Raspberry Pi Forums

Hi.
I have been following the raspberry pi release for some months and i was up in time for the launch time/date, but because i thought it was a mistake i didn't registred my interest right away, only couple of hours later and the order i had from farnell i ended up not paying it because of all the price changes and mistakes. I think i might be getting the invite to buy from RS soon and now im wondering if i should actually buy it or not.
Im a beginner and i intended to use the raspberry pi as a media center or a cheap desktop but i have been reading that its still a bit slow and needs more development, which unfortunately i can't help much with since i don't know nothing about programming/development and im a regular user. I was thinking of about not getting it yet and let developers have their chance but im afraid i won't be able to order it then or that it will take forever and that in that time more development on the raspberry pi will be made.

So, do you think its okay to order now and use it regularly and as a media center or i should wait for more development on it and order then?

Thanks

It depends entirely on how you feel about being an "early adopter". Do you have the pioneer spirit (which includes the risk of being shot down - remember the old saying: You can tell the pioneers by the arrows in their backs) ?

Many people here will tell you "Yes - go ahead - you have nothing to lose.", which is true, taken literally, but there are other considerations. I won't enumerate those considerations here (it should be pretty obvious what I'm talking about), but suffice to say that my view is to wait until things become "normal" (which may not ever happen - see my other post on the subject).

I think that's entirely up to you. Developers are getting boards so I don't think you should worry about that. I'd get this one, and if necessary wait for the software to catch up. In the meantime, you could try and learn a bit of Linux!

I'd say buy it now and when development reaches whatever stage you need and are able to handle you will be ready to go. There's another 150K about to hit the shelves soon so I wouldn't worry about depriving developers; if you do choose not to order the person who gets yours may even put it to less use than you would

I guess this way i would secure mine in time for new and interesting developments. I was worried about taking away a unit that could go for a developer, but i guess a lot of them already have theirs and hippy is right, it can go to someone that use it less.
For people that have their pi's already, is it really that slow? From what i read its a bit slow but its GPU and graphic acceleration that needs more development( or something like that). I plan to try it as a media center(xmbc) and also a desktop for basic use.

Just got the invitation from RS to buy. Im still undecided on what to do because i want it for mediacenter, but right now i have a ps3, although the pi would probably make for a better media center and has more potential for other use. I will try to decided until the end of the day.

I'm thinking of ordering one, like you (when I get my code!) to use primarily as a media centre. I have a NAS box so hopefully the two will play nicely together.

And on the code front, I'm sure many people here would like it if you choose not to use it, including me

ahah true, but actually everybody gave a nice help so thanks everybody.
But i have bad news from some waiting for the code because i ended up getting mine anyway lol I will use it as media center, the desktop replacement use i was thinking of giving it, even though it was a basic one, wouldn't be enough for what i wanted but i think it will work nicely as a media center because right now i only have the ps3 and i think this will have more potential and better media center features.