Are Raspberry PIs a waste of money?

Introduction

This is a post which explains the reasoning behind why people should purchase a Raspberry Pi. It is not intended to be technical blog and is aimed at those who have some technical knowledge.

What is a Raspberry PI

A Raspberry Pi is a small barebones computer onto which an operating system (usually Linux) may be added. The recommended operating system, Raspbian comes preloaded with Python, the official programming language of the Raspberry Pi and IDLE 3, a Python Integrated Development Environment. This is accessible from the provided desktop and is designed for absolute beginners who wish to learn to program.

However, anyone with reasonable Linux skills can access the power of this operating system through what is know as a command line prompt. Such users can download other programming environments of their choice, such as Perl, PHP and Java.

What are the benefits of a Raspberry Pi

1) Procurement cost

2) Uses low cost common peripherals, such as micro USB power and SD cards etc.

3) The default desktop environment should get you programming in no time.

4) The Raspberry Pi user community and on-line documentation is superb.

5) It can interface easily with cameras, temperature probes and other electronics components as the backbone of say a home automation project.

6) In the hands of a knowledgeable technical person, it can be used as a powerful prototyping tool set without tying up expensive servers.

7) It is portable and can be used for such applications as remote CCTV or as an intelligent data sensor.

What are the limitations of a Raspberry Pi

1) It is a fragile piece of kit because it relies on an SD card which has a much lower life cycle than conventional storage devices. (It can use flash drives etc but the current Raspberry Pi must always boot from an SD card.)

2) It has limited computing power.

3) It does not come with a protective case and therefore may be susceptible to mis-handling and electrical or physical damage.

4) It cannot be used in a full production environment.

5) It is susceptible to security attacks if exposed to the web, without first hardening the system.

Are Raspberry PIs a waste of money?

To answer the initial question I posed, the answer is most certainly no, so long as the realities of the device are considered.