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I always thought that SoC was wildly popular.

It is, because Broadcom had a surplus of them and couldn't get anyone to adopt it for a streaming device. So an enterprising Broadcom FAE decided to turn it into an "educational" Linux desktop device.

The "wildly popular" part came when people realized BRCM was dumping these boards cheaper than any existing Linux SBC at the time. The educational angle is long gone.

The educational angle is far from gone. The Raspberry Pi Foundation handles that part of it now.

https://www.raspberrypi.org

I would agree that most of the Pis sold are not used for education, but that doesn't diminish their importance in that area.

The education part continues. Raspberry Pi continue to make teaching materials, run training etc. I think the focus is the UK.

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