Let’s talk about the Raspberry Pi shortage. Pi’s of just about any variant have been close to impossible to get since Covid entered our lives. Particularly difficult to get are the Raspberry Pi 4 of any memory configuration or the Compute Module 4 (CM4).
I particularly like the CM4 for the fact that an SSD can be added to it and that it can have a Real Time Clock (RTC) depending on the Carrier Board you use.
A few weeks ago I scoured through all my parts piles and disassembled all my old projects and found a ton of Raspberry Pi 3’s. To my utter surprise I found I owned SIX Raspberry Pi 4’s. But they were mostly 1GB and 2GB models.
I also had FOUR CM4’s. Sadly most of the CM4 Carrier Boards you see out there are either lacking in functionality or are simply vaporware. The official Raspberry Pi IO Board is almost the only real choice.
You would think this is an adequate number of Pi 4’s and CM4’s for me, but it isn’t. I’d have a couple of Pi’s in every room, doing various jobs if I could get my hands on more.
This is course is all from the global chip shortage and supply chain drivers stemming from COVID 19. The folks at Raspberry Pi swear this is just about over and in a post in December 2022 they said it would be resolved this year. I’m here to tell you it isn’t resolved yet.
Even with excellent resources like RPILocator which shows current stock of Raspberry Pi’s all over the world…….you had better literally be watching the stock hit the store and strike within SECONDS to get one. I have been trying and failing for about 2 years.
They still make lots and lots of Raspberry Pi’s. However, there are a lot of commercial entities that use Pi’s in their products. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has seen fit to ensure that businesses get first priority. Hobbyists have sadly been shut out. So much so there has been a backlash against Raspberry Pi.
There are a lot of single board computers out there to compete with the Raspberry Pi. From a hardware perspective many of them are even superior to the best Pi 4. From a firmware, software, and community involvement perspective though, they fall short. Way short.
Maybe the best alternative in the interim is simply to use a Linux Laptop. Other than the huge form factor difference the experience can bridge the void until we hobbyists can get our hands on proper Raspberry Pi’s again.
After watching RPILocater for a couple weeks I noticed that Adafruit had available stock of Pi 4, 4 and 8 GB versions almost every weekday at approximately 11 AM. But as quickly as they would indicate stock, it would go back almost instantly to a no stock status.
So I sat on the Adafruit website and refreshed it every minute or so. They also have 2 factor authorization and I made sure I was logged in and ready to roll with my 2FA code. Sometime around 11:20 or so an 8GB Pi 4 showed stock. I immediately put it in the cart and checked out. It maybe took less than a minute and then I went back to check stock and THERE WAS NONE. It was that quick.
Nothing has really improved despite the promises that Pi life would return to normal by 2nd quarter 2023. As it stands the only way to get a Pi is to ask like an Obsessive Compulsive Stalker and continually refresh a page not really knowing whether stock will hit that day or not. Then if it does you have like A MINUTE to get it in your cart and checked out. And you can only buy ONE.
Well, I got my Pi……..but this is ridiculous. Ridiculous for several years now. I have been using Pi’s since the first model but if anyone comes out with a viable alternative I’ll gladly jump ship.
The $35 Raspberry Pi has long enabled fun projects that required just a little computing power—but during the height of the pandemic, it became difficult to get hold of one. Supply chain issues hit the production of these affordable boards hard, causing shortages that have lasted since 2021. But that’s about to change according to the latest Raspberry Pi Community Events newsletter, which says to expect “million-unit months” ahead.
As reported by Tom’s Hardware, availability of models like the Raspberry Pi 4 should begin to improve by July. With support from Sony, a long-time partner of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the production of Raspberry Pi units should increase dramatically—and will hold there for “as long as is necessary” to meet pent-up demand.
You can build yourself a sweet retro emulator using a Raspberry Pi.
You can build yourself a sweet retro emulator using a Raspberry Pi.
Benj Edwards / Foundry
You can build yourself a sweet retro emulator using a Raspberry Pi.
Benj Edwards / Foundry
Benj Edwards / Foundry
Fans have had to wait patiently until now: In the first quarter of 2023, only 800,000 units shipped over the course of those three months. That same amount should now ship in just the month of June. By the first full month of summer, that number picks up to the promised million units and will stay at that level of availability until the previous lean times are a distant memory. In other words, at some point in the coming months, you should be able to nab one of these small single-board computers for the retro emulators, cheap PCs, and ad-busting devices you’ve been wanting to create.
The Raspberry Pi has been one of our favorite pieces of PC hardware to launch the last decade or so—in fact, we like it so much, we even inducted it into our Hardware Hall of Fame back in 2020. If you haven’t yet spun together something with a Raspberry Pi, you’re missing out on a lot of fun. There’s a lot you can do with one, ranging from the practical to the wildly innovative. And at a starting price of $35, getting started with one hardly breaks the bank.