Re:What’s Wrong with the Raspberry Pi
by TuringTest on Monday February 04, 2019 @05:32AM
(#19075232)
For absolute beginners, a common platform is essential to be able to follow instructions, in special if they don't have external support and must learn on their own; think kids in a rural town in a developing country.
Trying to follow tutorials for the Raspberry Pi on a different platform will more often than not be a nightmare and demotivate anyone first approaching the device. There's a network effect at play, making the most popular platform also the most desirable for diving in.
As for price, 60USD is almost double the price than a Raspberry Pi 3 (and 10 times a Pi Zero), so it would be double the effort for someone with limited economical resources in those countries.
Cheapness? Most ARM boards are in the range 50 to 60 USD and I don't know in what world that is not "cheap". Plus, at such prices you can get stuff you just can't buy with a Raspberry Pi anyway (specs wise), so it's not like they are a little more expensive for no reason.
Community support, Odroid is good enough there, while I would not recommend things like the BananaPi.
https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-xu4/