discussion / Acoustics  / 3 November 2022

Global shortage of Raspberry Pis - What are the alternatives

So, there is a global shortage of Raspberry Pis, the open source micro-computer that has been popular amongst open hardware designers and hobbyists alike. Like many others we use Raspberry Pis (Specifically 4Bs) in our hardware, but now its very hard to buy any due to the global shortage.

What are the alternatives?

  • Has anyone else have good experience with open hardware similar to Raspberry Pis?
  • How easy is it to switch from Pis to another system?
  • Does anyone know of a secret hoard of Raspberry Pis we can access?!



Well, maybe it's hard to imagine, but Raspberry Pia are just a small fraction of the current small computer market ;-)

You should check this page to learn about similar hardware, which us supported by Linux : 

I personally have experience with OrangePi Zero zand OrangePi Zero Plus, that were chosen for our project because they wee better fitted to our requirements (power consumption, connectivity, computing power), but it was 2 years ago. 

A very interesting range of boards offers and European firm Olimex, i.e. the OLinuXino models, including also industrial versions (-40+85 °C) e.g.:

 

(I'm not connected to any of the producers mentioned above)

 

Hi @tom_august this is a very important topic given the global shortages we are seeing. I tend to use really low power micros rather than Pis for my stuff if I can, but I'd be very interested to hear about alternatives. I take it you are doing some reasonably heavy processing given the need for 4Bs? I have a few old 3s you are welcome to. A great list from @PshemekZ there. I don't know much about these: 

But didn't see them in the list. 

 @Freaklabs will likey have some ideas too. Looking forward to hearing more.

Cheers,

Rob

As an update from us, we are playing around with two alternatives:

  • Banana PI BPI-M5 M5 4GB 4 x 2GHz 
  • Radxa Rock 4 SE 

I'll update once we have results!