cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ndlug.org/post/1001830

Today, we’re happy to announce the launch of the 2GB Raspberry Pi 5, built on a cost-optimised D0 stepping of the BCM2712 application processor, and priced at just $50.

The new D0 stepping strips away all that unneeded functionality, leaving only the bits we need. From the perspective of a Raspberry Pi user, it is functionally identical to its predecessor: the same fast quad-core processor; the same multimedia capabilities; and the same PCI Express bus that has proven to be one of the most exciting features of the Raspberry Pi 5 platform. However, it is cheaper to make, and so is available to us at somewhat lower cost. And this, combined with the savings from halving the memory capacity, has allowed us to take $10 out of the cost of the finished product.

So, while our most demanding users — who want to drive dual 4Kp60 displays, or open a hundred browser tabs, or compile complex software from source — will probably stick with the existing higher memory-capacity variants of Raspberry Pi 5, many of you will find that this new, lower-cost variant works perfectly well for your use cases.

    • myersguy@lemmy.simpl.website
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      2 months ago

      Aren’t most CPU’s and chipsets proprietary? Not to mention all of the firmware blobs they require? What are some affordable, non-proprietary options?

      • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
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        2 months ago

        Most devices will at least boot without proprietary software and a custom kernel. The RPI doesn’t do that because Broadcom.