to buy, as I write this 4B is available in Spain and the Netherlands. Loads of CM4 in Germany. Last week 4B were available in Sweden, UK and US. And there are loads already in the hands of people who purchased them. I have half a dozen.
What's more pertinent is that Vulkan isn't really being used on anything Pi apart from one Lineage OS build. On linux it's strictly a developer thing at the moment. It will take a while.
What's more pertinent is that Vulkan isn't really being used on anything Pi apart from one Lineage OS build.
Maybe it's because it doesn't fall within my field of experience or my needs but I have never understood the excitement for having it, the resources and time which are being invested in getting it.
I am sure it will be nice to have but it's not clear how it will benefit me.
On linux it's strictly a developer thing at the moment. It will take a while.
I've been using Vulkan on linux with *wine* to play video games since Vulkan on linux was at 0.85. Packages for Fedora and Ubuntu have been around since 1.01. It is in active use for some of us crazy folks for a while.
It *definitely* improved wine rendering of windows DX11 games on wine over direct openGL translation. DX12 games absolutely require it. (Along with DXVK layer)
To: CEO, RASPBERRY PI FOUNDATION
Bcc: CEO, Raspberry Pi (Trading) Limited
Bcc: To management AND the trustees of the board, UK.
Dear Sir/Madam,
We know that Raspberry Pi Foundation and its products developed in the UK via Raspberry Pi (Trading) Limited and manufactured in the UK and elsewhere and sold to distributors , suppliers and places across the world. The main aim of it being to help more young people understand and get into computing and advance education of adults and children, particularly in the field of computers, computer science and related subjects.
But with each iteration of your products and the current situation in the UK and the world regarding chip production and backorders, There may be a significant impact on your production and this may have impacted the supply and demand and your need to significantly increase prices even though being a non-profit organization.
This does not mean that you should let unscrupulous traders resell your products on popular online market or e-commerce platforms worldwide for a 200% markup on the price. It sort of has bought to the seeker a moral dilemma if they should purchase it or not ? And who profits from the 200% markup on your product when you yourself do not? And what this money spends to purchase the goods goes to ? Possibly to what purpose ? Are the intentions for pure profit ? Does selling Razberi pi sold for a 200% markup become the new narcotics industry ? to make profit off a naive organization in the UK with an intent that was once pure and now has become something like the of a cocaine producing farmer ?
It is understood that you may not have much control over the reseller market, but you may have to introspect what your purpose to release these products were and why are these products being marked up so much and is this a supply and demand problem that will get resolved in the near future ?
As an organization you do may need to take further steps and now it seems your products are not being used for the way basic functions it may have been indented to and unacceptably the demand has grown and the usage has been commercialized off your organizations back , people seem to be also using your products for solutions and services , and making profit off them that may outweigh your organization good intentions.
We fail to understand your organization not taking a proper response to such mal- intended ways that undermine the vision of the products. Rather you may look at normal businesses and how they sell for profit and how they pay tax on their earnings that in turn contributes to the UK economy.
As an organization you have failed miserably to address the fact that though you may be non profit and may not be paying tax in the UK while your employees may be taxed etc. But your products seem to have been marked up 200% by cartels taking shape in the free market. Even paying 10% tax on 200% would still be a profit where ever your products have been sold on such platforms in worldwide markets.
This brings a dilemma to the consumer as to why they should buy your products? or even support your products . With every tom dick harry expecting to buy your product and to sell it with a 200% percent markup , and your organization making revenue out of undisclosed circumstances with the current rate of inflation in the UK and worldwide to the various worldly circumstances. You may say that do not support such people ?
We hope you though your staff and resource available to your Raspberry Pi (Trading) Limited will conducts a proper review of reselling at more profit on such online platforms worldwide and review as to how products you sell and stocked at distributors are scalped, horded and resold worldwide at such enormous profit online and also inform such trading platforms to halt such sales.
We hope the management and the trustees of your both organizations will open their eyes and minds and look deep and take actions to bring matters under control in an already fragmented and fragile world circumstance.
The End.
What all this (Trading) crap? They haven’t used that name since November 2021.
Raspberry Pi foundation are the non profit bit, they do education - not necessarily on Raspberry pi computers.
As I understand it, Raspberry Pi Ltd are doing all they can to minimise the scalper market, but they don’t have control of world markets. They are also between a rock and a hard place with regard to commercial clients who support livelihoods and hobbyists having to wait a bit longer.
Whining doesn’t help at all.
> Bcc: CEO, Raspberry Pi (Trading) Limited
Raspberry Pi (Trading) Limited became Raspberry Pi Ltd some time ago and have since acquired the "Raspberry Pi" trademark and taken on the brand name.
"Raspberry Pi" now is something very different to what "Raspberry Pi" was. Raspberry Pi Ltd contributes very little to Raspberry Pi Foundation income even though they benefit hugely from having their money making commercial company still perceived by many as being a charitable concern and some sort of 'mom and pop' start-up.
It is a business, just like any other.
If I understand your request correctly, which I admit with the quality of your writing is not guaranteed, you'd like them to increase their sales price so that a scalper can't? Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think I'll be supporting it.
Other SBCs are available at higher prices if you want to use one of those.
Well, that was a tedious read. I wish when people try to tell us how to run a business, they could at least get the name of the company right. It does make you wonder if they can get something so simple so wrong, then what else is wrong in their post.
AIUI, you just want us to try and stop scalpers by putting our prices up?
Not going to happen. We have a price, we stick to it. We are not in it to make ridiculous profits (which we could if we wanted), we are not an energy producer. What we do is actively try and prevent scalping - our commercial team work very hard on that, along with trying top spread the production over as many companies and resellers as possible.
It may come as some surprise, but we are making between 400 and 450k units a month at the moment, but demand is exceptionally high, and supply problems (you know, the ones everyone is seeing) mean we cannot make as many as we would want. We have the capacity, but not the parts.
Sounds good, but I'm still waiting for the avalanche of emails that I signed up for promising to "mail me when we have some in stock". That was so long I decided to just not bother. And yes, I've heard of the geolocator thing, and no, for the last time I don't want a frigging Raspberry Pi Pico W, with or without wireless. FFS.
I signed up for back-in-stock email from pishop.us in March 2022 and somewhat to my amazement, got an alert in April. Bought my rpi4 8GB kit (my first ever) shortly after. I figured they'd all be gone like a shot, but the stock apparently lasted at least a few days, as they claimed to still have quantity when I checked later.
They're gone now, of course. Still, since I'd like a 2nd rpi4 I re-upped my back-in-stock alert in June, we'll see if they come back in before next year.
Fwiw, the kits/bundles seem to sometimes come in stock before bare boards, at least for rpi4. Presumably because the authorized resellers make a little money on the extras (case, p/s, SD card etc.).
On that note: don't patronize the scalpers if you can possibly help it -- give the authorized resellers your business if you can afford to wait. You'll save a little money and help support the Pi "ecosystem".
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
