If you want an new SBC: Intel N100 for as low as $60 with 4GB DDR5 RAM.

The raspberry pi isn’t a hobby/consumer product anymore. 2020 has shown that the Pi Foundation sees itself as an industry-first product. Also don’t forget that they went public a few months ago so who knows what will come out of this step.

Let’s face it: Intel driver support is great maybe even better than it is on a Raspberry Pi and proprietary is both hardware.

MCUs can run Linux.

I don’t use Espriff products so no idea if it is available for the ESP32.

They used 1 resistor for CC1 and CC2. The fix and correct implementation was to use one resistor per CC-line (two in total).

The issue was they didn’t direct the stock to the industry. They directed the stock to large customers and the small companies had no inventory at all for years or were squeezed (by the market) to the limit with a Pi4 going for $200 and more instead of $50.

The Pi CEO already went out in an interview and was like we did the right thing and would do it again. As such it was pathetic (to me) when they launched the Pi5 and were like community first. To be honest, they probably know that they need initial community support/software packages to sell it to their primary customer: Big companies.

I agree that the 3B+ was the best Pi but for other reasons:

• The Pi 3B+ had the perfect balance between performance and price with the performance being good enough at the time.
• Design flaws at launch. Remember the Pi4 CC1 & CC2? POE getting pulled from the market?
• Pi5: 5V 5A USB-C??? There is now 45W USB-PD (@15V) that would be compatible with generic PSUs but they went proprietary with 5A@5V.
• They put big customers first and let everybody else starve during the shortage. This forced me to alternatives and I have to say they work just as good and cost less.
• Jacking up retail prices: Even Intel x86 is now cheaper than a Raspberry Pi.

To keep alive the community that maintains the packages that businesses use? /s

There are a few things you won’t forget and the last years were one of those events. Thankfully the competition made leaps forward regarding software support.

Do you remember FTDI-gate 1 & 2 (approx. 1 decade ago)? I do and FTDI never made it back onto my BOM and probably never will again, at least until SiliconLabs, WCH, and Holtek screw it up.