this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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Banana Pi BPI-M7 - More Reasons to Avoid the Raspberry Pi (www.cnx-software.com)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by TCB13 to c/selfhosted
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The Banana Pi BPI-M7 single board computer is equipped with up to 32GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash, and features an M.2 2280 socket for one NVMe SSD, three display interfaces (HDMI, USB-C, MIPI DSI), two camera connectors, dual 2.5GbE, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, a few USB ports, and a 40-pin GPIO header for expansion.

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[–] TCB13 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I get that you love this board and think that “the establishment” is evil. But you come off as someone not having the knowledge to back your assumptions.

No, no. I like “the establishment” as long as it doesn't turn out to end up like Google Chrome. Think about it, few things against the Pi:

  • Overpriced / last to market:
    • Only the model 3B+ had gigabit ethernet - however still shared with the USB. At that time the majority of other brands already had gigabit for about two years. To make things worse also remember that in 2009 (yes 09) the "original" SBC, the SheevaPlug also had gigabit ethernet and it wasn't USB;
    • In 2018 there were tons of SBCs with PCIe x2 on the market. The Pi only got it in 2023 and it's x1 only;
  • Questionable practices:
    • We now have PCIe just to end up with a custom connector that is yet another push for selling more hats, boards and adapters. Other vendors did the right thing and used generic PCIe interfaces or the M2 format that is also very common and cheap to work with;
    • Instead of pushing the OS to be something truly open by contributing to a project such as Armbian they've kept running their own thing - just image if every PC manufacturer out there developed a custom version of Windows/Linux just because they didn't feel like using generic MS Windows / Linux;
    • Microsoft repo and key are automatically added to Raspberry Pis - even if not installed by default the fact that the repo is included leaks information and for what's worth "installation binaries come packed with some proprietary stuff, like telemetry and tracking". I believe we're all aware of the fact that VSCode isn't true open-source nor it plays nice;
    • Showing the middle finger to consumers during COVID: I get it, profit matters but still they could've handled it better;
    • Disabling SSH by default when the old policy of "mandatory password change on first login" was enough. The interesting part is that change was made close to the time when telemetry was included on their flasher app;

Overall the Pi is isn't even great at anything specific besides "holding the hand" of beginners and whatnot. If you're looking for a networking / storage solution you're better using another SBC with real PCI and/or a Mini PC. If you're into electronics an ESP32 will be more than enough to drive a couple of GPIOs and will cost 3$, in short too little CPU for computing tasks and too much CPU for basic electronics. If you're under heavy industrial environments the Pi won't be up to your certifications or you'll require protective gear that is so expensive that a solution from Gateworks will be cheaper at that point.

On a side note, just notice how the Pi bulldozed the Arduino business by simply integrating the GPIO in the CPU and then now they're going in the opposite direction into the classic "big CPU talks to small microcontroller architecture for low level stuff" with their "innovative" RP1 chip.

...and I'm not the only person with that 1 2 opinion it seems.

Sometimes this will be the right board, sometimes a Pi is better. And sometimes 2-3 microcontrollers are a better fit. But the choice should not be based on telemetry in an optional imager, or the fact that your headless setup requires editing of config files.

I do agree with you there, I know the the Pi is better in education, hobbyists and people who aren't that proficient with electronics and computers however it opens the door to a lot of potencial market abuse, Apple-style and whatnot. At the end of the day it is overpriced and it isn't really good at anything - not even in ethics - as specialized options in those niches (ESP32, Arduino, Other SBCs, MiniPCs...) are better for said use cases.

It looks a lot like the Pi Foundation knows about this market-fit issue and is just trying to push more and more stuff into the hobbits as a way to keep growing and making money. The SSH/telemetry/app bundle thing isn't objectively bad alone, but people aren't complaining and it is just opening the door to a LOT of more custom stuff and eventually a closer ecosystem and a situation like Chrome market dominance.

What the next step for them? A cloud service that you need to use / pay to develop stuff for the Pi? :)