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Technical Article TA0105 (v1) 03/05/2013
DSL discuss the propensity of some developers to propose the Raspberry PI as platform for an embedded or industrial computing base. Back in 2011, a new computing platform was announced that dazzled the nation. Astonishment at how a fully functional PC could be miniaturised excited Joe Public (though DSL are always keen to point out it had a similar product in 1991!) even the more informed embedded community took a moment to admire the petite purported price. Designed for education to put the fun back into learning computing, here is a product that could solve one of the biggest questions in our industry How do we inspire our children to become Engineers? Unfortunately with all mass market technologies, there are always those keen to push that technology into other areas, some good (Teflon on frying pans!) and some bad (Speed Cameras?) such innovation has been the cornerstone of mankinds technological progression, but can also be very dangerous when a technology is driven, without full contemplation, into an area it never claimed to be at home in (hydrogen in airships anyone?!) The danger allured to here is that of employing the faddish Raspberry PI into a real life embedded or industrial computing application the lure of the low price tag encouraging imagination of vastly increased profits or supplying at a fraction of a cost of your nearest competitor. The Raspberry PI has been a technological, but primarily a sociological achievement though designed to educate on, not integrate into, embedded applications. Developers considering transferring this hardware into unknown territory should carefully consider the following. Full documentation is not available for developers, nor never will be heavily under protection from the designers. In contrast to a typical embedded platform, where a plethora of supporting documentation is made instantly available to the developer, guiding them smoothly though their project.