distrowatch: how many own single board computers

[solar3000]

I saw a curious poll on distrowatch. They ask how many people own a single board computer. Results look like a good deal don't.

http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?polln ... ote=0#poll

[W. H. Heydt]

Annual sales of PCs: approx. 100 million.
Total sales of Raspberry Pis over 5 years: between 11 and 12 million.
Second most popular SBC (last time I looked), Beagleboard, selling about 5% as many boards as the Raspberry Pi.
Guesstimate of total non-professional SBC sales in the last 5 years: less than 15 million (quite possibly less than 13 million).

That doesn't even account for the number of people that have Pis in the double digits (I think mine now total over 30 of various models) vs. the count of accumulated PCs (probably about 15 over the last 30+ years, some of which have been disposed of in non-working condition).

So if you take a putative typical household with one or two PCs, there are vastly more of them than there are total sales of Pis, without even adjusting for owners of multiple Pis.

There are two things going on here... The first is selection bias. By reading site frequented by people strongly interested in and conversant with tech you are selecting a population that is far more likely to know about and possibly own SBCs than the general population. The second is that it tends to be more surprising in the general population to find a random person who has even heard of the Pi, let alone owns one, than it is to find someone who has never even heard of it. Knowledge of other SBCs is likely to be even rarer.

[DavidS]

Realy? That is a surprise, on both accounts.

As for the low numbers reported in general, it is surprising how many modern appliances have some kind of SBC embeded, often a general purpose SBC. Even my Quad has two of them. As such it is hard to see that many people that do not own an SBC.

As to people having heard of the Raspberry Pi, I would think it would be common place. I would expect that at least as many people are familiar with the Raspberry Pi as are with 3D Printing, and I have not met anyone in the last 5 years that is not aware of FFD 3D printing.

[Heater]

Well, yes, taken literally billions of people own Single Board Computers. I have not looked inside a phone for a few years but surely all those Android and Apple smart phones are SBCs? What about all their washing machines and God knows what else? Those people do not own an SBC or care about it. The bought a phone or a fridge.

But that is silly. "SBC" in the context of the link given means Raspberry Pi like general computer device.

Pretty much nobody I meet outside of work or geek circles knows what a Raspberry Pi or any other SBC is. Mostly if I try to show them one and explain what it is about their conversation soon turns elsewhere!

[k-pi]

SBC's are really a geek area to Joe Public, even computer savvy people may not own one as they are mainly perceived as a means to an end, rather than a computer in their own right, but I am working on that.

I bought mine, a Pi3, because knowing how good Linux & BSD are regarding hardware resources, I believe they are now capable of replacing a desktop computer for internet browsing, listening to music, playing simple games, & watching videos. So far, mine is coping with these tasks.

[Heater]

I had a interesting talk for an hour or two with two 20 something year old brothers a while back.

When the topic of computers came up the younger one said casually "you older people don't know anything about computers".

I bit my lip and continued the conversation. I have been dreaming of computers since I was 10, in 1966, and first got to actually program one in 1973.

After a beer or two I pulled out an SBC from my coat pocket. All nerds have SBC's on them at all times right? It was not a Pi or Arduino but never mind.

These young guys had no idea what it was. Amazingly they were totally fascinated and full of questions about how it works and what one could do with it. How to program it and use the I/O etc. I was happy to try and tell them.

When we parted company I could not resist but look the younger one in the eye and say "it seems young people don't know anything about computers".

[W. H. Heydt]

After a beer or two I pulled out an SBC from my coat pocket. All nerds have SBC's on them at all times right? It was not a Pi or Arduino but never mind.

I carry a Pi Zero in my shirt pocket, an original version with no CSI connector. It's fun to pull it out and ask people how much they think it costs. I've gotten answers as high as $1000. Yeah...right...I causally carry a $1000 piece of electronics in my pocket... Jaws drop when they find out the actual cost.

[Heater]

W. H. Heydt,

Perhaps we should not be surprised at the $1000 guess.

Before the Pi arrived companies I worked for were paying $300 or $400 for ARM boards of similar capability. Well, less actually.

The Pi was a revolution in price that way.

[W. H. Heydt]

W. H. Heydt,

Perhaps we should not be surprised at the $1000 guess.

Before the Pi arrived companies I worked for were paying $300 or $400 for ARM boards of similar capability. Well, less actually.

The Pi was a revolution in price that way.

Even within the hobbyist/maker/DIY market look at what happened...prior to the Pi: Beagleboard, $90. Pi Model B: $35. It's no wonder companies are falling all over themselves to embed Pis in products. What's weird are the people who object to paying $20 for an A+ instead of $5 for a Pi Zero. I mean..really? Your project is so price sensitive that $15 makes that big a difference?

[BMS Doug]

Even within the hobbyist/maker/DIY market look at what happened...prior to the Pi: Beagleboard, $90. Pi Model B: $35. It's no wonder companies are falling all over themselves to embed Pis in products. What's weird are the people who object to paying $20 for an A+ instead of $5 for a Pi Zero. I mean..really? Your project is so price sensitive that $15 makes that big a difference?

when in search of that elusive profit margin you can see that adding $15 profit / item is appealing.
You didn't really think that they were going to reduce the cost of their product just because they got a cheaper SBC did you?

[peterlite]

"you older people don't know anything about computers"

The first large scale users of home computers were geriatrics swapping genealogy info over the predecessors of Fidonet. We are talking about the young squirts with their first bare bones PC boards taking them home so Grandpa and Grandma could swap stories with other grands.

[mikerr]

I carry a Pi Zero in my shirt pocket, an original version with no CSI connector. It's fun to pull it out and ask people how much they think it costs. I've gotten answers as high as $1000. Yeah...right...I causally carry a $1000 piece of electronics in my pocket... Jaws drop when they find out the actual cost.

I have a pi zero on my car keyring
With the release of the Pi Zero W - it can now be fully functional inside its own form factor - no wifi dongle sticking out !

[Heater]

peterlite,

The first large scale users of home computers were geriatrics swapping genealogy info over the
predecessors of Fidonet.

What an odd slant on history.

I never heard of Fidonet till a long time after it was all but dead.

Did I imagine all those kids with C64, Apple II, Spectrum, CP/M machines going back to 1977 ?

Mind you in 1980 my retired old dad was using a TRS-80. Not for genealogy mind. He was teaching
himself how to program in BASIC.

[jamesh]

"you older people don't know anything about computers"

The first large scale users of home computers were geriatrics swapping genealogy info over the predecessors of Fidonet. We are talking about the young squirts with their first bare bones PC boards taking them home so Grandpa and Grandma could swap stories with other grands.

Er, what? Doesn't seem to tally with, well, how I grew up. It was all spotty teenagers writing games where I was.

[peterlite]

At a time when a successful application was anything selling in the thousands, there were 80,000 people sharing genealogy info across one system, according to a local group using the system. It was the Faceblab of the day. All of the people I met in that group were retired and many were grey haired.

Today they would have Harleys and ride around Australia. Back then the really interesting bits of Australia were accessed on gravel roads. A modem was so big that you needed a truck. A single board computer was the S100 board containing the chips for the processor. Tesla had not yet invented electricity.

[peterlite]

Of all the Pi boards, the Zero W is the most interesting because I can put one outside to measure the environment and Wifi the results back to base. No drilling through brick walls or glass windows. The Zero W could replace the remote sensors for an Oregon Scientific style setup. Instead of buying an OS kit then throwing it out when OS refuse to supply a replacement remote sensor, my next kit will be a Pi 3 plus a few Pi Zero Ws. Instead of just temp and humidity, I can add any sensors I like. I can see kits like that selling by the million. One Pi 3 and two Zero Ws, one for inside and one for outside. Lets start a project to replace the OS RMR500.

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