ELI5: Why are SBCs nowhere to be found? - eviltoast

Been looking for RPI4 CMs for ages now and they’ve been sold out for as long as I can remember. Same with full size RPI4s and some Odroids. Is this just the new normal or are SBCs and CMs going to show up on the market again at some point?

  • bamboo@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Out of curiosity, what are some use cases that would fit this criteria? VMs and containers are very capable and it’s much easier to debug a failed VM than a failed piece of hardware.

    • hedidwot@lemmynsfw.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      My pending or existing projects.

      A software defined radio server. Lives up top of an antenna mast running off PoE with an RTL tuner connected.

      ADSB receiver, similar to above, but on a fixed frequency.

      The above 2 could be virtualised in theory, but there is an advantage in having the cable to the antenna short and thus the sbcs live up antenna masts in an enclosure.

      MMDVM hotspot for ham radio (this might not count as it HAS TO use the gpio pins on the pi, this can’t be visualised even with a USB port passed through.

      As an audio server that would bitstream 24bit/96kHz to an amp.

    • mudeth@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      I use mine to run pihole and an always-on syncthing client. Way more power-efficient than x86.

    • njinx@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      I have one behind my TV that controls LED lights, although that may count as electronics. I’ve used PIs many times for when I just need a cheap computer doing computery things such as playing audio from spotify out of a speaker. They’re small enough to fit pretty much anywhere with the help of some velcro.