It's nice to see the project still chugging along
For example, A BeaglePlay costs about twice what a Pi 4 Model B/4GB does in my local market. The BeaglePlay has half the ram, only one USB 2 port to the Pi's two, none of the Pi's USB 3 connectors, way fewer GPIOs, only one HDMI, no audio, etc. I do like that BeagleBoards have onboard flash though.
Nowadays, there are fast hobbyist-accessible microcontrollers with USB or wifi support that can fill a lot of the same niches, so I think they sorta missed the boat.
Beagleboards are just different than RPis. They aren't really trying to be the same thing. RPis are small computers with simple GPIO meant for turning on and off things, Beagleboards are computer/microprocessor hybrids with GPIO meant for doing realtime I/O.
The soc on the original Black had two 200MHz PRUs which ran independently of the main processor and could be used for signalling and sensing tasks that require tight timing guarantees, and can then trigger interrupts on the main CPU.
RP2040's PIO is extremely limited with only 9 available instructions, this looks a bit more involved, but functionally it's very similar.
edit: also Ti's PRU has been around waaaay longer than the RP2040 so the PRU is likely an inspiration for the PIO.
Yeah agreed, and I don't think I communicated that in my comment above. It's not that the Pi is universally better in all cases, but it is better suited for many common consumer applications... Which logically leads to it being the higher selling device.
Maybe you didn't mean this in a way to diminish how handy Raspberry Pis are, but I've used it in tons of situations that are more interesting than turning LEDs on and off. It being a usable computer is icing on the cake. I have RPis for all kinds of things: Home Assistant using the Bluetooth module (+ external Z-wave/Zigbee controller via USB), OpenJVS for running arcade I/O emulation (GPIO for serial communication), I doubt I need to explain how useful it is to have a FlashROM setup, I've gotten a Pi to drive a Commodore SID...
I can see based on the RPi Pico which seems to have similar functionality to the Beagleboard in terms of I/O that in fact there is so much more that COULD be done, and I'm glad that we have these now. That said, I don't want people to think that RPi is a toy! Having a moderately powerful small form factor computer connected to all of this I/O lets you do things that you couldn't even when GPIO is involved. Not to mention, you can bitbang the GPIO really fast on a Raspberry Pi, which can come in handy.
That said, I've seen some neat shoestring-budget prototype projects done on BB hardware, so there's some market there. But it seems like their stuff is a bit expensive for low-end learners and hobbyists and missing some of the niceties you get if you convince your boss to buy a ComExpress-based industrial module, or (if you really twist their arm) something like the Arnouse BioDigital SBCs.
IF you can actually get one. That's a REALLY big IF.
RPis have been subsidized for a long time. The fact that the subsidy is gone means that they don't seem to be willing to release them to we plebians very much anymore. They're fine releasing them to T-Mobile, though.
Anybody not a pure hobbyist left the RPi space long ago.
Actually, the constrained supply is because during COVID and aftermath they decided to support industrial customers to the detriment of hobbyist supply.
They're currently cranking out a million units per month and supply is returning to retail. https://rpilocator.com/ was completely bare a few weeks ago, and now there's a lot of retailers with stock (though it's still not where it should be).
I think this month it really shifted from "trickling availability" to full deluge. Right now people like me who've wanted one but have been holding off are finally making our purchases. Once that appetite is filled, I can imagine we'll just see some places with steady stock.
Still waiting on CM4 though. Those are still backordered and out of stock most places.
I suspect a lot of hobbyists have left too, and that's why there's so many not-quite-knockoff SBCs on the market (ranging from the respectable OrangePis to weird fly-by-night stuff on AliExpress made by a company that's already out of business before your order arrives).
But I don't know how many people are using alternatives because they want to use alternatives. Raspberry Pis have been like hen's teeth for a couple of years now. If you have a NIB Pi4, until recently you could sell that sucker and probably by 3 OrangePis instead.
But if RPis were the same price? I think they'd sell like hotcakes just like they did a few years ago, and you'd see them in every random project on Youtube. I don't know of any SBC (other than very high-end industrial embedded modules) that are as well-documented as the Pis.
I'm not sure the Pico and Pico W are going to make as much of a splash as the original did (it's harder for people to get started with an overgrown microcontroller than it is a tiny PC), but I expect them to sell very well, too. Maybe they won't show up in every disposable pregnancy test and lightbulb like the ESPs and Nordics, but I suspect we'll see them in some commercial products too.
Over the pandemic, started using more of the mini intel boxes in the sub-$300 space, just because of availability and price gouging.
https://github.com/RobertCNelson/omap-image-builder
I believe Robert is an applications engineer with Digikey; he does stellar work on this, thank you RCN!